So I bought a HD plasma TV last Dec. and got Rogers to give me a HD pvr box as well as a regular pvr for free. Since this was only for a year I need to pay for it now. When I called yesterday, they offered to give me a 30% discount on the service (worth $20) and charge for the boxes. I told them I'd think about it. Do any of you have suggestions/options re: satellite, netflix or any other services TV wise for Ontario?
Thanks in advance for your input.
BTW, this is for the house, not the "G" in case your wondering if I did some mod not listed in my sig.

 

There are plus & minus points for all of them Sam.
I had satellite for a few years but ended up coming back to Rogers.

I haven't kept up to date with the satellite end of things; but at the time I had to buy the equipment.
The big problem I had with them was the channel packaging.
& the channel guide was horribly slow.

I know there were a lot of people doing the satellite FTA thing,
but that just seemed like too much of a PITA.

 

I feel the same way Ian. I don't like paying Rogers full price. I'd like to find out what people like/dislike about satellite or internet tv.

 

Sam, here in the Maritimes Bell Aliant has FiberOP, which you can have fiber ran to your premise and your internet, HDTV, and landline can be packaged together. I believe Bell's equivalent is Fibe, but I am not sure if they offer the TV.

 

Thanks Shane, I'm thinking I'll drop into a Ma Bell store and see what they offer at the brick and mortar locations.

 

The best "deal" is sign with Bell and get the most receivers possible (usually 6) per household and anyone with a satellite dish can use your receiver and get the same channel package then split the bill

It is possible to do the same with Rogers but only works if the other person lives in the same neighbourhood (and they have to pay basic cable fee) whereas Bell you can split it with anyone as its over the air

I have been with rogers for 15 years so they treat me well some perks I have:
2 Free HD PVRs, $2/ month for 1 addtional HD PVR, half price HBO because I told them I rather get netflix, it's all about showing them who's the boss, I got majority of the deals because I threaten to take my service elsewhere...

 

That's exactly what I do with my Expressvu. We've got pretty much a full channel list and we just split the bill my one of my best friends.

 

^hmmm, need to check into that. high cable cost is one of my bugaboos

 

^ Are you with Eastlink now Deane? If you have a friend or family member that will go in on it with you, you are aloud up to 6 receivers with Expressvu. I've got 4 in my house and my buddy has 2 at this place. We just split the monthly bill every month. Cable/satellite prices are ridiculous so this helps us save a few bucks each month.

 

^yes. I'm going to call you about this later on.

 

^ Sure thing.

 

Berry creative. Might have to look into this.

I've been using Cogeco for years and their product and service is great. I have a good phone/cable/internet package and I'm worried about switching to get a better deal only to have problems (Bell was a nightmare for me 4 years ago).

Price aside, who offers the best product? I mean this from both a hardware and programming perspective?

 

Depends what you want, but personally I wouldn't replace cable/satellite with Netflix yet. Netflix is a great value and a good service, but 2 major issues are:
1. Netflix content is older/catalog titles. The newest movies are 2-3yrs old. Many blockbusters aren't here and even some old classics are missing as well.
2. All this streaming counts against your internet cap. HD movies are about 2GB per hour and SD is ~1GB hour. For most people with a 10-30GB month download limit this could turn into an expensive problem.

In 2011 there will be lot more streaming/VOD services coming and more ways to access them. Problem is how bad the HRTC and ISP's are going to try to screw us to get it.

 

So, spoke with someone in "Roger's Retention" for about an hour and ended up with an acceptable deal. $8 more a month and I got the movie package added. Free HDPVR for the year as well, which was the real bone of contention.

 

We don't have one here yet but it's coming.