Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Mixed Bag

I'm highly amused by the difference between the media's talk about the New England Patriots' new situation and the perspective of the players from around the league.

Summary:

Media: OMG! SEASON'S OVER! PATRIOTS ARE ONLY TOM BRADY! CASSEL SUCKS! NO ONE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE TEAM PLAYS THEIR POSITION WELL!

Players: The Patriots didn't win because of Brady, they won because of the well-coached, dedicated, team-focused team that they are, and they will continue to be a challenge--nothing changes.

The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle. Tom Brady's loss does change things, but it takes a team that might have been stratospheric (which we'll never know since the injury occurred only a few minutes into the season) and brings them down to the level of the rest of the NFL.

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I have a new blog! Well, it's more than a blog, and it's not MINE, per se. Okay, it's not mine at all, I'm just one lowly member of a fabulous group of women who like speculative TV. Today I posted my review of the season premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on SciFi Chicks. The site will have reviews and commentary, news and spoilers, and rousing discussions about the best in SF, fantasy, and paranormal television. Check it out!

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I really want my TiVo back.

Last night was the first night we watched anything we'd recorded using the new DVR box, and I HATE IT. Really, really hate it. Enough to pause the show and rant.

With TiVo, you have a list of shows you recorded. You click on the show, click Play, and it starts either at the beginning, or where you left off the last time you viewed it. When you get to the end, it takes you back to the menu.

We recorded three shows yesterday. Two and a Half Men (I don't watch that, J does), Terminator, and Prison Break. I went into the List, highlighted Terminator, and Selected it, then clicked Play.

Prison Break started.

I thought I'd hit the wrong show on the list, so I did it all over again. Same result. (This was about 9:10 last night, so just a little into PB, so it was starting from the point of the live show, not even at the beginning.)

I'm not yet familiar with all the features of the remote, so I started rewinding, and it was rewinding through T:SCC but geez, I don't want to have to take that time, or watch a whole show in reverse before I watch it in forward/regular motion. So I checked the cheat card and saw that if I hold the six-second jump-back button down, it will jump to the beginning of the show. When I did that, though, it jumped back twice, to the beginning of Two and a Half Men! Which I had to fast-forward through.

So okay, yeah, I have to learn the features of my remote and maybe read up a little on how the stupid Playlist works. I mean, gawd, am I gonna have to jump through 56 episodes of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody to get to Fringe?

Stay tuned to learn if Natalie Stops Being an Cantankerous Old Lady and Learns This Newfangled Technology or says F*** It! and buys a new TiVo box.

5 comments:

MJFredrick said...

So why'd you change? Just curious, because our cable company is now offering a DVR for $10 a month less than Tivo, but if it's not worth it....

MJFredrick said...

Oh, and I like your new blog!

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Thanks!

When we signed up with DirecTV several years ago, they offered TiVo so we got a TiVo receiver (box). But it loses its connection to the satellite, and if we don't stay on top of it, it doesn't record stuff. I got really tired of that.

DirecTV doesn't offer TiVo anymore. I could have bought a TiVo box from a retailer, but DirecTV offered us their basic DVR receiver for free. And when my in-laws got a new DirecTV receiver, the interface hadn't changed. I'm thinking now they must have gotten something fancier than the basic box, or they misunderstood my question and got TiVo from somewhere else or something.

Anonymous said...

That's really weird. I have a DVR (or PVR as they're called up here), and it doesn't do that.

You must have hexed it somehow with your love of the TiVo.

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

LOL!

I think every service has its own software platform. I've seen the digital cable DVR platform in Dallas and it's completely different from both of what I have here.

I know it's PVR up there because I read The TV Addict and he's in Canada, but I don't know what the P stands for. DVR is digital video recording. I can't figure out the P!