Canada Home Theater


Being a Home Theater enthusiast in Canada has its own set of challenges. American marketing and advertising campaigns trickling north of border can be misleading to Canadian consumers. Best Buy is new to Canada and only adds confusion to the Tivo brand north of the border. (See Tivo Canada for more information). You can expect to pay more in sales tax and usually higher prices in general for foreign made gear. Asia companies like Pioneer and Sony aren't likely to recognize fluctuation in the exchange between US/Canadian dollars and will price goods in Canada relatively high compared to the same product sold in the US. It's times like today when the Canadian dollar is relatively high that living near the US border has its advantages. See Cross Border Shopping.
Although a vast majority of the newest technologies available in the US become available in Canada at the same time, this is not always the case in technologies where telecommunications and Home Theater converge. We enjoy compatible region one DVDs and the Digital Television (HDTV) standards are universal. One major consideration for the Canadian HDTV shopper is that Canadian networks have only limited broadcasting in HD, a digital TV tuner is usually not necessary in Canada, today. See HDTV in Canada.

The governing body for communications in Canada is the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission or CRTC, similar to the FCC in the US. The CRTC has created a unique landscape for Canadian consumers of satellite TV, since the American satellite TV signals are present across Canada we're not allowed to subscribe to them here. See Satellite TV in Canada.

Home Theater Canada, see also:

Cross border shopping
Canadian retailers
TiVo Canada
Canadian Satellite systems
Canadian HT services CEDIA certified