A movie collection in the cloud

The one-two punch of having Netflix and Hulu is how many cord cutters get their TV & movie fix without having to subscribe to an expensive cable or satellite TV package. The one thing that neither Netflix nor Hulu have however is a way to watch the latest movies. Many of the cable and satellite companies offer a selection of pay-per-view (PPV) movies at prices roughly comparable to what the neighbourhood movie rental store charges, assuming your neighbourhood even has a movie store these days.

For those who prefer to buy rather than rent, or those who want to be able to view some of the titles they've already paid for on a variety of devices like tablets and smartphones, Hollywood sure doesn't make it easy on you.

Read on to find out how the ownership landscape for movies is finally moving into the 21st century.

Getting Hulu Plus in Canada

In a few of my earlier postings I mentioned that we've been using Hulu Plus to help fill the void after cancelling our Bell satellite service in the spring of 2012.

For those unfamiliar with Hulu, it's an American streaming service that began in 2008 with backing from ABC, Fox, and NBC. It was originally free and allowed US-based customers to view recent TV shows via their web browser - similar to what you get in Canada from watch.ctv.ca, www.globaltv.com/video/, and so on for the other networks. The service was supported by advertising and only worked with a web browser. In 2010 they added a paid version called Hulu Plus at $7.99/month that reduced or eliminated the advertising (depending on the show) and added viewing apps for popular streaming devices such as the PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Apple TV, Roku, WD TV, smart TVs, and some BluRay players. The free version still exists but it's web-browser only, and just the last few episodes of shows are available rather than entire seasons.

The catch for those living outside the US is that the service is restricted to US customers, so if you're Canadian and you missed last night's episode of The Office, you'd have to watch it on your web browser via Global TV's site. If you could somehow get Hulu Plus to work in Canada you could watch it on your TV via your favourite streaming device, or even on your smartphone!

Read on to find out how to make it happen.

Internet while on vacation in the Dominican Republic, without paying Bell/Rogers/Telus a fortune

For connected Canadians venturing out of the country, one question is whether to forego Internet access while away and get caught up on emails etc. upon their return, or pay the outrageous data and voice roaming fees imposed by the big Canadian carriers. A lot of people just leave their cell phone at home so they can't accidentally rack up a huge roaming bill.

The new mobile companies like WIND and Mobilicity have better rates than the big companies, especially for travel to the US, but it's still prohibitively expensive for anything other than extremely light usage.

Shaw Direct's Local Television Satellite Solution - Free TV

It hasn't been publicized very well, but Shaw Direct has an interesting offer for people looking for a way to receive local TV without having to deal with antennas or living in places where there is very little available over the air.

MLB and NHL without a satellite/cable subscription

A new (short) NHL season is almost upon us now that the lockout is over, and since it's looking like Zazeen's new IPTV service won't have Rogers Sportsnet when they launch later this month, that means I'll only get nationally televised NHL games via CBC and TSN. Sportsnet has the regional broadcast rights for Ottawa Senators games, so they're the only TV station that can carry them.

I was in a similar bind for the MLB playoffs last fall but managed to find a way to watch all of the MLB games on my PS3 in HD over the Internet without the normal blackout restrictions, and it didn't end up costing me very much either. I expect/hope that a similar approach will work for NHL games this season. Read on if that sort of thing interests you.

HDTV for free - your grandfather's TV antenna is still useful!

In an earlier article I promised to go into some detail on what we're doing for TV in our household since we cancelled our satellite subscription last spring. We're currently getting our TV from a combination of sources:

• local Ottawa stations that we receive for free via an antenna
• Netflix
• Hulu Plus

In this article I'll go into some detail on the first item - receiving digital TV signals with an antenna, but first you'll have to endure a rant about the annual price increases that finally motivated us to do something about our satellite bill.

Zazeen - shaking up the Canadian TV landscape

Zazeen finally made their IPTV product available for public signup. Though it's still just in its beta-testing stage and likely will be for several more months, it marks the beginning of a new kind of TV distribution system for Canadians. Zazeen's offering is delivered via your home Internet connection rather than a satellite or closed coax/fibre network feed.