Shaw Cable Again Blocks Firewire On Canadian Set-Top Boxes

WestCoastSuccess writes with this excerpt: "A year and a half ago, Canada's Shaw Cable began encrypting channels with the '0x02' flag. This flag has the effect of making the IEEE1394 (Firewire) output useless to customers who use third-party PVRs (such as the excellent MythTV, for example). After complaints to the CRTC and Industry Canada about this practice, the encryption flag was dropped on most channels and the Firewire connection again functioned. Until last night, that is."

Comments

I am Canadian,

[JaCKeL 1.0]

I am Canadien and I really want to be able to record my HD cable with my PVR. Where do I sign ? Right now Canadian cable company are working with these rules : 1. Block way's to record with third party PVR 2. Sell their really crippled and overpriced PRV 3. $$$ Seriously, what can we do ?

Re:I am Canadian,

[MartinSchou]

Write to the company and inform that you are droppng your cable subscription because you are completely unable to record your HD shows in HD quality, and that until they fix this issue you will be enjoying your HD on dvd and/or bluray.

And if they contact you trying to offer you a discount or something, stick to your guns. If they aren't willing to offer you the ability to record HD shows in HD quality, you aren't willing to subscribe to their service.

Give it a go. You'd be amazed at how quickly you stop worrying about what's on the TV anyway.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll just offer to rent you their locked-down PVR, or on-demand service (for extra $$ of course).

Re:I am Canadian,

[MartinSchou]

The original poster has already tried that route. He's willing to pay for a PVR that can record HD shows in HD quality - the company just isn't willing to provide one.

So, care to try again with a better solution for our ill-stricken friend?

Re:I am Canadian,

[crossmr]

This doesn't do anything unless it is picked up as a major news story. I hate to say it but the whole age of "voting with your wallet" is dead and gone. To any major corporation you aren't even a drop in a bucket, so unless you're going to organize a massive action against them of at least 50,000 people or more, it is basically meaningless. Sure you stuck to your guns and you can sleep at night, but it isn't going to change their behaviour at all.

In Canada you need to start a facebook group get a couple thousand people to join it, mention it to the media and then you'll get results.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd be amazed at how quickly you stop worrying about what's on the TV anyway.

I second that. How many people here just turn on the TV, as a habit? And just sort of watch TV, out of habit? I know I did, and would flip through channels complaining how there was nothing worthy on TV. (And yet I'd watch all the unworthy programs.) I don't remember what the trigger was (it wasn't a broken TV, it functioned fine) but I eventually stopped watching TV all together. Then I started getting mad that this ugly, ugly "tube" was destroying the overall aesthetics of my living room. I gave away the TV.

I still have a projector now, but no tuner. Don't need one, just a DVD player for movies. You'd be amazed at how much you DON'T miss with the TV. You can tend to get more unbiased news from the internet (or biased to an extreme, depending on your taste!), and, surprise surprise! You end up with a lot more time to do other things.

Anyhow, for those that have issues with the cable companies and/or TV programming in general, I strongly suggest you try kicking the habit all together. It's not as hard as it sounds, and has much fewer consequences than you may think. "Hey, did you see the episode of XXX last night?" "Nope, I don't have a TV. Don't want one either!" "Wha... wow! You mean, so you watch the shows on the internet? YouTube?" "No, I just don't watch. Most shows waste too much time anyhow." "Wow... Hmm, you have a point. I just turn on the TV out of habit... What did you do with your old TV?" The conversations are actually pretty amusing. And have a tendency to drift off towards more interesting topics than what an actor said on some show the night before.

Re:I am Canadian,

[mikael]

In the UK, the local cable TV company Virgin Media got into a bit of a tiff with Sky with the consequence that various channels (Sky One) with popular programs like Stargate, Battlestar Galactica became unavailable to cable TV viewers. Around 50,000 people canceled their premium rate subscriptions until this dispute was resolved, which took just under a year for both companies to feel the financial cost of their actions. For anyone who did reduce their TV selection to freeviw, they saved around 500 pounds.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Darkness404]

However there are -some- really interesting shows on TV, such as the History and Discovery shows, along with the occasional Sci-Fi shows/movies (the genre, not the channel). And really, buying the shows on DVD is kind of a waste of money. Assuming I watch about 2 hour long shows a day (about less than average for most people, but about average for me), that would be about 60 episodes a month, I pay about $30 for cable every month, a DVD costs about $30 for 15 episodes. So I would be paying twice as much, even if I cut my TV usage in half, so I don't see the savings. Add that with a very low entry to me seeing new shows (even if I pirate them, I won't torrent a random show I have no clue what they are) by just flipping to a channel and seeing it for 5-10 seconds, but if it is interesting I will watch it.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Pentium100]

I don't remember what the trigger was

I know what the trigger was for me - it happened when I realized that instead of watching TV series at the TV schedule (didn't have a VCR at the time), with commercials and being behind by a few years I could just download the TV shows I want (or was it when I found out that Stargate SG-1 had 6 or 7 seasons and the TV station stopped showing it at season 4?).

Re:I am Canadian,

[yanos]

You'd be amazed at how quickly you stop worrying about what's on the TV anyway.

That's the most liberating decision you'll ever made. I stop watching tv a while ago and, while I still enjoy some shows, I find my tv free life saner. Every once in a while when I go see my dad, I am amazed on how lethargic people can became in from of the tube, especially when the commercials rolls in. A life without the constant bombarding of those is a much better life, simply put. When I watch them now, they don't work on me as much as before since I now find them deceitful and just plain stupid. You're gonna tell me "I already finds them stupid and borderline fraudulent" but trust me, live 6 months without tv and you'll see what I mean.

You can call me a conspirationist all you want, but I am now of the opinion that publicity and certain tv shows (news and what is now passed as news) are great tools to hardwired individuals into a certain mindset and infuse various ideas and ideals into the populace.

You just won't get what people talk about at work sometimes :P

Re:I am Canadian,

[Weedhopper]

Really? History Channel and Discovery "interesting"? There was a time when they were 90% documentary/educational and 10% infotainment but these days, the reverse is true. Ghost hunters? Axe men? Deadliest Catch? UFO HUNTERS??? WTF is this shit?

I came back to the US this past December after several years in Africa. For a brief month, I had cable. In fact, it was the first thing I set up. Then I saw what was on and realized that not only had I not missed much, but I actually got a lot more out of not watching TV then I ever could watching it.

Re:I am Canadian,

[soconn]

What I'd really like to see is a standardization of the way these signals are encoded so 3rd party suppliers can sell PVRs instead of being locked into a single vendor. I'd love to use my Tivo again or hook the signal up to a Myth box but getting HD here in Canada means a cable company h/w solution.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Mistlefoot]

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Television/HDTV/Hardware-HDPVR.htm

They have sold PVR's capable of recording in HD for quiet some time.

And from the original poster "Hereâ€(TM)s why this is an issue for Industry Canada (as previously outlined below): in order to use a PVR other than Shawâ€(TM)s to record programs (and, specifically, HD programs), the IEEE1394 output is required."

He is not willing to pay for a box that Shaw provides.

The real question is this: When a provider uses technology that breaks 3rd party equipment, is it the responsibility of the provider, or the 3rd party to provide a fix. This has happened with Microsoft and Apple many times - and often old hardware does not work until the vendor provides a fix. Shaw does not support firewire connections on their own set top boxes and openly advise this. Why should they be providing support for 3rd party set top boxes WHO CHOOSE to use firewire?

Re:I am Canadian,

[Mad Leper]

No one is asking Shaw to support firewire, all that's being asked is that they stop blocking it. The hardware is present on the boxes they sell, it works and they have no reason to block it EXCEPT to protect their business model.

All the box is for is to provide a service. Shaw should not be allowed to dictate what the consumer decides to do with the service they paid for after it leaves the box.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Mad Leper]

When I realized I was paying $85 a month for a service that had little if anything I was interested in watching for months at a time, I cancelled it.

That was a year ago, with a Blu-ray player and CBC-HD on the antenna I get all the HD content I need and at a much better quality than anything Bell or Rogers offers. And with a Usenet subscription I watch whatever TV shows interest me whenever I want.

To date, I don't miss subscription TV at all. I actually watch less TV than before and read & listen to music more often. I still get little "we miss you" cards from Rogers tucked under my door every now and then, no thanks.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Hal_Porter]

Some cynics might say that stopping showing SG1 at season 4 was saving you a lot of wasted time.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Pentium100]

Well, when I start watching a TV series or reading a book, if it is not bad (in that case I'll stop pretty soon) I want to see/read the end of the story, so even if the series declined in quality, if the quality did not become so bad as to be unwatchable, I'll watch it.

As for SG-1, I only did not like the Ori arc, which I though was a bit too much (so, people on Atlantis have problems with the Wraith, while people on Earth are fighting beings that are quite close to being gods; also, I was thinking that when they finally beat the Ori, they will have no enemies left that are powerful enough (more powerful than the Ori) and the show will end - it turns out I was right).

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah... you appear to have mis-understood the original post. He has a Shaw HD receiver but wants to use an external PVR device to record content. If I had access to a 3rd party PVR box that also decoded Shaw's signal I'd jump on it in an instant. We simply want to get the cheapest HD receiver Shaw has and use the firewire output to a recording device of our own choosing.

Re:I am Canadian,

[eriks]

... "voting with your wallet" is dead and gone. To any major corporation you aren't even a drop in a bucket ...

While I can understand the sentiment of what you are saying, and believe me, I sympathize.

However, that is *exactly* the attitude that the giant megacorps WANT us to have.

You DO vote with your wallet, constantly. And it may not seem like a lot, but making small sacrifices, and/or just being noisy about it CAN make a difference.

"One person can make a difference" is a truism, because none of us are really are "one person" we have a whole network of friends and contacts, and everything we do has a ripple effect.

Facebook, et. al., are tools, and sometimes I wonder if they are helping us (I hope they are), or are just making us (even more than we already are) tools of the corporations, by helping us forget that we do make a difference, even out here in meatspace.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Mistlefoot]

I did not misunderstand. I was replying to a specific post. If you read my parent you will see "He's willing to pay for a PVR that can record HD shows in HD quality - the company just isn't willing to provide one." which as both you and I know, is not true.

Secondly, when he bought the device the manual (http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/CustomerCare/TelevisionSupport/UserGuides/) clearly advises "Note: Copying to external sources, i.e., DVDR and PC are not supported. They may work if HDCP compliant. See manufacturerâ€(TM)s instructions."

HDCP compliant is, by definition "High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection".

Does his firewire port provide this? Not according to Motorola, the company who likely made his device (http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/news_faq.asp#PIP) "Playback recordings in real-time connected to a VCR over the analog ports or a computer/D-VCR over IEEE-1394 (Firewire). Note: The IEEE-1394 option assumes content is not copy protected."

So, when his bought his device, firewire was not supported, the manual advised that they may work if HDCP compliant and to see the manufacturers website regarding this, and the manufacturers website advises the firewire is not HDCP compliant.

Now if he wanted to record to a computer using a TV card on his computer he'd be fine. Same as I am fine. His only arguement is that he wants to do it using unsupported firewire (by both the manufacturer and Shaw).

Re:I am Canadian,

[Mistlefoot]

You can record in HD with this device. And you can connect it to a computer (that has a TV input card) and record and keep whatever you want.

Firewire has never been supported. That is the original poster's only complaint.

Remember how 6 months ago you could watch analog TV in the US? Now you can't. No one specifically went out to ensure your grandma's TV didn't work. Technologies change. That an unsupported connection type doesn't work when changes take place is hardly a conspiracy.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple. Cancel your tv subscription and get a subscription to a good usenet server with high retention. Then download all your HD programs and watch them at your leisure.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Bert64]

It's the same in the UK, you can get satellite where you're tied in to the supplied boxes (which are generally quite crap), where you have to pay extra to be able to use a tv in more than one room at a time, and can't have more than 1 room receiving HD content, and the PVR devices they supply record the content encrypted so if you cancel your subscription you lose everything you recorded. I haven't looked into cable but i believe that's the same too.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't remember what the trigger was (it wasn't a broken TV, it functioned fine) but I eventually stopped watching TV all together.

