These alarms came with a neat feature that allows you to shut off false alarms using any infrared remote control you might have lying around the house.  Useful I thought for burnt toast and whatnot.

Well the fun began that night, as we were watching TV one of the alarms kept going off.  After several false alarms I just took it down and removed the battery, with plans to exchange it.

The fun continued a few days later, as the alarm would go off in the laundry room when we turned on the lights.  What the heck?

This was now too much to be a coincidence, so I hit the internet to do some research.

Remember that neat feature that lets you use a remote to turn off false alarms?  Turns out it also lets you test the alarm via infrared remote.  And you know what else generates infrared signals that can trigger the test function?  Compact fluorescent light bulbs, yep those twisty CFL bulbs that are by law replacing every light bulb in your house.

Legally-required smoke alarms that are incompatible with legally-required light bulbs.  That, my friends, is what we call a conundrum.

How to fix it

In order to stop this annoying false alarm, you need to disable the IR sensor on the smoke alarm.  This won’t affect the ability to detect smoke, it will simply turn off the IR remote control features.  It’s pretty easy to do:

1. Open the battery door (disconnect the battery)
2. Hold down the test button on the alarm
3. Close the battery door while still holding the test button
4. You will hear a chirp, and can let go of the test button

You’ll need to do this every time you replace the batteries, because it will reset back to normal when you pull out the battery.

Like me, many Canadians set up Media Center using a nearby US zip code to enable all of the high-definition TV features.  Unfortunately it seems that the zip code closest to Toronto has been particularly hard hit by this bug.

I’ve updated my Media Center hack to help work around this issue by running a single batch file.  Full updated instructions and zip file are located at the Windows Experts wiki here.

Essentially, this will supplement your buggy US listings with additional listings from Canadian cable and satellite providers.  Canadian providers tend to carry lots of US stations as well, so this may also be a decent workaround for some of our friends to the south.

Early reports from users at Digital Home Canada indicate that this workaround has been successful for everyone who has implemented it.

Finally, I’ve logged the bug with Microsoft (click here).  Please vote it up and mark “I can too” stating that you are able to reproduce the bug as well.  This might help to speed up the official fix.

I’ll share our tobogganing spots, and point you to a toboggan hill database where you can both look up some hills or add some of your own.

Best In Milton – Lowville Park
Okay, it’s more *near* Milton than in it but it’s the best hill we’ve got.  Steep, an okay size, easy to get to and park.  On the down side it tends to be busy and if there’s not much snow, bumpy from all the brush.  Watch out for trees near the bottom, although I think they’ve started to put hay bales there now for safety.

Best Nearby: Food Basics
Near the corner of Laurier and Ontario, there is a park with a decent hill.  Mid-grade slope and plenty wide.  Parking is available in the Food Basics parking lot.

Most Popular: Sixteen-Mile Creek
People flock to the hill near Commercial and Laurier, a very wide spot with lots of room for everyone.  It is a steep but pretty short slope.  People park on the road, but I’d rather see you park at the highschool or in the parking lot of Rad Brothers (near Derry & Ontario).

Hidden Gem: Livingston Park
I stumbled across the hill at Livingston Park during a summer cleanup with my daughter’s Girl Guides troop. We went to visit it yesterday, and there was nobody at the hill with pristine powder.  It’s not a very steep slope, but a decent size for young kids.  Parking is available at the end of Margaret Street.

I’ve added all these slopes to TobogganHills.com.  Are there any hills you can share?

Smoked Jalapeno Poppers (ABTs)

Ingredients

• 8oz brick of cream cheese, room temperature
• 8oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp BBQ rub
• 15 Jalapeno Peppers
• Pound of bacon, thinly sliced

Directions

Realistically, you’ll end up using as much of the ingredients as you need to fill the peppers you bought.  I generally buy more raw ingredients than I think I’ll need and mix it up as needed during prep.

1. Slice the jalapenos in half and remove all seeds and white ribs (remember to wear gloves to protect from the heat!)
2. Combine equal parts cream cheese and shredded cheddar
3. Add BBQ rub to the cheese mixture and mix by hand
4. Put cheese mixture into a ziploc bag and snip the corner
5. Squeeze the ziploc bag to pipe the cheese mixture into the jalapeno halves
6. Wrap each jalapeno half in a slice of bacon.  Try to keep the bacon as thin as possible, which may mean trimming excess with scissors.
7. Sprinkle lightly with more BBQ rub
8. Cook on the smoker at around 250 degrees for about two hours.  Alternatively these can be cooked on the grill but use indirect heat or you’ll end up with a nasty grease fire.

Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons BBQ rub
• 4 canned chipotle peppers, chopped
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, save one chipotle pepper
2. Heat and simmer for about ten minutes
3. Adjust the spiciness to your preference by adding honey and/or the remaining chipotle pepper.  The adobo sauce that the peppers are canned in is also great tasting if you want a bit more spice!
4. Mix ingredients with a stick blender to ensure that any large chunks are chopped small enough that they won’t clog your sauce bottle.
5. Cool and pour into a sauce bottle (I get mine at the local restaurant supply store)

Slushy Machine Margarita Mix

Ingredients

• 2 cans Minute Maid limeade concentrate
• 1 can Minute Maid lemonade concentrate
• 6 oz lime juice
• 2 litres of water
• 1/4 cup of simple syrup (or sugar dissolved in warm water)
• Tequila

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except for Tequila in the slushy machine
2. Allow the machine to mix and freeze the virgin mix
3. Add one shot of tequila to the bottom of a cup and dispense the slush on top.  Mix.

Smoked Pulled Pork

My pulled pork recipe comes pretty much directly from a hobbyist site called the Virtual Weber Bullet, where there is an amazingly detailed overview of how to make it.  You’ll of course need a smoker and I have recommended the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) to many of my friends.  This fan site makes it very easy to get started with the WSM.  Here’s the recipe: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pork4.html

Credits (recipe starters)

I didn’t invent these recipes, most I adapted from those posted on the internet.  Sources below.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/abt-recipes
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?13616-No-5-Sauce
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?178502-Frozen-Margarita-Machine-Recipe

No offense to your Super Bowl party, but the Super Bowl is just better at my house.  Yes, the deep fryer adds a certain “I don’t know what”, but the real star is the antenna.  My cheap little antenna lets my guests watch the Super Bowl the way it was meant to be seen, in full high definition glory with the proper big-budget commercials to entertain us between plays.

The typical Canadian Super Bowl experience works like this:

• Local cable company gets the HD feed from the US
• They remove the US commercials and insert (usually unfunny) Canadian ads
• They compress the picture quality so they can jam more channels onto your cable
• You get a sub-par Super Bowl experience

In previous years you *might* have gotten away with tuning into the US high definition channel on cable, but not this year.  With all of Canada now digital, the cable networks are required by law to show you the Canadianized broadcast regardless of which channel you tune.

Don’t Panic.  There is time to correct this injustice before everyone shows up to your house for the big game and finds out how you allowed the cable company deprive them all of the full Super Bowl experience.  I’ll tell you how.

For starters, you’ll need a high definition television.  Every HDTV sold since 2007 includes an over-the-air HD tuner.

Next, you’ll need to be within broadcasting distance of an NBC affiliate.  You can check your specific address at TVFool and see if NBC is on the list but if you’re in the Toronto, Montreal, or Windsor areas then the answer is likely yes.

Finally, you’ll need an antenna.  If you’re handy, then you can build your own with just some wire and a couple parts you can get at Home Depot.  If you’re like me however (handy with the wings but less so with the home improvements) then you’ll want to buy an antenna. Given that time is short, I’d recommend stopping by Save and Replay in Mississauga to get a good antenna which will cost you about $50.  I cannot recommend any of the antennas you’re likely to find at Best Buy or Walmart.

Plug the antenna into your TV, point it in the general direction of the United States, and you should be able to enjoy the Super Bowl as it was intended.

If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you can install the antenna in the attic for even better reception.

Enjoy the Super Bowl!

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 ground rules were as follows:

• My family must accept the solution, this is not a geeks-only endeavour
• The content creators must be compensated, no stealing from the artists
• The quality must generally match what I get today, which means high definition
• Costs must fit within our existing budget, I’m only allowed to spend what I save elsewhere

I’ll admit that after the initial review I got somewhat dismayed because the conclusion was leaning to “not possible in Canada”.  The biggest sticking point was content for my kids, six and eight year old girls who enjoy watching Teletoon and some other kid-oriented cable channels on a little TV in the basement.  I decided to throw in the towel.  Cable had won.

However, this summer my cable provider gave me an extra push by removing all of the kids channels from their analog tier which meant that cartoons would no longer work on the little TV downstairs without additional investment.  This was the time to strike!

