Tivo

Big Brother Is Here

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Big brother is here. Yup, the large networks and cable companies are soon going to try and control when and for how long I can keep recordings of shows that we make. Check out this article. This will become a bigger problem when everything goes all digital. for now someone like me who uses an analog device to convert to a digital mpeg-2 file is safe since I don’t get any broadcast flags. Thanks Snapstream!

PVRblog noted that someone reported not being able to fast forward on a PVR during a show. No one knows if this was a bug or a taste of future “features” of DVR’s provided by cable companies.

A few years ago everyone I worked with had Tivo’s. Now I look around and I see people with DVR’s from their cable companies. I say screw the cheaper easier buy DVR from my cable company. The things they are looking to do scare me. But my parents, my sister, and several friends all have Time Warner DVR’s.

Saturday

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Today I went to my dad’s to get my suit. he then dropped me at Rich’s so I could hang out. Rich is right by the subway so it was a snap (in theory) to get home. We went to Pizzeria uno and then walked around Austin street for a while. We then went back to his place and amanda and I got our ass’s wooped by rich in 90’s trivia pursuit.

I got home a little while ago. I cleaned up my apartment. it really needed it. Now I am winding down and writing a bit. Then I will watch the latest episode of MI-5 that I am Tivoing now. Besides the cleaning a nice relaxing day.

A Server of My Own?

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Jayson has been playing with Linux in VMware. He was going to make a good virtual machine and run a website off of it at him apartment. He has been having problems with it and called me up to take me up on my free computer offer. I have 2 old Dell’s P3 700’s. I got one from an old company I helped out that went out of business and the other is my dad’s old machine. Neither are good for a desktop but as a linux server they would be perfect. All we need to do is put it together (i had to cannibalize both when I was working on my Tivo, long story) and bring it over to his place.

Once built I can host my website and hopefully mail on it. I could get by with Miguel’s server, but I like to have admin access to box’s I host stuff on. I feel more in control. So if this box works, I will put my mail and website on it. this blog will remain at Typepad, but my photo site and other stuff would go on that server. I am still pissed with RCN that I cannot host the website in my apartment without paying $20 extra a month.

Lets see if this project actually gets done, or if it is just another pipe dream.

Sci-Fi Remakes

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I am an admitted fan of Science Fiction.  In recent weeks and months I have been happy to read about some really interesting remakes.  I read this week that they will remake the 80’s film Tron.  The movie was a bit cheezy but it was still great.  I can’t wait to see how it looks with some state of the art CGI.

Another remake I just read about is the BBC show Dr. Who.  I used to watch that in the early 80’s.  it was also cheezy but good.  I guess you gotta like the 80’s cheeze.  The last Dr. Who movie they made in the 90’s sucked big time.  I am interested to see how the new show looks.  I have liked several drama’s from the BBC in recent years.  From MI-5 (spooks), to The Vice, so I hope this one is actually good.

Other remakes that have just gotten on the air are Battlestar Galactica.  One of the first movies I ever remember watching was Battlestar Galactica.  Of course that memory includes my dad having to leave the movie with me since I was really little and didn’t want to sit around anymore:)  The mini series and the first episode on the Sci-Fi Channel were good.  I have Tivo programed to get the rest of the series so I can watch it.

Show’s Return

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I have been vegging out today (Saturday, this post will go up late). I was zombied out since I was stuck working late last night and this morning, so I decided to sit around and clean out my backlog of TV watching. By doing that I realized that a show I really like (MI-5, or Spooks in the UK) was starting new episodes tonight. I should have realized when A&E played all of last season all day Saturday. Cable networks tend to do that. Since new seasons don’t come out for so long they play all of the last seasons shows in a run up to the new one. Well I was excited (or as excited as I can get over a TV show) that I would get more BBC spy goodness. I also just pre-ordered season 2 on DVD. Should be out Tuesday.

This week also marked the return of new shows on TV. Since I don’t watch TV (i just tivo stuff and watch later) I figured this out because my new tivo actually started to get full with stuff. This fueled my TV watching binge today.