The trigger for me was a "reality" (and I use that term lightly) tv show about a tanning salon in Los Angeles. I almost puked when I saw the two dumb blondes behind the counter gabbing about tanning beds to some two-bit actor I barely recognized from some other craptastic show. Right there, I decided that tv as a whole had jumped the shark. I'm getting more reading done, like I used to, and my brain doesn't feel as foggy all the time. Best thing I ever did.

Re:I am Canadian,

[BitZtream]

TV stations didn't stop showing SG-1, they were just several years behind the actual channel it showed on, which was sci-fi. Its called syndication and its basically like buying the generics. SciFi (or its new faggot name of syfy) shows the first run episodes, 5 seasons into it they start selling season 1 to other stations, then on the 6th season, they sell season 2 to the tv stations.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Opportunist]

You'll get a reply that they offer the service with their cripplebox, and if you sign up now you get it at low, low prices...

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

mine was also stargate when one of my teachers started talking about the latest story arc and I established there was 3 - 4 years worth of episodes that I hadn't seen because I didn't have subscription TV. While at the same time the terstrial channels had shown episodes out of order resulting in great confusion over the overall plot. One of these days I'm going to get a nice 1.5TB HD and download all the epiosdes.

Re:I am Canadian,

[zippthorne]

Sg1 started on on showtime, then SciFi started up a few years later (four, I think) then the networks got it. over half a decade late.

Which is doubly weird, because NBC owns SciFi (or as it's called now, "the syphilis channel" presumably due to the close contact wrestling shows it likes to air.)

Re:I am Canadian,

[MBGMorden]

Some of those aren't that bad, but remember The History Channel also has shows like "The Universe", "Modern Marvels", etc. The others have good shows too. National Geographic produces and shows a ton of interesting shows. Caught a good one last night on deep ocean life. They had a very good one on the Mars rovers a while back too as well as an excellent documentary on the moon landings which was setup basically as a rebuttal to that idiotic one Fox did a few years back where the network was more or less proclaiming them fake. Animal Planet has a LOT of good stuff too if you're into wildlife.

Use a DVR for filtering out the junk, watch what you want on your own schedule, and there's PLENTY of good stuff out there on TV.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Cro Magnon]

Some cynics might say that stopping showing SG1 at season 4 was saving you a lot of wasted time.

QFT! I discovered SG1 near the end of the good shows. I was watching the new stuff and getting caught up on the old stuff at the same time, and I soon realized even then that the older shows were better. Soon after that, it totally jumped the shark (or pushed it through a stargate).

Re:I am Canadian,

[Pentium100]

No, in my country they did stop showing it. When I found out about SG-1 on the net, it was already a few years after I have seen the "last" episode.

Re:I am Canadian,

[aminorex]

Preventing competitors from entering a market is unfair competition, and it is a criminal act.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

Write to the company and inform that you are droppng your cable subscription because you are completely unable to record your HD shows in HD quality, and that until they fix this issue you will be enjoying your HD on dvd and/or bluray.

Bittorrent works well too. Grab the whole freaking season in one shot. Then you don't even have to deal with ads. Maybe one day the content providers will figure out how to sell me content that I want in an unhandcuffed fashion without treating me like a criminal and acknowledge the fact that my equipment is my equipment that I'll use how I see fit. If they're going to treat me like a criminal pre-purchase, I might as well just pirate and then I have the power to chose how I want to manage and view the content.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

DIRTY JOBS! DIRTY JOBS! DIRTY JOBS! Totally worth it.

Now if I could find an online form of Disney channel, Id drop cable in a heart beat.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

This has been re-iterated quite a few times in the posts above, by people defending Shaw. I'll provide a short version for you.

This: (1) "not providing support" is much different from (2) "purposely disables a working service"

(1) is reasonable in many circumstances, but does not apply here.

(2) is an anti-competitive, monopolistic tactic that's already been fought over once already, with the CRTC involved.

I can see why you favor option (1) - It's much easier to defend, but in this case, it's not the issue.

Cheers.

Re:I am Canadian,

[MartinSchou]

There is a chance I used "original poster" in a slightly misleading way. I wasn't talking about the story submitter but the guy whose post I replied to:

I am Canadien and I really want to be able to record my HD cable with my PVR. Where do I sign ? Right now Canadian cable company are working with these rules : 1. Block way's to record with third party PVR 2. Sell their really crippled and overpriced PRV 3. $$$ Seriously, what can we do ?

It's HIS words that he cannot get this type of PVR. I'm telling him that the only way to get that fixed is telling the company that this is the reason they won't be getting his money.

This is true for ANY type of service you buy.

And since I'm neither a Canadian, a cable subscriber or owner of a TV, I have absolutely no interest in checking if his claim is correct or not. The interest I have in this discussion is how you change the behaviour of companies.

For all I care, he could be talking about how the local North Korean ISP is upping their prices and reducing their access. The answer would be the same: Cut off the money flow from you to them and tell them why.

Re:I am Canadian,

[inhuman_4]

I stop watching TV about 5 years ago, but for different reasons then most people have mentioned.

I watch a documentary ("Corporation" I think was then name), and the segment they had on commercials was just creepy. It showed how cereal companies had high priced psychologists do focus groups on what would work best for kids. The person they interviewed even stated that they go after the kids, because they are easier to manipulate, then rely on the kids to pester the parents.

Now I am not a psychologist IANAP. But it got me thinking, how many commercials are actually informative? Few.

The whole point was to use sexy, celebrities, party scenes, etc. To make you have a positive association between what you saw on the screen, and their product. I don't know if this is true for everyone, but when ever I visit people and the TV is on, is seems like its the same 4-5 commercials over, and over. Like the are just using brute repetition to get you to buy their crap.

Now I am sure some people are going to say I need to come out from under my tin foil hat, but I will take pass on the corporate mind fuck, thank you very much.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

FTA.

Re:I am Canadian,

[chrish]

My response was "Screw you guys, I'm getting Satellite." Sure I traded one monopolistic juggernaut (Rogers) for another (Bell), but I go an HD PVR with fully supported USB ports.

No idea if this works with 3rd party PVR systems, but it does let me plug in any USB storage device and save recorded programs to it.

As of later today, I'll only have one Rogers "service" (my wife's cell phone), and that's only until the contract expires in October.

The cable/satellite/cellphone provides in Canada fill me with nerd rage. They're holding us back technologically for maximum profits.

Re:I am Canadian,

[mattack2]

Then you should contact the Canadian equivalent of the FCC so that something akin to the "cable card" requirement in the US is done in Canada.

This requirement separates the security access from the tuner. So you plug the cablecard(s) in the device and can then access the encrypted channels. (I have only VERY recently gotten cablecards for one of my Tivos, because of Comcast's switch to mostly digital channels -- NOT to be confused with the OTA switch. I personally wish I could have continued getting extended basic in analog, but admittedly *have* been watching/recording some of the channels I now get only because I have cablecards.)

BTW, the only reason that the satellite companies are not subject to the cablecard requirement (which would allow third parties to make satellite-compatible DVRs/boxes on their own), is because they specifically have waivers for the requirement. I think the waivers should go away, though I'm not a satellite subscriber, so I haven't contacted the FCC about it. (Since satellite *always* required a box for every TV, I was never interested in it.)

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually got a lot more out of not watching TV then I ever could watching it.

This is the most insightful thing I've ever read on /.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

I voted with my wallet, and for 4 months I've been pocketing $25. Seems to work for me.

I set up a MythDora box on an unused computer, with a Hauppauge recorder to record Over the Air. So from here on out I'm saving money, I'm in control and I get uncompressed HD channels. Sure I only get 2 until other stations upgrade, but amazingly those 2 carry most all the shows I watch and together with 3 analog channels I have 5 stations with enough content to supplement my life with a bit of TV without paying Shaw a penny.

There's a certain warm fuzzy feeling I get knowing that to watch the same shows on Shaw I'd need not only basic cable ($25/month) but Super extra cable ($44/mth) and them finally HD($65/month) to get the 2 HD channels I'm getting now for free.

Sure I don't have 100 channels of filler, but less TV is good, and MythTV is a better PVR then my old shaw box which I sold for $300.

Re:I am Canadian,

[Anonymous Coward]

Then don't use those supplied boxes. I live on the continent and thus can't get a legal Sky subscription, but I can get access thru softcam cardsharing. If you can figure out the boxid or your sky equipment belonging to your smartcard you can use your smartcard with a softcam/smartcard writer and hook that up to any receiver with softcam support (like a dreambox or a software setup like http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/). If you keep it inhome my guess is that it is perfectly legal.

Re:I am Canadian,

[earthforce_1]

I am too, and this is exactly the sort of bull droppings that needs to be brought up in the Canadian Copyright consultations. http://speakoutoncopyright.ca/

These bogus anti-consumer "digital locks" need to be outlawed, not enshrined into law!

Can someone explain this?

[JoshuaZ]

Can someone who knows more about the subject maybe explain what the incentive is for Shaw Cable to do this? I don't have enough knowledge of the subject and I suspect I'm not the only reader in that boat.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone who knows more about the subject maybe explain what the incentive is for Shaw Cable to do this? I don't have enough knowledge of the subject and I suspect I'm not the only reader in that boat.

It's really quite simple (and, not surprisingly, outlined in TFA). By blocking digital output over the firewire port, Shaw is finding another way to lock consumers into using their own proprietary DVR/PVRs.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Talchas]

I suspect they sell/rent their own ones, or maybe rebranded tivos or something.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Anonymous Coward]

The incentive is they can make $15/mo from the rental of the HD PVR or sell it for $500 to someone: http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Television/HDTV/Hardware-HDPVR.htm The other two major cable companies - Cogeco and Rogers - do similar things. The actual "TiVO" brand isn't really used at all here, since everyone has the cable box PVR.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[soconn]

In Canada there is no cable card system, we are stuck with the providers boxes and they all suck. I'm with Rogers and their PVR forgets shows and refuses to play at times, I had a Tivo but when you move to HD you are SOL. The providers want you to stay with their system so you keep buying / renting their box... Firewire lets people break that link - thus they shut it down. Similar behavior can be seen on Rogers where they enable to do not record flag so that Windows Media center refuses to record some prime-time TV (even though the broadcast flag should not really exist in Canada).

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Bert64]

What if you ditch windows media center and run some more consumer-friendly software that would ignore the broadcast flag?

Re:Can someone explain this?

[soconn]

I believe Myth would work because it ignores the flag but the point I was trying to make is that the TV companies up here will try anything to screw their customers over ... these are the same companies who throttle internet connections, collude on cell phone plan pricing and try to squeeze out new competitors... now if we had a real regulatory body instead of the cable executives retirement home that is the CRTC then maybe these situations would never arise...

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Anonymous Coward]

No CableCARD indeed.

Every cable company's HD PVRs are overpriced (usually $600 + taxes), buggy and featureless
As for satellite, it's no cheaper, and their equipment sucks too (unreliable, featureless, and some are quite slow)
For both cable and satellite, you're getting "HD Lite", and paying hefty monthly subscriptions for loads of channels you don't want of
Forget about ClearQAM channels altogether
No real ways to record anything from cable or satellite on your PC, besides perhaps the $325 Hauppauge HD PVR (so-so quality due to lossy analog capture) on that $600 cable/satellite box, hoping they don't cripple the component outputs
OTA ATSC feeds are mostly non-existent, unless you live close enough to the border and manage to get some feeds from our southern neighbor or are in a city as big as Toronto which has a few of its own
Most video clubs and such places don't rent blu-ray movies yet, and hardly anyone has a player yet (nevermind the DRM crap)
HDTVs are significantly pricier up here than in the USA

This whole HDTV things sucks for us. By far the cheapest and most convenient method for us is to download the shows. I'd be more than willing to pay a decent amount for a few HD channels PVR'ed on my PC though.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[BitZtream]

In america we have cable card, and guess what, we're still stuck with provider boxes that all suck. The industry made sure cablecard was fucked up enough to be practically useless.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[ktandaeo]

That is the same worthless PVR that Comcast has here in the states.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[mattack2]

Maybe you are personally having a bad experience with cable cards, but you are completely wrong in generalizing the problem.

