SHAW PVR, the 160 GB model
First, let me get into why I bought the darn thing in the first place, 2 reasons:
(1) Fits into overall plan to gradually move to HD piece by piece.
(2) We have very limited available time slots for TV watching.
After multiple attempts with wrestling with XP Media Center, I decided to at least check out the PVR. FutureShop, at the time, had 100 bucks off this model. I scooped one up.
If you ever do end up getting one, don't bother looking for a "Quick set-up Guide" that you sometimes see when you buy a computer, or whatever. Just plug in your power, cable, video/audio out to TV, then after all this is done, do not turn on the power, hit the "menu" button and adjust your settings. Then call Shaw to have your terminal zapped.
It's super cool to be able to look at the program guide and pick off programs to record. Then, when you have a half hour to spare, you can sit down and watch what you really want to watch. Basically, it was a good purchase.
I heartily recommend.
4 comments:
Hey G,
I bought one too... I have series recordings setup for "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report". Oh, and "Rome". Other than that, I just record movies - about 30 of'em last count. It's nice. When we do have time to watch a movie on the weekend, we just scroll through the list of what's recorded. So no waiting for something to start, no going to the video store... Works well for us. I like it. HD sports is very nice too of course. :)
Always good to hear from the Cochrane contingient!
I do have 3 things under the "didn't expect" category:
(1) its noisy. I know its a hardware thing, but its still whirring all the time.
(2) The "skip" feature is not too responsive. It would be nice to tap the button 4 times and have it increment up to 2 minutes. You need to tap, wait, tap, wait.
(3) You can't pvr ahead, you can only pause and rewind live TV. I'd like to PVR tonight's TSN Sportscentre so I can bet on games that haven't been played yet.
Boy - if you think the PVR is noisy you should get a XBox 360. Now that is loud... My PVR is in a cabinet so I don't hear it all that often. A bigger complaint is that the HD "has" to spin all the time. I wonder about how long that HD will last. Spinning 24/7/365 is a lot of spinning! I hope replacing it is easy cuz this is not a cheap device.
I agree about the skip feature - but that should be addressed in time by Motorola. For reasons that are beyond me, their software really blows. But at least it can be upgraded
But don't get me wrong, I love the darn thing. Its still a mind shift, though. I still finding myself thinking "Aw RATS!" when I see a show on the guide that starts after my beddy-bye time.
Then I go "Oh yeah! Right! The PVR! I can totally record that episode of Designer Guys... er .. I mean ... Ultimate Fighter."
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