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[email protected] PlainBill@yawhoo.com is offline
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Default Another stupid question

On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:34:00 -0800 (PST), myfathersson
wrote:

On Dec 22, 6:08*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:37:05 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:









On Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:15:30 -0800 (PST), klem kedidelhopper
wrote:


And why PlainBill do I personally need all that stuff, because YOU say
I do? Lenny


Because all you really need is food, shelter, and clothing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_needs
How far you climb out of your cave largely depends on how far above
the subsistence level you feel comfortable. *If glorified technical
poverty is your maximum level of achievement, then you probably do not
need a DVR.
http://www.google.com/search?q=minimalist+lifestyle&tbm=isch
If you obtain your entertainment in ways other than TV, then a DVR is
again wasted on your lifestyle[1]. *If your philosophical or religious
convictions proscribe watching TV, then a DVR is not required.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living
However, if you do watch TV, and find that convenience, time shifting,
and fast forward through commercials, are useful additions to your
lifestyle, then a DVR is required.


DVR Penetration Grows to 39.7% of Households, 42.2% of Viewers
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/23/dvr-penetration-grows-to-...


[1] I spent about 10 years without owning a TV and survived.


I have to agree with Jeff, I lived the first 18 years of my life
without a TV, and claim it has not distorted my personality, thus you
do not NEED a DVR. *However, you DESIRE a means of recording TV
broadcasts. *That can be accomplished by three methods - VCR, DVR
(either stand alone or a computer running something like Myth-TV), or
DVD recorder.

It's been over 10 years since I used a VCR for time-shifting. *At that
time you set the time it should start and stop recording and tuned it
to the channel. *Perhaps things have advanced since then.

* Certainly with the switch to digital broadcasts you must either have
a separate converter box, or a recorder that incorporates an ATSC
tuner. *Using a recorder (VCR, DVR, or DVD) that records the signal
without any analog conversion is preferable - the data stream is
compressed using the MPEG-4 algorithm.

A quick search for VCRs with ATSC tuners brought up a number of them,
all incorporating a DVD recorder. *Typical prices were in the
$250-$300 range; *a bit rich for my wallet. *It also brought up the
TiVo TCD746320 Premiere DVR at under $80, but that requires a monthly
subscription, something to be viewed with caution. *And it brought up
the brite-View BV-980H Digital Antenna HD DVR for $200, no
subscription required. *With a 320 Gig hard drive it can hold up to 39
hours of HD programming, or 450 hours of SD programming. *That's
equivalent to 75 VHS tapes.

PlainBill


Thanks for that PlainBill, clearly I was not making any comment about
professional VCRs being invented in the anywhere, just mass acceptance
of VCRs as consumer items: This is borne out by the existence of
readily available Sony U-Matic machines before the Philips 1500. But
though my next door neighbour had one for consumer use, they were
hardly a consumer item! (and had no consumer features)

I note that no one has answered the question about what on earth those
USB ports on (eg) Motorola cable boxes in the States can be used for?
Are they really disabled?

I really wouldn't know, I've been using DirecTV for over a decade and
the last cable box I had didn't have a USB port. I CAN make several
intelligent guesses, however.

A possible use is it allows the cable company to provide (and charge
for) a 'premium' service that allows recording shows onto an extenal
hard drive.

A less likely one is that it is to allow a firmware upgrade,
diagnostic, or similar function that the cable provider does not want
to perform over the cable.

But most likely the designers said "You know, we could ad a USB port
to this thing for $2.18 per box, marketing could try to sell it as a
feature to the cable companies for $15 a box, and when they balk
marketing will discount the price to $5.00, so we still make a
profit."

PlainBill