Cord Cutting Tip 1 Use WiFi Hotspots to Save Bandwidth

If you are tied to an Internet provider that limits your bandwidth then try using a free hotspot. If you are an iTunes user why not rent your movies and shows while at the local Starbucks and download to your laptop. Watch the show in full screen glory when you get home. There are many legit sites to buy or rent content online and do not take much time to download.

If you are planning to use torrents then some WiFi hotspots might not work or it would take forever you would need to drink to many coffees while waiting for the download. What I found is that doing my Windows updates or downloading music and content form sources like iTunes and Amazon work well and lowers my bandwidth usage at home. It sad that some ISP's place these limits, but I think consumers are smart enough to figure work around.

The more bandwidth you can you gain by using this tip will give you more hours of Netflix streaming or HULU. The cable companies might try to place limits on what you can download, but cord cutters will find a way to get content.

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Cable Company Ain't Got SunnyD and Rum

In Internet terms Sunny D and Rum is a hit and a video I would have never seen on cable. It's why the web rocks. If only MTV or Much Music played stuff like this instead of all the reality shows.

Love this song!

Cord Cutting Growing Cable Companies Deny Facts

It's funny how most major cable operators are denying that people are canceling cable service. The most recent industry numbers show clear evidence that more and more people are getting rid of their cable service.

The leap in technology of streaming video online and the quality of over the air digital channels has had a major impact on the cable companies. If the cable companies want to stop losing subscribers they need to introduce a plan that allows consumers to pick the channels and stop forcing packages that force consumers to pay for channels they would never watch.

A new generation of consumers is growing up watching video online and have no emotional attachment to cable. As more people learn how to obtain shows online the cord cutting number will continue. The cable companies are now trying to limit bandwidth and making it more expensive to gain video content online, but cable cutter know that there are many other sources such as DVD's and over the air to fight back. You can charge more for bandwidth, but you will not gain back true cord cutters that have been disappointed by the cable companies over the years.

Orb TV Box New Online Media Streamer

It seems the last few months have been very exciting for those who want to watch Internet TV. With Apple TV the Boxee Box and Google TV it seems you can just about watch any show with an Internet connection. There are still a few sources that will block their content from these streaming devices. That is where the Orb TV becomes the bridge device to connect your computer to the TV and allow you to watch the shows that can only be played through a computer.

The Orb TV works in three parts you need to download an app to your iPhone or Android phone. Once you have the app you need to install software on your computer to find your WIFI and connect to your Orb TV. Once you have everything set up shows found on your computer will now be sent to the Orb TV and playback on your television. It seems a little tough to work with, but the Orb does a great job of getting around limits that sites like Hulu place to prevent streaming media players from playing their content. At $100 this device is priced fairly, but if you are happy with all the content you are getting from the other streaming device then you might not need the Orb.

The Orb needs a little work and the quality of the video is not HD the device does not have an HDMI connector. If you are thinking of buying the Orb let them work out the kinks and wait for the next version.

Make Your Own TV Guide

In the old days you needed a TV guide to plan your TV viewing week. With the digital age the guide came to your digital receiver or web browser. Now that the cable cord has been cut your are free to watch any show at any time. Why not create your own TV guide.

The idea for my own TV schedule got me thinking this would help manage my TV viewing. With all the shows I have been watching online it would be nice figure out when I should watch a show. After spending some time writing down the shows I watch online it was time to match show with time slot. This way I can better manage my online TV viewing and not get bored of watching back to back episodes of the same show. It's nice to break up the type of shows I watch and it brings the digital age back to the old fashion way of having to make time to watch your shows at a given time. Sometimes it nice to change things up. With so much to watch online it nice to manage what am watching and not forget or lose track of the shows I want to catch up with.

Boxee Box Media Player

The first week with my Boxee Box from Dlink I spent playing online content. This week I am testing out the media playback of this little gadget. Almost every file I tried played perfectly and I did not have any issues. There have been some Boxee users how have had a few problems get some file types to play back. The encoding could have something to do with these problems. In the most popular encoding formats playback on Boxee is perfect.

