Does anyone watch television through internet?

[t's_mama]

We are pricing out Bell and Rogers right now and wondering if there is a better/ cheaper way to enjoy some tv watching. I know that you can watch some shows online. Does anyone know much about this?

[bhlombardy]

It depends on how reliable you want your television viewing to be.

If you're a die hard fan of number of shows (ie: must-see every episode week after week) then I don't think there's any legitemate, viable source for that just yet... not in Canada anyway.

You can TRY viewing some shows on the Canadian broadcasters' websites (CTV, Global, etc) but the quality just isnt there (at least not for my standards).

In the US, there are some great services for that, but those services are not available in Canada -- even if you managed to gain access to the US based services, the content doesn't stream to Canada (IP based locators)... not legitemately anyway. (I know someone is going to mention using a proxy services... but those are not always reliable either.)

There are "grey" area options, which include things such as torrent downloads and the like... and I say grey because some content owners don't seem to care, once the content has been already broadcast on TV... while others attempt to prosecute (NBC comes to mind) sites that offer their content online (even 20+ year old content, go figure)

At this point in time there isnt a proper online option that I see as viable in Canada for watching current run programming.


EDIT: And don't fall for these ads that say "Get over 100 TV channels on your computer for FREE" -- because most of what you'll get is news content from overseas, is generally garbage programming, and is broadcast in languages you most likely don't understand. But you're into installing their software and plug ins, cluttering up your computer, potentially opening yourself up to malware. It's not worth it.

[Grampa-Brian]

You are so correct bhlombardy about the "Get over 1000 Channels....."

Sitting at our RV a couple months ago I found this ad on kijiji and thought "hmmm...that sounds interesting and something we could use here in the RV."

WELL!!!!! That was one of the worst mistakes I ever made and I am still on a vendatta against them.

I won't go into details but surfice it to say STAY AWAY FROM THOSE SCAMMERS. I am constantly on the lookout for them on kijiji and report them every single time and so far their ads are knocked off every time. I hope others know the problems and will assist me in stopping these guys.

Everything you say is true. 1000 Channels?? Yeah right and 990 of them are from Europe and you can't understand anything. Try to get your money back from their "guarantee" and you are told to give it to somebody else.

First I should have noticed was they only accept paypal for your payment.

[vesper]

With an iPad and apple tv, you can enjoy almost everything you want to see. You do have to pay for some programs however I am going to cancel cable and stick with this.

[t's_mama]

With an iPad and apple tv, you can enjoy almost everything you want to see. You do have to pay for some programs however I am going to cancel cable and stick with this.

is there a specific site you go to or just the broadcasters websites like Global and CTV etc?

any special hook up?

[Skittles160]

We opted not to get cable/bell hookup for tv and watch everything online instead. Most of the big shows are available through their broadcaster websites ie. ctv.ca, global and citytv all have video available on their sites. In general, most shows are available a day after their original broadcast. Global and Citytv (possible ctv too, but I haven't gotten it) all have apps as well (for free) and you can install those to your Apple device and watch there instead. Same deal as before though, most shows aren't available until the day after.

[bdwilliams]

We are pricing out Bell and Rogers right now and wondering if there is a better/ cheaper way to enjoy some tv watching. I know that you can watch some shows online. Does anyone know much about this?

I have been using USENET for almost 10 years. It is a paid access to a server that has Terra bytes and Terra bytes of movies, tv shows, albums. Whats great about is it that everything you download is scrambled so no one can track what you pirate.

[Darth Penguin]

WELL!!!!! That was one of the worst mistakes I ever made and I am still on a vendatta against them.

I won't go into details but surfice it to say STAY AWAY FROM THOSE SCAMMERS. I am constantly on the lookout for them on kijiji and report them every single time and so far their ads are knocked off every time. I hope others know the problems and will assist me in stopping these guys.

Everything you say is true. 1000 Channels?? Yeah right and 990 of them are from Europe and you can't understand anything. Try to get your money back from their "guarantee" and you are told to give it to somebody else.

First I should have noticed was they only accept paypal for your payment.

try contacting PayPal ...i;ve always had goood results using them as a mediator..

[anisa]

with online streaming i get to watch all my fave shows, even when they haven't shown up in Canada yet.

as soon as I am done with Rogers i am going to toy with OTA for local and other main channels. that combined with online streaming i should have little expense.

I have no qualms with Rogers, I get good reliable service at minimal cost because I get good discounts just by asking them. we don't spend money on movies and other expensive events, so i see the splurge on a half decent cable package and pvr as a deserved luxury. heaven knows i scrape and scrimp in all other things, i should be allowed to sit back and watch my shows with some comfort and ease .

still, i think it will be fun to see what i can get OTA.

[r0c0upons]

someone on SC mentioned Unblock-Us on a blog post about a year or so....I tried it and was very impressed. If you watch many shows from the US Unblock-Us was very reliable for being able to acess the network sites to watch the shows that are otherwise blocked for Canadians. I think I did a free trial of that. I'm not sure if it works as well now as it did then, but I was happy. For now if there's a show I want to watch, I use some websites, like watchseries.eu or solarmovie.eu. I can usually find new shows within a few hours of them airing.

The only drawback I've noticed so far is that I don't know what I'm missing out on...if you know what I mean. I don't receive a paper TV schedule and no longer have a guide I can sit on the couch and surf through so I'd have to just know what I want to watch, keep up with recent uploads, or do my own research to find out which shows to watch.

[anisa]

i refer to this all the time, when i'm sitting at the desk and wondering if there are any good movies on

you put in local cable info, and up pops a fairly user friendly tv schedule

http://affiliate.zap2it.com/tvlistings

[njkygh]

Get an iPad and an Apple TV. That's all.

[CouponDude]

How about 20 free full HD channels ? Half from Canada half from US.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

As long as your tv has a digital tuner you can get the major networks free through the air by attaching this antenna to your tv and switching from "cable" to "antenna" and doing a channel search.

I get over 20 channels from mississauga.

[LCF204]

I stream tv shows and movies from my apple tv!!!

[anisa]

How about 20 free full HD channels ? Half from Canada half from US.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

As long as your tv has a digital tuner you can get the major networks free through the air by attaching this antenna to your tv and switching from "cable" to "antenna" and doing a channel search.

I get over 20 channels from mississauga.

that is what OTA is

apparently the toronto area is great because the area is shaped like a dish, sort-of, and so signals are received well and easily.

get a good antenna set up. after that you're laughing.

it takes care of getting all your local stations, you won't miss the news or anything. after that if there is anything you are missing that you really need to see, likely it is online anyways.

most ppl like to have a good internet connection anyways. i already use magicjack for my phone, so it makes sense for me to have decent internet

coupon dude, where do you have your antenna installed??