Now, we only have the basic, analogue cable from the place we are renting, but that’s enough for both of us, especially the only channel I seem to watch is CBCNW (but now I heard that Gian has his QTV in hight quality now, I might have to check that out). We don’t watch that much tv, and are perfectly happy to rent our favourite shows on DVD, or buy/rent movies from iTune, which doesn’t compare to Blu-Ray, but does the trick for us.

I recently noticed that more Canadian broadcasting companies are putting shows on the web for viewers to stream, which I am pretty sure wasn’t available even just last summer. Sure the picture quality isn’t that great, and we have to endure the buffering message from time to time, but hey, it’s something.

I personally have confidence in telecom groups to break under consumer pressure and start putting out HD contents on the web for us to stream. I am a patient man, so I’ll just leave the pressuring to other more… er… capable men. I am sure in no time (well, about two years after U.S. has done so, by Canadian standards) we’ll be able to stream HD quality shows on our HD tv, and forget about cable and satellites altogther.

Ah, the internet, what a wonderful thing you are.

Speaking of which, why is SkypeIn still not available in Canada!!??

This summer, when our television died, we decided not to buy a new one because we now get all of our entertainment online (or by DVD).

We subscribe to a large number of podcasts (audio and video), occasionally rent movies from iTunes (the 99¢ ones), and even sometimes watch stuff streamed off CTV.ca.

What I think people are starting to realize that if you just drop the TV, and watch your content on the computer, it makes things and order of magnitude easier.

True, the largest monitor I have is 24″, and certainly doesn’t compare to a 50″. But… what’s the point of a huge TV if the HD signal you get is so compressed that it looks mildly better than VHS? I know that isn’t always the case – the BBC’s Planet Earth comes up often, but it’s in the minority, unfortunately.

DRM can be an issue – I’m very pleased that Apple is dropping DRM for the audio portion of it’s online store.

One of the easiest things you can do is when you purchase (and do purchase it) a video and it won’t play on XYZ, call up the company and complain.

DRM is a burden for users *and* the seller – but not the record/movie industry – it’s not their problem – just just want us to use it.

If it doesn’t work, call, complain, ask for money back, etc. Doesn’t always work, but you know that some bean counter will eventually see the cost of supporting DRM products continuing to climb. Climbing costs usually make businesses do things.

I want to be able to access the itunes store ( U.S. content on the Canadian store is limited {I don’t know why} ), Amazon on Demand (U.S.) or Netflix streaming (U.S.). With my own equipment: computer, iTV, DVR or Roku player I could download or stream programming in accordance with my needs & schedule.

Not to be held hostage to a service provider is real freedom.

With this abuse of technology it unnecessary increases complexity. With these deliberate incompatibility defects you don’t know if what you purchase today is going to work today, and you don’t know if what worked today will still work tomorrow. I don’t even bother considering HD equipment given HDCP (deliberate defects) is built into the HDMI and other high definition interfaces between devices.

In my case I’m not going to risk purchasing anything offline (physical media) or online unless I have adequate assurances that the contents of the file are unencrypted. Even if I have a player today that is one of the “chosen” brands, I’m not going to pay for something when I’m held hostage to that brand.

I only purchased an “authorized” DVD player this Xmas season. The DVD encryption is so seriously broken that it is trivial to circumvent. I’m borrowing and not buying DVDs as I don’t want to be offering money to people who have deliberately made such a purchase less valuable.

I would love to get rid of my legacy Cable service. I’d be willing to pay a subscription fee to access the few television shows I actually watch. I will not be willing to pay at all if the files are infected with DRM.