The content I watch through Boxee is mostly streaming media, but I would like to get more local content that I can store on a hard drive and watch any time I want. It would be nice to rip my DVD collection and have every movie ready to play through Boxee. With digital files you can watch as many times as you want and not have to worry about scratching your discs.

There are other media players on the market and I have looked at a few different models, but I like Boxee for the great codec support and online streaming. As a build a better digital collection Boxee will make it a simple task to get these files to play on my TV properly. As I explore more of the features in my Boxee Box I hope to review some of the apps shortly.

Box Box for $199.00 at Amazon Click Here for Latest Price!

The Boxee Box 1 Week Review

Yes I love my Boxee Box, but I do have a few complaints. The Boxee Box is a new video streaming device from Dlink which uses the Boxee software that has been around for awhile. The Boxee software has been very popular as simple way to turn a computer into an easy to use media center. The software has a large number of loyal users. The idea for Boxee is to create a very easy to use interface to bring web based video to the big screen. When you unbox your Boxee it comes with everything you need right out of the box. Let me tell you I was happy to get an HDMI cable free inside the box. Wish more companies would include a cable as they do not cost that much as some electronic store salesmen would lead you to believe. Once you hook up your Boxee you are greeted with the load screen and you will require a firmware update once connected to the Internet it just take a few minute to get the latest firmware. Once the Boxee reboots you are greeted with the main menu which allows access to online content or you can connect hard drives or SD cards with your own video files. It a simple interface and most users will be able to get around without much fuss. The Boxee also has a section filled with apps, my favourite being the weather app and Vevo for music videos. After playing around with the Boxee Box for about a week I have to give it a high rating and I think this is a great leap in technology for those who want to cut their cable. The only challenge right now is with content. The Boxee did a good job of finding my favourite shows, but my understanding is that some content owners are going to block devices like Boxee and Google TV from playing content on you TV. Let’s hope media giants realize that there is a new market and will support these types of device. Would hate to see consumers have to search for pirated movies and TV shows. As the Boxee Box is a first generation device it does have some flaws and did not seem that it was ready for a full retail release. It seems a little beta at times. The biggest problem I had with my Boxee was that the WIFI setting had my network at zero bars even though the WIFI DSL modem was right in the next room and no other device had any problems with my network. It turned out that this was problem with Boxee and a firmware update was going to arrive shortly. With a very active user community getting feature on Boxee and  apps will not be that difficult. This is a plus for a product unlike Apple TV we will see a large number of apps hitting Boxee. The Boxee is a great media player and for online content it makes it easy to play your favourite TV shows. The Boxee uses a Web Kit browser and playing most flash based content through the browser is not that difficult. Those who want to play web content on the big screen are going to love Boxee however be warned that there are still many issues that need to be resolved and the Boxee team will be putting out updates as they correct a few key problems. Now that I have Boxee in  my cable free home I do think cord cutters are going to want a Boxee Box to call their own.

Live Streaming TV FREE

While reading a news web site blog I came across this web site www.boxlive.tv which streams live TV online. Just did a full test of the site and I must say I was happy with the number of streaming channels. The site streamed most channels without a problem, but I did get some buffering. Try it out let me know what you think. It free to stream, but you can register not sure what a registration will get.

Apple TV 2 Won't Connect to Netflix Error

If you have the new Apple TV it has been reported and it has happen to me an error connecting to Netflix. In order to fix the problem you will need to unplug the Apple TV box for up to 30 seconds or do a full restore. This should fix the problem and you will then be able to connect to Netflix. It's a small glitch not sure if it's an Apple hardware problem or with Netflix.

No TV Shows On Apple TV Canada

The Apple TV is a great device and with Netflix it does allow watching older TV shows. The lack of TV shows is through iTunes. It looks like for some reason Apple was unable to get the rights to rent streaming video online in Canada. This could be for many reasons, but it still a lacking feature that I would love to have on my Apple TV. It might be that many TV shows are available for free for watching online from the major TV networks in Canada. The streaming model for these networks is that they also run ads during the stream. If the content was made available to iTunes without ads and in on an easy to use device there might be a bit of a cut into profits for these broadcasters. If new shows won't be available for streaming and renting on iTunes then at least past seasons should be allowed. It would be nice to stream HBO rented content. As a consumer I would not mind paying a fair price for streaming HBO content. Without this content on iTunes I might have to look for shows in a way that the company will not get paid. Again it comes down to give consumers what they want and avoid users finding content for free. If you provide a great service people are wiling to pay a fair price. We all know it costs a lot of money to make great television shows, and that there is a large number of people that depend on the business to make a living. In my opinion I do not want to steal content, but I do want to watch it on my own terms. The large studios need to figure out how to bring these shows to consumers who have left cable and now want these shows in other formats or distribution systems. The studios will get paid and money will go back into the industry. The longer they delay getting content into new distribution models like the Apple TV the more consumers will seek out illegal downloads. Love Apple TV just want my TV shows and more apps like the Roku box.

