Rogers Digital Television Adapter

Not my photo.

I've been a subscriber to Rogers for cable television service for years. From the time I moved into my first home in Scarborough (in 1992) to my current location at my condo in midtown Toronto (since 2001).

When I first moved into my condo Rogers offered me all their channels for the price of basic cable. I had CNN, Spike TV, Discovery Channel, History Channel, HGTV, The Food Network, etc. I supposed they wanted me to get hooked on these channels so I'd subscribe to them once the free trial period was over. Well, that didn't work.

Soon enough the channels were cut and I made do with basic cable which went up to Fox on channel 28. I still had SportsNet on channel 22, but there was no TSN on 30 or any of the other channels above. Borrrinnng...

... Until, one day, the channels magically reappeared.

Now, I don't know how or why it happened, but I didn't care. I had the channels back and that was fine with me. Rogers started charging me a few extra dollars for using an extra outlet (for the second and third TVs), but I didn't care. It was still less than paying for the extra channels I was getting. All was good until just recently.

Roger started upgrading their channels from analog to digital. Soon the analog channels started disappearing a few at a time. First it was the Food Network. Disappointing, but I could handle it. Then MTV Canada and Peachtree TV. Next it was Teletoon, HGTV and History Channel. Painful! Now The Score (soon to be SportsNet 360 showing the UFC) was gone! Enough was enough!

Now Rogers began offering free digital TV adapters to their customers quite awhile ago. But, me being the lazy person I am didn't order one. Now I was suffering. So one Friday afternoon I made short the walk down Yonge to their Davisville store and picked up three.

They gave them to me and I brought them home and struggled a wee bit to set them up. Actually, hooking everything up wasn't much of a problem. It was trying to program the remote control. The instructions from Rogers didn't work. So I followed the ones from the manufacturer Cisco and, finally, success. Until...

... I turned the TV on and, lo and behold, my channels were not only not any clearer (with digital), but I had even less!! I was back to my original basic cable channels (2 through 28, while missing 29 to 42). So, after all that work, I unplugged the digital adapter and am back to my analog service. Good grief!

My New Toy

... Well, not exactly a "toy", but you know what I mean.

I had been looking to replace my aging Canon 20D (that I bought in 2006) with the latest version, the 60D (which is actually on the verge of being replaced having come out in September, 2010).

Prices have dropped significantly since that point in time. The original MSRP for the body was $1,099 (U.S.). I believe I saw it advertised for as low as $900 last Christmas/Boxing Day (2011).

This year the trend continued. One of the first advertisements I saw was from Aden Camera. It listed the body for $834. Not bad. Vistek countered next with a price of $799. Aden then upped the ante at $769.

I took this flyer to Future Shop and they said they would beat the price. Turns out they didn't have any 60D bodies in stock, only kits (with cheap kit lenses). They did have an open box body though. The manager offered to sell it to me for $700.

I thought about for a bit and decided to go for it. The sales person put a lens on and I tried it out in the store snapping a few test shots. It worked like a charm. As well, it came with the same manufacturer's warranty as a new one.

I'll be looking to give it a workout a my next get together this coming Saturday. Stay tuned for more pictures...