Sony PlayStation Store vs. iTunes in Canada

With Hulu not rushing into Canadian market seems like we have two major news in online movies and TV shows availability for canadians.

Sony finally launched Movies section in PlayStation Store for Canadians on July 1st 2010.

Yes, now you can buy and rent movies and tv shows right from your game console.

Prior to that the only options to buy and rent movies purely online (without waiting for DVD arriving at your mailbox from Zip.ca) was Apple iTunes.

That's a pleasant July 1st surprise. Unpleasant one - both iTunes and Sony now charge HST for movies, bought/rented online.

Here we compared prices and offerings from both iTunes Canada and Canadian PlayStation Store.

	iTunes	PlayStation Store
Movies (new releases) buy:	$19.99	$19.99 SD $24.99 HD
Movies (new releases) rent:	$4.99	$3.99 SD $4.99 HD
TV Series (new releases) buy per episode:	$3.49	$2.49 SD $3.49 HD

Green Zone and Breaking Bad are posing as "new release" here.

For oldies, prices on both iTunes and PS Store are the same - $3.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy. $1.99 seems to be universally acceptable price for older episode of TV series.

So, first of all - there seems to be less HD movies on iTunes. There are some, but out of the box just few popping up. While PS Store makes a big accent on HD content.

Second - renting new releases are cheper to rent from Sony. One dollar less or HD version for the price of SD at iTunes.

Where iTunes beats PlayStation is variety and special offers. Way more content available from iTunes and there are some special deals like $0.99 rentals weekly, special price on selected titles, free episodes etc.

More content for consumers and competition is good. Hooray!!! Sony for that... Now the next big thing to watch - Netflix streaming service is coming to Canada this fall. 2010. If they would follow US model here in Great White - you'll be able to get access to unlimited movies and TV series for low flat subscription fee. It's $8.99/month in US. How much it would be up here? Can't tell... Any insight would be appreciated.



Another good thing about Netflix - PS3, XBox, iPhone, iPad and even Wii could be your Netflix box. Can't wait, can't wait!!!!

CityTV - major update to Video site

As of January 2010 CityTV Video site went through major upgrade and now full episodes for dozens of shows, including 30 Rock, Mercy, Cougar Town, Murdoch Mysteries, Trauma, Supernanny, The Biggest Loser and others are available online in Canada.

Ugly Betty is still there for sure.

Check out list of other Hulu alternatives in Canada

Enjoy!

Hulu in Canada - update

Apparently Hulu figured out how to block HotSpot Shield users from accessing Hulu from Canada.

So we now have no choice, but to use legal Hulu alternatives in Canada from CBC, Global, CTV and others.

Couple to additions to the list:

CTV launched beta version of HD Video site Only Flash Point and Corner Gas are there so far.

YouTube now hosts full-length movies without any restrictions for Canada. Most if not all these movies are pretty old, but anyway - I glad to see some developments there.

Another thing to check out - justin.tv. Not sure if and how to take it from the legality standpoint, but there is bunch of interesting stuff out there.

Free calls to Canada/US with Google and Skype

Or how to make free calls to US and Canadian businesses from anywhere in the world.

Recently Google introduced Goog411 service - free telephone business directory. From anywhere in US or Canada you can call 1 800 GOOG411 (1-800-466-4411), name province/state and town and then name of the business you want to reach.

Here is how dialog normally looks like:
Google: Call is recorded. What city and province?
You: Newmarket, Ontario
Google: Say business name or category
You: Southlake Hospital
Google: Top three related results... (speaks out three top matches)
You: One
Google: I'll connect you.

Bingo!!! You dialed toll free 800 number and as the result you are connected to the phone # that normally would be a long-distance call.

Obviously works for businesses only but anyway - cool freebie, eh?