After a bit of trial and error, I did end up with a solution that works for my family and we are now 100% free of cable in our household.  Here’s what the Near household looks like:

Over-The-Air High Definition Everywhere

A small antenna in the attic drives the majority of what we watch in the house.  I ran the coax cable from my antenna down into my basement, literally unplugged the cable feed from the road and instead plugged the antenna into the splitter, and now every room in the house how has HD antenna.  Plug in an HDTV, and about 35 channels come in crystal-clear.

Whole-Home PVR

So now I had all the TVs in the house running free and legal live TV, but what I really wanted to do is record that TV to a PVR so I can watch it anywhere in the house.  To do this, I activated the free Windows Media Center program that comes with Windows 7 to turn my Windows PC into a fully functional PVR.  I plugged my antenna into an HDHomerun tuner, which allowed my Windows PC to record two HDTV channels at the same time.  To get everything working in the Toronto area, I simply told Media Center that I live in the United States at Zipcode 14174 (for other areas of Canada the setup is a bit more involved).

The steps above turn the PC into a PVR that’s quite frankly better than any PVR from the cable company.  When you have both an XBox 360 and a Windows Media Center PC in the same house, it turns the XBox into a PVR too!  Microsoft calls this a Media Center Extender, I  have three extenders in my house which means that every TV in the house is a high definition PVR.

For The Kids

Surprisingly, there is very little content on broadcast television for kids these days.  However, kids programming is an area where Netflix really shines.  I picked up an Apple TV 2 for about one hundred dollars and plugged it in to the TV in the basement.  I taught my eight-year old how to use it in about ten minutes, my six-year old still needs a bit of help getting it going.

Netflix is now the kids’ primary source of content, and since they’re using my account I can monitor everything that they watch.

Some Extras:

So there we have it, Cable TV has been completely replaced in our household!  Flush with an extra $60 per month in cash, I find myself a bit more liberal with the entertainment dollar.  I spent an extra $30 to buy simple.tv, which takes everything from my PVR and syncs it to my iPod for business trips.  I bought the entire Scooby Doo box set for about $60 and added it to our DVD collection.  We rent HD movies on the XBox for family movie nights.  My daughter watches Netflix in her room on an iPod Touch.  Overall I’m spending less and getting more for my entertainment dollar.  I count that as a win!

Is it right for you?

This setup works well for my family, but there’s one key difference between my house and most other Canadian households… we don’t really care too much about live sports.  I get all the games I care about including the Stanley Cup, Superbowl (with US commercials!), World Series, and the Olympics.  However if you spend most of your time on TSN or Sportsnet then what I’ve done probably won’t work for you.  I am not aware of any legal way to get those live sports other than cable or satellite.

Where to get more information:

The Digital Home Canada forums are a great place to ask questions and dig in to some more options for cutting the cable.

Over The Air forum

Home Theater PC forum

The Shopping List:

While I would recommend doing a little research to see what’s best for you, I know the reality is that many will just want to know what I’ve got so they can go buy the same thing.  Here’s the full list of what is involved in my setup.

Antenna Installation

• Channel Master 4221 Antenna ($50)
• Kitztech Preamp KT-100VG-COAX ($60)
• RG6 Bulk Coax Cable, cut to length at Home Depot

Windows Media Center PVR

• Any Windows 7 PC
• HDHomerun Tuner ($140)

Media Center Extenders

• Xbox 360 ($200)
• Linksys DMA-2100 (discontinued, find on Kijiji or eBay)
• Linksys DMA-2200 (discontinued, find on Kijiji or eBay)

Netflix:

• Apple TV 2 ($120)
• Netflix Canada Subscription ($8/month)
• Alternatively, the XBox also does Netflix but you need XBox Live Gold ($60/yr)
• Teksavvy DSL Internet ($35/month with a high download cap)

Over The Air

Starting September 1, the airwaves surrounding our country’s colleges and universities will be overflowing with free high-definition digital TV.  You’ll need an antenna to pull in these signals, and based on research I recommend the Terk HDTVa for your dorm-room window.

You can simply plug the antenna into a small HDTV and you’re good to go.  However, since you likely already have a laptop in the dorm room you might want to use that instead.  For a Windows laptop, I’d recommend going completely wireless with the HDHomerun3 tuner and a fast 802.11N wifi router.  Once you’ve got the tuner set up, you can use Windows Media Center (included in Windows 7) to watch Live TV or Record TV using the PVR functionality.  If you’re running a Mac, you can get the same tuner bundled with the EyeTV software which also lets you watch TV on your iPhone.  For a little less money, the Hauppauge 950Q is a well-regarded and tiny USB tuner.