I Love The New Apple TV

Apple TV MC572LL/A (2010) The new Apple TV has become my main device for playing Internet video. After about a week with my new hockey puck shaped Apple TV I was ready to review another great Apple product.The price for this device makes it a no brainer if you want a simple device for watching video from online sources this is a great solution. The unit has Netflix and YouTube and you can rent movies and TV shows from iTunes. The remote that comes with this unit is simple to use and a major step up from having to get up to change content on my laptop. The interface is easy to navigate as you would expect from an Apple product. The Apple TV media streaming device also comes with a streaming radio player and Podcasts add even more content. There are so many high quality Podcasts that this feature alone would keep me entertained for months. There is enough content available through the Apple TV player to keep most users busy for a very long time. If you are looking for recent network shows then you won't find that on the Apple TV unless the show is offered through iTunes. It would be nice to have apps or more channels like the Roku box, but for what it is Steve Jobs little project looks like it might be a winner over time. If you want something simple to connect to your TV as a replacement for cable then this device does the trick. The cost for renting a TV show starts at $0.99 and movies at $3.99 and up. If you want Netflix it's only about $8.00 to get streaming on the Apple TV or through your computer or other supported device. If you live in the US you might have to make the choice between the Roku box and Apple TV, both have very strong features that will fill most users needs.

CityTV App for iPad

If you live in Canada and Hulu Plus then you may like the CityTV iPad app. A few days ago I download the CityTV app for the Apple iPad and found it to be a great source of free shows. The only show I watched so far was The Event and I must say the app did a great job. The video quality was excellent and the sound was perfectly in sync. The CityTV app is a free download in the iTunes App store. If you live in Canada then every source of video content is like finding treasure. Would love to see these types of apps on the new Apple TV, but in the meantime I will enjoy the iPad version.

My First Week With Netflix Canada Review

The launch of Netflix Canada arrived last week and  I excited. It seemed like it took forever for Netflix to make it to Canada. The wait was well worth it and Netflix is even giving a free month trial. The sign up process for Netflix is very quick and easy to get started. Once I had my free trial I was able to start looking for movies or shows that I wanted to watch. The movies and TV shows on Netflix are a little older along with some movies from the past year. If you love movies then this is a great service there are plenty of movies to keep you busy for a long time. The selection is huge and you will have plenty of content to pick from. The price for Netflix Canada is $7.99 after the free month trial. Since the service is growing and more titles are being added I think the price is very fair. You can watch Netflix on a PC or Mac or on game consoles. The only console that did not get a Netflix Canada upgrade was the Xbox 360 which I wanted to use as my Netflix player. The new Apple TV will also get Netflix and is a very easy player to set up. Overall I will keep my subscription to Netflix Canada and use it as a main source for movies. The service does require a bit of streaming which for some user can get expensive if your ISP has a cap on how much you can download. If you want unlimited downloads then Primus Canada is offering a great deal for their DSL service. The arrival of Netflix Canada will make a great addition to many cable free homes. If you are using antenna for your live TV shows and Netflix for the rest of you TV watching you will have the perfect mix. Now let's hope a Canadian version of Hulu will arrive sometime soon.

