I did some research on my lunch hour. That's exactly how it is. The extra info I found was that if you are currently a grey market user, the satellite police aren't gonna come knocking unless you are doing so to make money. They said they're specifically going after the people out to make a profit.

Whatever happened to free trade, competition and the right to choose? I hear that Shaw owns both Bell and Star Choice!! I know for a fact that they own SC, but have only heard they own Bell as well. Any truth to this?

How receptive would the CRTC be if enough Canadians complained and said they don't care / don't want Canadian content in their TV programming?? Or at the very least want the CHOICE of having that content or not? Would they finally open the gates for something other than our monopolistic cable company?

 

Yes its "grey". No its not illegal. It was for a week, then the supreme court left it wide open

"the high court left it up to the so-called grey-market satellite providers to make a strong case in court that the federal law violates freedom of communication guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

This is from previous court battles:

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in September 2000 that the Radiocommunication Act does not bar Can-Am from offering Canadians access to foreign signals.


A separate Ontario Court of Appeal judgment last April quashed an RCMP search-and-seizure warrant obtained for satellite dealer Tech Electronics. The court concluded there were no criminal offences occurring at the business that sold grey-market systems.


Lower courts have said broadcasting legislation applies only to signals that originate in Canada. They also cast doubt on whether the punitive aspects of the Radiocommunication Act were meant to catch people intercepting foreign satellite signals.

So NO.... it not illegal.

Its just Shaw and Bell pissed because they are losing money due to poor (and expensive) programming.

Originally posted by rash_girl
i've got digital cable and my friends have legal and non-legal satelites...

i prefer the cable, mainly cause i'm lazy and i don't want to have to "clean off the dish" plus i don't like all the wires. their dish has been out a few times during storms too...plus i got a deal with the digital cable and cable interent....

as for programming, i don't find much difference between the two. if you have illegal cards, you're not paying anything for pay per view etc but your card gets zapped alot and its a pain the ****...unless you want an excuse to drive over and get it fixed all the time...

Contrary to what people think you do not have to clean dishes. If they are installed correctly you wont lose a signal in the worst snow storms. As for digital cable, its bs. Until you run fiber directly to your tv, its not digital. It is only to the nearest hub. (which can be 10miles from your house.) So in truth Digital Sat. isn't either, but the cable from the decoder to your tv may be... what, 6ft. Much better signal. Cards go down due to poor programming. Mines been up for 2 1/2yrs except for two upgrades. (4hrs each)

Not saying everyone should get "grey" But I personally dont like anyone telling me what kind of programming I should be allowed to watch. Thank you CRTC.

Shaw does own Star Choice but not Expressview. Many years ago Both American sat. providers tried open up Canada, unfortunately the CRTC said 40% (i think thats the amount)canadian content and killed that idea. Now they whine.

Pardon the rant.

Don

 

LMFAO!!!

No way dude.....Bell owns Bell...Shaw owns Star Choice. Bell is GIGANTIC....Gawd I hate them.

 

hmmm

ignorance really is bliss

 

that Shaw doesn't own Bell?

 

Also, am I wrong in saying that if you have a good quality TV with HDTV, then the satellite feed will be a lot cleaner? My parents are moving and need to buy a plasma screen and everyone says that hopefully the condo will provide satellite because on a tv like that it's much more clear than digital cable. You would assume digital cable to be as good, but from what don668 is saying you're not actually getting digital cable anyways...

So if you have a good tv, then the extra cash is well worth it.

As for the grey market idea I'm a bit curious. I know a friend of a friend who made a ridiculous amount of money for a kid by selling the hardware to program the cards over the internet. I know he was expecting it to become illegal in september of 2002 but they made the announcement in (april was it??). So I know he stopped selling them, but it'd be interesting to know if he can start again?? Anyways, he got his porsche and denali and some extra cash out of it, so I'm not worrying about him, hahaha

Shayne

 

Well I talked to a friend of mine that used to have directv. He has since gone legit and gone to bell because he said that last year sometime, directv weakened their broadcasting signal and since we're way up here in edmonton, you need at least a 1.2 meter dish to get a decent signal.

Think I'm gonna go bell. Can't stand shaw and there seems to be too many issues with going grey...

 

bah

"bell motto - even if its absolutely 100% impossible to screw it up, we'll find a way"

 

Generally the satillite feed will be cleaner. For canadian satillite I would suggest Bell, only for the reasons of,- A stronger signal, MUCH better equipment (same used by Dish Network- plus you can convert it to US if you can burn the prom) also like me a hard drive to pause, record, etc, better tech support. For HD you basically get the same frome either canadian systems, although we've found problems with rastor overscanning in the Starchoice HD unit.

It will be forever if you want HD through cable, probably never. Satillite or off air antenna.

I design home theater systems for a living so I've got a fairbit of practice on most systems. I have my preferences, but as always each to his own. Grey markets nice if you have a good guy and stay away from DirectTV, "Digital" cable is fine if your not too worried about quality and want PPV.
For a plasma... get the best signal possible, you'll be amazed! Look at the Panasonic, the only Progressive scan unit on the market, its able to do true blacks, And its cheap.

Don

Don

 

Hey Don, thanks for the info on the plasma, I'll look at it. They were also thinking pioneer and fujitsu I think...also though, I wouldn't mind picking ur brain about the home theater stuff...I know they don't want much, but maybe u can help. And when I move out in a couple years I'm goin all out, can't wait...

anyways, if it's not a bother for u, what's your email address or if possible icq or msn? e-mail me at protru@yahoo.com if you don't want to post that here.

Thanks,
Shayne

 

Shayne

The Pioneer is obsolete, doesn't do blacks... kind of a dark green. The Fijuitsu isn't too bad but both have poor contrast ratios 3000:1 (compared to 5000:1 for the Panasonic) which again washes out the black levels. Neither of them have progressive scan or a good 3:2 pulldown. They both use fans and are quite noisy.
Just so you know, the company I work for is very custom, we try to carry the best we can find, we have few loyalties to manufacturers, if the NEC is better, we bring that in, Panasonics better we'll sell that.
Just dont want you to think I work for Panasonic. (Runco is quite nice too but BIG bucks)

Ask anything, and If it getts to long to post here I'll mail you.

Don

 

Cool, thanks, we actually went to look at some today at another shop, and they had the runco and said it was best since it had an external video card, but 24000$ for the 42". They also said that the marantz is nice and they're getting the 42" hopefully for 11900 instead of 16000 that they were selling for. What do you think of the marantz, and is 11900$ a good price? They had the 60" marantz on display for 43000$, but that's a bit over budget

And for speakers? My parents want small ones since this is for a condo not a house so it needs to be unobtrusive in the livingroom/diningroom. There's no movie room or anything. We looked at the kef home theater egg shaped ones, and they sounded fine to me...3000$ with a marantz receiver on sale? what do u think? Oh and any opinions on the bose lifestyle 50?

Thanks again,
Shayne