See the table at the bottom of the article for what you can expect to receive from your dorm room at some of the schools around the country.

Internet TV

Most of the major Canadian networks make their primetime shows available on the Internet.  Quality isn’t nearly as good as you’ll get over the air but you can’t beat the convenience (assuming your dorm-room connection is fast enough for streaming video).  While you can go to each of their individual websites, I recommend using an app called Boxee. With Boxee, you get all of the shows nicely organized like an Internet PVR without all the clicking.  You can install Boxee on your laptop or if you can get a little Boxee Box to plug in to your TV.

Summing it all up…

When I was working in the dorms, the game was trying to steal cable from the lounge (which never worked BTW, at least not on my watch).  With the availability of Over-The-Air high definition TV and Internet TV there’s no reason to run afoul of your RA’s wire cutters any more.

The table below summarizes the channels you can expect to get with an indoor antenna at the more prominent (according to Macleans) schools across the country.  You can always check your exact address at tvfool.com to get a more detailed report.

	CBC	SRC	Global	CTV	CTV2	CITY	OMNI	Other
McGill								TVA, TQ, Metro, V, CBS, NBC, PBS
University of Toronto								TVO, OMNI2, SUN, CHCH, CW, CTS
University of BC								MeTV, KBCB, CHEK, PBS
University of Alberta								CTS,
Queen’s University								CBS, PBS, ABC
McMaster University				,				CHCH, CTS, TVO, OMNI2, SUN
Dalhousie University
University of Calgary								CTS
Western								SUN, OMNI2, CTS, TVO, CHCH
University of Saskatchewan
University of Ottawa								TQ, TVO, TVA, V, CHCH, SUN, CTS, OMNI2
Laval								TVA, TQ
University of Montreal								TVA, TQ, V, Metro, CBS, NBC, PBS
Sherbrooke								TVA, V
University of Manitoba								JoyTV
Simon Fraser University								MeTV,KBCB, PBS, JoyTV, CHEK
University of Victoria								MeTV, JoyTV, KBCB, PBS, CHEK
University of Waterloo								TVO
University of Guelph								TVO, CHCH
Memorial University								NTV
University of New Brunswick
Carleton								TQ, TVO, TVA, V, CHCH, SUN, CTS, OMNI2
University of Windsor								TVO, CBS, PBS, MyTV, ABC, Fox, NBC, WADL, CW, TCT, DTN
University of Regina
York University								TVO, OMNI2, SUN, CHCH, CW, CTS
Concordia University								TVA, TQ, V, Metro, CBS, NBC
UQAM								TVA, TQ, V, Metro, CBS, NBC
Mount Allison
Acadia University
University of Northern BC
University of Lethbridge								CTS
Wilfrid Laurier University								TVO
Trent University
St. Francis Xavier
Bishop’s University								TVA
University of PEI
University of Winnipeg								JoyTV
St Mary’s University
Lakehead University								TVO
University of Ontario Institute of Technology								TVO, OMNI2, SUN
Brock University								TVO, CHCH, CTS, CW, SUN
Laurentian University
St. Thomas University
Brandon University
Ryerson								TVO, OMNI2, SUN, CHCH, CW, CTS
Mount Saint Vincent
Universite de Moncton
Cape Breton University
Nipissing University								CBS, ABC, 3ABN

Myth: On August 31, your rabbit ears will stop working
Fact: On August 31, your rabbit ears will continue to work but instead of fuzzy analog TV you’ll now get crisp high definition digital TV

Myth: If you get your TV via antenna today, you need to switch to cable or satellite
Fact: If you get your TV via antenna today, your newer HDTVs will get more channels tomorrow. If you have an older TV, a relatively cheap digital TV converter is all you need

Myth: The only way to get a HDTV signal is through cable or satellite
Fact: All TVs sold today include a digital tuner for free over-the-air HDTV

Myth: Over the air TV is dead in Canada
Fact: There has never been a better time to get your TV by antenna.  The majority of Canadians can get the majority of their TV programming for free using an antenna. Toronto residents can expect to get 25+ channels of digital TV from all the major networks, 30+ in Montreal, 15+ in Vancouver, and the list goes on.

Myth: The CRTC is forcing cable companies to switch from analog to digital
Fact: Many cable companies are choosing to switch entirely to digital, but that is entirely their choice and has nothing to do with the over-the-air switch or government mandates.

