Okay, where was I?

Right, in process of building myself a DVR (Read Part One post), I did away with Linux since it wouldn’t play nice with the Hauppauge HVR-2250 tuner, or play sound through the HDMI cable. VISTA, once loaded, I put the install disc for my GeForce sound card, and when it rebooted after that, SOUND! No other configurations, nope, just install the drivers, and sound went through the HDMI like it should. One thing I didn’t like, I actually had to use my laptop to find the drivers for the wireless card, where Mythbuntu recognized it on its own. So I downloaded to a USB drive and then loaded it into my new DVR or PVR or HTPC (whatever you want to call it), got the wireless working, simple. Then popped the disc for the HVR-2250, installed, reboot, and boom. Tested the Windows Media Center, got it set up, and viola, got TV.

Unfortunately, VISTA only tuned to the analog cable signals. But, I had video and sound, further than with Mythbuntu. So, hours more into figuring out how to get the ClearQAM channels, from trying open source alternatives to Media Center (NPVR and Media Portal, both failures, from getting both analog and digital (versus just one), which the NPVR only came up with the digital (maybe it was because I was tired that I didn’t feel like working with it long enough). And with Media Portal, I couldn’t get the channel list to be accurate enough, probably because it doesn’t ask for a zip code to get local info, and I’m not gonna manually set with channel number is which channel). Basically, those open source solutions, I didn’t want to spend too much time playing with this, I wanted it to work.

So, in comes a Hauppauge plug-in (found here). I tried it after the NPVR but before Media Portal and didn’t get it to work. But I went back to it, as I read the instructions completely and realized that I was supposed to install from the Media Center program library. Then, set up the channels again, but start off with an Antenna setting, then also for cable. Once I did that, it worked.

So, with it working by the heavy Wednesday 9pm hour, I was happy. I have Mr. Sunshine and Breaking In still on there waiting for me to watch. I still have my DVD-Recorder hooked up, so I used that for Criminal Minds while I watched Ghost Hunters. Then I caught the midnight encore of Mythbusters, as I ran out of tuners.

I tested it with how it works with sleep mode: perfect. I can put my computer in sleep mode before I leave, and it’ll wake itself up for a recording. I’ll still turn it off, as it is a PC still and I don’t want it to be on ALL THE TIME, but have it on when I need it on.

But, given this is VISTA and my 30-day limit, I am gonna have to just get Windows 7 (the OEM version is $100, plus I also need to get a newer DVD burner drive so the old one can go back into my first built computer.

PROS:
No monthly fee – unlike TiVo or any cable/satellite providers, there’s a monthly fee. With TiVo, it’s like $13/mo and most cab/sat is about $6-$10/mo (I’ll say $8/mo to average it out).

It’s more than a DVR – Windows can do things right, and their Media Center works great. If I didn’t have a PS3 already doing it, I can stream my Netflix. I can watch any videos on my machine, listen to music. Plus, this is a computer, so outside the Media Center software, I can do whatever I can do with any computer: browse the web, check email, play games, etc.) I’m not gonna really do a lot of that, but it’s an option.

CONS:
I didn’t get a remote, but I printed a list of basic keyboard shortcuts, but still have to revert to the mouse sometimes. I really shouldn’t put it as a con, since I knew I wasn’t gonna set one up with use with a remote (I did get an OEM tv tuner which didn’t come with WinTV or a remote)

I’m running VISTA 32-bit, so my 4GB of RAM is not fully recognized (more like 3.2GB). Another reason to put down another $100 for Windows 7.

Being Windows instead of Linux, I have to have an antivirus running alongside. Luckily, I’m using a free Avast! AV, which has a nice silent feature for gaming (no pop-up notifications), plus, it’s not a system hog, I can deal with it.

Oddly, I can record an analog and a digital at the same time, but not a digital and a digital or an analog and an analog. Weird. So I have to pick which shows I want digital (any CW show has to record on digital as it’s the only way it’s available, so Big Bang Theory (funny!) recorded from an analog source so I could record the new The Vampire Diaries (which was GOOD tonight)).

RUNDOWN:
My PC versus getting TiVo

My PC was $363 at NewEgg (plus, I can get a $20 rebate which I have to mail in still) + $44 for the RAM I got at Amazon (Crucial, BTW, and only because I had unused gift card amount), comes to $407, right now. Add $100 for Windows 7 in the future and I can find a burner for about $20, so that cancels out with the rebate, and I’m looking at $507.