Normally you can not call 800 number from outside US or Canada. But that is not true for Skype. Even with free Skype account you can call 1 800 numbers. So, you can call GOOG411 from free Skype account from anywhere in the world! Just dial 1 800 GOOG411 using Skype, speak (or type) you state, town and business of interest and get connected to US or Canadian phone number free of charge. From anywhere in the world!

If you have Skype installed just click on the following link to start a call to GOOG411:
Call GOOG411 using Skype

So, you can call any US or Canadian business phone # from anywhere in the world, using Skype and Google.

No HULU in Canada? Try Joost!

Tried to find some compliments for Hulu Canada post, looking at websites of canadian TV broadcasters... Found some limited content available from E! Canada and A Channel

Thanks to their iPhone application, I discovered the perfect free and legal TV content source for Canada - joost.com

Joost, like Hulu, would limit content canadians can watch, but unlike hulu - joost would allow some shows to be watched in canada online right now.

Among the TV programming available to Canadians via Joost online you'll find canadian-created comedy like: Chilly Beach and The Red Green Show. Whole set of National Geographic programming, classic western and horror movies and much much more.

My favorite so far - Australian Food TV - full episodes of australian cooking show. So entertaining Australian accent, eh?

Hulu, watch out!

No HULU in Canada? No problem!

Hulu.com - the internet superhit of last year, delivering tonns of TV programming on-demand online to your PC is not avaliable in Canada. Not yet. The official version is there is legal paperwork to be done in order to "clear" the content for distribution in Canada.



Anyway - whatever real reason is - no hulu for canadians as of january 2009.

However - you still can whatch a lot of your favorite TV shows on your computer here in Canada. Legally. Yes, there are couple of tricks you can play to full hulu.com so it would think you are whatching it in US, services like surfthechannel.com - we are not discussing these here. All below is 100% clear TV content available over internet in Canada.

What hulu can't or not willing to do - Canadian TV broadcasters can and willing to. Publishing full episodes of TV shows online. CTV, CBC, Global - they all are making their shows avaliable to watch over internet.

CBC
- The Border
- Little Mosque On The Prairie
- Sophie
- Coronation street
See all the shows avaliable online at CBC Television website Each show has it's owm site with videos to watch.

CTV
CTV Video page if you'll figure out the navigation part - tonns of shows are there including South Park, Corner Gas, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Desperate Housewives, ER, Grey's Anatomy and much more. Best content, but tricky UI.

Global
Global Full Episodes Page Features House, 24 and few others like Family Guy and Prison Break... Though, for some show it may display just "episodes coming soon". The only nasty think about Global's online videos - there is no way to get them to real full-screen. You have two options "small window" and "larger window". No full-screen...

City TV
No joy there. Just couple of episodes of Ugly Betty and Priveledged As of January 2010 CityTV Video site went through major upgrade and now features tons of shows, including 30 Rock, Mercy, Cougar Town, Murdoch Mysteries, Trauma, Supernanny and others.

And don't forget about Antenna. You can whatch all of these broadcasters for free over the air. Super-Bowl weekend is here. Sunday February 1st, 6:20 PM ET. CTV would broadcast game in Canada, NBC in US. All you need to get it for free - DIY TV Antenna.

Update: Sep 11, 2009 - For Kids
TVO KIds hosts full versions of Arthur, Little Princess, Miss BG, Mighty Machines and many other shows here...

TreehouseTV finally get some rather limited set of full episodes online here....

Update: Feb 15th 2009 E! Video Page has few shows like Knight Rider, Secret Millionaire, Deal Or No Deal, 5th Grader and some more. A Channel hosts Last and Private Practice (also available at CTV)

Update: Dec 1st 2009 Rogers Just launched RogersOnDemand.com - promising video-on-demand project, but for Rogers' subscribers only.

Update: Jan. 19, 2010 Major update on CityTV website.

Update: Nov. 18, 2010 ShowCase.ca video site features video od series like Weeds, Trailer Park Boys, Rent a Goalie ant others.