TV

The Do Nothing Weekend

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My plans for this weekend are very simple, I am to do nothing. I am happy to report that as of noon Sunday I am successful in that mission. My goal is to stay in and kick the remnants of my cold so I am fresh and normal for next week. I may have stayed in, but the cold is not 100% gone yet. I am coughing a little, that is actually a new development. My noise is still slightly stuffed up, but better than before. My throat is still slightly soar. An improvement over last week yes, but I am still not my normal self yet.

I missed my nephews birthday party yesterday due to this cold. As much as I am upset that I missed it, I am glad I didn’t have to do all that traveling to get there. That and there would be tons of kids over, and I don’t want to get anyone else sick. Instead I sat around and watched allot of TV. I have all but cleaned out my backlog of things to watch on my Tivo and Apple TV.

It is weird to think that it was 95 degrees out yesterday and currently 93 degrees outside when I am cool and comfortable with the AC on low in my apartment. I will say this, my current apartment stays cool. In my last two apartments before this without AC on high the place would be sweltering with the temperature in the 90’s outside. When I woke up this morning my living room was a bit warm but not completely unlivable when the AC was off for more than 12 hours. There is allot to be said for that!

I am not sure what the agenda holds for today, but probably more of the same lying around letting the meds kill my cold. Maybe I will get some more writing in this afternoon if I am in the mood.

Carrier

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I don’t normally watch PBS, but I saw the advertisement for Carrier a few weeks ago. I programed up the Tivo and finally got to watch all of it recently. I thought it was an amazing documentary. They seemed to gloss over some stuff with lots of music, but I think all in all it was really well done. That is hard to say to many TV shows recently, documentaries or not. Well done TV is rare, and the 10 hours of Carrier were worth the watch for me!

State of Play

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I am not sure if it is me or it seems like the BBC has more good shows out compared to any US network. There just seems to be more and more shows or specials I watch from the BBC that are just good. I am watching State of Play DVD from Netflix this week. I had no idea that this series was made back in 2003, but I recently found a review for it on another DVD so I put it in my queue. I am glad I did. It is fantastic. I am up to episode 4 (out of 6) and it is fantastic so far. This series adds to the long line of other great series I have watched from the BBC. Recent favorites are Foyles War, Spooks, Hustle, & Torchwood. Then there was Red Cap, The Vice, Doctor Who, and the list goes on!

The Harmony

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I am like most people (or at least people that I know). I have allot of remote controls needed to watch TV. At last count I had 6. I have wanted a universal remote for years, but for almost as long as I can remember there have been universal remotes that just haven’t done what they were supposed to do. I remember my teenage years at home and my dad had at least 3 “universal” remotes sitting along with the remotes for the TV, VCR, & Cable. None of them did everything they were supposed to. I have also had the same problem, so for years I gave up.

I had almost lost hope in technology solving this problem that it had created, until I read the reviews of the Harmony 1. I had read and heard great things about the Harmony remotes, but they were expensive and seemed difficult to teach the remote how to do stuff. Because of that I avoided them. Then I read about the Harmony 1, and I was impressed. Now granted it did seem that other of the more recent Harmony remotes by Logitech did the same thing, but 1 was the latest model that was in my price range. After reading CNET’s review and talking to a friend or two I went and shelled out the $250 for the remote. Yes you heard me right, it was $250 plus tax for a remote control. Let me tell you it is worth every penny!

I have what you would call a slightly more complicated entertainment system setup than most. I was skeptical that it could be programed easily enough for all the stuff I have. I can safely say now more than a week later that this remote works as advertised. It took me about 30-45 minutes to program in all my devices, and activities but after that it worked on the very first attempt to use my setup. My entertainment setup is complicated because I have a TV, Tivo HD, stereo receiver, DVD player, Apple TV, Xbox 360, and a HDMI switcher (KVM) to cycle between everything. That means the Harmony needs to know to switch the KVM to one channel, the receiver to another channel, use the receiver to change volume, use the Tivo to change channels and know all the special Tivo buttons just for me to watch some TV. It also needs to know what to do when i want to switch to the Apple TV to watch TV and listen to music, but like i said on the very first attempt the remote knew what to do. I was amazed. The only remote the Harmony needed a little extra assistance understanding was my Tivo remote. Everything else it knew how it functioned right away. The online database of devices was very thorough. It even knew my HDMI switcher model. I was impressed and still am. I am waiting for the day I come home from work and the Harmony just gives me a run down of what I missed on the TV that day!

