TV

Another Monday

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I am running out of catchy titles for posts on some days. Who am I kidding. I ran out of good post names for most posts back in 2003! I had as typical a day as I could. I had a few meetings. Went over issues with Kai, and had to deal with some last minute requests. Nothing major to report, or I should rephrase that. nothing major that I can report here! Read into that what you will! And yes I like being cryptic sometimes. It’s more than I have to be, I actually enjoy it.

After work I went to Best Buy with Jayson to fix the shipping issues with my TV. After about 40 minutes of working with customer service they think they fixed the problem. It took forever to fix. it also took like 3 people to figure out the issue, but they did figure it out. they were also very very nice and attentive about the whole issue. It may have taken a long time, but it could have been MUCH worse. Kudos to the ladies that assisted me.

Pre-Opening Day

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Today I “won” the chance to goto a pre-grand opening of the new Best Buy in NYC. Someone at work couldn’t be there, so I guess they knew the store manager and he gave her a ticket for someone else to go in her place. She gave it away to the 3rd email respondent! I was it. It was cool. There was food, and you got to check out the store before it opened to the public. I felt all special getting in by invitation only! The best part of course was the discount. They had a one day deal that anything you bought that night was at the employee discount price. On some items that was a nice deal. I have wanted to get a LCD TV or Plasma for almost 2 years now. Every time I look at price they are way too expensive for what I want. Then to settle was not worth the money.

I wanted to get a 42″ HDTV plasma. They are way to expensive. I didn’t want to get an EDTV plasma at the same price. it just wasn’t worth it. So I decided to go with a 32″ LCD TV. I saw the price online and said with a nice discount I would be willing to buy it. I went to the store, found the TV I wanted and checked on the discount. I was blown away by the deal. I was all ready to buy it. Then a bad thing happened. I looked at the bigger TV next to it. It was a 40″ LCD HDTV. Beautiful, crystal clear, and WAY out of my budget. Then someone else asked the price of it after the deal. I was shocked at how good a deal it actually was. It was still expensive, but within my budget (barely) and a deal that I would never see again. I called my dad, since he wanted a TV also. We were going to go shopping in a few weeks anyway for one. I told him the situation and the price. I also warned him that the price was only part of it. He needed to get the extended warrantee since this thing was big and pricey. You don’t want to take a chance with it breaking. Then I told him he needed to have it professionally wall mounted. He said get it. Not wanting to abuse a special deal I said only if I can get more than 1. I asked and the staff was very cool. They were like yeah you can get 2. As I was standing there waiting to place my order there where several other people doing the same thing I was (buying 2).

I got my order in, and went upstairs to pay for it. It was allot of money for a spur of the moment item, but I have wanted one for so long, and the deal was not every going to be better, no matter what I kept telling myself. Now I can’t wait for it to arrive. They had to ship it to me. Something about not selling anything at the store since they wanted stock for the real opening later this week. I didn’t care, I wasn’t going to carry 2 TV’s home anyway.

I figured if I could get a nice

Alias

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I remember when people about the office said that I should take a look at Alias. They said I would like it. I am picky. What people say I will like (just because I like similar stuff), allot of the time I think is crap. I have also been stupid and blown people off when they tell me to look at something, and then months or years later I end up taking a look and find I like it. Thanks Mom for pestering me about reading Harry Potter way back when.

Well I finally took some peoples advise and rented the first few episodes of Alias from Blockbuster. I figured I had nothing to loose. Was I blown away? No, but it was still good. I finished all the episodes I had on disk and I plan on renting the rest of the first season, or just picking it up at BestBuy. Is it as good as Mi-5? No, but like I said it has a good story line so far, so I am hooked. It is not like there is that much TV out there that keeps me interested.

Tivo Needs The Boot

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I keep talking about it, but I think I am finally going to pull the trigger on getting rid of my Tivo. With an extra capture card I can get 2 tuners on my PC, for no cost per month. I almost exclusively use Beyond TV now and only goto Tivo for things that I forget to capture on my PC. With a second capture card I could get everything on the PC in nice transportable MPEG files. I think this month is the month.

For me it is either Beyond TV or EyeTV on my mac that will replace the Tivo. Still debating that. it is not that I don’t like the Tivo. Mine is almost like a pet. It is great, but why pay a monthly fee for something I can get for free?

Why I Don’t Watch The News

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There I was on vacation. No computer, no mobile phone, etc and I need to do something sometimes. So of course I turned to TV. With half the channels in spanish, and the other half crap I had slim pickings. I did what I never like to do, watch the news. So I have to ask myself why multiple cable news channels have to devote hours of the day on non news topics? When I mean non news topics I mean a subject that should have gotten 2 minutes of coverage and the they move on? For example the missing teenager in Aruba. According the news she has been missing over 2 months. Why then is the news playing footage of some kid in a dance re-sidle 60 days after she went missing? I gotta say there is more important news to talk about. Maybe the 2 countries we currently have military forces fighting and dying in for starters?

