Magic! (TV Thread)

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Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

I have had satellite television for some time, and the wonder of it has worn off. (May I add that I remember, as a kid, when we got our first color television)

This morning, a representative of Direct TV was in my house and installed a DVR. I have the feeling that this magic box will change my life.

I am somewhat of a Luddite by nature, but the implications of this device are massive. It appears that I can record every Minnesota Twins baseball game, and watch them at my leisure. I can also bypass all of the commercials!

We live in a glorious time.

/end silly rant

Title edited for clarity - RC

419Eater is my life Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 299

In the UK, the BBC provide a service called the iPlayer where you can watch any episodes of TV shows the BBC has aired in the last 7 days. ITV and Channel 4 also run a similar service, so all the main TV channels are covered (I don't consider Five to be a proper TV channel Razz

).

I'm watching Doctor Who right now Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^Pfft, I have over 700 channels of video crap that I can record at a whim. Laughing

Seriously, hulu.com provides a similar service here in the States. The only thing that gets me really excited about this is the fact that I can record baseball, and skip through the commercials. Especially at the end of the game, when there are multiple pitching changes, and the commercials are intolerable.

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:47 pm

No magic. There's a perfectly logical explanation to it.

419Eater is my life Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 299

The BBC shows NO adverts Very Happy

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Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

wokabo wrote:

No magic. There's a perfectly logical explanation to it.

I know, but it is fickin awesome! I pause live TV, just because I can. Laughing

*** BANNED *** Joined: 18 Jul 2004 Posts: 2049

Pastor Frank wrote:

We live in a glorious time.

You'll be sorry old fart. Laughing

For Christmas we got a PVR (same as a DVR) that is part of the cable HD terminal. Now all I do is watch damn TV.

No commercials (hit ff 4 times) - never miss a show I want - have a good storehouse of excellent movies (just watched Local Hero again for the 50th time) and all I gotta do is push one button.

Only problem is I wish that it was possible to record on more than 2 channels at once and copy to a backup storage device.

Finally technology that works!

I have to go now 'cause I promised to spend more time with my toaster. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Gold Hat wrote:

and copy to a backup storage device.

There is a USB port on the back of the magic box. I wonder if I can download and archive from there. The service tech left a huge manual, I think I will read it.

Edit: I am headed back to watch some NASCAR race that I don't really care about, but I paused it.... hell yes!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:31 pm

^^ No, the USB on the back is only for them to plug in diagnostic tools.

Me, on the other hand with my home server (using XBMC, & tv card) can plug in more hard drives (and I need to since I've got almost 2 TB full). It's like a PVR and onDemand that I don't have to pay monthly for. Very Happy

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 577

I got rid of cable after the [almost] digital transition and went OTA.

I use Playon, http://www.themediamall.com/products, and PS3mediaserver http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:08 pm

Pastor Frank wrote:

Gold Hat wrote:

Edit: I am headed back to watch some NASCAR race that I don't really care about, but I paused it.... hell yes!

Damn .. I forgot about that .. How did Duchie Doornbos do?

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^I really have no idea, I just watch it for the crashes. Laughing

I just watched "60 Minutes" in about 40 minutes via the DVR, this damn thing is amazing.

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:05 am

700 channels? Shocked

I've 8! as in single digit! I would be completely lost without Channel 4 and BBC 2 for excellent documentaries & comedies, the rest I can do without!

419Eater is my life Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 299

Spudz wrote:

700 channels? Shocked

I've 8! as in single digit! I would be completely lost without Channel 4 and BBC 2 for excellent documentaries & comedies, the rest I can do without!

How did you end up with 8? Isn't it either 5 (soon-to-be-dead-analogue) or 30-something (freeview)?

Up late, rather? Very Happy

. I'm pulling an all nighter with Radio 1's Greg James for energy.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

I admit that 98% of the 700 are pure garbage. But the other 2% are pure gold! This is the main reason I shell out $40 a month for it, and now with the DVR... lets just say that I am heaven.

I can record every game, scroll through the commercials, and watch it when I want.

Can I overstate the fact that I am fricking pumped?

My kids have had to tell me to take a sedative.. Laughing

Edit: That is channel 668, for those interested.

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:31 am

@Lareneg

Insomnia and I'm in Ireland, but it's a cheapo analogue box. So I get Sky News (Hack ptoo) and Sky One along with English and Irish terrestrial. I could get a few more but they are really not worth the effort tuning in or adjusting the coat hanger.

@Frank

Sports? The women's events in the Olympics is about as much as I can handle, but they ruined swimming with those 'shark' suits. I suppose though the volleyball makes up for that as their kit get's smaller and smaller every year Laughing

If only topless darts would get the recognition it deserves Laughing

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:54 am

If I was an advertiser paying good money, I would not be best pleased as Roy here tears though the adbreak at 30x speed, I get a couple of frames of each.

I have Sky+, its the best invention in a long time, especially when it series links so I can't forget. The downside is the huge amount of space a programme broadcast in HD takes up, our planner is full of episodes of Ice Road Truckers and Gordon F-ing Ramsey, all waiting to be watched.

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:56 pm

When I were a kid we had a thing called Rediffusion. Anyone remember that?

It was a cable service available in London and the south east in the sixties. We had a big plastic switch on the wall that gave us all the ITV channels for the UK.

I used to have great fun turning the clunky dial and getting a glimpse of all the channels at once. There was a button on the tele to change from the old 405 to 625 lines too.

I thought it was magic that tele could be sent down wires. Somehow sending it through the air seemed quite normal and unremarkable. Laughing

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:54 pm

Roycropper wrote:

I have Sky+, its the best invention in a long time, especially when it series links so I can't forget. The downside is the huge amount of space a programme broadcast in HD takes up, our planner is full of episodes of Ice Road Truckers and Gordon F-ing Ramsey, all waiting to be watched.

Same as you (and I have a big telly on the wall!!!).
The only difference is that my bloody HD is full of poxy Eastenders and Coronation Street episodes.

Oh how I dread Mondays - another hour and a half of that crap will be recorded tonight whilst the wife catches up with some of the episodes she's already missed.

@Windy. When I was a kid in the 80s we had Rediffusion down in Southampton.

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:08 pm

The only thing worth watching on tele at the moment is Mad Men.

Come to think of it I don't even watch that when it's broadcast.
I catch it on BBC iPlayer when it suits me.

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:38 am

I never had cable. The kids are finally out of the house and homework is not an issue anymore so I had fiber optic put in. Not sure quite how many channels there are, its a crapload and I have to use the search function but it also has something like 1000 videos on demand, 10000 during the month. The DVR has two channels of recording and is recording at all times. My only complaint is that the HD recordings have stereo audio. The 5.1 goes away.

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:47 pm

Gee, all I have is digital cable. I know it has a few hundred channels, but I only watch two or three. I'd go back to regular cable, but one of the channels I watch regularly is HGTV, and it's only available on digital.

One of these days I'll get a flat-screen TV. The big box I inherited from my mother is getting on in years, and the colors seem to be fading. (Of course, that could just be my failing eyesight.)

And Pastor Frank, I also remember when we were the first family among our friends to have a color TV. New Year Day was always a brunch at our house so everyone could watch the Rose Parade in color.