Alternatives to cable

[katie333]

Hi all,

I've just learned that Teksavvy is finally finally available in my area. Seems like the rest of the city had it years before we did.

At any rate, I am planning to get rid of Rogers entirely and get a nice internet package from Teksavvy as well as their phone service.

What alternatives do I have to replace my cable? I watch mainly network shows (HD preferred) and my DH loves to watch baseball in the summer. I've read about Boxee but really don't know how that works or if it works in Canada? I'm pretty ignorant about cable options. Any help would be appreciated!

[bhlombardy]

IMHO, if you want a consistent and reliable television provider, then you're pretty much hooped into a dedicated home-delivered service. Whether it's Rogers (cable), Bell (fibre/dsl or satellite), or Shaw (cable or satellite, although I think in London, it would just be satellite)... or some other local provider.

Online providers for TV programs are just waaaaaay too sketchy and/or inconsistent to be considered viable options.

Boxee is just a conduit for connecting to online subscription services like Netflix, and in Canada there isn't much else out there right now. (hulu and vudu, for example are US-only, and Cinema Now is slowing coming to Canada, but is not really a huge player right now)

Services like Cinema Now and Netflix offer TV programs, but are often (not always) a season (or more) behind or are missing episodes from seasons, for whatever reason. -- That's one of the reasons I ditched Netflix was for the inconsistent and sparse TV collections.

[blackstaffer]

TBH, if you know how you can just download anything. The only thing you'll have trouble with is live sportscasts.

[walkonby]

Just be aware that Teksavvy uses Roger's equipment, so even though you will no longer be a Roger's customer, Tek Savvy uses their lines ( or whatever you call it) to deliver you the high speed internet service. Also they just had an increase across the board for existing customers of their internet because of all that CRTC stuff.

site with info about it all

http://www.teksavvynews.com/

[anastasia1009]

TBH, if you know how you can just download anything. The only thing you'll have trouble with is live sportscasts.

for live sports casts I know of a few on the web that we use for UFC etc

[katie333]

Thanks all ... I believe we'd be able to download or stream a lot, especially with a much larger monthly allowance. I was just hoping for an efficient way to get those downloads onto my big screen.

We have a network that is connected via the PS3 so we can connect wirelessly that way, however in testing that option it stutters, albeit on the Rogers package we have now.

There is also the fact that we can pre-set our items on our PVR but would have to manually search and download items.

[blackstaffer]

My computer is connected to my TV, so if I decide I want to watch it on the tv I just turn on dual screen.

[BobSagget]

There is also the fact that we can pre-set our items on our PVR but would have to manually search and download items.

If you are consistently watching the same shows and know where to download them from each week, then no you don't have to manually search for and download.

I have it set up on my computer to actively monitor new TV shows from a certain site that I download from. It's set up to only download the shows I watch. It's all automated too, even after the files are downloaded they are properly renamed to the season and episode number and name and placed in the folder of my choice.
Since I have my boxee box connected to my network and the folder I put the tv shows in are "shared" over the network, I can simply watch all my shows from the boxee box in a nice HD picture with no commercials. It's wonderful.

[bhlombardy]

Not to be a negative-Nancy here, but the methods of downloading TV shows and the like online are not really legitemate methods, nor are they reliable. -- but to each their own.

[lekate]

Not to be a negative-Nancy here, but the methods of downloading TV shows and the like online are not really legitemate methods, nor are they reliable. -- but to each their own.

I'm not sure we're really supposed to be 'talking about' and promoting illegally dling on this site anyways.

We use netflix, I have friends who're obsessed with owning their tv seasons on dvd so I borrow from them a lot and anything they don't like I wait until it's on dvd and buy with swagbucks gc's for Amazon.

Buuuut I know I'm very different, I really don't care if I watch a tv show this week when it comes out or next year. I really don't live by tv shows and find other things to relate to people with (and if not, maybe those people should find other interests other than tv...)

[blackstaffer]

Not to be a negative-Nancy here, but the methods of downloading TV shows and the like online are not really legitemate methods, nor are they reliable. -- but to each their own.

There are tons of legitimate routes. Websites like CBC.ca have tons of shows for you to watch for free! It's like rogers on demand minus having to pay for cable.

[Aslan]

There are tons of legitimate routes. Websites like CBC.ca have tons of shows for you to watch for free! It's like rogers on demand minus having to pay for cable.

+1.

Global and CTV also allow you to watch full episodes online.

There's also the option of buying a decent TV Antenna, and watching OTA HDTV.

[HappyCouponSaver78]

hmmm that's sounds illegal, but I prefer watching TV shows on Youtube or TVland?

[st_claire]

For getting shows, as others have said, netflix is great, as are station websites like ctv, cbc, etc... Also, you can buy the shows on itunes or buy the dvd/bluray.

As for getting the content onto your tv, there are many options. You can get a box like apple tv or western digital live tv. You can get an mobile device, stream it to there, and plug that into the tv (I personally forgo a tv entirely and prefer to stream directly to my tablet).

The best but most expensive option is to setup a home theatre pc. Media portal is a free open-source setup http://www.team-mediaportal.com/. It's really sweet. You can browse your shows and it downloads all the episode summaries automatically so you can read about the episode before selecting it, and other cool features like that.

Way to go with teksavvy. They are great. We have their unlimited plan and love it.

[CurEuS]

There are quite a few options for free TV

Many HDTV and regular channels are available over the air OTA and only require an antennae or just the receiver that is already in most HDTV's . This is a larger company that can help you. Chanel selection is very location dependent. http://www.saveandreplay.com/

You can get Free-To-Air TV which is from satellites that do not encode their signals. http://www.saveandreplay.com/FTA_Faqs.asp

You can also stream (legally) Television with a satellite dish from the same company.

You could also sign up for a US netflix account and also stream Hulu. That requires a monthly subscription to 2 services. One for US netflix and another for access to a proxy server.

Shawdirect is somewhat less expesnive than rogers and bell fibretv when it comes to your area will be competitively priced...