Tivo To Go, Well Almost

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So Tivo launched their Tivo To Go service Monday. Great. I downloaded the software Tuesday and installed it on my PC. Oh, wait a minute. I thought Tivo said this service was active. Well turns out the software is available, but since you need a software update on your Tivo device it may take several weeks for my (or anyone else’s) Tivo to get updated. That last piece of information I had to get from the Tivo support site.

I wait ready to try this service out. In the mean time I am getting happier with Beyond TV. It just creates MPEG-2 files so I can copy them to my laptop and watch the shows anywhere right now. Maybe by the time my Tivo can do that I might decide I don’t need to pay $12.99 a month and just use Beyond TV.

Turns out I am not the only one ticked off by how Tivo is doing this upgrade. News.com had this article. I understand why Tivo is staggering the upgrade, but if I want to get it, and know my risks why shouldn’t I be able to get the upgrade now?

2004 Recap

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As most people do near the end of the year, I am looking back on 2004 the year that was. For me it was a year of change, and a year of some things staying just the same.

I moved (again) this year. I now live in the big city. Well I always did, but Manhattan is allot more city like than Queens. I took no vacation, but it wasn’t because of trying. My niece turned 1. I don’t see her as often as I would like, but she is so adorable. I can’t imagine the universe without her! Now my sister has to have another one!

On the technology front this year saw me buy my first store bought desktop (PC) since 1992. It also saw me get 1 Apple Power Book, and sell one iMac. Pretty normal year for me! Ebay has caused my gear to turn over quickly. I only bought 1 new cell phone this year (if you don’t count the extra # & phone that I got). I went from a Treo 270 to the new 600. That is down from the 3 or more phones I got in 2003. I saw a Tivo die, and another one get adopted.

At work I lost a boss, and of course gained a new one. I lost a colleague who I thought was a friend, only to have a long time friend surprise me and come work with me. My group went from a rag tag team of 4 to be a group of people I would trust to do anything (anything technical that is) that will grown to 8 in the next few weeks. I completed (with lots of help) moving 99% of our call center to its new home upstate. I lived through countless upgrades, and system changes. I traveled the east coast looking at ACD software in action. To date no decision made on that front. Began to work on building out phase 2 of our call center. That will start to happen in 2005.

As I look back on 2004 I remember something that is always in the back of my head. I may seem pessimistic allot of the time. I think I am just a realist, but it comes out as being pessimistic. But while looking back on 2004 the year that was I can safely say I am happier and better off today than I was 365 days ago. I hope everyone that is reading this can say the same thing?

Home Entertainment System

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I have been pondering updating my Home Entertainment System for some time now. What that means is getting a new TV. I have a regular Sharp 27″ CRT TV. I have been thinking about taking some money and getting a Plasma or some type of HD TV. Part of me (and Jayson coaxing me) is saying go get a big TV. The realistic side of me is saying that I don’t want to spend the amount needed to get the system I want at todays prices. I also don’t really utilize Digital TV yet so a HD TV may be a waste for me. So for now I am in wait and see mode.

What I have done is got my Tivo Series 2 up and working. I also tinkered with my new desktop computer and am now very happy with my Hauppauge WinTV USB2 Capture Device, and Snapstream’s Beyond TV. I have my ATI remote wonder working so I can sit on my couch and use my TV just like I would use Tivo. At this point I could seriously think about replacing the Tivo with this new solution, but I wont just yet. I also like the ability to capture shows on two different TV’s. The only down side is that I have to change the video resolution on my computer whenever I want to watch TV with Beyond TV. I run my monitor at 1280×1024. The TV can only properly display 1024×768. Not that big a deal, but it is a pain.

What is also good is that my TV Capture system on my computer can save a ton more stuff than my Tivo and I can burn stuff to DVD if I want to archive it. I cannot offload MPEG-2 files of my Tivoed shows now that I have an un-hacked Series 2.

Holiday Week Recap

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I could say that I took the week off, and that is why I haven’t posted in a few days. That would not be true, but I could say that. I worked all of last week. I even ran to the office on both friday and Saturday. I had off both days but I had some quick stuff to do so I ran down there for about an hour each day.