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Tivo HD

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For a few years I have been using a computer based DVR. I would like to say it was cheaper than a Tivo, but in the end the hardware costs were probably more, but I didn’t have any monthly recurring costs. The other major advantage was that I could do whatever I wanted with the recordings since there wasn’t any DRM on them. The downside within the past two years was that I have a nice 40″ LCD HD TV that I am not getting much benefit out of since I am not using it with HD. That was why back in March I got a HD DVR from my cable provider, RCN. I personally disliked the device. It only held a small amount of HD content. The screen would go blank when you fast forwarded too much with HD content and then took almost 10 seconds to come back to normal all while you hear what is going on in the background. It just seemed like a half baked device, but it did HD so I kept it.

Between March and July when I moved my computer DVR got used less and less until right before I moved I wasn’t using it at all. In July Tivo announced an affordable HD Tivo, and the FCC rules allowing anyone who wants a CableCARD to ask for it from their cable provider. It was perfect timing for me since I was moving. My new place also has RCN, so I didn’t want their HD DVR again so I asked for a CableCARD, and went out and ordered an HD Tivo. I had Tivo for over 3 years before I went to a computer based DVR and that wasn’t until my Tivo died. I did go out and buy a Tivo Series 2, but it wasn’t the same by then so the series 2 actually sits in my closet to this day unused. Having a Tivo again I remembered how much I liked that device! No tinkering involved. For a while I liked the flexibility of a computer based DVR, but now I just want a product that works. That is part of the reason why I have a Mac at home and no windows PC anymore. I tinker enough at work, that I don’t want to have to at home. That is why I am very happy with my new Tivo!

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The Censorship Age

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I was a bit ticked off to read that the US government is now trying to regulate what they think is indecent on Cable TV. The last I checked the government only applies standards on broadcasts used on the public airwaves such as the big networks. I don’t understand how they can apply broadcast standards to cable channels that I pay to have, that DO NOT go over the public airwaves. If you want to edit content that kids can get to why don’t parents take some control of their kids lives, or maybe get a V-Chip and use it. My mom was a teacher for like 30 years and agrees with me on this one. Instead of regulating how to be a good parent, get people to parent their kids and let adults watch what they want to watch.

I have heard about this legislation before, but it looks like it is becoming more of a reality now. I wonder what else the government thinks they need to regulate since they think i am too stupid to think for myself.

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My Apple TV

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I finally got my Apple TV a few weeks ago. Since I was really sick when I got it I didn’t really get to set it up and use it until around the 26th of March. Then I just never got around to finishing this post. So now here is my brief first thoughts on the product.

So far it has meet my expectations, and I am happy with it. Even though I have read mixed reviews about it, the Apple TV fix in perfectly with my home entertainment setup. Since I use a Windows PC for a DVR, a Mac Mini was not feasible for the same TV. I KVM didn’t work so well, and the DVI to HDMI cable never got the resolution right on the Mini. All that and the fact that Front Row was very slow to respond on the Mini, the Apple TV fit perfectly. I have a new Stereo with HDMI inputs and the Apple TV plugged in and was online in 10 minutes.

It is true that the Apple TV doesn’t have HD content, but what was watching on my Mini wasn’t in HD anyway. Eventually getting HD content would be nice, but I am happy with the product as is for now!

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Time For Vista?

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This week I decided to install Windows Vista. Now hold on I know what you are thinking. Yes I still use a Mac as my primary machine. That is why I decided to put Vista on a computer or two. My work laptop has been sitting in my office barely used day in and day out for weeks and I figured I would play around with it. According to Microsoft Vista will run on it just fine. WIth nothing to lose since I do use my Macbook as my main computer for home and work I figured what the heck. As I am writting this post it is running windows update. So the jury is still out on this one.