With TiVo, it’s either $100 for the unit plus $20 a month for the service, or $300 for the unit and $13/mo for the service. This is for the regular one which does 45hrs HD (about what my built one can do as well, according to Windows), but add $60 for a wireless-g adapter, so one year with $100/20 is $400. One year with the $300/13 is $516. The $100 way may be cheaper the first year, but I wouldn’t be able to do all the stuff a PC can do, and half way through the second year, I would have paid more for TiVo, as it’ll have surpassed the $507 mark for my system. The math doesn’t lie. The only positive to TiVo is cableCARD support, but that’ll be another $5/mo or something to the cable company so I wouldn’t need a box. Also, TiVo’s lifetime subscription (which is a one-time fee) is $400.

A built PC can last years, five years down the line, I still would only have paid $507 for the setup, where Tivo with a subscription (let’s go with the 300/13 setup) would come to [$300 for box + $13*12*5 for service + $60 for wireless adapter] a whopping $1,140. BTW, I had to find the price for the lifetime subscription hidden in their updated policy thingy, here. They don’t advertise it well, and the math proves why (over $1,000 in five years versus $500, that’s a big difference).

So that’s it, my new DVR setup, now I must get back to my HD recorded Bones, no conflicting shows meant I was able to record from the HD source, YAY!

Now I have previously built a computer before, back in late 2006. After getting a job after two years of college, I saved up, then bought each piece every so often, cheaper components with each paycheck. By December, I had all I needed and by December 20th, 2006 I had working Windows 2000 (had a license for it from school I never used, didn’t have it for long though, having planned getting Vista), with an AMD dual-core processor, with 2 GB dual channel memory (cheap brand, can’t remember), Sony DVD burner, on a nForce motherboard (with good onboard memory, I never installed a video card and could still play the Sims 2) inside a standard tower case with, I think, a 350W PS. I did put Vista on it, for about a month, and acquired WinXP Pro. Eventually I even dabbled with Linux, getting OpenSUSE and PCLinux. All are still on there, and they run fine (tried it a few months ago). So, over 4 years later, I got a good computer I can always fall back on.

But, I’ve had a laptop for near three years, but always wanted to build another machine. Of course, with me no longer having a DVR and having switched jobs and will find myself working nights again, I needed a DVR (I got so used to watching so many shows, I needed something so I could record 2 shows at once, and it needed to pick up the analog cable as well as the clear QAM (the unencrypted digital channels cable companies allow anyone with a QAM tuner to pick up without needing a box, these are usually the local broadcasts (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, CW, …) they are essentially required (at least, that’s how I understand it) to provide.)

I finally bought the components at NewEgg.com, and Monday, April 4, 2011, with the help of my dad, we built what would be my HTPC (Home Theater PC, though, my “home theater” is a 26″ HDTV in a small bedroom. I got a large APEVIA X-MASTER HTPC case ($70 with 500W power supply), AMD Athlon II 3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($61), ECS AM3 770 microATX motherboard (no onboard video, $50), SPARKLE GeForce 210 512MB DDR3 HDCP video card (so I can output HDMI, $30), Western Digital 500GB SATA hard drive (OEM, so only $40), Rosewill wireless-g PCI card ($15), and, of course, the TV Tuner is the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Dual TV Tuner PCI-Express x1 Interface (OEM, so no WinTV software or remote, $100).

What? No optical drive? No Windows?

Not initially, my intent was loading Mythbuntu onto it (a LINUX distro that combines the popular Ubuntu with MythTV). I did research that said the HVR-2250 can work with it. But after loading it (by USB drive, why I initially went optical drive-less, but during the build, my dad wouldn’t close it up without one, so we pulled the old DVD Burner in my 2006 build (IDE, unfortunately, luckily the motherboard had an IDE port).

Anyway, Mythbuntu is loaded and installed, no problem. Recognized the wireless card, able to do a few updates for the video card. The problem. Despite forums where people did get this to work, I just couldn’t get it to completely work. I was very much aware that analog cable wasn’t supported, but I was more interested in getting the ClearQAM to work (so I can record my Friday night CW shows, but also the mass amount of shows in the Wednesday 9pm hour, which increases by one this week, which alone is three from local broadcast stations, only two cable shows, which encore later in the night anyway). I was able to tune to the channels fine, the problem? Sound. I could not get sound at all with the card. I’m sure it was some setting with MythTV itself, because I could go to AOL radio, put on a station, and bam, sound. Yes, outside of MythTV, I could get sound (the monitor, BTW, was from my first build, which has built in speakers, and is still the greatest monitor (a Viewsonic) [note, don't know how the brand is now, but in 2006, it was definitely the best]. Then I did a test recording, closed out and went back to the normal desktop, looked for that recording and tried playing it in VLC, and no sound. So, sound just didn’t record.

This was day one. I took a break, watched Tangled (good movie, missed the beginning, but my sister wanted to watch it at that moment, and I was still trying the DVR, but shut it off so I can watch the last 90% of the movie,) got everything unhooked and went home. Got everything moved around, plugged it in my HDTV through HDMI, and again, just never any sound. I worked on it all night, setting my DVD Recorder for Castle and an encore of Stargate Universe, and catching the encore of Conan at 1AM (basically, I gave up at 1am).

