larryv: Last night Kate and I went to best buy a

Larry (

larryv) wrote,
@ 2008-04-22 10:50:00

Last night Kate and I went to best buy and I bought that 37in Samsung series 5 HDTV. It was all purchased on gift card so it was like a freebie. I want to thank everyone who gave me a gift card in the last two years that led up to this point for help with this purchase. It fits perfectly in my entertainment center. Of course now I need to call my cable company and upgrade to HD and get a new cable box. I'll likely have them come to the house to hook it up. It occurred to me last night that with the way my cable is configured, I might also need to upgrade my TiVo to an HD model or I won't be able to watch HD channels. We'll see though. That might be a bit much.

Kate got me a gift too on Saturday. She went into Gamestop while I was getting a massage at the Bergen Mall and bought a Wii. Sweet! She hooked that up after I finished setting up the TV. So far we've mostly been creating those Mii guys and played a little bowling. We're gonna continue exploring tonight.

I suppose the next technological bits I need to save up for are an HD TiVo and a BlueRay DVD player. Keeping up with the Jonses. Or the CarrieAndRyans as it were.

On a completely unrelated note. Last night I had a dream. And today that dream actually happened. Weeeeeird.

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screamingdolai
2008-04-22 03:03 pm UTC (link)

It's kind of pointless to have HD but not have HD through Tivo. You really should upgrade. The boxes will probably run you another hundred +. If you don't have the HD tivo, it won't come out as HD on the tv screen. We had to get rid of our tivo because we couldn't afford the upgrade and it wasn't compatible with our stupid dish network anyway. Stupid dish network. Now we have their DVR and it just isn't as cool.

Anyway, it will be all worth it when you can watch Lost in HD. Wow that show is amazing in high def.

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	agroupie 2008-04-22 03:41 pm UTC (link)
	The sad thing is, we werent expecting to buy a new TV so soon, and the TiVo we have now pretty much just came out of the box :( (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	larryv 2008-04-22 03:42 pm UTC (link)
	Sorry, my fault. Ironically it was the TiVo that made me all horny for technology and made me want the TV. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

midnightmadness
2008-04-22 06:10 pm UTC (link)

Here's a tip until you're ready to upgrade the Tivo, get a cable HD receiver with a DVR in it. Since you'll have to get a new receiver box for the HD programming anyway, you may as well. Your cable company should offer it for only a slight charge (I pay 10 extra a month for mine). You can then still use the "old" Tivo to get non HD recording done and use the HD box/DVR to record Hi-Def programming.

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zonereyrie
2008-04-23 01:05 pm UTC (link)

If you get the TiVo HD you don't use a cable box at all, it *is* the receiver. The TiVo HD has a $300 MSRP, but sells regularly for under $250 online and refurbs have been sold for $200.

The TiVo HD takes CableCARD (one M-Card or two S-Cards) and that enables tuning and recording of digital cable. Without the cards it handles antenna (NTSC & ATSC) and analog cable.

You have the TiVo service fee, but you save the cable company box rental fee, remote rental fee, and DVR fee. CableCARDs vary - in some areas the first card is free, in others they go up to $5/month.

(I run

tivolovers and GizmoLovers.com.)

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midnightmadness
2008-04-23 01:30 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, all this I actually do know.

If you get the TiVo HD {snip}

I'm guessing you missed the point he was making, that he just bought a non HD Tivo and didn't want to spend the money to get an HD one. I was only offering a simple and relatively very cheap option for being able to record HD programming without having to drop hundreds of dollars to "replace" something he JUST got.

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	zonereyrie 2008-04-23 01:35 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know what he paid for the SD TiVo - but the S2DT goes for about $50 online (after rebate), and has been available effectively free, so that's not a huge investment to replace. And there's always eBay to dispose of the existing box. Service commitments can be transferred to a new box, so that wouldn't be a sticking point. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	midnightmadness 2008-04-23 02:03 pm UTC (link)
	Again, same point, he stated he doesn't want to buy an HD Tivo right now. Doesn't matter if he got his current one out of his neighbors garbage can. 10 dollars a month or so to rent a DVR from the cable company is cheaper than 200-300 dollars for the HD Tivo any possible way you look at it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

zonereyrie
2008-04-23 02:12 pm UTC (link)

I don't see where it was stated he doesn't want to buy a TiVo HD right now, just "That might be a bit much."

