I'm up to here with Bell satellite and Rogers too. I've had them both and trying to deal with these corporate monoliths is nothing but pure frustration.
So, I bought a digital converter for our TV, and I'm soon going to throw up an antenna. $100 per month freed up for more car stuff.
Did you ever notice how many of those channels we pay for are running the same bloody program at the same time? Sometimes there are 6, 7 or even 8 running the same thing. And, Springsteen pretty much had it right....."57 Channels and nothing on", only now it's 570 channels and nothing on.
Remember when we got TV free because we watched commercials? Well, most of the channels still have commercials, and we're paying.
I've had it.
Time for OTA (Over The Air) to come back to my house. Do you realize that HDTV is waaaaay better from an antenna than from satellite or cable?
I'm down to one channel of broadcast TV, as the other 2 went digital. When this one goes, I'll have to pay a cable company to get local news. There are some shows I'd like to watch, but I have no desire to pay for 95% crap, to get 5% of decent quality TV.
We have local cable tv... I love it it has all the TV, I will ever need... lots of Criminal Minds, C.S.I. Miami etc Speed .. the commercials are bunched up enough, for washroom breaks and snacks We got a new 46" and it works great on standard cable....
OTA works if you live close to HD signals. Having said that, if you are close to the GTA or Buffalo or Detroit you are in luck. I've researched my area and there is (unfortunately) pretty much nothing. I pretty much could do without TV anyway. I joke to my friends and co workers that my TV still has a picture tube. There's no sense updating to HD or digital cable as I wouldn't get my moneys worth. At this point I'd rather spend my money on a good audio system with internet radio. Let us know how you make out with your antenna. It's a smart way to go.
The main driving force in keeping television going here is the Lady Boss. She must see her Desperate Housewives, etc. If I don't ensure that television is available, I'll be a Desperate Househusband.
Here's some basic stuff I've learned while convincing myself to drop the cost and frustration of dealing with satellite.
- digital antennas are no different than the old analogue antennas. If you have one of the old ones around the house, it'll work for both analogue and digital.
- if you have a HD television, picture quality is better using an antenna than cable or satellite.
- if receiving HD over an antenna, you either get the channel or you don't. The old business of ghosting and fuzziness from distant channels is gone.
- if you don't have a digital TV, and I don't, a simple digital converter box does the trick. They're available at most electronics stores now and cost less than $100. Buy one with an analogue pass-thru feature which allows you to use the same box to control digital and analogue channels.
- at my location (about one hour from downtown Toronto), according to the www.TVFool website, I'll get 4 channels with rabbit ears, 10 with an attic antenna, and about 25 with a rooftop antenna. Some of these are the old analogue channels (all from Canada now as the U.S. has gone fully digital), and the rest are digital (from U.S. and Canada).
- my neighbour across the road is receiving TV from his 30' tower antenna beside the two-storey house. The reception quality is quite amazing and he gets plenty of over the air (OTA) channels.
- the reality of OTA is like going back to the days before cable and satellite. Before those services, we were all on basic service which means no channels like National Geographic, Speed, TheMovieNetwork, CNN, CBC News Network, etc. Oh well, I can live without them.
- a new feature of OTA is that when some stations go digital (like WIVB Channel 4 Buffalo), they break their assigned frequencies up into 3 or 4 channels (or sub-channels), so all of a sudden, Channel 4 in Buffalo is sending out three or four channels of programming when they used to send one in the old analogue days.
I plan on putting one of those saucer antennas on the house and getting a digital convertor at some point. Since we bought the house a couple years ago we've lived without cable. I don't miss it at all and don't plan on going back to it or satellite anytime soon. Which reminds me, anyone need a Bell dish left up from the previous home owners?
Based on research, here is the antenna that seems to be favoured by many for OTA digital and analogue reception. This assumes that you don't already own an antenna and are looking to buy new.
which means no channels like National Geographic, Speed, TheMovieNetwork, CNN, CBC News Network, etc. Oh well, I can live without them.
) has a whole section on OTA.