Tivo Renewal

Originally paying $10.95 a month. Called 877-289-8486 (case # 8060278) to change plan to $99 a year plan (other option was $9.95 a month). Qualified for multi service discount.
This plan expires 12/20/08
Second tivo expires 10/5/08

My new tivo machine (dual recorder, 80 hours)

My new tivo with dual tuner is great. It can record 2 analog shows at the same time or 1 analog & 1 digital at the same time. I have analog. You can also be recording a show and watch live tv at the same time. I purchased this 2nd tivo because of the dual tuner and also so i can connect my original tivo to the new one. I wanted to be able to watch my recordings from my 1st tivo on my 2nd tivo. It is possible to network. All you need is a network card ($59.99 at circuit city) for each tivo machine. I set it up fine. However, I was a little disappointed. It didn't do what I thought it was going to do. The 1st tivo machine shows up on your "now playing list". When you select the 1st tivo on your 2nd tivo, it shows all your listings on the 1st tivo. You can't watch it right away; you actually have to transfer the show from the 1st tivo to the 2nd tivo which takes a while (more like real time). You can also transfer many at the same time (the shows sits in a queque). I was going to cancel my original subscription and just use the tivo network to watch on the 2nd tv, rather than having 2 tivo subscriptions, but I like the dual tuner so much that I'm probably going to keep it now and subscribe to both.

I paid $179 + 20 tax for 1 year pre-subscription, but got the tivo for free.

Apple Airport Express

I had to convert my WPA security to WEP for my tivo to be networked. It was not easy. I have a netgear network adaptor card 54 mbsp, 802.11g and an apple airport express. Went into the airport admin utility for windows and changed the password to "apple" (40 bit) for wep security, which had to be 5 characters. since my network adaptor could not recognize the passphrase "$apple", i had to re-scan and enter the key manually 6170706C65, the actual hex value of the word apple. So complicated. I don't know the hex value language, I just got it off an internet search. Finally worked. Go figure.



I now get 100% signal using WEP. Previously, it was only 75% with WPA.

Tivo

Ordered another Tivo box yesterday (80 hour dual tuner), but had to subscribe for at least a year. I don't have cable or satellite, so I subscribe thru Tivo directly. I had an 80 hour Tivo last year since 8/1/06 for $83.40. It came with a free 80 hour (not dual) Tivo plus 1 year of service. Tax was an additional $18.15. My 1 year expired last year, so now I am paying $10.95 a month. Once I get my new Tivo, I'm going to cancel my old montly subcription. I'm going to try and network my 2 tivo's together, so I can watch my recorded shows on my second tv, without having to pay a monthly fee for the second tivo. I hear it can be done, but have yet to try. I hope it works.

Tivo had a promotion yesterday. The Tivo dual tuner tivo box was free but I had to subscribe for a year. This tivo box can record 2 analog shows at once or one analog and one digital. I believe I only have analog, so I should have no problem. I decided on a 1 year prepaid subscription of $179, rather than paying $16.95 per month for a year. Tax was $20.62. Total charged was $199.62.

My next purchase will be a slingbox. I saw the slingbox tuner/slingbox av on costco.com for $109. This would be great for someone on the go or frequent traveller since you can watch your recorded tv shows on your computer anywhere as long as you have an internet connected computer. This would be great for me if I watched my recordings at work. Just an idea. I don't travel enough to justify this purchase just yet. I have a laptop, but it is not lightweight so I never carry it around.

Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars (DWTS). I have to admit I've been watching this show on and off for the past couple of seasons. Occasionally entertaining. This show has so much air time. Is it really necessary to have an hour long show on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? I guess the ratings are pretty high. My tivo is so outdated and can only record one show at a time. I did not know that this show would be on (3rd day) the same time as the new show Back to You (2nd episode) which I missedm because tivo was recording the 1 hour elimation show of DWTS. Damn. I knew that Apollo Ohno was going to win last season on DWTS. You could tell Ian Ziering wanted to win desperately. I wish he had won. That's how bad I felt for him. It is a show for all ages. Unfortunately, they have a lot of wasteful time-fillers which drag the show. I like it much better than some other reality shows like American Idol which I saw last season. I still think Melinda should have one. Jordan was ok, Blake was awful in my opinion, so was his "style". Who did he appeal to?