Stop Paying For Cable Television But Keep Up With Your Favorite Shows

If you are tired of paying $60 a month for cable and are new to the world of alternative television, relax you can stop paying for cable. Almost every network show is available online many are found legally on sites like www.hulu.com and on the official network web sites. All you need to do is pick a show and track down the network it airs on. That's it simple and easy to find as more people cancel cable more and more online content is becoming available. Just a few years ago it was extremely difficult to find TV shows online with out getting shows from illegal web sites or torrents. Those days are gone and cable and television companies know consumers are getting smarter. The shows that are available online still run ads which creates revenue for the rights holder. This new approach deserves a thank you from consumers and I think supporting the sponsors is a great idea. The truth be told it does cost a large amount to make a television show, and in some way the consumer should show support for those who are making these shows. Once in awhile I even go as far as buying an episode through iTunes if it's a show I really love. It not about ripping off content companies, but demanding a fair price for access to television shows. If you love great TV its out there and for free all you need is a computer and you will find access to thousands of television shows. If you can cut out the middle man the cost of watching television show goes to down to free. Now that is something we can all appreciate.

Bell Canada Fiber Optic TV Service

The new Bell Canada fiber optic television service has launched in Toronto and Montreal. The new service is aimed at taking on the big cable providers in those cities. The goal for Bell Canada is to become one of Canada's biggest television providers. With the purchase of remaining stock from the CTV part of their business Bell will also be able to secure content for it's TV and mobile service. The benefit for consumers is that in areas that only had one cable provider at least there is choice. The cost of the new service is basically what you would pay for cable. The only good thing that will come out of this new service is choice to pick other television providers. The Bell Canada IPTV service is a solid choice for those who are tired of their local cable provider and want some choice. If you get Bell Canada's service then you will also get a bundle discount. We like choice and when it comes to television service we like lots of choice. Welcome Bell and please provide Canadians with affordable television service.

Netflix Coming To Canada

Great news for movie and TV show fans. The very popular US based Netflix service is coming to Canada. As one of the most popular video streaming service with millions of users south of the boarder excitement if building for Canadians. If you have ever shopped for electronics in the US then you might have seen the plays Netflix logo on many new DVD players or video game consoles. If Netflix can bring this service to Canadians at a similar price as the US service then they will gain a large number of subscribers. It was a good idea on their part not to include the DVD by mail service in Canada. With Canada Posts record for taking forever with mail it does seem like a good idea not to piss off consumers. I am very excited about this service and plan on being one of the first subscribers in Canada. The one thing I hope happens is that the new Apple TV will get Netflix streaming as it would bring this service into many homes at a lower cost then setting up a dedicated PC or Mac to stream content.

Every Major TV Show is Now Online

Gone are the days where it was difficult to find your shows online. The growth of sites devoted to linking to TV show episodes has exploded this year. These sites track down streaming video sites where users have uploaded the latest episodes. The sites where the video is hosted is a lot like YouTube except they are in foreign countries where copyright might not be so tight or none at all. Once you track down your show the video streaming sites do add pop up adds or some sort of ad before the video streams. The ad supported streaming sites have not distracted from my viewing and it just a minor interruption well worth it considering all the free shows these sites are hosting. At times I have experienced stuttering from some of the most popular shows especially on the day after the episode aired. It's a good idea to wait about a week before watching new episodes I find there is less buffering once the majority of users have tried to watch the show in the first few days. Overall these video streaming sites have worked well and picture quality is  not bad for depending on the source that was used to record the show. If you have know and good streaming video sites leave a comment and share with other users.

CinemaTube Multimedia Player

Brite-View BV-5005HD "CinemaTube" 3-in-1 1080p Full HD Multimedia Player/Streamer/Torrent Downloader

If you are looking for a simple box to connect to your TV for media Brite-View has a great solution. The CinemaTube with its networking capability makes it easy to stream computer and Internet entertainment right into your living room. Just plug in a network cable--or directly connect an external hard drive--and start enjoying your high-definition movies, music and photos with your friends and loved ones. With support for many popular formats like DVD ISO files. You can also stream live media from you PC to the CinemaTube and enjoy even more contnet. The CinemaTube doesn't just play media, it can also download up to 3 torrents at the same time. The CinemaTube uses just 10 watts of power while downloading, which is far less than the 100 watts your PC requires to simply power on. It's simple to download with the CinemaTube. Just save torrent seeds on your network computer, or on the USB storage device, and let the CinemaTube do all the downloading. Note that only NTFS and EXT-3 file formats are supported in this feature. This is a fantastic media solution and price starts at only $84.99 you can learn more by clicking here!

