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Attention please, people who have been in the States all this time: tell me, please, about TiVo.
On the one hand, I seem to be given to understand that TiVo is the new VCR -- you could have a television and no TiVo, but for the love of god, why? On the other hand, though, it seems like a relatively unnecessary (and expensive!) gadget -- since I do have a VCR, is the TiVo really necessary?
The issue is on my mind at the moment because I followed a link to a thing where at Circuit City for a limited time it's possible to get a Series 2 TiVo for "free", by which they mean, you can get the price of the thing back in mail-in rebates and thus only have to pay for the service. I don't know how limited a time the offer is good for, of course, but even before that I don't know if I want the thing at all. And if I do, what sort? They appear to come with or without DVD recording capabilities -- does anyone have thoughts on this? The one with the DVD-R/RW says it can record up to 40 hours on the hard drive; the one without says it can do 80, and can be linked to a computer to burn to a DVD from there (though I'm not positive my drive can do that -- and indeed, looking at it, it's CD-RW, DVD-ROM, dangit).
Your advice will be duly considered.
In other news, I changed my access configuration from "Any available network (access point preferred)" to "Access point (infrastructure) networks only", and it appears to have solved my problem of interference from other networks. Also a week or so ago I helped my mother replace their old 900 MHz cordless phone with a 5.8GHz one on which the answering machine actually works, and this has just about solved the problem of the connection going buggy for a couple of seconds when the phone rings. I need to get them a couple more noise filters -- most of the phone jacks in the house have them, but not all -- and then I should be able to use my computer in a) my parents' house and b) peace, simultaneously.
On the one hand, I seem to be given to understand that TiVo is the new VCR -- you could have a television and no TiVo, but for the love of god, why? On the other hand, though, it seems like a relatively unnecessary (and expensive!) gadget -- since I do have a VCR, is the TiVo really necessary?
The issue is on my mind at the moment because I followed a link to a thing where at Circuit City for a limited time it's possible to get a Series 2 TiVo for "free", by which they mean, you can get the price of the thing back in mail-in rebates and thus only have to pay for the service. I don't know how limited a time the offer is good for, of course, but even before that I don't know if I want the thing at all. And if I do, what sort? They appear to come with or without DVD recording capabilities -- does anyone have thoughts on this? The one with the DVD-R/RW says it can record up to 40 hours on the hard drive; the one without says it can do 80, and can be linked to a computer to burn to a DVD from there (though I'm not positive my drive can do that -- and indeed, looking at it, it's CD-RW, DVD-ROM, dangit).
Your advice will be duly considered.
In other news, I changed my access configuration from "Any available network (access point preferred)" to "Access point (infrastructure) networks only", and it appears to have solved my problem of interference from other networks. Also a week or so ago I helped my mother replace their old 900 MHz cordless phone with a 5.8GHz one on which the answering machine actually works, and this has just about solved the problem of the connection going buggy for a couple of seconds when the phone rings. I need to get them a couple more noise filters -- most of the phone jacks in the house have them, but not all -- and then I should be able to use my computer in a) my parents' house and b) peace, simultaneously.