(Disclaimer -- I personally wish that it was still ANALOG, at least extended basic, and I wouldn't need ANY cable cards..)

But cable cards work fine for lots and lots of us. I have no cable company box/DVR, and use cable cards with my Tivo HD just fine -- the only problem I have is due to signal strength, but that would happen with their box too (there are too many splits already so I had to add my own amplifier to get a good signal in my bedroom to various recorders).

You should contact your local cable franchising authority and/or the FCC if you are unable to get cablecards to work in the devices you're trying to use them in.

Re:Can someone explain this?

[Lost Engineer]

What's wrong with cablecard other than no two way, which is supposedly being fixed?

This will get cracked in approximately...

[palegray.net]

Oh wait, someone probably already has. That aside, it won't stand government scrutiny this time, either.

Re:This will get cracked in approximately...

[Plaid Phantom]

It doesn't really matter whether it stands up to scrutiny. The cable company could just turn it back off when no one is looking. And even if it doesn't stay off, many people still may believe that a 3rd party DVR could effectively stop working at random and so go to the cable company's solution just because they can trust that the feature won't be turned off at random.

Re:This will get cracked in approximately...

[palegray.net]

I would have thought the Canadian government would do a better job than the U.S. gov of fining companies that engage in tactics like this. Am I wrong?

Re:This will get cracked in approximately...

[Bigjeff5]

Why the hell would you assume the Canadian government would do a better job of it?

Re:This will get cracked in approximately...

[palegray.net]

Three words: respective track records.

Always true in US

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm jealous that this is a story. Every cable box I've used in the U.S. encrypts data over firewire with the flag.

Re:Always true in US

[Anonymous Coward]

The article quotes an FCC ruling that they can't do that...

Re:Always true in US

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Because other articles (http://westcoastsuccess.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/shaw-cable-blocks-ieee1394-firewire-on-set-top-cable-boxes-again/) indicate that the US mandates Firewire remain unencrypted.

Which is true?

Re:Always true in US

[jamstar7]

Really? Because other articles (http://westcoastsuccess.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/shaw-cable-blocks-ieee1394-firewire-on-set-top-cable-boxes-again/) indicate that the US mandates Firewire remain unencrypted.

True enough. But Shaw Cable is a Canadian company providing service in Canada. And despite what some people might think, north of the Line, they really don't care much about what Washington thinks about things, they're much too busy keeping an eye on Ottawa.

Re:Always true in US

[nedlohs]

If you read the post that the reply was to, then maybe you wouldn't make an idiot of yourself as often?

Re:Always true in US

[angelbunny]

You're mistaken. Cable companies can only encrypt premium channels aka extended basic and above. In other words, approx the first 10 to 60 channels (depending on your area) should not have the flag and the rest most likely will.

Re:Always true in US

[supernova_hq]

I believe I speek for 95% of Canada when I say Screw Ottawa. Little-know secret, Canadians really don't like ottawa any more than Americans like Texas! :p

Re:Always true in US

[mzs]

It is much more restrictive in fact, read on:

I had cable circa 6 years ago during a promotional period. I had a motorola cable box with firewire and an iBook with a firewire port. I used the code from the Apple firewire SDK to record shows. Initially I could record everything but HBO (that was the only premium channel I had) to the iBook. I could record all shows to the internal drive in the cable box itself. There was a bug I stumbled upon in the cable box though that when I played a recorded show from the drive in the cable box it would also stream over the firewire port and in this way I could record the show to the iBook.

The reason for this was that the software on the cable box was so poor that the only way I could get it working again after about a month's use was restore (which included a format of all the shows you had recorded) and this was the only manner in which to keep those shows across such a restore.

Then one day I could no longer record anything to the iBook. I called and about a week later they restored the old behavior. Then a few months later they did it again. The only channels I could record to the iBook were the broad cast ones, ie ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, the local PBS, etc. All of the other basic, extended basic, and digital channels no longer recorded to the iBook. I then found out that this in fact was fine.

Cable needs to have every local broadcast channel. In today's terms that means all full power digital stations in your broadcast area (which in two cases has been smaller than what I actually got with a roof top and in attic antenna) and for those stations only the main sub-channel, 7.1 is required but 7.2 and 7.3 are not. They do not need to be in the same quality as broadcast. If you have a cable box with firewire, only those channels are required to be recordable via firewire.

So then I used the record to cable box drive and play while recording on the iBook work around I had discovered earlier. Then there was a new problem later. Comcast slightly changed the format of the file that was used to record analog cable channels to the cable box drive. So when I played back I could record with the iBook but then VLC was unable to play back the file. I did everything I could think of with transcode and ffmpeg but nothing worked. They did look very much like mpeg2 files but something was not right.

Then when I lost a bunch of Ghibli films not available in the US that I had recorded from TCM when the cable box crashed again I decided that was the end of Comcast for me when the promotion ran out. I installed an antenna in the attic and after that month I was done with them.

They also failed to deliver 12 dB of signal into my house for many months which caused all sorts of problems for my TVs (QAM and analog) and cable internet.

Comcast in Mass played the same games

[RightwingNutjob]

About a year ago, they started flagging broadcast channels on the box, even though they also transmitted unencrypted on a channel you can get with a regular QAM tuner. Then about six months ago, they unblocked almost everything on the Digital Starter plan. Someone with pull complained to the FCC, but as I understand, it was under the radar. I would personally like to see someone start making some noise about this, just to keep the cablecos honest, and discourage them from reflagging stuff. I mean, I understand encrypting the signal to the box, but if I legally have a box, I ought to be able to get at the data I pay for. This look-but-don't touch nonsense really ticks me off.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[intx13]

but if I legally have a box, I ought to be able to get at the data I pay for.

And if you legally have a song you ought to be able to listen to it as many times as you please. And if you legally have a movie you ought to be able to watch it in every room in the house. And if you legally have a video game you ought to be able to use it on as many computers as you wish.

Media companies feel that since media has no inherent usage limitations (transportation, duplication, accessibility, etc.) they've got to limit it purposefully. It's scary (and I'm not saying that facetiously) for someone who grew up when a product had a serial number, an owner, a size, a weight, to suddenly be in charge of selling an ephemeral product with nothing but a production cost that must be somehow recouped.

Wait until the kids that grew up with broadband are old enough to approach venture capitalists, to lobby congress, to go to court. Then we'll see some change.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[ScrewMaster]

Wait until the kids that grew up with broadband are old enough to approach venture capitalists, to lobby congress, to go to court. Then we'll see some change.

Probably not (although I hope I'm wrong.) We're being trained to accept this bullshit as the price we have to pay to receive our entertainment. Personally, I like to keep things in an open format so I can transcode them to, say, my G1 and watch them when I want to, wherever I want to. I guess I'm one of those people that hasn't been adequately monetized yet.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[tkrotchko]

I'm just curiuos; why would they bother with it? It implies some sort of financial gain for blocking the recording. Frankly, I can't believe a cable company cares very much about it one way or the other.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[mpaulsen]

First they make you accept their DVR box, then they change what the DVR box will allow you to do. Maybe they won't allow you to skip advertisements. They deliver more eyeballs to the advertisers and they make more money.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[Bert64]

The more they restrict these products, the more attractive torrents start to look...

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[Anonymous Coward]

I go first to check if i can watch the streaming from the show (legally), not available because i live in some other country.
Next step, i search iTunes if it is available, no luck.
Then check local DVDs, not available yet.
Check TV, can't record it and not free when they show it.
Finally, i go to usenet or torrents site to download it.

I actually willing to pay, it is not that i want to keep the stuff with me, i just want to watch the show, at the end if the show is good i buy the DVDs even if i have them already in my computer because to be honest, it is the only way to show my support.

But with so MANY restrictions they make it really hard to "legally" get the content.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[Anonymous Coward]

When you pay for cable, youre paying for the write to watch an item, not own it. You might feel you have the write to copy it to your Iphone but you dont. If you want to do that go out and buy the dvd. Cable is the option to view content, not own it

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[cdrguru]

SO what Firewire connected DVRs are out there that you can purchase? I can't think of a single one. So what is the Firewire port for, actually?

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[earthforce_1]

Bring this issue up in the Canadian Copyright consultations. Otherwise, not only will they get away with it, but the scrambling will be protected by DMCA like laws if they have their way!

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[ScrewMaster]

You might feel you have the write to copy it to your Iphone but you dont.

Actually, I do have the write (sic.) I'm not sure where you're getting your information from. For the time being, I'm going to assume you work for a cable company and have an axe to grind.

Re:Comcast in Mass played the same games

[ScrewMaster]

The more they restrict these products, the more attractive torrents start to look...

Torrents already look good, and as more users gain access to even faster connections, they'll start looking better. That's why there's so much focus on killing off the indexing sites.

Watching shows via torrent downloading kinda changes the way you watch TV ... makes it more like listening to MP3s. And if you have a portable player than can handle the more common video formats like AVI you're gold, if not there's plenty of good transcoding software out there. You just grab the files you want, stick them somewhere on your computer, and view them at your leisure. Generally, given the quality of digitizer boards nowadays, and the fact that the commercials are usually removed, the overall experience is better than what you get on your cable or satellite box.

I've been watching them lately since my UVerse setup has had all kins of line noise problems and I've been missing all my favorite shows. Gateway shuts down every so often from excessive FEC errors and the DVR then hangs. Pain in the ass (although the problem may end up being with the power company, we'll see.) In the meantime, I've been grabbing a few torrents since I don't want to miss my shows. I'm still paying for service that isn't working right, and until it does I'll find another way to get what I'm paying for.

Granted, such downloading doesn't leave much room for broadcasters to make any advertising dollars, but there are other ways to get paid. Matter of fact, one of those ways is the cable bill that I pay every month ... so far as I'm concerned, these wallet vamps have been double-dipping for a long time.

Does anyone else remember when the big sales pitch for cable TV was that there weren't any commercials because you were paying for the service rather than getting it for free? It was nice while it lasted, but it didn't last long.

why isnt this story tagged

[JeanBaptiste]

evilbit?

Re:why isnt this story tagged

[inject_hotmail.com]

evilbit?

Because it's not TCP/IP? Just sayin...

People still watch TV?

[thefringthing]

When is it going to go away?

Re:People still watch TV?

[Anonymous Coward]

How else would we know what to buy?

Re:People still watch TV?

[guruevi]

As soon as we get a decent IPTV offering but in the Westerner (Europe or USA) world we still don't have ANY providers that can give us select channels nor bundled channels over IP even if you're willing to pay double or triple for it. Sure they'll give you a set top box connecting to an encrypted or proprietary solution in select areas but nobody wants to provide to a single Internet-only subscriber with a third-party IPTV receiver. In areas like Asia and even more in the Middle East and Africa you can get an offer comparable to cable (~100 International channels - including ABC/CNN/NBC- for $30) but they don't offer in the US and apparently some have even made a deal with the content providers not to broadcast to the US while others quote issues with latency and bandwidth costs.

The only offering you can get over IPv4 is a distribution license (~100k/month) but even if you're willing to pay for that (eg. a large company like a hospital or a hotel chain) you can't get until you can prove several thousands of subscribers.

Re:People still watch TV?

[Anonymous Coward]

My cable bill is ~$150/mo after taxes/fees. $45 of it is internet alone. The $100 extra I spend a month could buy about 3 complete TV show seasons a month at an average of $30, or 2 at $50. 12 months a year means 24 to 36 shows. How many full seaons of TV do you watch a year? For us, and we're heavy TV watchers (on during work, etc) it's still really only about 4 shows per season, meaning we'd buy less than 10 shows a year yielding a pretty good savings. I've given great thought to canceling- digital broadcast sucks in our area though and we'd lose most of our news without a media center box to put it on the TV from websites. For me though, more importantly than the news really is stations like the Discovery, History, and Science Channels. I catch a lot of really interesting and informative things that I'd really miss out on if I canceled my TV. My son would also be unhappy at his loss of educational shows (Cyberchase on PBS, etc).

I'm no big fan of television as a medium, but until everyone goes OnDemand directly over the internet- eg I can pay for unlimited access on amazon, or from discovery channel, or get one free episode from every series (a 2 minute preview is insufficient), and watch individual shows from any content provider without needing the cable company, I have to say I'd rather spend the money for now.

