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You could describe today’s television viewer as a rambunctious animal that has finally broken out of the cage. After years of being penned in by time slots and cable packages, the viewer has never had so many options to see a missed episode – or watch something new – completely on his or her own terms. Here’s a breakdown of the ways to view something you missed:

Personal/Digital Video Recorder: The option any TV fanatic will tell you has changed his or her life is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

This is a set-top box that records the shows you want, so you can watch them whenever you want. The box can be bought, or rented for a monthly fee from most cable or service providers.

DVR enables you to pause, rewind and fast-forward shows as you watch them. It works as an always-on VCR would. The biggest selling point is it enables you to fast-forward through commercials.

Mainly it makes your TV-watching much more focused and efficient.

For years, Canada lagged behind the U.S., where set-top box manufacturer TiVo popularized the concept. The name became a verb for the action of recording stuff this way. TiVo is now available in Canada, and you can buy other digital video recorders. But, for ease of use, the one your signal-provider supplies is probably the most hassle-free.

A DVR does require management, and there are some restrictions.

You do have to remember to set up the series you would like to record, and the storage capacity they occupy varies; high-definition shows take up more space, so you will have to delete shows, and often there isn’t a warning that your capacity is full, so you find out because a show stopped recording mid-episode.

There are limitations on how many shows you can record at a time (often just two).

On-demand online: This is one of the newest ways to do this, at least for Rogers’s customers, at rogersondemand.com. Bell.ca/TVonline is a more movie-based service but also airs series from two kid-friendly channels. These are password-protected websites that match up to your level of service, and enable you to watch shows when you want to.

This really is a great option for catching up on a missed episode, or when you are out of home or travelling.

The faster your Internet connection the better. Often, new episodes are only available for a limited time, usually around two weeks after broadcast, so this really serves as a catch-up option. It could be a big hit with tech-savvy teens who often get shut out of the family TV room after a certain hour.

The best thing is it adds some value to your service, and there are fewer commercials online.

But it relies on streaming, and this can sometimes be choppy.

On Demand on your television: Most people probably aren’t making as much use of this as they could. Right now, this is the big differentiator between cable and satellite; the latter is not capable of providing on-demand viewing on your television.

Again, for newer series, there is often a time limit to how long new episodes are available – again, a few weeks after viewing – but as people become aware of this, you won’t even need to set the DVR.

This is a great place to check out a series you’ve heard about. Right now, it’s just part of your existing cable package, and you can use the pay-per-view movie rental function, too.

Channel websites: You can also check the broadcaster’s website. A few years ago, Canadian channels were skittish to put series online, but the thinking now is that it doesn’t matter where fans watch their shows, as long as they watch. Citytv, CTV and Global and their various subchannels have all jumped on this bandwagon. Again, there are fewer commercials, and new episodes are available for a limited time. Youth-oriented networks such as MTV are embracing this in a big way, and often will put up an entire series. The best thing is it’s free, no sign-up or password is required and it’s available on any computer.

The pay-per-view model: What happens if your DVR screws up and it’s too late to get it on-demand or online? You can buy an episode you missed. Due to issues of territorial rights, Canada has lagged behind the content available in the U.S. over the past few years, but that is definitely not the case anymore.

ITunes Canada has greatly beefed up its Canadian offering and is adding TV and movies all the time. Shows can be bought per episode or as a season pass, and can be viewed on a computer or your iPod.

Mobovivo.com is a Calgary-based company that does the same thing, and is an option if you simply must buy Canadian, or don’t want to be beholden to Apple or iTunes.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live, the online community for the Xbox 360 console, last month launched the Zune Marketplace, which has a very good selection of TV series – again available as single episodes or a season pass – and a decent selection of movies.

The service provides instant streaming in HD – there’s no need to wait for something to download – if you have an Internet connection powerful enough.

Those are five legitimate ways to watch a show after the fact. Then, of course, there are also some illegal ways to do this.

source : www.thestar.com

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Submited at Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm on Television by Puffy
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