At home I decided to put the Mac Mini I had doing pretty much nothing to better use and I setup a dual boot of OS X and Vista now that Boot Camp 1.2 is out and it supports Vista. I figured I might as well put my copy of the OS to use. I am replacing my current machine I have running my Beyond TV DVR and put the Mini in its place. I even read an article from the folks at Snapstream that showed how they tested the Intel Mini with their software. I also read and verified that the 4 products I use (Beyond TV 4.6, Firefly Remote Control Drivers, USB-UIRT IR Blaster, & the Hauppauge USB2 Video Capture device) on that machine to run the DVR are in fact compatible with Vista now, so I said why not. I have been having issues since day one with the MCE 2005 install I had been using on my old machine so I was up for a change. I have been using that machine less anyway now that I got an HD DVR box from my cable provider, but since I already own all the gear and it is free to use I am not getting rid of it just yet.

The install and setup of the DVR box was relatively painless. I put Vista on it earlier this week, and took some time today to swap the old machine I was using for the Mini, and then setup the software and all the drivers. The DVR setup is slightly better than the ld system, but it is a bit cluttered since I need to use an external Hard Drive for video capture. The Snapstream article explains why. Initial tests are showing me that the problems I had with MCE 2005 are resolved (for now) with Vista. Until There is an equivalent DVR for the Mac (EyeTV in my opinion is not anyway near as good as Beyond TV) I guess I will be using this setup. More information as I discover them.

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The RCN Monopoly

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The building I live in has an exclusive deal (aka monopoly) with RCN to provide Cable & Phone service. That sucks for me since I am paying more for less service than I had with Time Warner. I am home sick today so I decided to call RCN and make some changes I have wanted to make on my account. I never watch HBO so I wanted to save me the $10 (yes ten bucks) on that, and I also wanted to see if I could get a HD DVR box. The good news is I can get the DVR. The bad news is I have to pay $50 for them to install it for me. First of all I need someone to bring me a box, not install anything. I don’t want them touching my TV. Second, they were like you can come in and get the box yourself if you want. I am up for that. The only problem is in the biggest city in the country they only have one office. It is only open monday through friday 9AM – 5PM and they close for an hour at lunch time. I don’t get how a service place like that can operate like that. OK so I will go with my existing cable box and get the new one. It isn’t because of the $50, it is because they couldn’t tell me when they would be able to send someone out to me.

My next issue I had was the actual process of removing my HBO. The first guy that I got on the phone right away was more than able to add services to my account, but when I wanted to remove something I had to get transfered to the “retention department”. So I waited on hold for 10 minutes before I got someone on the line. Now both CSR’s were very friendly and helpful. I am not bashing them, I am commenting on the company. I feel there is a difference. This new retention CSR was more than happy to take off my HBO, and even try to throw in some promos to keep me spending. I didn’t bite. During this process I have to have my package upgraded since I was on an old package deal whatever that really means. So my account gets upgraded and she removes HBO from my account. Then the CSR tells me what my new monthly total will be after tax’s. I was surprised since it was within $1 of what I was paying for the exact same service with HBO. I question the rep on this and she magically is able to change my plan again (still the exact same features minus the HBO) and I am now saving the $10 I though I was saving by removing HBO. So even if the rep was helpful and friendly I have to wonder if I was intentionally getting screwed? How can they do some magical plan changing and then remove a feature from my account and I am paying the same amount as I was before? It just sounds shady to me. I need to wait for my next bill or two to see how this really plays out.

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Wii Fun

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I finally rewired my TV so I can use the Wii this morning. I can tell you that after on a little while with this thing I can see how addictive it can be. The only limitation is my arm’s began to hurt. As I was breaking in my new system Jayson called and wanted to hang out. He brought his Wii controller over and we went head to head. He has had his Wii for longer so he kicked my ass at Wii Spots. Granted he is in better shape than I, but he did have more practice. After only like two hours I was tired. I am going to try to pace myself and do like about a half an hour a day with this. It is fun though!!!

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