Re:People still watch TV?

[angelbunny]

I think people watch TV because of sports related channels and news mainly.

Re:People still watch TV?

[Culture20]

I've still got a backlog of VCR tapes of news programs to watch. Don't tell me who won the 2008 presidential election yet, I want it to be a surprise.

Will US cable co's do the same crap with tru2way s

[Joe The Dragon]

Will US cable co's do the same crap with tru2way systems as under the rules now they will have full control and can lock stuff out on your own box.

Comcast will find a way to get there $15-$20 /m per box on a HD dvr. Some comcast systems right now make you pay HD cable card fees + cable card rent and some times a outlet fee as well.

also why can't you buy your own cable box hear and not have to deal with the cable card mess.

at lest direct tv gets it right 1 HD fee per house and 1 drv fee per house. Box rent just 5/m for any box box 1 free.

The CRTC is useful somehow?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, the CRTC is doing something besides blocking foreign content?

It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

Give it a go. You'd be amazed at how quickly you stop worrying about what's on the TV anyway.

This. I gave up TV a while ago and I don't miss it at all. It'll be one of the most liberating things you'll do. After a while, you'll be wondering why you ever let that shit get into your brain for hours a day. Just like how a chain smoker quits and starts wondering to himself why he let himself breathe in a pack a day worth of smoke and carcinogens.

Every once in a while, I'll watch the Daily Show or 30 Rock, but I figure that's like having the occasional smoke or cigar with a drink.

People can go on and on with their righteous indignation over how they record their HDTV programming but when you walk away from it, you'll realize that getting your panties in a twist about a TV program is indicative of an addiction, not rationality.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[revoldub]

I'm assuming that your comparison of TV and cigarettes would in turn imply the comparison of internet and crack.
Sure anyone can go without TV, but NO INTERNET?!?!?! ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY MAN!??!? I GOTTA HAVE MY INTERNET!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mindbrane]

3 years for me, but it's not as difficult as quitting smoking. The rewards are probably as great or greater than quitting smoking. The time freed up for living is the most mind blowing thing, not to mention being able to keep up with the core science stuff and getting back to being playfully curious rather than a spoon fed couch potato.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

Well, if you're anything like me, you substituted one addiction for another. Mine teh internets. It's like trading nicotine for cocaine.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

You *are* aware that the internet isn't just for facebook and youtube, right? In fact many people (heck, most people on Slashdot) use it as a *tool* to get work done. I just ssh'ed into the server at my lab so that I could check on a bioinformatics project that I have going on. For me, the internet is a tool that I use to be more productive, check Slashdot and to keep up on news without my TV

TV is pretty much only about entertainment and wasting time.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[wiredlogic]

I gave up on TV when I realized that I was often feeling bad for missing shows I wanted to watch and how meaningless my attachment to them was. It makes no sense to be emotionally manipulated by worthless entertainment. It doesn't hurt that the networks only pump out dreck nowadays. Other than small dose of news and educational shows I occupy myself elsewhere.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[lumenistan]

Meh... it's not that bad. I haven't been on the internet now for months, and I don't miss it one bit. :p

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mldi]

I'm assuming that your comparison of TV and cigarettes would in turn imply the comparison of internet and crack. Sure anyone can go without TV, but NO INTERNET?!?!?! ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY MAN!??!? I GOTTA HAVE MY INTERNET!

I know that can seem tough too, but after awhile you don't even realize it's there. I've been free of the 'net for about 3 days now, and.... oh CRAP!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have found that righteous indignation usually comes from those that don't watch TV and feel the need to tell everyone about it.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Ihmhi]

Exactly! I used to waste 6 hours a day watching television. Instead, I now waste 10 hours a day on the Internet, and it's done wonders for my life!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's nice how you admit that checking slashdot and keeping up with news are separate things.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

Nah. You're but an AC, but I'll help you out anyway. If you had any sort of decent education, you'd know how to pick up the tone of a given written passage. Because you are failing to understand the blindingly obvious that even the most brain dead blithering idiot would have picked up is that parent post and this reply are examples of condescension.

Okay, now you have a chance to be righteously indignant.

See what I did there?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[intx13]

I too gave up cable for precisely this reason: Cox wouldn't give me a box with working Firewire (despite angry phone calls to managers citing the FCC regulation that requires it here in the States). After a few weeks I decided that the cost of pursuing it further up the ladder and the cost of the service in the first place wasn't worth the quality of service, so I cut the cord.

I replaced my cable subscription with broadcast HD (for sports, particularly the home team) and a two-at-a-time Netflix subscription, which worked out quite well.

Anyway, for some people television is as important a media as the Internet is for us here on Slashdot. There's certainly a lot more intelligent material on the Internet than on television, but face it, most people aren't using the Internet for that anyway. Television is a good way to turn your brain off and relax, which, in moderation, can be a good thing.

My guess is that, like the FCC, the relevant Canadian authorities have little care about this particular issue. Cable companies in the states don't blink when you cite the FCC. Everyone but a single tech at Cox claimed straight-faced that the FCC mandated no such thing. Either they haven't heard of it before, have never had anyone complain before, or simply hoped I'd go away.

(Incidentally, I made it very clear to the manager of the local Cox management why I was disconnecting my service and why I would encourage others to do the same. He didn't seem fazed and I never got any offers for reduced cost service.)

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[lastgoodnickname]

I never even start on the internet. I go around looking at drawings on cave walls.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[skine]

Meh... it's not that bad. I haven't been on the internet now for months, and I don't miss it one bit. :p

oblig xkcd

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[ScrewMaster]

It's nice how you admit that checking slashdot and keeping up with news are separate things.

What? Slashdot isn't news?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[yanos]

Yeah but at least your are seeking intertainment, rather than being spoon fed, like the GP said. It's a much more active brain state. If sometimes being on teh internets means reading interesting things, you're no really wasting your time.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Flere Imsaho]

Cocaine and hookers, you mean - don't forget the pron ;-)

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

Don't forget the porn? What did you think I meant by the internet?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[hampton]

Obligatory Onion:

Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Mozk]

Don't ever go to TV Tropes.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[SmlFreshwaterBuffalo]

You *are* aware that TV isn't just for reality shows and pay-per-view, right?

I find it amusing that in the same post you are both defending the internet as a tool for checking the news and stating that TV is only about entertainment and wasting time, considering TV has been one of the primary sources for news for years.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[rtb61]

I though the internet was for free pron and computer gaming, you mean you actually use if for work, damn what a waste ;).

Of course what is really good about the internet is you can do a whole bunch of things. Commerce, politics, education, social interaction etc. it is basically a digital bridge between you and everybody else that's connected and planet's worth of digitised data.

So yeah, who cares what cable networks wants to do or what free to air want to do, I have not watched either one of them this year at home, not once, not even a few seconds worth, your perception of life does alter when you are free from the endless manipulative drone of mass media adds. I get most everything from the net, apart from some DVD content bought cheap and legal and, that is basically just as background entertainment.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Runaway1956]

Yes. If I had mod points, parent and GP would BOTH get them.

A life that revolves around TV scheduling is an empty, shallow life, IMHO. People need to get out and DO STUFF. Basket weaving seems a silly pastime to me, but I would much rather do a little basket weaving with a grand daughter, than to waste those hours watching spongebob, or some other mindless "humor".

If a person has NOTHING better to do with their time, then they should get out and meet neighbors. Doing things with and for other people is a rewarding activity, in and of itself. The old widow around the corner might even remember you in her will, if you spend time with her.

("To my cats, I leave my fortune of $98.32. To my daughter, I leave my wardrobe. To my son, I leave the heap in the garage that hasn't run since 1963. And, oh yes, I remember that sweet young man who sat on the porch with me from time to time!")

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Bigjeff5]

Have you ever actually watched the news on TV? Especially cable news?

It's just a morbid form of entertainment, 99% of the time you aren't getting anything useful out of it, and would do better getting your news elsewhere.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[n dot l]

I gave up TV a while ago and I don't miss it at all.

I did the same thing. We had 200 channels of satellite TV (Bell), but no more than three interesting things would be on at any given time, and nine times out of ten they would be reruns. So I cancelled my subscription, and it's been amazing how much free time opened up. It was certainly more than $length_of_show_I_like (even including commercials) times $episodes_per_season. All the time wasted turning the TV on a few minutes early to catch the start and then maybe watching just one more half-hour afterwards added up to lot more time than it seems.

Every once in a while, I'll watch the Daily Show or 30 Rock

You don't even need to give up watching the shows you like if you give up the cable/satellite package. You can get the few shows you really like online or on DVD. It's silly, actually, that I ever paid for regular TV. Given how overpriced it is, and how few of the shows actually have any substance to them, it is cheaper (at least in my case) to buy every show I like on DVD than it is to maintain even a basic cable/satellite subscription. And it's pretty easy to get the price down further by borrowing box sets from friends or renting (to say nothing of torrenting).

The best part, I've found, of getting shows on DVD is the fact that it's more fun to watch that way. First, you do it on your own time, so there's no anxiety about getting home in time to catch the start. Second, there are no (or at least fewer, if you're watching online) commercial interruptions, which I found make a huge impact in my enjoyment of the show.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

This. Three years without TV and I don't miss it. You can still catch the latest episodes of your favourite series on Hulu (if you're from the U.S.) or via torrents (if anywhere else), but this will take up 3-5 hours a week of your time - if you follow a few shows - as opposed to 10-50. The remaining time can be used to code, draw, socialize with friends, write music, pursue that hobby you always wanted more time for, etc.

I had a television set for a couple of weeks just a month ago and it didn't take long to be put off by all the commercial breaks and other plain idiot programming.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the internet is the intelligence and we are all the tool? Perhaps some tools are sharper than others. When does it become an addiction and when does it start to dull our senses, our wit, and our ability to think and act for ourselves? Maybe you were right to bring up social networking, but then there is also porn, and anime, and lolcats. I can has cheeseburger people are seriously the scariest next to the world of warcrack addicts. I'd stop using the internet, but I like to dull out once in awhile. I just hope it doesn't kill me. I'm serious. I'm beginning to think this is bad for the health of humankind. As such, I vow to use the internet more. Mmm mmm pr0n.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[T Murphy]

Translation: they canceled my favorite show so I swore to never watch TV again.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[wasmoke]

OK this is a really dumb question, but what's with the "This?" I've been seeing it a lot lately and just don't get it. I'm not trying to be a jackass or anything here, I really don't understand.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Brickwall]

This is in reply to all the posters above who wrote variations on the "There's nothing worth watching on TV anyway" theme. Are you kidding me?

Mad Men is a brilliant depiction of early 60's life on Madison Avenue. Breaking Bad is riveting drama. And Rescue Me oscillates between balls-out humour and tragedy. I don't mind giving up three hours a week for the 16 new episodes each year of these shows. And, although in this post-literate world I doubt many realize it, most of Charles Dickens' classics were written as weekly serials that were eagerly awaited by his readers at the time.

At the same time, I enjoy spending time with my two teenage daughters watching The Simpsons and South Park. That's a communal experience where we share observations and thoughts triggered not only by the shows, but by the news breaks and even commercials.

I'll admit most prime time network fare leaves me cold (House is an exception), but there always seems to be something interesting on the "speciality" channels. Watching Deadliest Catch for example, made me much more cognizant of how exactly that king crab got on my plate. I've learned a lot about cooking from the Food Network. National Geographic and History channels both provide more depth to subjects which I previously knew only cursorily.

But here's the real thing: are you all brainless single-taskers? As I write this, there's a TV show playing next to me. I work at home, and I have both my computer and TV on pretty much all day. It doesn't seem to affect my ability to get work done.

And if I'm watching a set that's not near my computer, I usually have a book or magazine in my hand. Just last night, my daughters convinced me to watch "America's Best Dance Crew" with them. (My elder daughter spent 7 years in competitive dance before giving it up for soccer.) I was so proud of both of them. They paid attention while the different groups did their dance sets, listened to the judges' comments, and then both immediately turned away from the commercials and other drivel, and started reading the novels that were in their laps.