Christmas eve I did some rewiring of my TV and computer. I bought RCA cables to hook up my computer video card to my TV and stereo. I can now use Beyond TV on my TV like a Tivo. It actually works really well. More news on that as it develops. I ended up down at Outback with Jayson and Gretchen for dinner. It was empty because it was Christmas eve, but the place was open till 10:30PM. I made it down in record time. The cab powers that be have been kind to me for finding cabs in the freezing cold. Gretchen knows I cannot pass up Outback. Dam her! That was the third time in recent memory that I have dropped what I was doing and went down to Outback because of a phone call. She is not helping my diet. Since I don’t have I diet, I shouldn’t care:) I did have a bloomin onion for the first time in months. It was a good day!

I went to my parents friends house for a Christmas party. it was ok. My family is friends with a bunch of crazy people. I should learn not to trust my mom when it comes to time or how far someplace is. The trip to the party was LONG. traffic was bad. Coming home it was not as bad, but my sister got into a small fender bender. As she was pulling over to the curb to let me out to the subway we hit another car. Some dumb-ass was stopped at the curb, so my sister went to pull in front of them to park and let me out. The dumb-ass begins to move and hits us in the side of the truck. I could see no damage to my sisters cherokee, but the other car had a nice dent and paint off of the bumper by the front headlight. After some “nice” words between the group of us, we exchanged insurance and off we went. Not sure who will be blamed by the insurance company. I think we will, even thought this ass-whole was not moving when we were moving into his lane. At least morgan slept through the whole thing.

As for commuting on the subway on a cold holiday, I was surprised by how quick most of the trains came on Christmas. Maybe I got lucky, but 3 out of the 4 trains I had to catch came quick.

Today I hung out at home. I had work to do on my laptop (see another post on that) and I had to update my checkbook in quicken. What fun. I just got back from seeing meet the fockers with Jayson and Gretchen. I went down to their neck of the woods and we saw it. That movie was stupid but funny.

Lets hope this week will be a calm and q—t. I won’t say the “Q” word. But I am probably wrong about it being “Q”. Why you ask? Because I am thinking it will be.

DVD’s I Might Be A Bit Embarresed To Admit I Own

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Generally I am not embarrassed by my taste in DVD’s, or TV & Movies in general. Others tend to think so sometimes. I will admit that I am a fan of Science Fiction. I am addicted, but I have very picky tastes. Not just any crap will do. Wasn’t a fan of the Lord of The Rings. Just wanted to get that out there. So, my collection of DVD’s does include several SciFi movies, and an ever growing collection of TV shows on DVD.

My latest arrivals are the 7th and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I will admit that I like that show. I started watching it just as the 7th season aired on TV. My friend Rich is a big fan. I made fun of him for years for watching Buffy. One day he was like, come on. You like Scifi, you like hot women, and you like well written comedy. Why don’t you give the show a try. So he lent me the first season on DVD. Dam Rich. I actually liked the show. So I ended up Tivoing season 2-6 and watched it. By the time I finished season 6 in rerun’s, season 7 was on TV. I now own all the seasons on DVD. There were a few episodes that I never actually got to Tivo, so it was good to get these last remaining hours of TV to watch. When I tell people I like this show I eather get asked “are you retarded?” or, “cool I love that show”. Why is Scifi so polarizing.

Other good DVD’s I have are Angel. That was another great series, by the makers of Buffy. Joss Whedon actually has great ideas. That guy also came up with Firefly. I have that also on DVD, but it didn’t last very long. I am also collecting as many Simpson’s DVD’s that they will put on DVD. Of course at the rate Fox is going by the time they are done putting all the Simpson’s seasons on DVD I will be in retirement and DVD’s will be outdated.

To set the record straight I am NOT a Star Trek fan. One of my vendors likes to make fun of me because several of us from work made the mistake to see a recent Star Trek movie. Out of all the series out there, the only one I can tolerate to sit down and watch now is Deep Space 9. That one at least had some killing, and real fighting. The other shows were people going around acting like no person I want humans to evolve into. Come on, who gets shot at and is like “lets talk this out”? Blow someone’s ass off. (Deep breath) Ok, my ranting is over.

Below are some links to other posts where I have talked about great TV shows on DVD, that most people will miss out on, but are fantastic.

Two Of The Best TV Show’s, Ever, And You Probably Didn’t Know It

What’s on TV?