Cable TV is in trouble.

[PeteEU]

I vaguely remember the specifics except it took days for me to get the thing to work and eventually required me getting their tech support department on the phone along with a laptop and reconfiguring some settings in my ISP service. I think recall Roku wanting you to enter your wifi password so the device can get on line and then if that doesn't work plug in an ethernet cable but neither would allow the Roku player to see the Internet. They made it seem like that was a common problem many of the ISPs do and they've fixed the problem with software update that unfortunately my device couldn't install because it couldn't get online in the first place to install the update. After entering some numbers that were similar to IP addresses (123.23.233....) somewhere, it was able to get online and install the update. After that its worked fine.

Ahh so it was not a block from the ISP, but a setting issue. Yea Roku cant anticipate all ISP settings, especially those that change so often.

 

[Carjosse]

I agree its not going to be as equal in terms of quality as cable or satellite but with cable you're longing at $50 to $80 a month while with these new streaming devices you pay $100 per set on the higher end then its free or if you get Hulu and/or Netflix $8 or $16 a month. I think HULU ad Netflix is restricted from offering TV shows that same day they but they can 24 hours later. If i needed to cut bak, I could live with day later TV. Between the two nearly everything on cable is available except live sports and news, much of which you can still get via an over the air antenna for your local abc, CBS, fox and NBC affiliates. Cable news channels are not as available except BBC and SKY news out of England. CNN on Roku is audio only and FOX news only features clips of interviews that are at least a day old.

I also noticed with Apple TV you have to verify you're already a cable/satellite customer to have access to certain content, probably good for college students away from home or kids who spend part of the time with a parent who doesn't have cable.

I still just like torrenting my stuff. Hulu doesn't work in Canada and Netflix is rather limited in selection in Canada for 7$/month.

 

[Smeagol]

I still just like torrenting my stuff. Hulu doesn't work in Canada and Netflix is rather limited in selection in Canada for 7$/month.

I never could understand Canada controlling the level of American TV they allow they're citizens to watch. I see TV, radio, whatever as modern forms of books.

To grown adults: Nope, we can't let you read that book because you're only 40 years old, it was written in the US and you've hit your quota of American books. Read this from a Canadian author instead.

And people accuse America of being a nanny state. I can halfway understand sugary drinks since health care costs they can trigger are a shared expense but media? To me that's like closing access to whats going on around the world and something I'd expect out of North Korea, not Canada.

 

[Carjosse]

I never could understand Canada controlling the level of American TV they allow they're citizens to watch. I see TV, radio, whatever as modern forms of books.

To grown adults: Nope, we can't let you read that book because you're only 40 years old, it was written in the US and you've hit your quota of American books. Read this from a Canadian author instead.

And people accuse America of being a nanny state. I can halfway understand sugary drinks since health care costs they can trigger are a shared expense but media? To me that's like closing access to whats going on around the world and something I'd expect out of North Korea, not Canada.

Content is only controlled during prime time and on radio and even then it's only 60%. It is to promote Canadian culture. It doesn't apply on the Internet it's just that outside the U.S. those companies cannot get the rights. You can't watch Hulu outside the U.S. in any country and Netflix does not exist outside of North America. Americans can't watch our content either.

 

[Smeagol]

Content is only controlled during prime time and on radio and even then it's only 60%. It is to promote Canadian culture. It doesn't apply on the Internet it's just that outside the U.S. those companies cannot get the rights. You can't watch Hulu outside the U.S. in any country and Netflix does not exist outside of North America. Americans can't watch our content either.

Interesting. I remember hearing that some American TV shows are filmed in Vancouver in order to sneak access to Canadian viewers.

I know this is a tangent but I'd like to understand Canadian culture more. Now that I think of it I can't recall any Canadian media available to the US except some French language channels on satellite radio. We do however get significant of media from other countries including Sky News from the UK, the BBC, there's a Caribbean channel on Roku and two African channels. China, Japan and Latin America are all well represented but Canada, zilch. Even the US travel channels act like Canada doesn't exist.

 

[Carjosse]

Interesting. I remember hearing that some American TV shows are filmed in Vancouver in order to sneak access to Canadian viewers.

I know this is a tangent but I'd like to understand Canadian culture more. Now that I think of it I can't recall any Canadian media available to the US except some French language channels on satellite radio. We do however get significant of media from other countries including Sky News from the UK, the BBC, there's a Caribbean channel on Roku and two African channels. China, Japan and Latin America are all well represented but Canada, zilch. Even the US travel channels act like Canada doesn't exist.

From what I can tell there are a fair amount of Canadian shows on American TV but the ones I know are mostly animated shows from our station Teletoon which is our version of Cartoon Network. Those shows are usually very delayed compared to ours since your rating agency is really stingy about appropriate content. From a list I just found The Red Green Show, Degrassi, Trailer Park Boys, and a lot of PBS stuff is apparently partly produced here. You have find stuff about Canada to learn about our culture. CBC produces a lot of great Canadian content and radio shows like Q are broadcasted in the U.S..