If your idea of watching TV is sitting with a remote in one hand, a drink in the other, and a bowl of chips in your lap, then I agree, get rid of your idiot box. But if you treat it as another, parallel, information source, and have some other useful content at hand, then TV can be entertaining, stimulating, and informative.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[moosesocks]

Give it a go. You'd be amazed at how quickly you stop worrying about what's on the TV anyway.

This. I gave up TV a while ago and I don't miss it at all. It'll be one of the most liberating things you'll do. After a while, you'll be wondering why you ever let that shit get into your brain for hours a day. Just like how a chain smoker quits and starts wondering to himself why he let himself breathe in a pack a day worth of smoke and carcinogens.

Every once in a while, I'll watch the Daily Show or 30 Rock, but I figure that's like having the occasional smoke or cigar with a drink.

People can go on and on with their righteous indignation over how they record their HDTV programming but when you walk away from it, you'll realize that getting your panties in a twist about a TV program is indicative of an addiction, not rationality.

Once again, real life imitates The Onion: Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[zmollusc]

Yeah, I only encounter it on the intartubes and again only recently. I assume it is shorthand for 'I agree wholeheartedly with this'. I wonder if it from some tv show or something?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

Once again, real life imitates The Onion: Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television.

That's a funny article. I guess I would be imitating him if this wasn't the first time I've mentioned on /. that I don't own a TV. Come to think of it, the last person who I told that I didn't own or watch a TV was a salesgirl at Frys who asked me if I had cable or satellite. That was some 4 months ago.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Weedhopper]

This, QFT and +1 means the same thing, at least the way I understand it. I see it a lot more on vBulletin. Just another way of saying 'agreed wholeheartedly.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[BitZtream]

Its nice that you can lie to yourself and fall for it.

You missed them because they weren't worthless to you. Entertainment is far from worthless. Its very cool that you feel special because now you don't need to watch those shows, but in reality you're just in denial. You wouldn't even be posting if you truely didn't miss them anymore. They wouldn't even come to your mind, but the reality of it is, you still miss TV and you're just trying to convince yourself that you still don't need it and you can continue to resist it.

I typically find that people who are so impressed with themselves for not watching TV have replaced it with something equally 'worthless' such as playing WoW or reading random crap on the Internet and calling it 'educational' or some other BS about why its better.

Its fine that you don't watch TV, but give up with your bullshit excuses and stop trying to convince everyone else that your ability to no longer watch TV is impressive, we really don't give a fuck if you deny yourself something you like in order to prove some point to yourself that only exists in your head.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Svartormr]

Word.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[hab136]

I gave up TV a while ago and I don't miss it at all. It'll be one of the most liberating things you'll do.

The downside is that the urge to tell people that you don't watch TV becomes very, very strong. :)

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm assuming that your comparison of TV and cigarettes would in turn imply the comparison of internet and crack.
Sure anyone can go without TV, but NO INTERNET?!?!?! ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY MAN!??!? I GOTTA HAVE MY INTERNET!

The social networking sites are crack. Slashdot, wikipedia and so on are more sophisticated, maybe high-grade cocaine

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mftb]

Then what's TV Tropes?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[GrindStone0]

but that don't mean that while using it as a tool for work that people don't use it for silly things, like asking for a job from a random stranger. I have a masters in bioinformatics you know...

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[couchslug]

"You *are* aware that the internet isn't just for facebook and youtube, right?"

The internet is for porn/P2P/warez.
Facebook and Youtube merely give us something to do between downloads.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[ilikejam]

Fire Wire Cox Box. Heh heh heh.

Yeah. Still a bit drunk.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree that the internet may be as addictive as watching TV. Nonetheless, the internet is far more useful and valuable than TV. After all, while the internet offers you countless ways to interact with people and learn all kinds of stuff, when you watch TV you just lie there inactive, practically brain dead. For example, thanks to the internet I learnt to program in a hand full of programming languages, planned trips, picked tourist spots, informed myself on the best set of products to buy, just to say a few. You don't get to do that with a TV. So, that means that your may compare the internet to cocaine when TV is nicotine if and only if cocaine was vastly more life-enriching than nicotine.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[scarboni888]

Indeed. Remember: it's only news if there's someone who doesn't want it printed / broadcast. Everything else is fluff.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah but 5 of these are on the job so I ahve a net gain !

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Dragonslicer]

This, QFT and +1 means the same thing, at least the way I understand it. I see it a lot more on vBulletin. Just another way of saying 'agreed wholeheartedly.

And yet how much would someone get flamed if they used the words "Me too" instead?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

Save Firefly!!!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[kannibal_klown]

This is in reply to all the posters above who wrote variations on the "There's nothing worth watching on TV anyway" theme. Are you kidding me?

Mad Men is a brilliant depiction of early 60's life on Madison Avenue. Breaking Bad is riveting drama. And Rescue Me oscillates between balls-out humour and tragedy.

I agree with the sentiment, though I don't watch your examples much.

There is simple so content out there you cannot generalize and say there's nothing worth watching. Books are in the same exact situation: there are a lot of trashy (or even simply bad) novels out there. Go to a local supermarket or grocery store and you'll see a bunch of trashy romance novels filling an entire section, with Fabio on the older covers. Go to a library or book store and pick a genre, you'll get so lost in the noise you won't know what to pick and a good fraction of those books are probably bad. There are a LOT of poorly written books out there.

Do I say there's nothing worth reading?
No. Even though my tastes lie in specific areas I agree that there are definitely works of art out there, even recently written, that I might enjoy or might not.

Do I want to look through each book at the local Borders or Barnes and Noble? No. Yet I still manage to read a fair amount lately, I just try to find something that will interest me.

TV is similar: yes there is a lot of garbage out there but there are also good pieces as well. Some of the dramas and comedies are of high caliber and merit watching from beginning to end. If you don't want to waste your time trying to find that diamond in the rough, then that's more than your right.

But I hate it when people say there's NOTHING on.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[houghi]

I stopped watching news a long time ago. To me it is either irrelevant or I can't do anything about it, but panic. I do have in Belgium the ability to see several news broadcasts: In total I am guessing some 15 different ones.

Seriously, why should I know that a plane crashed in the Hudson? The news now is really "Pics or it didn't happen." Buying news is cheaper then making it, so except for some local items (and even then) I see the same news in 9 countries I am able to get it from.

A few years ago during the late hours German TV broadcasted news from 30 years ago. Same shit, different names. Even the local news was the same.

I just can't be botherd by it anymore.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[hesiod]

Damn you! I just now have escaped!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[hesiod]

A life that revolves around TV scheduling is an empty, shallow life,

That's why I own a DVR.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about the daily show, but you can get your hit of 30 rock from www.nbc.com they allow internet broadcast of shows of this type. Also, if you have a local NBC affiliate, you can receive the show through the broadcast TV, I use my TV tuner card to pick up NBC shows from the air in full HD with 5.1 surround sound. Pretty nice for a antenna connection.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean there is something other then Pron on the internet? I thought that was what it was invented for...

Interesting how the CAPATCHA was Addicts...

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[CompMD]

WHHOOOOOOSSSHHH

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Bigjeff5]

Slacker! I waste 12 hours a day on the job surfing the net.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Bigjeff5]

So you can have your empty, shallow life on YOUR schedule, damnit!

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[PitaBred]

So... if I only watch TV via my DVR, never live, that would mean I'm seeking entertainment the same way, right?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the statement necessary here is "to each his own". And for your initial argument of having the TV on while doing other things... one can do that JUST as easily with either the DVD series of a show, or by downloading or streaming the show online. And it saves a ton of money.

Alternatively, since you just have the tv 'on', one can do the same with the radio, only completely for free. Or a CD. Or an mp3 player. Or again... streaming audio media.

Nnnnope, I count myself in the 'To hell with TV' pile of people... over 2 years running. Of the maybe 3 or so shows I want to watch... that's what the good old internet is for. No ads, and I watch when I want, how I want, without the need to buy/build a PVR.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[louiswins]

This. It's always confused me, too.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh... it's not that bad. I haven't been on the internet now for months, and I don't miss it one bit. :p

And i take it you made this post via Smoke Signals to the Slashdot HQ right? :)

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have Cocks(Cox) here too.. and they freakin sucks arse. They could care less if they lose a subscription or not, and they pretty much look at it as "oh well not my problem". Ive even asked them pointblank about them blocking certain inbound ports (80 & 25), knowing that they do. I was told flat out that Cocks(Cox) doesn't do ANY blocking on and of their services.

IMO, there needs to be a restructuring of the way local cable companies run because they know they are the only game in town (for the most part) which allows them free reign over pricing/service.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[CastrTroy]

But then why for TV do so many people feel the need to get a feed of everything including all the junk, whereas for books, you buy only exactly what you want. I think eventually TV will switch to a service where you pay only for exactly what you are watching. If it was just me (and not my wife or kids) watching the TV, I would have switched off TV long ago and just watched everything by downloading from iTunes or similar services. I think it will take a while (probably not less than 10 years), for the general public to switch over to this idea, but I definitely think it's where things are eventually headed.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mattack2]

Yes, I watch the NBC Nightly News every day. Even though it's only about ~22 minutes without commercials, it's still very informative. I also listen to the Nightline podcasts, and read newspapers, though mostly on the weekends for several hours. (As for 'cable news', I often leave CNN on as background noise as I go to sleep, but usually buffer it up and FF through commercials and especially annoying blathering.)

This blind hatred towards TV and TV news is really annoying. Heck, I like a lot of 'dumb' reality shows, but I also watch a lot of documentaries.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mattack2]

You should (have) complain(ed) TO the FCC *and your local cable franchising authority*. While I have no personal experience on the matter, I have seen at least a few anecdotal stories in discussions on tivocommunity.com and avsforum.com about how people have succeeded in getting the "don't copy" bit turned off on channels it is not legally allowed to be on (e.g. OTA stations on cable). Going to the franchise authority resulted in quick results, when going through the regular customer service didn't.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[CohibaVancouver]

After a while, you'll be wondering why you ever let that sh1t get into your brain for hours a day

Obligatory "Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television" link:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[mattack2]

I would agree with you, *if* the price were much much lower. There's no way I'd pay $2/episode for every single show I watch. I'd pay WAY more than I pay now.

I would even pay the same that I pay now if I could *turn off* the channels that I don't actively watch (all shopping channels, all religious channels, sports channels except for poker and sometimes the little league world series, and a zillion other channels)... just to give specific reinforcement about what I actually watch. (Obviously, on my Tivos I only have the specific channels I watch/care about as 'channels I receive'.)

But pay for each specific episode? Unfortunately I don't think that is feasible. Plus, will the premiere episode of every show be free? I definitely want to check out new shows (sometimes at least a couple of episodes).. but don't want to have to pay for all of them.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[ChaosDiscord]

I don't mind the hours of my life spent watching television; I'm just picky to only watch good stuff. However, I would very much like to recover the hours of my life spent listening to people proudly tell me about how wonderful their life is since they gave up television. Can I somehow give them up?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[StikyPad]

Looks like you made the news yourself.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[couchslug]

"It's like trading nicotine for cocaine."

Less fatal and more stimulating?

Most TV programs make the -1 posts on Slashdot seem brilliant by comparison. TV always was, is, and always will be a pacifier for retards. Its only use is to masturbate viewer stupidity.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[khellendros1984]

Hallucination due to oxygen deprivation to the brain?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Brickwall]

I believe the statement necessary here is "to each his own". And for your initial argument of having the TV on while doing other things... one can do that JUST as easily with either the DVD series of a show, or by downloading or streaming the show online. And it saves a ton of money.

First, off, brush up on your reading skills. I'm working on my computer - how exactly do I stream the show at the same time without slowing down my work? Most of the shows I like aren't legally available for download. And why do I want to spend money on DVD's when I rarely watch a show more than once? Also, since both a full cable package and high speed internet are included in my rent, and there's no discount available for cancelling, why not take advantage of it?

Alternatively, since you just have the tv 'on', one can do the same with the radio, only completely for free. Or a CD. Or an mp3 player. Or again... streaming audio media.

