[LINK] US going digital TV in 2009

[Peter Batchelor]

At 06:47 PM 4/03/2007, Craig Sanders wrote:
>manufacturers often dont like to make it easy for potential customers to
>directly compare their various models. fortunately, someone else has
>done so:
>
>http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toppytools/compare.html
>
>
>see also the FAQ:
>
>http://www.topfield.com.au/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6107

The Topfield forum above was invaluable when I was working out which 
Toppfield pvr to buy.
It also has fantastic information on the various software extensions 
(TAPs) that have been made for them by various enthusiasts around the world.
The one I find most useful is a tool that allows you to use a 
computer to download the week's program guide to the Topfield, and 
automatically record your nominated favourites. This is a great way 
of not missing out on episodes of shows that get moved around at whim.

Recording for watching later is useful, but more useful is the 
ability to pause, or go back up to an hour on the channel you've been 
watching and record from that point. We tend to not watch programs 
from the commercial channels in real time any more. We record them, 
or start watching 10 minutes late, and jump through the ad breaks. 
I'm sure that this is why there are more ads for other programmes 
appearing at the bottom of the screen during a programme, rather than 
in the ad breaks.  How long before we start seeing product 
commercials across the bottom of the screen during programmes?

USB is OK for transferring files, but some people have added external 
caddies to the PVR and a computer so that they can swap out hard 
drives and transfer files at a more respectable speed. I think I'll 
wait until my warranty is up before I do this :-)

Peter

>--
>craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>
>
>"It has often been repeated that the abolition of slavery among modern people
>  is entirely due to Christians.  That, I think, is saying too much.  Slavery
>  existed for a long period in the heart of Christian society, without its
>  being particularly astonished or irritated.  A multitude of causes, and a
>  great development in other ideas and principles of civilization, were
>  necessary for the abolition of this iniquity of all iniquities."
>       [Francois-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot (1787-1874), French historian
>        and statesman, in "European Civilization," vol. I., p.110]
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