Cutting the Cable in Canada – 2015 Update

I’m starting to see the cord-cutting conversation move from the geeky niches of the country into more of the mainstream, and given how fast things change in this space it’s time for me to provide an update on the state of things in Canada. This story has been told before, back when Napster took off […]

Missing Guide Data from Windows Media Center–Workaround

It appears that there is a widespread issue causing certain channels to have no guide data in Windows Media Center. The ball is pretty clearly in Microsoft’s court, but as far as I can tell there are no more players on team Media Center so I expect this one to take a while to fix. […]

Rabbit Ears Can Save Your Super Bowl Party

I am not a sports fanatic, but a long-running tradition in my house is the annual dusting off of the deep fryer to nosh on some home-made wings, take in a great game of football and enjoy some even better commercials. No offense to your Super Bowl party, but the Super Bowl is just better […]

Cutting the cable in Canada–Conclusion (Part 8)

This is the conclusion of a blog series on cutting the cable in Canada. Back in the spring, I began to look at options for cutting the cable in Canada, including IPTV, Apple iTunes, Netflix, TV Websites, Boxee, and a brief look to see if the grass is any greener south of the border. The […]

TV Options For Your Canadian University Dorm Room

It’s back-to-school time, and across the country students are packing up their stuff to settle into a dorm room for the next ten months. Having lived in a university dormitory for four years myself, I know that getting TV into your room is always top of mind on move-in day. Until recently it was a […]

The Canadian Digital TV Switch – Myth vs Fact

News reports, advertisements, and telemarketers are operating at full speed with the transition from analog to digital TV transmission just a couple of days away. The misinformation is driving me absolutely nuts, so I wanted to take a minute to clear up some myths I’ve been hearing. Myth: On August 31, your rabbit ears will […]

Installing an attic antenna for free HDTV in Canada

On August 31 2011, the Canadian airwaves will light up with new free HDTV signals from your local television stations. In order to take advantage of these signals you’ll want a good quality antenna to pull in the signals. The best option is to install an antenna on your roof, but if you’re like me […]

Free HDTV across Canada starting August 31

Following years of dutifully paying our cable and satellite bills, most Canadians have forgotten that TV in this country used to be free. Back in the good-old-days you’d pick up that nice wooden-cabinet television from Sears, extend the rabbit ears, and be good to go. Well those old TV signals are still flying around in […]

Adding Multiple Guide Listings to Windows 7 Media Center

Posted here temporarily while thegreenbutton.com undergoes an upgrade. There are some situations where you would like to manually add more guide listing data to Media Center. Most notably for those of us who live in Canada near the United States border, it is incredibly useful to add in guide listings that include the broadcast channels […]

Enabling ATSC & QAM in Canada for Windows 7 RTM

Posted here temporarily while thegreenbutton.com undergoes an upgrade. I’m thrilled to see so many people have taken up the challenge to get ATSC working in Canada with Windows 7 since the untimely demise of the Vista hack. Alas, as time marches on some of the holes that made new hacks possible were plugged and more […]