I stopped listening to radio three or four years ago. There's just nothing I want to hear, and the music/ad ratio seems to be less than 1. But when I have the TV "on", I also use it as a DEW signal that everything's OK. If a tornado was coming, my TV would be beeping warnings like crazy, regardless of what station or show I was watching. And since part of my work revolves around the financial world, I flip between financial news channels. Again, I'm able to multi-task - pay attention to what I'm writing, and understand what's on the TV.

Nnnnope, I count myself in the 'To hell with TV' pile of people... over 2 years running. Of the maybe 3 or so shows I want to watch... that's what the good old internet is for. No ads, and I watch when I want, how I want, without the need to buy/build a PVR.

So your advice to me is become an internet pirate, and download p2p traffic (which could put me up against a traffic limit and/or shaping), when it's all available for free? Thanks, I appreciate that.

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

obligatory

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[Ihmhi]

I only work 8 hours a day. Maybe I should try to get more overtime?

Re:It's like quitting smoking.

[n dot l]

Nnnnope, I count myself in the 'To hell with TV' pile of people... over 2 years running. Of the maybe 3 or so shows I want to watch... that's what the good old internet is for. No ads, and I watch when I want, how I want, without the need to buy/build a PVR.

So your advice to me is become an internet pirate, and download p2p traffic (which could put me up against a traffic limit and/or shaping), when it's all available for free? Thanks, I appreciate that.

Who says you have to be a pirate? A lot of networks have started putting their stuff online in simple flash players. You get practically no ads (there'll be 0-1/commercial break, or maybe just some silent banners on the side), and you watch whatever episode of whatever show whenever you want whenever you want. Yes, the site goes down from time to time, but given the price I can live with it. That's how I watch South Park and The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Listener, and a bunch of other stuff I enjoy. I know there are other options as well.

Shows I can't find on there, I buy on DVD. Every episode of Futurama, a good fraction of Family Guy, and several BBC documentaries I loved (Planet Earth, etc) is sitting on a shelf less than two meters away from me right now. All of it combined cost roughly the same as one season's worth of satellite TV. And they're also valuable as a means to get legal access to other shows for free ("Hey, can I borrow your Simpsons DVDs? I'll lend you my Futurama in return...").

Obsolete?

[hemp]

I thought firewire was obsolete anyhow?

Re:Obsolete?

[MightyYar]

What the heck replaced it?

Re:Obsolete?

[jo42]

Universal Silly Bus AKA "USB".

Re:Obsolete?

[dotgain]

Unusably Slow Bus more like it. That's why Firewire is still around.

Re:Obsolete?

[angelbunny]

If you want to capture video firewire is the way to go. USB is terrible in comparison.

Re:Obsolete?

[MightyYar]

Egads, no. I still make sure that I buy Firewire peripherals, especially hard drives. Ever try to copy from one USB drive to another? Or to capture video onto a USB drive? Firewire is the SCSI heir apparent.

Re:Obsolete?

[Wolfrider]

--eSATA, for the most part. But I still prefer Firewire over USB2.

Re:Obsolete?

[MightyYar]

I would probably go with eSATA, but I haven't owned a laptop with it yet. Maybe next time I'm in the market for an external case I'll buy an expresscard eSATA adaptor... of course, I have to be careful to get one that is PCIe rather than USB or I'm being counter-productive :) So confusing!

Re:Obsolete?

[Wolfrider]

--It's like day and night. Firewire is better than USB2, but eSATA runs the drive at "native" speed.

--Using Linux + JFS filesystem, I might get 25-30MB/sec writing to Firewire; using eSATA can go up to 50MB or even 100MB/sec burst speed, depending on the drive and SATA card. Well worth the expense of getting a combo external drive carrier like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347016

( Disclaimer - I own the above product and am quite happy with it. )

Re:Obsolete?

[Wolfrider]

Actually I was a bit hasty - the one I own is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347017

Re:Obsolete?

[MightyYar]

Yeah, I'll probably get something like that next time I need an enclosure, although my current MacAlly gave me trouble with the built-in firewire, so I'm not sure I'll get another one... their support was okay, but along the lines of, "Yeah, that's a known problem... we're getting some new boards in a couple of weeks. We can send one out to you if you'd like." Since I needed the drive ASAP, I decided to just get a cheap PCI card rather than return to NewEgg for another model.

Redundant

[DaMattster]

TV has been basically made redundant by the internet. I can watch all the shows I want via streaming video on the web or buy episodes. I don't really know why I still keep Dish Network other than that I am still in the promotional period. Once this period expires, I will strongly consider dropping them altogether.

Re:Redundant

[schnikies79]

I can't watch live NFL and Hockey via the net, nor can I watch a lot of re-runs of the older shows I like.

Sports are the most important, as I'm a sports nut.

Re:Redundant

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't watch live NFL and Hockey via the net, nor can I watch a lot of re-runs of the older shows I like.

Sports are the most important, as I'm a sports nut.

So you're a jock-sniffer. Tell me, Mr. Jock-Sniffer, how does your idolatry of overpaid athletes differ in any way whatsoever from the more blatant celebrity worship you see on a show like Entertainment Tonight, which places high value on knowing the personal lives of people you have never met merely because they are entertainers? Oh right, because your demographic is somewhat younger males while their demographic is postmenopausal women with empty-nest syndrome. Otherwise you're both just fanboys. I bet when your team wins you say "yay WE won" as though you had anything to do with it.

Re:Redundant

[Bert64]

In some parts of the world...
We cannot access many of the streaming services, because they are geo-restricted.
We have bandwidth caps which prevent us downloading very much anyway.

The only option is torrents, but that doesn't get round the bandwidth caps... Some people have resorted to trading portable hard drives with friends/colleagues.

Re:Redundant

[B4D BE4T]

I used to be just about as against pro sports as you are. "I don't want to pay to watch some guy throw/catch a football and get paid millions of dollars to do it despite the fact that it contributes next to nothing to society," I would say. However, a few of my friends are really into football. Occasionally I would watch a game with them or listen to them rattle off stats. They seemed to enjoy it a lot, so eventually I decided to give it a try. I picked a team, memorized the roster and a few stats, started watching their games regularly, bet on some of the games with friends, and got involved with fantasy football. It turned out to be pretty fun -- and cheap. Many of the games are free on local channels. Some are on cable channels which would require a cable subscription, but that is pretty cheap. Or any of the games can be seen at any sports bar that has the NFL Sunday Ticket. I still wouldn't pay the hundreds of dollars that they charge for a decent seat at the stadium though.

And yes, when I have money riding on a game and my team wins, I do say "we won." :P

Odd timing... they've finally got competition

[WoTG]

I'm surprised that Shaw would be doing this. For the first time ever, they've actually got competition for TV in their key markets. Telus, the incumbent phone company in BC and Alberta (the bulk of the Shaw areas) is now offering TV over ADSL in the major urban areas, and unlike satellite, Telus can offer PPV and all the other TV goodies.

Maybe there is a licensing issue with their channel providers? Otherwise, I don't see the point in antagonizing users - especially since the people who have even heard of FireWire are probably on the higher-end packages.

Re:Odd timing... they've finally got competition

[PFAK]

How is TELUS competition to Shaw? They have a very small footprint for deployment and inferior technology:

You can get a maximum of 2 TV's streaming at the same time with TTV assuming you're right next to a DSLAM/CO and you can only get 3.0Mbps Internet if you have TTV.

Re:Odd timing... they've finally got competition

[WoTG]

I know one person on TTV. He's happy enough - it also worked out to be quite a lot cheaper, they threw in the PVR, I think.

I'm not sure that the 2 TV stream thing is that big a deal for a lot of people. Do a lot of households really expect to watch 3 TV's at once? Would many households admit to it?

And the Internet speed... yep, it's limited, I think it actually goes higher if the TV feeds aren't being used.

Re:Odd timing... they've finally got competition

[compro01]

Sasktel here in Saskatchewan has been doing the same for several years with their Max service. There's a nice 3-way battle for TV/phone/internet between Shaw, Access (Though they run on Shaw's network), and Sasktel.

Re:Odd timing... they've finally got competition

[codeguy007]

Umm our satellite service most definitely offers Pay Per View. What it doesn't offer is Video On Demand and the reception sucks during a hard rain.

Two Words.

[zonky]

Live Sport. That's really the only thing that keeps me subscribed to our local pay tv provider.

Re:Two Words.

[apoc.famine]

For the price of your pay provider, could you replace it with a subscription to a Sports Bar?
 
Not saying it's in any way feasible, based on how much you may watch per month, but plenty of bars/pubs are happy to sell you a beer while you watch a game.

HD PVR

[supun]

I battled with my cable company to get them to enable the firewire on my cable box. After a long battle, they did. However only the over-the-air channels were not encrypted. The rest, including the HD channels, were 5C encrypted.

Instead of playing their little game, I purchased a HD PVR from Hauppauge. It's a component (Y,Pb,Pr) input recorder. Now there is no way to block me, except by disabling the component output on the cable box.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR

Re:HD PVR

[AmberBlackCat]

I'm confused. It seems like they're sending video through a firewire port but they're encrypting it to make it useless. What exactly is encrypted firewire data for? Is there some box that decrypts it? If there is, why not get one of those? If there isn't, why don't they just turn the port off completely instead of sending data through it that nobody can use?

Re:HD PVR

[dgatwood]

Sure, they can. If your cable box supports it, they could enable analog output degradation and scale the analog outputs down to fractional resolution. There's only one way to record HDTV content that is guaranteed to be unstoppable: an HDCP stripper with an HDMI capture card....

Re:HD PVR

[ScrewMaster]

If there isn't, why don't they just turn the port off completely instead of sending data through it that nobody can use?

PR, I would assume. They can claim that they're making data available without actually making it available. "The port is active, but if people don't know how to use it it's not our fault."

Re:HD PVR

[Anonymous Coward]

The encryption on Firewire is like HDMI encryption. Licensed devices still work with it, like D-VHS decks. So yes, even if your Firewire is 5C encrypted, the cable company can say you can use it because it works with third-party consumer electronics.

The problem people have is they assume because Linux can't understand it, it's useless. The lawmakers and the lobbies would beg to differ, unfortunately.

Re:HD PVR

[tlhIngan]

Sure, they can. If your cable box supports it, they could enable analog output degradation and scale the analog outputs down to fractional resolution. There's only one way to record HDTV content that is guaranteed to be unstoppable: an HDCP stripper with an HDMI capture card....

Already solved. Hauppage HD-PVR, with a HD Fury 2. The HD Fury 2 converts HDMI (up to 1080p, but the HD-PVR only does 1080i), WITH HDCP, to component video. It's designed for older TVs that have component video (or VGA) inputs to accept HDMI, but it works with an HD-PVR.

HDCP ensures that you can't get a degraded image unless the HD Fury's keys are revoked.

Might want to stock up on a few while they're still legal.

Re:HD PVR

[dgatwood]

That device almost certainly violates the HDCP spec, and if and when the cable company decides that it does, they can trivially add its key to the list of keys their cable box should reject, at which point the HD Fury 2 becomes a useless brick that outputs a black screen. I'd give it six months. A year, tops. Like I said, the only way to guarantee that you can record the content involves some seriously legally dubious activities.

Re:HD PVR

[spire3661]

I dont think device vendors can revoke keys, only the BR consortium.

Re:HD PVR

[cbraescu1]

Don't worry, they'll "fix" this ;-)

Re:HD PVR

[RMH101]

I'm sure you're right, but if I were in the business of creating HDCP-avoiding hardware like this I'd spoof the key of a major household brand like Sony. Try revoking that without starting a revolt...

Re:HD PVR

[dgatwood]

The BR consortium oversees Blu-Ray. This is a cable box we're talking about, not a BD player. HDCP is licensed by a subsidiary of Intel, and has nothing to do with the BR consortium except that they require the use of HDCP in order to build a licensed BD player.

Re:HD PVR

[dgatwood]

Agreed... well... mostly. If I personally were building an HDCP stripper and selling it, I would do exactly what Hauppauge did. Anything else would get my license revoked and potentially open me up to civil and/or criminal penalties. If, however, I were the sort of person who would build and sell illegal cracking tools, I would just include a ROM with thousands of stolen keys. For that matter, if I understand some of the early papers on the subject correctly, it might even be possible to include the entire set of all possible valid keys....

