Canadians now screwed for Hulu

[tripin_billie]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Not to poke fun at an injured animal, but watching Netflix over the PS3 is absolutely awesome. Their watch-it now library is not super huge, but the convenience more than makes up for it....there's always something to pick from anyway.

This really is the future of movie/tv watching....as good and fast regular Netflix service is, being able to pick from a massive library and instantly watch movies in seconds is about as good as it gets for the impulsive tv watcher.

Yeah, every time I watch videos from netflix on my xbox (and I don't have to put a disk in to do it... hahaha, no fanboy war please), I begin to forget that I miss ketchup chips more and more. Living in the states has many advantages that aren't all that obvious when you are in the states, but become much more obvious when you hear from people back in Canada. My brother won't even bother with the new consoles because so many of the additional features rely on services not permitted in Canada.

All I can say is I miss hockey being the main sport on TV, but I could never move back to Canada.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Hasn't it been like that for awhile now? I recall getting a message like that when I tried to watch a Hulu vid back in the summer.

It's a cat and mouse game - they block, people find a way around it, they block that method, etc.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

All I can say is I miss hockey being the main sport on TV, but I could never move back to Canada.

Ha, seriously! Honestly, If i could get TSN and CBC News on my tv, things would be pretty perfect down here.*

* Well, apart from the whole health care thing, economy in the toilet, crumbling infrastructure, gun-obsessed population and yada yada yada....but that's all small stuff.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Ha, seriously! Honestly, If i could get TSN and CBC News on my tv, things would be pretty perfect down here.*

* Well, apart from the whole health care thing, economy in the toilet, crumbling infrastructure, gun-obsessed population and yada yada yada....but that's all small stuff.

Haha. Not sure if you're aware, but you can download The National as a video podcast and stream it to your PS3. Decent quality too. Gets updated every day at 6 EST. So if Peter Mansbridge will make you feel all nostalgic and such, you can get your fix.

[Hack&Lube]

As an update, I cleared my cache and restarted HSS and now it works again.

I was pretty sure HSS has a few set IPs from the New York region. I'm not sure how clearing my cache would have made Hulu nolonger able to recognize them as HSS IPs but it works.

[Table 5]

I wasn't aware, thanks! I think I miss the whole package though....the News, the Hour, the great documentaries (you can keep the dramas though). I know a lot of people in Canada hate the CBC, but I think their news/sports coverage is still top-notch compared to what you get down here.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I wasn't aware, thanks! I think I miss the whole package though....the News, the Hour, the great documentaries (you can keep the dramas though). I know a lot of people in Canada hate the CBC, but I think their news/sports coverage is still top-notch compared to what you get down here.

I like the CBC too. (Insert cat calls of "treehugger, lefty, commie, etc.") I think they've got a lot of good content - particularly news and sports. They're really facing a challenge from the other networks for big sporting events, however. They lost the Olympics, and who knows how long they can hang onto HNIC for.

I also think that they are a real leader in new media. They put shows in bit torrent (although I don't usually like their dramas), they have loads of podcasts, and seem very happy to provide content in new and evolving ways. They even stream HNIC in Punjabi and Mandarin on their web site! (I don't speak either, but it is interesting to hear).

The Hour has a video podcast, but it doesn't seem to be updated very often anymore. And it is far from the whole show, unfortunately.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

Yeah, every time I watch videos from netflix on my xbox (and I don't have to put a disk in to do it... hahaha, no fanboy war please), I begin to forget that I miss ketchup chips more and more. Living in the states has many advantages that aren't all that obvious when you are in the states, but become much more obvious when you hear from people back in Canada. My brother won't even bother with the new consoles because so many of the additional features rely on services not permitted in Canada.

The more I go to the States, the more I can't believe how much more expensive things are up here. I just got a new cell phone which is only some middle of the road Koodo sideflip phone and am paying double what my cousin in Dallas pays for his new iPhone per month.

The best was when the guy in Best Buy tried to justify it to me: "Ya our monthly bill is higher, but consider that Canada's a larger country than the U.S., you're calling from further away". Ya, maybe in theory. But last time I checked theres not too many people making calls to Baffin Island. 80% of Canadians live within 200km of the U.S. border, so if anything, Americans are more spread out than we are. I actually laughed when he said that to me.

[Russic]

i'm so jealous of the states. I'm still sticking to my guns and cutting my cable after playoffs. If not for hockey I could keep it off for good. I wish there was a way to get NHL Gamecenter on my tv. Right now my only solution is to buy something like a mac mini, but spending $649 just to have hockey games seems a bit much. Although that being said Center Ice is $200 and cable is around $500-$800 per year.

[Jimmy Stang]

Although we're getting a bit off topic, it is no secret that wireless in Canada is one of the biggest scams going. This is even more of a travesty when you consider that taxpayers dollars laid the foundation of the Canadian wireless networks (it would have been far to expensive to do privately back in the 80's), and yet the private companies that benefited immensely from their creation continue to take advantage of the consumer.

I really hope that the new entrants into the wireless market shake things up a bit. The US, Europe - and probably everywhere else in the developed world, seem to have competitive rates.

[Bob]

If you really want Hulu, you pair up with an Amerifriend, or you buy hosting in the US and operate your own VPN (easy to do with SSH, assuming your host has the throughput, but redirecting RTMP can be a bit of a bitch because Flash conveniently ignores system-wide proxy settings ). It will cost a couple bucks / month (providing you don't go nuts with the bandwidth) and isn't likely to get shut down.

My friend got it up and running in 30 minutes, but didn't like the idea of paying for it (plus you double your bandwidth on the US side for whatever you watch), but if you manage to cancel cable / satellite over this, then it could be worth it. I've heard of people who do that and only watch Hulu.

[Jimmy Stang]

On the topic of cutting cable... if it wasn't for sports, I could also probably do it. I only every seem to watch a few shows regularly, and I am starting to like having the whole thing on DVD. If I put the $100 or so a month that makes up the TV portion of my bill and "invest" that into shows and movies on disc, I'd still end up with more content than I'd be able to watch in a month. Damn you live sports!!! My wife likes TV a bit more than I do though, so I don't know how well she'd handle that.

[Pastiche]

I use NHL gamecentre connected through an HTPC to my TV. Not looking back. Cable is a ripoff. 90% of the channels I never watch.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

I use NHL gamecentre connected through an HTPC to my TV. Not looking back. Cable is a ripoff. 90% of the channels I never watch.

This Gamecentre thingamajig you speak of... are all of the regularly-broadcast Flames games available? Are they all in HD?

And anyone know if this could conceivably be viewed using the PS3 web browser and made full-screen? I know that most Flash videos will play on the PS3 browser these days.