The digital switch is a good-news story, and an opportunity for Canadians to re-think that $100 (or more) cable bill now that most of the TV they watch is available in high-definition for free.  I’ve written additional in-depth articles that will help you determine what channels you can get at your home, and some instructions on how to install your own antenna for less than what some people pay for one month of cable.

I’ve noticed this week that there are plenty of unscrupulous telemarketers, uninformed salesmen, and headline-seeking news outlets who are using this digital transition to serve a different agenda.  For just the raw facts, the Government of Canada’s digital transition website is the place to go.

Enjoy the new world of HDTV coming to Canada, I know I will!

The best option is to install an antenna on your roof, but if you’re like me then there are a few reasons why this might not happen:

1. My wife (and likely neighbours) doesn’t want an ugly antenna sticking out of my roof
2. I’m not comfortable working on the roof myself
3. I’m too cheap to pay someone to do it for me (about $250 labour to install)

The next best thing to an outdoor antenna is to install an antenna in your attic, which is actually quite easy to do.  I’ll walk you through the basics.

What you’ll need (expect to spend about $150):

A good-quality antenna:

• See the chart over at Digital Home Canada for the latest recommendations
• The CM4221 was my choice because it can grab fringe channels from Buffalo and will fit through my attic hatch
• Note that you’ll need to match the antenna to the channels you plan to receive and there are a few odd ducks out there that will be tough to match to an attic-sized antenna (I’m lookin’ at you Global TV on channel 6 in Paris, Ontario)

A pole to mount it to:

• Personally I used some cheap PVC conduit from Home Depot

A pre-amplifier:

• This is only necessary if you plan to split the signal to multiple TVs, but a pre-amp is a good investment as it amplifies the signal right at the antenna before any signal gets lost in the cable or splitters
• See the chart over at Digital Home Canada for the latest recommendations. 
• The Winegard AP-4700 was my choice as I didn’t want to over-amplify the signal and at the time I only needed UHF channels 14 and up.

Coax cable:

• RG6 grade is the way to go here, which is available at Home Depot in bulk
• You’ll also need a way to put screw-ends on the coax, which usually involves a special cutter and crimper which is also available at Home Depot (I’m happy to lend my compression crimpers out to local friends and colleagues)
• Look in the telecom section for good quality stuff, not the TV cables section which is where Home Depot puts the cheap junk

Step 1 – Mount the antenna

Find a spot in the attic that is relatively easy to access.  Use conduit clamps (also at Home Depot) to mount the pole vertically between rafters.  Use a level to ensure the pole is straight.

Mount the antenna to the pole following the manufacturer’s instructions, as high as is possible.  The CM4221 is a simple U-bolt that you loosen via a couple of nuts.

Step 2 – Run the cable

Figure out how you’re going to run a cable from your antenna to its ultimate destination (likely the TV).

Here’s how I did it:

• Found a cold-air return duct that ran from the ceiling of the top floor all the way down to the basement. 
• Popped off the cover from the vent, and drilled a hole upwards into the attic
• Stuck a coat hanger through the hole so that I could find it through the insulation
• In the attic, use electrical tape to attach the coax cable to the coat hanger, then pulled it through into the duct.
• Pull the cable through until I felt it hit bottom in the basement
• Asked a buddy to jiggle the cable while I located it by sound in the basement
• Cut a relatively large opening into the cold air return duct with tin snips to locate the cable, then pulled it through into the basement
• Stapled the cable into place in the basement, ultimately ending near where the rest of the coax comes into the house (generally near your electrical box)
• Closed up the cold air vent with the sheet metal I had cut out and some aluminum tape
• Sealed all the holes with caulk

Step 3 – Connect the antenna
• Connect the balun (the little adapter the converts two wires into coax) to the antenna
• Using a small piece of coax, connect the balun to the antenna side of the preamp
• Connect the long piece of coax to the power supply side of the preamp
• Back in the basement, connect the long coax to the power supply that came with the preamp.
• Connect another length of coax from the preamp power supply to a splitter, and ultimately to the TVs you wish to connect (you can probably re-use the cables already in your home that were put there for Cable TV).