Can anyone really tell me that if this girl was an african american from the Bronx that the news networks would be covering this so much? Come on?

Not to pick on one over exposed story, you could have the hours of news coverage discussing the contradictory statements by some old juror on the Jackson trial. She is changing her statements saying she has doubts or something like that about the trial. You were there, you voted, now shut up and go back to your life. I and most of the normal world didn’t want to hear about the trial when it went on, so now I really don’t want to hear about it.

I don’t want this blog to become political, but I had to express my frustration at the state of TV news today. When I was a kid my mom always said I used to sit in front of the TV and watch the news for hours. That was when news was actual news. Now I almost never turn on the news, and get my current events from blogs or the AP and Reuters news feeds. They remain the last (partially) unbiased news sources out there. One part of the vacation I am looking forward to leaving is bad cable. Returning home to my DVR and the ability to filter out all the crap shows and news out there is a wonderful thing. I want to know what is going on in the world, but what most think is newsworthy I think is more nonsense than anything else I guess. Something can be important for 2 minutes, and be nonsense when discussed for 60 days.

Working on a Saturday

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I worked most of the day today. Busy, busy, busy. See the work Blog for details. After a late lunch at outback I was tired. I didn’t go to the beer garden for Dave’s birthday like I hoped. I ended up relaxing at home and walking to Best Buy.

I am now updating my version of Beyond TV to the latest revision, and at the same time looking through the TV guide for anything on TV that looks good to record over the next 2 weeks.

While running my software update I have been giving serious consideration to dropping the Tivo in favor of a second computer based DVR (PVR). My reading has proven that I can plug a second USB Video capture card into my desktop and use the existing Beyond TV software to record 2 shows at once, or watch one and record another. Some would say that is overkill, but even my mom who has a Time Warner DVR has asked to watch something and record something at the same time. Right now I have 2 cable box’s with one plugged into my Tivo and another one into my computer. The thing with Tivo is it costs $12.95 a month. With a video capture card going for a little over $100 depending on what I get the device pays for itself in 10 months. That is assuming I get no money for the Tivo I have.

I am still pondering what I want to do.

TV Update

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So I won’t be buying the winbook TV I was talking about. Turns out it only does 15:9 aspect ratio. DVD quality is 16:9, so I will pass. I knew it was too good to be true. The Dell & Gateway 30″ TV’s are still $1599. At that price I will wait a bit longer, or until Jayson talks me into buying it. I just can’t see paying $1600 for a friggen TV. My last TV (a sharp 27″ CRT) was like $500 in 2000 and I thought that was too much.

This is a purchase that will require much research. I am a tech person that considers myself at least moderately electronic savvy (probably a bit above moderate, but I am being modest), and I find myself being a bit confused by the options on these TV’s.

A New TV?

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Jayson found this $999 30″ LCD TV from Winbook. I have been eyeing it ever since. I have wanted a new TV since last year. HD ready plasma’s are still too expensive for my taste. And until recently the LCD TV’s I have seen have been too small. Now I find a 30″ LCD TV within my price range. I still don’t know if I should get it. Winbook does not make their own TV’s. I don’t know who makes them. I also am skeptical since their TV is like $600 cheaper than the nearest competitor that I know of. I believe you DO get what you pay for. I want a nice review of the TV from someone other than who Winbook says to check out reviews for.

I am not anti Winbook. I have actually been tempted to buy a laptop from them several times in the past. For whatever reason I never did, but I hear good things about them. I am waiting for more information on this TV before I make a decision. But it sure would look nice hanging on my wall in my living room!

Whats Hot And Not on TV (for me)

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As I always say I am a science fiction geek. I don’t care what you think about that. It is not like I have costumes and goto conventions. There was that time at Burson that I ran around with a Star Wars laser gun, but that was more to make fun of Jeffrey M for having it than anything else, but I digress. Being a sci-fi fan I get very happy when I see a real good sci-fi drama. Battlestar Galactica is my latest favorite. it is dark, gritty and has a real feel to it. Granted it is sci-fi but it is at least tries to put a human element in everything it does. The stories are fantastic, and lets face it CGI doesn’t make everything ok. The story is what makes things work. The first season is more than half over. I am already dreading the months to a year for the next 13 episodes to come out.