This may be short-lived, though. Intel is replacing HDCP's worthless key exchange with HDCP 2.0. Translation: when content providers decide to mandate 2.0 support, all your existing TVs, Blu-Ray players, etc. will have to be replaced. Of course, given how many hundreds of millions of people that would affect, if they do mandate it, I expect riots, looting, and the biggest shift from purchased content to pirated content that the world has ever seen. We'll see whether greed or common sense wins out in the Blu-Ray consortium....

Re:HD PVR

[spire3661]

Thank you for the correction. Blu-ray is the first real widespread use of HDCP so I often connect them in the wrong ways.

Firewire-an interface wasted

[Gizzmonic]

The problem, at least in the US, is that the FCC mandated a Firewire interface, but they didn't mandate TVs to have a Firewire input. A few older Mitsubishi and Sony HDTVs had Firewire inputs, but those are the only ones. HDMI is by far the preferred interface now. I know a few people use the Firewire output from their cable boxes to record, but I'd guess it's almost nobody.

Re:Firewire-an interface wasted

[tlhIngan]

The problem, at least in the US, is that the FCC mandated a Firewire interface, but they didn't mandate TVs to have a Firewire input. A few older Mitsubishi and Sony HDTVs had Firewire inputs, but those are the only ones. HDMI is by far the preferred interface now. I know a few people use the Firewire output from their cable boxes to record, but I'd guess it's almost nobody.

Actually, Sharp TVs did, too. I suspect most Japanese TVs had Firewire inputs, and even support Firewire control of the source. (Interestingly, the TV mentioned it for Blu-Ray players, even though at the time, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD was just released...).

I guess the Japanese really invested in the whole Firewire thing, probably as a way of connecting their camcorders to their TVs, and being able to remotely control the camcorder through Firewire control. One bus to rule them all - it even describes how to chain devices together so you can control multiple players from the TV's Firewire input.

I dropped cable TV

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about the US and Canada but I have to subscribe to 40 analog channels just to get the 2 analog channels I am willing to pay that is not available for free over the air for and the extra digital package with some discovery channels. No I cant have the small subsciptions and then the extra package I want.
I know that the technical reason for this is that the filter the 3 basic subscription packages by frequencies so I need the full frequency band to get the digital channels.

So i have to get the full analog package to get the 4 channels in one of the digital packages + rent for the decoder box + another fee if i want the 4 channels they deliver in HD. And I will need a box for each TV in the house instead of the antenna cable in the wall in each room. zzzzz

I hoped when I was able to get fiber network with IP TV, I could finally pick and choose from the channels I want, but their clever schemes is about the same even though there is no technical reason for doing it this way. The only upside would be that I can get more than 4 megabit internet connection but I am fine with 4 megabit today.

In the end I decided to drop cable TV and installed a big antenna in the attic and after a cold turkey period I am doing fine with just the 6 channels that I get now. And I am saving 76$ that the full analog package costed each month or 114$ it would have cost to get the same channels digitally (+4 extra channels)..

It seems that the selling point for TV still is the number of channels. I don't care about 60 channels(or want to pay for), just give me the 10 channels I want of want of which 4 of them are free public service

Re:Will US cable co's do the same crap with tru2wa

[Anonymous Coward]

Will US cable co's do the same crap with tru2way systems as under the rules now they will have full control and can lock stuff out on your own box.

Comcast will find a way to get there $15-$20 /m per box on a HD dvr. Some comcast systems right now make you pay HD cable card fees + cable card rent and some times a outlet fee as well.

also why can't you buy your own cable box hear and not have to deal with the cable card mess.

at lest direct tv gets it right 1 HD fee per house and 1 drv fee per house. Box rent just 5/m for any box box 1 free.

Barely-literate idiots do not get to complain about their cable service.

IANACL

[PPH]

I am not a Canadian lawyer, but I'm wondering: How was Shaw Cable originally persuaded to drop the flag? Was it by a court order? In Canada, when someone refuses to comply with a court order, can the judge issue an arrest warrant for them? If it was dropped in an agreement with the CRTC, does Canadian law allow their federal officials to file felony charges for violating such an agreement?
 

Re:IANACL

[Shados]

The CRTC imposes monetary penalties in the form of fines for non-compliance with its rules. So if a complain is made, and the CRTC decides there are issues, fines are imposed for the duration of the violation, for example. I dont know the details of this particular case, but thats generally how it works. So its not a court order or criminal action or whatever... they just have corporations by the balls (well, wallet)

Re:IANACL

[Mashiki]

The CRTC is a reglatory body, so if they're found in violation of their broadcaster/provider license they can be fined for breeching those terms and be hit with a stiff fine. Reglatory bodies are outside the normal 'criminal' channels in the way fines and such work in Canada. Chances are one of two things here, either they've renegotiated their license since then and are allowed to do it now, or someone is trying to be sneaky and pull the same shit again. In which case they'll try to pull a "Oops, honest mistake." And they'll try to avoid getting slapped with antoher fine.

Re:Will US cable co's do the same crap with tru2wa

[e9th]

Barely-literate idiots do not get to complain about their cable service.

Why not? They get to vote.

They still don't have sky 1 HD what a joke even wo

[Joe The Dragon]

They still don't have sky 1 HD what a joke even wow cable in the us has more HD and they suck next to comcast in HD line up. Virgin Media 4HD channels in 2009. Direct tv has 130 soon to be 200.

they don't complain they get direct tv and dump ca

[Joe The Dragon]

they don't complain they get direct tv and dump cable and save and get better hardware as well.

Ignormant americans you

[Anonymous Coward]

Get big balls and switch cable company to new better compnany. Easy to do as to say. GET WITH IT ON !!

Re:Ignormant americans you

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, us ignorant Americans will just switch to a magical better "compnany" and all will be well. News flash for you buddy, THERE IS NO BETTER COMPANY. They're all out to screw customers and make money. Have any other helpful hints to help us "get with it on?"

Just drop your cable.

[Garbad Ropedink]

It's probably already been said before but just drop your cable all together. Anything you could want to watch is available online.

Just over a month and a half ago my tv broke. So I decided to just get rid of it rather than buy a new one. So I canceled my cable all together, and I just use my computer to watch whatever I want and it's bloody fantastic. You don't realize it till you don't have cable precisely how useless and overpriced it is. Most people have a set number of shows they want to watch and that's about it. Maybe some extra news, which you can just get off whatever news site you want. New episodes show up on bittorrent with a lot of seeders so it only takes an hour or so to get them, and you can watch them at your leisure. It's a lot like having a PVR except you pay a lot less.
It should also be noted that I watch a LOT less now. Since I don't have the outright waste of channel surfing just watching crap because there's nothing *good* on.

I also hooked up my 360 to my monitor and it works just as well as my tv. Maybe a little smaller but the quality is still there. Computer monitors and projectors are getting cheaper and cheaper, despite most ISP's efforts high speed internet is abundant, and cable's fast becoming an anachronism.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[Anonymous Coward]

There are quite a few posts along the line of "Everything is available online."

Unfortunately that really isn't the case. Discovery Channel has their episodes, as well as the Comedy Network and some of the "prime time" shows are available on Global's website.

Nothing we have up here is as complete and well done as something like Hulu. Sure, we can download everything but sometimes you just want to watch stuff on a TV without going through your computer.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[Shikaku]

Step 1. Hook up Computer to TV
Step 2. Wiimote as mouse (Google it, it's rather easy in both Windows and Linux)
Step 3. Get content you want.
Step 4. Use Wiimote to watch content on the TV. You can do step 4 and 3 together.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Get content you want" does not include Hulu or the half-dozen of ways americans have. There's practically no way for us Canadian to "watch TV online", all the good websites refuse us access. Which means torrents and planned-in-advance TV shows.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[Anonymous Coward]

New episodes show up on bittorrent with a lot of seeders

+1
although ditch those torrents and get yourself familiar with NZB files through an SSL connection, and saturate your broadband whenever you feel like it. Just think of you favorite shows being timeshifted by about 10 minutes to download an ep on a 5mb link.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[ceoyoyo]

Most of the officially sanctioned online video sites like Hulu and the individual channels' video players are not available in Canada. You could torrent the stuff easily enough (we're talking about HD after all) but virtually all Canadian ISPs have caps. For the basic $35 plan I think mine is around 30 GB.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[apoc.famine]

A bunch of people here have said the same thing, and....
 
I have to say, it worked for me too. I had an overpriced satellite package, was headed back to school, and moving. To save money, and because I'm going to be slammed for time this fall, I got rid of the TV this spring.
 
Leading up to this, I had been bemoaning how all the good channels consistently turn to crap. (TLC, Animal Planet, History, Discovery...) They stop producing new stuff, and repeat the hell out of stuff. Then drop actual content and start pushing out utter crap. (As someone else already posted, Ghost Hunters? UFO Hunters? A MILLION FUCKING REALITY TV SHOWS ON EVERY CHANNEL?)
 
The interwebs...where you can find what you want, when you want it, and view it with limited commercial interruption. Now that I've broken the sit-and-veg addition, I'm learning a fair bit more, and wasting a lot less time mindlessly changing channels or sitting through commercials.
 
Is the internet really all that much better than the TV? Probably not, but it's not costing me $60 a month, and I'm definitely getting more entertainment out of it than TV.

Re:Just drop your cable.

[Lost Engineer]

Pirating content cheaper than buying it. News at 11.

Not that cable isn't overpriced.

Shaw+corruption=monopoly+excess profit!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should any company have a state made monopoly in a free market?

The law is so bent, it's broken and the real criminals are running the show.

One word: TORRENTS (nt)

[fluffernutter]

Really, there IS NO TEXT

[oblig] **whoosh**

[Anonymous Coward]

eeee

Switch providers

[Anonymous Coward]

Not happy with Shaw? Switch to Telus.... oh wait!

It's just a matter of time

[cbraescu1]

It's just a matter of time till the so-called TV stations will become irrelevant. We are steadily advancing towards a future where the internet connection provides us with all the entertainment we may ever need, plus a few tons more. "TV" is basically pre-programmed entertainment and news, in various proportions (depending on channel, audience, etc.). All such services can be easily replicated either by an all-automated approach such as the one displayed today by services like Google News or it can be "crowdsourced" to follow an individual' or a group of individual's preferences (so you can call it a mostly-automatic approach). Both ways can offer *now* better programming than most channels available today on cable.

The spelling is on the wall, and these guys just want to squeeze the last drop till it lasts.

Re:It's just a matter of time

[cdrguru]

The problem is that the bandwidth isn't there. It will never be there, in the US.

Today, everyone is connected to the Internet through some type of neighborhood gateway. This is then connected to some sort of concentrator that eventually connects to the Internet. The path between the neighborhood gateway and the concentrator is pretty much as fast as practical in most areas today. So you see cable Internet offered with "up to 20Mb" download speeds.

So with 500-1000 homes connected to the neighborhood gateway and 20Mb/sec download speeds advertised you would assume this gateway is connected via a pipe which can handle 20 * 1000 Mb/sec transfer, right? Well, no. There isn't any such pipe in existance.

What you get is maybe 100Mb/sec or 200Mb/sec at most. This is 100x less bandwidth than would be required for everyone to get full-time dedicated bandwidth of 20Mb/sec. This works fine for the most part because people are using anywhere near that capacity.

Don't bother worrying about all that capacity that is used by the cable TV channels. Sure, they are delivering 100 simultaneous streams to everyone - except they are delivering the identical stream to everyone so the bandwidth is only used once for everyone. This has virtually no impact on the total bandwidth requirements if everyone had their own stream.

Sorry, the difference between broadcasting and individual streams is so incredible that it will probably never be practical for everyone in a neghborhood to have 100% full-time streaming of even SD content. HD? Forget it.

No, they aren't going to build a 20,000MB/sec pipe to the neighborhood gateway. There are hundreds of them in even a fairly small town. Sure, it would be possible - but the cost would be immense. They just replaced the cable hardline distribution with fiber distribution in the last 10 years or so. Nobody is looking at another rebuild on that scale, even if it was practical to build it. Which it isn't.

Better get used to broadcasting. It will be with us for a very long time.