Step 4 – Adjust the antenna

• Using maps on TVFool, figure out in which direction the TV stations are broadcasting from, and point your antenna in that general direction.
• The next set of steps is mostly trial and error, and you’ll likely need a helper. 
• Pick one of the channels from your TVFool report that is relatively low on the list, we’re going to try to point the antenna optimally to bring in that hard-to-get channel. 
• Tune your HDTV to that channel (you may have to run a channel scan first), and set the TV to signal strength mode. 
• Try adjusting the antenna left or right until you get the best signal strength. 
• Once you’ve got that hard-to-get channel working, check the signal strength on the other channels to ensure they’re coming in strong.  If not, you may have to keep tweaking until you find a happy medium for all the channels.
• Nerd tip: If you’re using the HDHomerun3 network tuner (highly recommended), there is an iPad app called Signal GH that makes quick work of pointing the antenna.  Maps, compass, and signal strength all on your iPad

Step 5 – Enjoy!

That’s about it, you should now have access to all of the free HDTV signals that are flying through the air here in Canada.

I’ve included a couple photos below of my setup to help you visualize.  You may notice that I actually chose to stack two Channel Master 4221 antennas in the attic, which helps me to pull in some of the more challenging channels from Buffalo.

Additional Resources:

Digitalhome.ca: More help and info on over-the-air antennas and reception in Canada

TVFool.com: Tools to help you figure out the channels available in your area

Save ‘n Replay: Canadian online retailer that sells over-the-air supplies

Media Center and HDTV: Instructions to set up Windows 7 as a HDTV PVR

Well those old TV signals are still flying around in the airwaves, but come the end of this month they’re all about to get a shot of 21st-century steroids that actually leapfrogs the HD quality that you’re getting from your cable company.

Here’s a quick FAQ that will help you get started with the free digital TV in your area.

What channels will I get?

The number of channels varies by your location, but there’s a great website that will let you know what you’ll be able to receive at your home.  Click here and enter your address into TVFool, and on the next page choose “pending” to see what the world will look like on August 31.  Everything in green you’ll get with rabbit ears, everything in yellow by putting an antenna in your attic, and if you’ve got an old antenna tower from the 70s still attached to the outside of your house then you can expect to get pretty much every channel on the list.

A few sample locations that I know at least a few of my readers will find interesting…

Toronto-Area Free HDTV	Waterloo Free HDTV	Ottawa Free HDTV

Will it be all staticky like when I was a kid?

No.  With the switch to digital you either get the channel in full high-definition dolby digital glory, or you don’t get it at all.

Why would I use an antenna instead of cable?

The financial factor: Cable bills continue to rise, and many people will see this as an opportunity to re-evaluate whether you really need to pay $100 a month for TV service.  In many cases you’ll get all the content you’d normally watch without a monthly fee.

Picture quality: Cable and satellite companies compress the high-definition channels so that they can fit more channels into their lineup.  Antenna channels are compressed as well, but not nearly as much and the quality is noticeable.

Portability: The HD you get through your cable company is encrypted, and only works when connected to your cable box.  Antenna channels are not encrypted, and can be recorded to a PVR , streamed around your house, or copied to your iPad to watch on the train.

Is this legal?

Yes.  Television has been broadcast over the air for years, and this transition to free, over-the-air digital TV is mandated by the Canadian government.

Ok I’m sold, what do I need?

Pretty much every HDTV sold since 2005 has included a digital tuner (called an ATSC tuner), so all you need to do is plug an antenna into your TV.  To try things out, you could get a small indoor antenna like this one and see what you get.  Personally, I put a slightly larger antenna (about the size of a pizza-pizza box) in my attic.  If you’re feeling handy, you can even build an excellent-quality antenna yourself.

Really, is that what you do Pete?

Well no, because I’m a bit nerdy things in my house are somewhat more sophisticated.  I have that antenna in the attic plugged in to a tuner that’s connected to my network.  I then use a free program in Windows 7 called media center as my PVR.  I have little media center extenders (or an Xbox) attached to all of the TVs in the house so that the PVR works on any and every TV.  Finally, I sync all of my TV shows to my iPod and iPad for when I travel.  (You can do something similar on the Mac using a program called EyeTV)

In Conclusion…

It really is as simple as plugging some rabbit ears into your HDTV, but as you probably gathered from that last answer there’s a ton of cool stuff you can do with this if you’re so inclined.  If you want to learn more about how the sausage is made, I’d recommend checking out the OTA forums or the Home Theater PC forums at Digital Home Canada.  If you just want to enjoy the tasty free sausage, there’s nothing to lose by picking up a little antenna from your local electronics store and plugging it in to your TV.  Keep the receipt, you can always take it back if it’s not for you.