Season 3 of Mi-5 (Spooks) is still as good as the first 2 seasons. the only problem is that 10 episodes does not a season make. Maybe that is why the british tv calls it series 3? Even the Soprano’s has more than 10 episodes a season. of course if my only complaint of a show is that they make too few of them, then they are doing something right. Even after 2 of the 3 main characters are out this season it still keeps its stride.

For all those people out there saying DVR’s like Tivo with the ability to keep shows forever are killing DVD sales I have one thing to say. I can (and do) burn shows to DVD for person use, as is my right under fare use laws. I had all 10 episodes of season 2 of Mi-5 on my hard drive. I still went out and bought the dvd series, and deleted the perfectly good high quality MPEG-2 files from my hard drive? Why because I wanted the DVD. you are afraid of losing money because of people like me saving files on my computer. If I can get the season’s of stuff on DVD quick I will still buy them. I will let you in on a little secret, I spend more on DVD’s now that I have a DVR than when I didn’t. Buy tightening the reigns on DVR’s you are only pissing me the consumer with $$$ off. Think about it.

I haven’t watched a complete season of 24 since the first season. I just bought that one on DVD a few weeks ago. This year I watched the first 2 hour episode of season 4 and I was interested. I had the Tivo grab every episode. I find that 24 is better to be watched 6-9 episodes at a time. When I was recovering from being sick I sat and watched all the episodes I have up till now. Man can I say action packed. Granted it is unrealistic, but it is a good serial drama. I still have my season pass waiting to capture the remaining episodes. I actually like what fox did and waited to put the show on until January to give it a 23 week run with all first run episodes.

Now I don’t normally admit I know this show exists, let alone watch it, but Gilmore Girls used to be good. I mean you may ask why a 30 year old guy is watching that show? I say why wouldn’t I? I will watch any show on TV now a days with good witty writing on it, decent stories and did I mention hot actress’s on it! So a chick show, maybe, but don’t mock me for it. Did I mention hot actress’s? I blame my friend Jenn for getting started on that thing. Yes Jenn another plug for you:)

Law & Order is another great show. A semi realistic look at crime fighting. Recently I am a fan of the Special Victims version of that show. Just good all around crime show. It is not as good as my all time favorite crime show, Homicide Life on the Street, but it is better than everything else out there now. Now if you never have seen Homicide, you need to go get the DVD. I need to finish my collection of that series on DVD soon.

Some shows that I watch, but I don’t know why are things like Enterprise. Man I really don’t care if that show gets canceled. I am a sci-fi fan, and an off and on again Star Trek fan, but looking back on all the series they made I only like about 1 1/2 of them. I don’t care if you agree with me or not, but some of those people need some spines. I don’t know about you but if I was on a ship (space ship, naval ship, inflatable raft) and I saw/knew a bad guy is coming after me I wouldn’t try to talk. They don’t want to talk to you. You need to show them a whole six pack of wup ass. I need a good show like Babylon 5 again. The good guys don’t always have to be squeaky clean pussies. OK, I feel better now.

Third Watch was another show that used to be good, but it is so over the top now I don’t know why I watch it? I keep hoping it will get better. I don’t know. It is not like I have more time for TV than I did before. I actually have less. I guess I am an optimist sometimes. Of course there was a time that I liked ER also, and now I can’t stand that show. How some shows should be pulled off the air after a while.

Lastly one last good show Arrested Development. Funny, witty, and well written. If you know me you must be wondering why I didn’t mention the Simpsons sooner? The answer is the Simpsons are always good, no matter what I or anyone else says. Mmmm Simpsons… And that is what is on my mind about what is on TV. Just remember this is my opinion. I don’t care what you or anyone may thing about my opinion. I am just writing because I feel like writing about what is on my mind.

There are plenty other shows out there that I can comment on, good or bad. This was just a few that came to mind when I couldn’t sleep last night.

TV and Not Much More

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I did some work, watched TV, etc. today. I went to the bank to deposit my Tivo rebate that I finally got. I hit Best-buy. I got Angel Season 5 while I was there. I liked that show and never got to see the second half of that season so I am eager to watch it.

Right after I got home jayson called and needed my help because he hurt his back helping danny move. I met him by Petco. We ended up grabbing food at burger heaven. Well I ate and he drank. I also brought him Alien Vs. Preditor. I still have not watched that dvd, but I saw the movie already so I am not in any rush.

I felt bad that I couldn’t help danny today. I was originally going to have electrical work done in the office, but then I got sick. So lifting would be bad for me today.

I also got a card for Morgan. Her birthday gift is already on the way. I still wanted something for her on her party day but I will settle for her just getting the package.

Spoke to Sean today. He is happy (as a father of a 4 day old can be). Little Scott is doing well also. Kelly is resting. Sean had some website questions. I think his idea of a baby site is cool. that is what I did for morgan.