Anyway, another option is to get a non-DVR HD cable box and keep the SD TiVo for now. You can watch HD channels 'live' in HD, or the TiVo can record them - down-converted to SD - for later viewing. HD down-converted to SD will look better than the analog SD channels, but still not HD, of course. But the non-DVR cable box is cheaper than their DVR, and you can put the difference toward saving for the TiVo HD.

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larryv
2008-04-23 04:40 pm UTC (link)

If I had the wherewithal i would but that TiVo HD right now, but I am going to be saving up for a bit. The TiVo was a gift from Kate and I'd feel a bit weird turning right around and selling it on eBay. This is the second time I've owned a TiVo. Having lived with both TiVos and non-TiVo DVRs, I can without a doubt say I like TiVo better if only for the way the fast forwarding works (I know its a bit sill, but it was smoother than the cable company's software). I also like the TiVo to go concept albeit, i haven't ever actually set it up and used it.

I would love to set up the TiVo so I can watch HD channels live, but that would be a bit of a tricky setup that might be beyond my capabilities. As it is, it was tricky enough setting up my TiVo. I have a Dual Tuner box but it had to be set up as a single tuner box because Time Warner Cable didn't work without first being piped into the cable box.

Point is, for now I am not quite ready to spend more money on technology. maybe in two weeks when my paycheck comes around. Or maybe after the convention.

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zonereyrie
2008-04-23 09:39 pm UTC (link)

Your Time Warner Cable doesn't have any analog channels? They're normally analog 1-99, then digital 100 and up. So the way to connect the S2DT is with the included splitter - cable from wall to splitter, from splitter to TiVo and cable box, cable box to TiVo's AV input.

To connect the TiVo S2DT and the cable box to watch HD live you'd do the same thing, but you'd connect one of the cable boxes SD outputs (S-Video would be the best to use) to the TiVo, and the HD output (HDMI or component video) to the TV. So just one more connection. Then you'd use the TV's input selector to switch between the HD input from the cable box and the SD input from the TiVo (again, S-Video is the best to use).

The only think you'd want to be careful of is to not change channels on the cable box when the TiVo is using it, or you'd mess up the TiVo's recording.

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larryv
2008-04-23 09:55 pm UTC (link)

Your Time Warner Cable doesn't have any analog channels?

Apparently not. I set it up using the splitter according to the instructions that came with the unit and it didn't work. I had two people who were also TiVo proponents and they also were stumped.

Using the setup you suggested, that would be a bit inconvenient as I'd have to switch back and forth for when I am flipping through channels and also it would negate the "rewind live TV" functionality for when I am on the HD input.

I know of course the solution to all this is an HD TiVo and some cable cards, but likely it will be a while till then.

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zonereyrie
2008-04-23 10:13 pm UTC (link)

Hmm, odd, there are a handful of areas where cable has gone all digital, perhaps you're 'lucky'.

Yeah, that setup is less than optimal, but it is really a stop-gap to be able to use HD content without an HD TiVo and without the added cost of renting an HD DVR from the cable company - since you'd still need a cable box for the TiVo anyway, or you'd just retire the TiVo completely.

Of course, you can just stick with SD cable for now until you save up for the TiVo HD. If you use S-Video connections and record in "Best", maybe "High", quality on the TiVo it shouldn't look too bad on a 37" screen. I have a 61" DLP and while I can notice artifacts from a Series2 TiVo it is certainly watchable. (These days my Series3 HD model is my main TiVo.)

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	lizzyfur 2008-04-22 05:03 pm UTC (link)
	richard!!!! was i in your dreams richard?!?? are we in a dream sequence? who are all these people? where am i? is that a ghost? (Reply to this)

	laurajonesy 2008-04-22 06:47 pm UTC (link)
	did you go to work naked? was that your dream and day? (Reply to this)

sui_generis
2008-04-22 10:57 pm UTC (link)

Was it the flying dream?! WAS IT!?!?!?!?!

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	tugena13 2008-04-22 11:42 pm UTC (link)
	no way! i bet it was the astronaut/twins dream! (Reply to this)(Parent)

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