Re:It's just a matter of time

[Anonymous Coward]

Plop a server at Data Gateway junctions that cache the most on demand things. Strategic P2P can lessen the load as well.

Bad Analogy

[mjwx]

After a while, you'll be wondering why you ever let that shit get into your brain for hours a day. Just like how a chain smoker quits and starts wondering to himself why he let himself breathe in a pack a day worth of smoke and carcinogens.

I quit smoking 8 years ago, I quit TV 2 years ago. Smoking creates chemical dependency and that remains even after you quit, yes my life is a hell of a lot better without smokes but the addition leaves a mark (craving). TV on the other hand I have not looked back at, no dependency, no maker, no cravings. Absolutely nothing that wants to drag me back to the idiot box and it is good.

Cable Card!

[angelbunny]

I'm not entirely sure if Shaw allows cable cards but if you can get your hands on one then you can record every channel you subscribe too even hbo channel if you pay for it.

Most cable card based DVRs are media center PCs that come with a cable card slot. If you want to build your own computer the only option I know of at the moment is http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonderdigital/index.html

Also, keep in mind that using your own DVR with a cable card you can not get on demand and other special features like ppv. However, cable card version 2.0 supposedly supports those options.

Alternatively, you can hack a tivo or another box but that isn't exactly as legit as plugging in your home made dvr directly into the coax cable from the wall.

Re:how ironic!

[codeguy007]

Us Canadians pay for the right to trade music every time we buy blank media. For now, downloading music is legal not a protest.

Screw cable, get TV from the internet...

[wheels4me]

My apt complex switched from crappy Millenium cable to the even worse Ygnition (a company that specializes in overpriced underserved cable for apt complexes). After 6 months and two rate hikes to $60/month for CNN, ESPN, TBS, and a half-dozen other of the bigger cable channels. I cut the cord and went with Netflix. I got a LG BD390 BlueRay with WiFi for $350 that will pay for itself in 9 months with the savings. The BD390 can wifi movies from either Netflix or my PC using Nero MediaHome 4. For roughly the same price, I could have got a playstation or xbox, but I did not want to waste even more time glued to the TV playing games...

Re:Screw cable, get TV from the internet...

[Reapman]

Except this is about a Canadian company, and in Canada neither Netflix nor Hulu is available. Nor movies through the 360 or PS3.

In Canada your only real alternative to Cable or Satellite is Torrents and Renting the DVD's.

Re:Screw cable, get TV from the internet...

[vinnybobdog]

Mod parent up!

My wife and I got off cable TV almost a year ago. When I called to cancel and was asked why, I told them if they offered a pay per use model, where I could rent/purchase a box that would allow me to pay for a specific episodes of a TV or a specific movie without being tied to a regular "Heres every tv show on planet earth timeshifted 50 ways till sunday plan" *I would *happily* do so, hell id even watch it with the commercials. Fact of the matter is, they want to offer programing their way, and only their way.

As the parent stated, in Canada, we dont get, Netflix, Hulu or anything through PSN; we also dont get Roku, Vudu , Amazon unbox, access to NBCs, or ABCs offering of internet TV. It's like the freaken stoneage here when it comes to watching TV online. Apple tv is offered here but the selection stinks, bell had a store for a while that had drm up the wahzooo that promptly shutdown, and watching shows on the global or CTV websites is *horrible*. So after looking around I chose to go with a ps3, a box built from spare parts that resides in the basement, torrents and mediatomb. Works like a charm. Watch what I want, when I want.

The only "sad" part is, I would gladly pay for a service that offered a decent selection in a pay per use model; in Canada however it appears no one wants my money.

Ours did

[bruce_the_loon]

In South Africa, they started with SG-1 about a year after it started on SciFi, ran for 3 seasons and then dropped it completely. Haven't seen it since.

They really want P2P to take over, yes?

[Opportunist]

It's a decade ago all over again, just with visual content this time instead of music.

Flashback: We get CDs that don't play (and copy) and radio broadcasts with DJs yabbering into the songs so you can't record them. Quickly, a thriving "market" in P2P sharing of music started, using the then-still-new medium internet. The, also still-new format MP3 made songs small enough to compress them into 3-5MB size, small enough that contemporary means of transport, even dialup, were fast enough to handle it in reasonable time. Users got their music without hassle and without troubles, it worked. You didn't have to deal with copy crippling that not only disabled copying but more often than not also playback, you didn't have to deal with half-assed quality, you didn't have to stay glued to the radio 24/7 to catch your tune and endure hours of inane chatter and mindless ads. It was sleek, easy, quick and people started to see it and like it, like it far better than trying to catch the song off the radio or trying to figure out how to play back the CD despite all efforts of its maker.

Fast forward to now. TV networks do their damndest to make recording of shows impossible, they want to sell you their own recorders which almost invariably suck and which don't offer the functionality you want. People start looking around and notice that TV shows consisting of half an hour entertainment are available as torrents, consist of roughly 100-150MB, small enough to be transfered by contemporary connections in reasonable times, aren't cluttered with ads every 5 minutes, aren't prone to random hicckups in the TVs bandwidth-minimizing artefact-creating compression schemes and can be played back on every box you plan to hook up to your TV set, including but not limited to any arbitrary computer able to play back the show...

While P2P has taken over the music market that is now slowly being reconquered by services like iTunes and the like, now that music makers noticed that they cannot simply force people into buying their crap by restricting it as they wish and the consumedrones should be happy they are allowed to buy anything, it's not the case with video content yet. Yes, of course the swapping and exchange of videos on P2P happens, but to a far, far lesser degree than with music. The average half-hour show consumer still watches his show on TV and buys the collection DVD once it gets available, he doesn't P2P it. Not yet at least.

It's been said here already, why have a TV? Now, of course this is /. and the average person here is anything but the average TV consumer, but is it so far fetched to assume that, if this trend continues and the restrictive nature of content crippling takes roots, that the average consumer will do what he did when it came to music in the late 90s, that he starts looking around and shopping for alternatives? Alternatives that give him the content he wants in an easy to use, transport- and transferable form that suits his needs?

We'd not have iPods today if it wasn't for the success of P2P and MP3 in the late 90s. We'd probably have some other players, maybe players that would only play some proprietary format because MP3 wouldn't have become so popular if it wasn't for the widespread use of P2P in its early days.

So maybe this is a good thing. More people annoyed means more people looking for alternatives. That in turn means that some de-facto standard will be established, probably long before any company starts trying to push into the market with their own product and a locked up format to accompany it.

Re:They really want P2P to take over, yes?

[jez9999]

iTunes still has DRM. It's got some nice polish on it, but the kernel is still fundamentally turd.

Re:They really want P2P to take over, yes?

[Opportunist]

iTunes managed to get to the sweetspot between the interests of the creator and the consumer. It is as accessible as the customer, or at least a sizable enough portion of the potential customers, want. I'm fairly sure if the cable companies allowed the recording of (all!) shows in HD and the exchange of hard drives inside the recording device (or burning them to DVDs, even if they could only be watched by the user that recorded them), enough customers would accept that model to make it viable and not drive them towards P2P or trying to "jailbreak" their cable access.

Mass extinction

[Arkofjoy]

It is a little known fact that the dinosaurs had neither the Internet nor Mobile phones. And that my friends is why they are EXTINCT. They couldn't check their horoscopes, went out when there was a meteor storm and BAM. mass extinction
Think about it. We could end up going the same way.

In the US?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US as far as I've been told, you can't GET local sports live, since that would eat into the ticket sales and hence not good for the companies and anything not good for companies is therefore illegal.

+1 for netflix (or zip.ca for us Canuckians)

[gravyface]

We signed up for zip.ca's "1 DVD at a time" plan for $10.99/month, and get all the good HBO shows we never had time for, one season at a time, so when we feel like vegging out, we'll watch as many episodes as we want. Plus, the selection of movies blows away anything that Blockbuster has -- especially horror, documentaries, and classics if you're into that sort of thing.

They're also really good about replacing scratched discs; the replacements don't count against your quota either.

(hint: if you *tell* them that you shipped it back, they'll send you the new one; we immediately say we're shipping it back the day we receive it, so by the time we're done watching a season a few days later, we have a new DVD in our greedy little mitts).

Re:+1 for netflix (or zip.ca for us Canuckians)

[damien_kane]

Plus, the selection of movies blows away anything that Blockbuster has -- especially horror, documentaries, and classics if you're into that sort of thing.

Blockbuster (or basically any B&M entertainment rental store) is really only good for an inexpensive source of the latest video games which one would promptly make a backup of.

Avoiding Digital Cable boxes

[Anonymous Coward]

The main reason I am stuck on analog signal is my total disgust at the Cable business in Canada. My signal is good enough - ok I can not see the pimples on the ass of the porn star but it is good enough. My local cable company wants and extra few bucks (plus services fees, taxes, we want more money or else) for the right to get the same number of channels but in Digital (NOT HD). Getting HD channels cost more. Now if I want a PVR that is at least an extra $15+ a month for the cheapest possible box ever made with 120 GB capacity. So for me to just to switch it will cost me around twice as much as I am paying now (after all is said and done). And what would I get... the same channel line up, and a seriously crappy PVR. No thanks... I will stick with my computer acting as a PVR with 2+ TB of storage and media range extenders abound.

Did someone mention sports?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously, the geeks here at Slashdot don't watch much sports.

FCC Regulations Demand Working Firewire?

[Petersko]

"Cox wouldn't give me a box with working Firewire (despite angry phone calls to managers citing the FCC regulation that requires it here in the States)."

Citation, please. I'm quite surprised that FCC regulations would specify this requirement.

Firefly

[Anonymous Coward]

Translation: they canceled my favorite show so I swore to never watch TV again.

God damned Fox. Firefly was the best show evaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!11!!111

Re:Firefly

[WCLPeter]

God damned Fox. Firefly was the best show evaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!11!!111

Please, its Fox, they are notorious for canceling their genre shows. I keep telling myself that I won't watch another Sci-Fi show on Fox, that I won't dare to enjoy it, because they're only going to cancel it with a cliffhanger well before its time. Then I watched The Sarah Connor Chronicles because its good, so good they won't cancel it this time right? Yeah, right! Its Fox, they cancel everything good.

Oh well, http://www.savethescc.com/

Similar Boat

[stalky14]

They just did a similar thing to me. First all the analogs went clear-QAM, which was reasonable, but then they encrypted everything that wasn't available OTA anyway, HD or not. Not cool! It's the same programming. Why does it need to be locked up now that it's digital, especially if you're not going to offer more tiers or, God-forbid, a-la-carte?! So I'm switching to satellite. If I'm going to have to use a box to tune, I'd rather it be one that doesn't suck. Also, I can get a "minimum" package there for $35, whereas Comcast basically has one-size-fits-all for $58. Plus the box rental if it's an HD box. Screw that. I should make the disclaimer that Satellite has a minefield of hidden fees and contract traps that you have to navigate around, but there are some deals to be had. They're every bit as bad as the phone companies these days.

Shaw's offering free HDPVR's to some.....

[Anonymous Coward]

It's funny I should find story on here today, as I received a letter from Shaw asking me to return to their cable service, and I would get a free HDPVR. (the funny thing is I've never had cable service from Shaw or any other provider, EVER). I was initially tempted, but I get free satellite included in my rent. Could you imagine if back in the day, the TV networks were able to pre-determine which brands of TV's we used and had a way to exclude other makers into the market? TV prices would have remained abnormally high and would have been slow to introduce new technologies, for lack of competition. Corporations such as Shaw, Apple, and other like them are over-extending their power to where it doesn't belong, with this sort of technology, and should be dealt with swiftly by our governments. Why should the consumer not have the choice of what hardware they use with what service they choose? Nobody is asking for free support/or maintenance from these companies for products not purchased from them.

UPDATE: Switching to Novus...

[WestCoastSuccess]

I'm the OP, and I contacted Novus and asked them to go to check their channels for the 0x02 flag. Here's their response: "We've tested your instructions on most of our channel line ups and they all seemed to have 0X00 for their CCI category. So please call our Call Center to speak with a representative for assistance in creating a Novus account to set you up with our services, thank you. Chris Somera Customer Care / Technical Support Specialist " Am making the change to their fiber optic offering today...