ATSC Tuner Receiver Box Over the Air HD

There are many tuner boxes in the $50 price range that do their jobs very well. If you live in an area with buildings or other obstacles then you need a higher powered tuner box. The difference from the ability to tune in hard to get HD signals is amazing. With the more expensive box some channels that were not easily obtained with the lower end boxes came in perfect on the more expensive tuner box. The model we used for testing was the PHD-205LE and can be found online for about $150.00 with free shipping. If you want to try it and compare it to your current tuner box it might be the game changer you were looking for. If it does not end up getting more channels then what you already have you can always send it back for a refund. The build and quality of this unit also felt more solid and it did a great job turning the image into HD our tests concluded that the image for some channels were more detailed then with the previous box we were using.

You can find out more about the PHD-205LE by clicking here!

DTV4PC Review Software Allows Watching TV on PC

There are a few great programs that allow easy access to TV on a computer. The DTV4PC software is one of these programs. You get access to thousands of TV channels from all over the world. The interface allows you to pick the language you want to watch and what type of station. An example would be if you were looking for English TV stations that broadcast news. The easy to use interface would allow you to pick the type of program you want and then a panel with all the news stations in English will pop up. This was a very easy to use feature for getting the programs I wanted to watch to load and stream through the Internet.

If you are going to use a program like this to watch TV you will need a good Internet connection. The video quality was great there were few station that did not broadcast in high quality, but it had to do with those station still broadcasts in regular analog. When you do find a station that is streaming at the high resolution it was a very nice quality video.

This software is for those that want the most online TV stations and want to be able to watch TV online. If you have a computer connected to the TV the quality on a HDTV was fair quality. The streaming of the live station did fall a little short on a large screen.

Over all I would say that this is a good program and will give you even more online TV. You can use this software to beat your cable company and there are no extra charges or monthly fees after you buy and download the program.

You can find out more about the DTV4PC software by clicking here!

Consumers In Canada Are Getting Rid Of Cable TV

It's clear from watching the news and reading the newspapers. In Canada consumers have given up cable for Internet TV and old fashion antenna. The advance in Internet video has made almost any show you might want to watch available online. If you don't want to bother with online video then new HD televisions are capable of getting high definition video with a standard antenna. No more fuzzy picture TV in HD through antenna comes in crystal clear. What these all means to the cable companies is that consumers are getting the choice they wanted and best of all for free. If only cable companies had created a system to subscribe only to the channels that a consumer wanted and not the bundled them packs that have channel you will never watch. It was just a matter of listneing to consumers and give them what they wanted. Instead cable companies just focused on take as much money as they wanted. Those days are now gone and more and more people will seek free TV viewing be it online or through HD antenna's. It's not that hard to give up cable. It's been almost a year for me and I have more choice then ever.

DVD Video Media Jukebox

If you have a large collection of DVD’s then creating a video media jukebox can help protect your collection and free storage space. Looking at a stack of DVD’s on the shelf is not pretty the more you have the more space you need to store them. If you want to free some space in your TV viewing room why not rip and store DVD’s on an external drive. The drive can then be connected to your TV’s HDMI connection. There are a few low cost video media players that you can buy for around $100 plus the cost of the hard drive. Getting files to the media player can be a little grey as far as copyright laws are concerned. If you bought the DVD’s and back them up to a drive then you are backing up a movie that you already paid for and have a physical copy. You are using this back up for your own use and not sharing the file. This is covered under fair use for your copyrighted discs. If you download movies from a bit torrent site or other file sharing networks then you are breaking the law and can face legal challenges for those movie files. The best use of a media jukebox is for use of movie that your own legally. You can store all the movie files on the external drive and put the DVD’s away and never touch them again. When you back up DVD’s you need software to rip the disc to the external drive. There are many programs that you can find online that will work well for this task.

Once you have a collection on the external drive you use the media player to search and play the content. The top media players all have an easy to use interface and remote control. Getting the media to play on your TV should take little effort. Now you never have to worry about scratched discs.

