test blog 8

On my recent post about streaming -- five reasons streaming is still better than cable and etc. -- I alluded to something towards the end of the post that I want to spotlight here. We need a universal watchlist app. Perhaps several universal watchlist apps, so we can choose the one that suits us best. This app would combine all your watchlists, from all the different streaming services you use, into one list. I wouldn't have to look through Netflix, Crave, Prime, and Britbox - not to mention some free services that once in a while have something good. I wouldn't have to wonder, Where did I see that show? Was that Netflix or Prime or Crave? Didn't we see something good on Tubi? Or was Hoopla? All my watchlists across all services would be combined. Reelgood and JustWatch may do this, but it's unclear. I'll try them both and report back. One thing right off the top: Reelgood doesn't include Crave, even on their Canada site. Crave is where Canadians can legally...

If you stream movies and TV series, you know that the proliferation of streaming channels has had mixed results for consumers. Many shows that were formerly on Netflix have been pulled by their media parents, and are now found on different streaming apps. At the same time, Netflix's monthly price has increased -- so you're paying more for less. Those who still want access to the shows no longer on Netflix need to subscribe to an additional streaming service; Disney (which has all the Marvel properties) and Britbox are two big culprits. Two other very popular streaming services, Crave (owned by Bell Media) and Prime (owned by Amazon), have exclusive rights to many enticing shows, including all the HBO and Showtime series. Recently Bell Media made an annoying cash-grab by offering a first season of a given show on Crave, then requiring an additional subscription to Movies+HBO or Starz to watch the rest. Many people have observed that if you want a few of these services, the pric...

You may recall that we switched our internet provider from Rogers to TekSavvy in order to get more bandwidth, then dumped Rogers altogether by switching from cable to streaming. We bought a Roku streaming device. And I fell in love with it. No more paying for dozens of channels that we'll never watch. On-demand viewing without DVR'ing. And no more cable bill! We even upgraded one Roku to the model that has a USB port and a media server, so we can watch our own media directly on our TV. Awesome. There was only one piece missing. If you use a streaming device, and you don't live in the US, your options are very limited. For us, there's Major League Baseball, Netflix Canada, and... that's it. There is a pathetic Netflix wannabe called Crackle, and Roku hosts a zillion little homemade niche channels, but nothing that would cause you to dump cable TV. Netflix Canada has improved a lot, but it's still very limited compared with US Netflix. You also can't get Amazo...

I am absolutely gaga over Roku. This was exactly the missing piece we needed. And it all started with getting rid of Rogers cable. In February, I asked for help with my movie-season problem. We had been getting special treatment from Zip, but once that ended, Zip became useless again. I knew there had to be a better way. It's the 21st Century, for crissakes. Why can't we get on-demand baseball, movies, and whatever else we want to watch? First world problems? Absolutely! But that's where I live. In the past, no suggestions really worked for us. We couldn't get rid of cable TV, because we needed it to watch baseball. We couldn't watch baseball online, because we had a cap on our bandwidth usage. (And because of our work schedules, we had to subscribe to baseball through cable and internet!) I didn't want to watch movies via Netflix only on computer. I didn't want to buy a gaming system just to watch movies. Nothing was quite right. And then, everything came...

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent " help me get rid of zip " discussion, both on wmtc and by email. And thanks to CNET, for this video ! I started out asking about movies, but ended up with so much more. Goodbye, Rogers! Whoo-hoo! So many friends and readers have told me they've cancelled cable TV service, but we weren't able to do that: we needed cable for baseball. And we also subscribed to MLBTV online. I hated the redundancy, but there was no other way to have baseball both at home and for Allan at work (where he watches three games each week). But thanks to you all, we've done it. So here's what we have: 1. I've already cancelled Rogers cable and internet! I had already dumped Rogers for cell phone service, getting more for my money with Wind. So now I am Rogers-free. 2. Later this month, (at the time suggested by friendly, helpful customer service rep) I will order TekSavvy cable-modem internet service. 3. We will purchase a Roku...

When we lived in NYC, I was hugely into Netflix. The selection and convenience were terrific, and for frequent movie watching, the flat monthly fee was a great value. After moving to Canada, we joined Zip ... and thus began the saga. Zip (now owned by media giant Rogers) has a good (not great) selection, their ship-times are good, and the price is decent if you watch a lot of movies. But. Two big buts. Their system doesn't work if you have less than 20 titles on your ZipList (the equivalent of the Netflix queue). This would not be a problem if they shipped titles in your order of preference. You could simply add junk titles that you didn't really want to see to the end of your list. That's where the second but comes in. Zip does not ship titles in any order even resembling your preference. You're as likely to get a movie from the bottom of your list as you are from the top. Now, as you all know and are undoubtedly sick of reading by now, I watch movies for half the y...