 

[Smeagol]

From what I can tell there are a fair amount of Canadian shows on American TV but the ones I know are mostly animated shows from our station Teletoon which is our version of Cartoon Network. Those shows are usually very delayed compared to ours since your rating agency is really stingy about appropriate content. From a list I just found The Red Green Show, Degrassi, Trailer Park Boys, and a lot of PBS stuff is apparently partly produced here. You have find stuff about Canada to learn about our culture. CBC produces a lot of great Canadian content and radio shows like Q are broadcasted in the U.S..

I just did a little googling. Gotta try cheese curds! You use real maye syrup on your pancakes, ours is fake. Much of the entertainment really seems indistinguishable in my opinion.

 

[Carjosse]

I just did a little googling. Gotta try cheese curds! You use real maye syrup on your pancakes, ours is fake. Much of the entertainment really seems indistinguishable in my opinion.

The main difference is our rating agencies especially Quebec generally rate things lower than yours so even our kids shows are generally more adventurous than American television. Quebec also has pretty unique offerings due to it's French culture. Though most of our cultural differences are political with Canada being much more Liberal and centralized.

 

[Fisher]

No, cable TV will be here doing just fine for many, many decades to come. Cable TV, at least from Comcast was one of the first to offer the steaming of their programming, not to mention they are one of the largest internet providers to begin with.

Maybe. The biggest threat to cable won't be the internet but cellular. If they develop a reliable delivery mechanism over the cellular network, cable could be in trouble as there would be a way to bypass the monopolies. The part of the equation that the doom and gloom cable people forget it that without cable, there will be no quality content. Cable advertising and subscriptions are what pay for the content that people get via other means. Without that, people are not going to have their Glee, their billion dollar Olympic coverage, their cable news, or whatever it is that they now find a way to get via web platforms. Unless there is money to pay the producers to pay the performers/writers, you are going to have youtube web series at best.

 

[jonny5]

Yes, Roku and Apple TV basically is HD internet streaming to your TV.

No, my desktop computer is connected to my tv. Dont need a Roku or anything.

 

[Smeagol]

No, my desktop computer is connected to my tv. Dont need a Roku or anything.

As long as you're happy but its not exactly the same as streaming video to a PC that's connected to a TV. The TV programming is DELIVERED via the Internet on these streaming devices but are not necessarily web browser based. Some are but with a Roku or Apple TV, its designed to sort of mimic cable TV subscription service; a handheld TV remote control device, channel line up and most important although some channels have their own websites where if people like you choose to see programming directly from their site you can, many if not most channels do not offer that option. As best you don't have to hop scotch all over the Internet and all 700 plus channels are essentially in one place on an easy to navigate via TV remote interface. But to each his own.

Dribbble - Roku Daydream Theme by Ryan Terry

 

[jonny5]

As long as you're happy but its not exactly the same as streaming video to a PC that's connected to a TV. The TV programming is DELIVERED via the Internet on these streaming devices but are not necessarily web browser based. Some are but with a Roku or Apple TV, its designed to sort of mimic cable TV subscription service; a handheld TV remote control device, channel line up and most important although some channels have their own websites where if people like you choose to see programming directly from their site you can, many if not most channels do not offer that option. As best you don't have to hop scotch all over the Internet and all 700 plus channels are essentially in one place on an easy to navigate via TV remote interface. But to each his own.

Dribbble - Roku Daydream Theme by Ryan Terry

Yes, I know, its definetly better to have the purpose built box, although my computer can do anything, not just tv. In any case, I was just referring to the comment about watching on your computer screen. The point was you dont have to.

 

[Fiddytree]

No, my desktop computer is connected to my tv. Dont need a Roku or anything.

I do this as well a large chunk of the time. The only issue I have is that navigation and even streaming success seems to differ on how I connect to these services. There were many times where the client worked better on one device over the other. For instance, Netflix on the computer is still more versatile than any of the application variants I have tried (Xbox, PS3, Roku, Sony BD). Out of the application variants, I preferred how the Playstation app functioned, but the Xbox application has improved greatly over time (as of a number of months ago, it can actually adjust the stream quality, rather than require a buffer session each time something fluctuates! That was one of the main reasons why I preferred the PS3 app). However, I have to say I have had more bad luck with HBO Go on my computer than the Xbox variant (I haven't done much testing via a Roku). One thing that excites me about the Roku 3 is it has a built-in search function that attempts to locate exactly what service a given title is covered under.

The input device for a remote issue for a computer is still there, but I have to be honest that I haven't tried to locate any solutions worthwhile. I know they exist. It was just something I hadn't pursued as of yet.