So, I missed Being Human, but I’ll catch an encore of that, next week is a whole day marathon leading into the season finale, so unless Chuck or How I Met Your Mother is new as well, I should be able to watch it.

So, what did I eventually decide to do? First thing today, I tinkered with it a little more, tested that I could record two shows at once. No sound outside of MythTV, since I couldn’t even get the sound through HDMI. Then, my keyboard (again, parts from the first build, I have a very good wireless keyboard and mouse, Logitech brand), decided to work, then not work, then work for two characters before crapping out. The mouse still worked, the batteries were new.

So, I decided bye bye Linux. I wanted to be using open source software as much as possible, but it’s too much of a pain. So, I got my Vista disc (again, same one from my first build, but so far, seems fine, but I didn’t activate it, since I think I already did before and I have 30 days anyway). I plan to go with Windows 7, because the Vista I have is 32-bit, I want 64-bit.

Okay, I’ve reached over 1,000 words, so, the stories of the problems with VISTA I’ll post later in a part 2, including tests I’m doing now on it, and other things I’ve tried (will try). Plus, the find in dealing with April 6 at 9PM (Criminal Minds (CBS), Ghost Hunters (SYFY), Mr. Sunshine (ABC, 9:30), premiere of Breaking In on FOX at 9:30, and also, Mythbusters (DISCOVERY) comes back as well). That’s FIVE shows in the last half hour, three for the full hour, so I really, really, need to get this to work.

Read Part Two here

Watched last night’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann and couldn’t help but laugh at a quick fix for those of you poor bastards stuck on the AT&T network because of having an iPhone and are now dealing (at least if you got the latest one) with a pretty big flaw: lost reception from “holding it wrong.”

Consumer Reports initially said good things, but have now added that, despite it having all those features people have been wanting (to a degree), they can no longer recommend it, since if a consumer holds it a certain way, they can lose enough of a signal to potentially drop a call. It’s bad enough it’s stuck on AT&T (which I’ve only hear bad things about), now there’s this.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I myself wish I could get an iPhone, since I don’t really make too many calls (I hate phones actually) and like the more media stuff, but then again, hate the idea of adding data plans that can bringing a monthly bill nearer $100. It’s a little out of my comfort zone. I’ll stick with Verizon where I managed to get a loyalty plan of 50-min (plus 250-min N&W) for $20. Not much for most people, but like I said, I don’t talk much. I still have an LG enV, which I’ve had for, will be 3-years this November, and as long as it works (and, with the exception the battery drains faster now), I’ll keep using it.

Hehe, as I write this, looks like Attack of the Show on G4 is gonna be going over this during the Loop segment.

All the talks and build leading to Apple having a tablet released, and it finally came…Unfortunately, maybe they should have spent a little more time with the name. iPad, yep, that’s what Apple is calling it, and it seriously is a horrible name. In fact, on Twitter, iTampon was (and still is) a trending topic, and earlier I saw it and didn’t know what to make of it, until I got an email from Apple (as I subscribe to the newsletter for updates) introducing the “iPad,” then it all made sense.

They could’ve been better off with iTablet, or just iTab, maybe, but iPad?

It is most obvious that there are no women working at Apple, as this article from the New York Times suggests.

Now, looking past the name, here is a breakdown of what the iPad has in store for consumers:

POSITIVES:
Ability to utilize iPhone apps
With that, it’s essentially a larger iPod Touch or iPhone, so anyone with those can use this with ease
Price – $499, yep, Apple’s tablet is $499 (for a 16GB model, $599 for 32GB, it’s $699 for 64GB, and it starts at $629 instead for the 3G version, plus the AT&T plan requires $30/mo for the data plan to even use 3G)

CONS:
No a widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio
No USB ports?
And no video camera (some of your cheapest Notebooks (Hell, even Netbooks) come with web cameras at least)
And for having a browser, no flash support

5 Things the iPad is Missing – CNET

I have to agree with that CNET article (the 5 Things one I just linked above), that though I find Netbooks stupid (just go a couple hundred dollars more to have something with a little more power, a little more space and memory, and more importantly, an optical drive (which none of the Netbooks I’ve seen had, and I think that alone makes them not worth getting)), I don’t see them going away because Apple has a functioning computing unit that starts at less than $500, because it too isn’t very expandable, it’s ridiculously thin (what is with people wanting so much from so little, bulk it slightly, and have an optical drive or something), and, as mentioned, iPad is without a web cam, which dirt cheap Netbooks have (even if they are shitty quality, it’s better than nothing).