Xbox 360 TV Shows

The Canadian version of the Xbox 360 has a good number of TV shows and movies for download or rent. If you want to own TV shows the video marketplace for Xbox has many top shows. It costs about $2.00 Canadian to buy an episode. The Torchwood BBC 5 episod series cost about $10.00 and provided 5 hours of entertainment. There are are many free sites that you can watch TV shows, but the quality and audio on the Xbox makes it a perfect media player. It's true that you will have to pay to use the video market place, but if you cut your cable bill then you are able to set aside a budget for paid downloads. The ability of getting high quality content through the Xbox 360 along with the free shows online adds many more hours of TV viewing that I am not paying a cable company for. Even though I set a low budget of $20.00 for my downloads I have yet to spend that much in a month. What I do is buy shows when I am unable to find other programs with my TV antenna and I can not be bothered to find online content. The Xbox 360 video marketplace is just one more choice to find high quality TV programing. If you have not tried the Xbox 360 video marketplace there are many free trailers that you can watch and get a feel for the technology.

I Love buying TV Shows Online

With out cable it's true that some shows I just can't catch through an antenna. The HBO shows and some other networks only offer paid downloads. You can find many of these shows on iTunes or Xbox. The cost is not that high compared with having a cable bill. What I have been doing to keep the cost in budget is limited how much I buy online. When I paid for cable the cost was about $80 to $100 a month. With that amount in mind I figure I could set aside about $30 a month to download movies and TV shows. Which is still a savings compared with paying for cable, plus I can watch these shows any time I want.

The way I watched TV has changed living without cable. The amount I spend in front of the tube is about 4 hours a day. I can get many free shows with just my TV antenna and there is enough programing to keep me watching most nights. When there is nothing on TV that I want to watch I might search for a show online on the free sites like HULU or other similar services. If I can not find anything to watch for free then I buy or rent through iTunes or the Xbox.

This method has worked well and soon it will be a year that I went cable free. The amount of shows I have access with the Internet makes cable seem like a thing of the past.

Anyone thinking of giving up cable TV must look through online video sites to get an understanding of the programing available for free.

It's nice to know at the end of the month that I am saving $100 and do not have to worry about one more bill.

There are other services that you can save money by finding free or lower cost service providers. The telephone service can also be replaced with lower cost options. It's not about being cheap, but being smart with your money. If you are paying for services try to figure out if you really need to have the service and look for alternatives. It might seem like a few extra dollars a month, but over time all those extra services add up into the thousands.

Michael Jackson This Is It DVD Review

If you want a DVD to watch in your cable free home this is it. You do not have to be a Michael Jackson fan to feel the importance of this man on pop culture. Watch as MJ creates a show that would have been a concert to top all others. He almost had the show completed before he died on June 25 2009. With special effects and the wardrobe that was being prepared this would have been one of the best concerts ever. On the DVD you will find the full length This Is It movie a documentary of the preparation leading to the sold out concerts in London. The actual movie takes you through the songs and rehearsal process. The DVD also features a few features that take you further into the process of creating a show of this scale. You will get a glips at the customs and the detail that was going into each outfit. The Michael Jackson This Is It DVD is the last piece of work that the fans will see their hero at work. It is sad in a way to see how much Michael had worked on this show and to know he did not get a chance to perform it.

Dish Network Package

I am not in the US and I am not sure if this is a good deal. When I compare this package to what you get in Canada it looks like a great deal to me. In Canada I can't get any package like this. With the DVR and HD package from Dish Network it looks like American TV viewers get much more for their money. This one guy I know was paying well over $100 a month for Bell Canada's service.

Samsung BD-P3600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Review

The number one best selling Blue-ray DVD player is the Samsung BD-P3600. This player is a perfect addition to your home theater set up. If you are looking to add Blue-ray discs to your entertainment mix then you can't go wrong with this player.

Manufacturer's Description
Set a new standard with the Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray player. Thanks to Blu-Ray Disc you'll enjoy detailed images and brilliant color in full 1080p resolution. In addition, the stylish BD-P3600 boasts cutting edge features like support for Netflix and Pandora movie/music streaming; wireless capability with the included USB dongle; BD-Live support; and two USB connections for updating firmware or playing back digital media files. Watch your favorite DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, listen to CDs with the highest-quality audio, stream internet content and plenty more with this sleek and powerful player.

Read More Here!