TCM HD: where to get it in the West

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TCM HD: where to get it in the West

Postby jon » Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:35 pm

Some nice things are finally starting to be said about Turner Classic Movies (TCM) HD. While the majority of the material (some say "all") is still being upconverted, since studios are reluctant to spend the money required to produce an HD master for 60-80 year old movies, even upconversion at source rather than destination looks better on an HD TV.

So, I decided it was time to check once again on availability in Western Canada. So far, I've found two sources. Shaw doesn't offer it at all, on either cable or satellite. TELUS only offers it on satellite. And Bell only offers satellite TV in the West, and they have it, too.

"Isn't TELUS just reselling Bell satellite TV?" Yes and No. The "No" part of the answer is important, because it is a money saver. While Bell forces you to buy a $20/month bundle just to get TCM HD, TELUS has two bundles with TCM HD, the cheaper only $5/month.

Of course, since I don't watch anything "live" on TCM now, I now have to figure out how to not just timeshift, but also to keep programs for future viewing several years in the future. Given how hard it is becoming to find a replacement for my obsolete SD recorder with hard drive and DVD burner, I don't hold any hope out of finding an HD equivalent. Which likely means I'll be setting up a computer to do the job. Computer internal Blu-Ray (HD) DVD burners are selling for $90, and 2TB internal hard drives for $75, so it should be affordable.

At this point, all I'm going to do is install the wiring and such required for potential satellite usage into where I'm moving next May (3 miles South of here).
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Re: TCM HD: where to get it in the West

Postby CKNF » Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:10 pm

jon wrote:Of course, since I don't watch anything "live" on TCM now, I now have to figure out how to not just timeshift, but also to keep programs for future viewing several years in the future. Given how hard it is becoming to find a replacement for my obsolete SD recorder with hard drive and DVD burner, I don't hold any hope out of finding an HD equivalent. Which likely means I'll be setting up a computer to do the job. Computer internal Blu-Ray (HD) DVD burners are selling for $90, and 2TB internal hard drives for $75, so it should be affordable.

Hey jon,

In all honesty, once you have enough storage you won't need to burn any discs. When I setup my Media Center just over a year ago, I thought the same thing and went for the (then) $110.00 deal for a Blu-ray burner. Guess how many Blu-ray's I have burned? One...just to see if the darn thing worked! :lol:
Even when I had been using my SD DVD/Hard Drive recorder, I rarely burned any discs. Just the odd one here and there because there was no other direct way of retrieving those videos straight off the Hard Drive as data.
Hard drive storage is so cheap now even when you factor in the costs of the back-up drives. All optical discs do is take up unnecessary space IMO. You only need something that can play back a Blu-ray disc for those movies you bought at a retail store. :)

Just my thoughts.
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Re: TCM HD: where to get it in the West

Postby jon » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:49 am

Interesting info. CKNF is right. A couple of 3TB hard drives could store a large number of movies. I'm not sure of all the details, but a wild guess calculation says about 350.

In my case, however, I have aging parents who no longer watch any live TV, let alone see themselves running a PVR. So, my current approach of watching something, then burning it to DVD both for them to watch and us to keep, probably makes the most sense for now. Even if it means a new TV (HD) for them, and a Blu-Ray player.

On other forums, there is still a lot of debate about exactly what Turner is offering on TCM HD. Some claim that it is just the regular TCM channel run through an upconvertor, yet no one argues with the fact that wide screen movies now fill the screen, width-wise, on TCM HD. Which, of course, isn't quite so simple to accomplish. To further complicate matters, TCM Canada is actually a separate offering, since a few movies have not had their rights bought for Canada by Turner, so the programming is slightly different, which means TCM Canada, including the TCM HD we get here, is a separate feed with separate equipment in Atlanta.

The subject, of course, is not that relevant, as TCM HD will get full HD equipment in the not too distant future, when being dependent on the U.S. economy and Turner's parent's corporate fortunes. And undoubtedly on the number of people in the U.S. and Canada who are subscribed through their cable TV provider (voluntarily or otherwise) to TCM HD.
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