Honestly, the larger screen is the only plus which would be best for watching videos (such as the lovely ones you may (that I have) purchased through iTunes and stuck watching on my laptop since the DRM crap confines it to devices iTunes supports (and I have no iPods [nor the Apple TV], since I find the costs high), and it’ll be better as an ebook reader, that could compete with Amazon’s Kindle (though I’ll still want a Kindle, ’cause, based on the pictures of the iPad, the glossy-ish screen could be bad for reading, while Kindle’s screen is crisp and designed for text, making it an easy read, plus the Whispernet service is included with no data charges (you pay for the books, which are cheaper than the physical hardback versions, so it’s not only cheaper, it’s better for the environment).

Another article to learn about this new device –> Review: Apple’s iPad has potential – San Francisco Chronicle

So, no, I probably won’t get one, I’d rather just invest in an iPod Touch, ’cause I’ve seen one of those in action, and it is pretty fuckin’ sweet.

Oh, have I mentionted that #iTampon is still trending on Twitter, if the Trending list is in order, it’s more talked about than the actual name of iPad. I mean, seriously, no women work at Apple?

Since the iPhone came out, the only cellular service that is compatible with it is AT&T. Well, many of us wouldn’t either benefit from the service (not available in our area) or just plain don’t want AT&T (’cause I surely don’t). I don’t care of the iPhone was the biggest gadget to come out in the last five years. It itself was pricey and in its early year, wasn’t much of an actual phone.

But, we know technology improves, and for the most part, today’s people don’t really use the phone all that much anymore (I hate phones). You got the text messaging, video streams, music downloads, the twitter thing the crazy kids are doing these days now, and if a cell phone doesn’t have much of any of these modern features, it’s not a phone worth having.

Now, the largest cell phone carrier, may be the next company to have the iPhone ready for their service (happy Verizon customer here). Verizon and Apple are in talks about it, but it won’t be soon, (as AT&T has exclusivity through 2010, but are looking to extend it), any kind of major talks between two huge companies take time, it may be a good possibility. With AT&T already carrying it and Verizon on board in the future, that means majority of cell phone subscribers have the chance to own a iPhone, if they choose to buy one.

Apple and Verizon consider iPhone deal – USA Today

Now, me being a Verizon customer, would I jump on board the iPhone train should this happen? Hmmm, I’m a little sketchy on it, as I’m not overly fond of touch screen gadgets (fingerprints, hello!), and my outdated enV works great for me, as I am a fan of QWERTY keyboards built in, but maybe in the one-two years, maybe my mind could change on it. And as long as my enV (very solid phone) works, I have no reason to upgrade, nor would I be interested in paying a few hundred bucks for one (current price for an iPhone from AT&T is 299.99 for the 16GB model, 199.99 for the 8GB one, with standard 2-yr contract).

With something that seemed to pick up with Comcast limiting that amount of data their customers can access on the Internet, at about a 150GB/mo limit. We thought that was tough, now Time Warner is looking at implementing a measly 40GB/mo limit. The whole point these caps is so companies can meter the bandwidth and charge for additional bandwidth (and honestly, make it fairer to those who just check email and maybe visit a site or two). Could make sense, but 40GB/mo for about $55/mo (an even pathetic amount of 5GB/mo for $30/mo)? Seriously? In today’s world, people use a lot of bandwidth, more than they may even realize. Just from streaming videos on YouTube.com or Hulu.com, or downloading their music and movies on iTunes, or from Amazon, NetFlix, etc. Generally surfing the net, with pages filled with pictures, after a while, these things add up. And if you’re like me, they’ll add up fast. [To give you an idea, a full-length movie from iTunes is about 1-1.5GB in size, more if its a LONG movie. So three movie downloads can easily go over that 5GB plan].

And I have Time Warner, luckily they haven’t implemented it in my area yet, as they will start a test run in two locations in August: Greensboro, N.C. and Rochester, N.Y. Now they seem to still be working on the details, but in a nutshell, Time Warner may be fearing loss cable subscriptions (as they should, since I had cable, and I hate cable, no matter the company. Satellite is just cheaper with more channels and clearer and ALL digital).

Anyway, back on topic, this loss, could be one reason to the caps. Also, the overage charge seems to be $1 for each additional GB (or $2/GB for their cheaper solution of a slower connection (768kbps) and 1GB cap). And for about $150/mo, it’ll be virtually unlimited (so, if a person has the cable, the digital phone, and the internet (which to me is a bad idea, one fails, well, they all fail since its the same service)). Many people talk of the evil ways of Comcast, but their 250GB cap is less than $50/mo. Hmm?

Time Warner Capping Scheme | DVICE

Oh, and to add on to this stupidity, Wired.Com has an article showing that their earnings and such (they have graphs and everything) makes this whole thing make even LESS sense.