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I Need A DVR

I wish I had a few extra bucks so I could either a) Build My Own DVR or b) Sign up for Tivo (or for the DVR service through the local cable company). Why? Because I'm really sick of trying to record shows on tape.

Now understand, I hardly watch any TV. But there are two shows that I don't like to miss: House and Monk. (On a side note, I really hate how Fox seems to enjoy putting four weeks between new episodes of House and instead puts up that obnoxious American Idol crap.). Friday night was a new episode of Monk, but the kids were sick and I had been up nearly all night the night before, so my wife and I decided to tape it and watch it later this weekend. So I programmed the VCR and went to bed.

So yesterday we fire up the VCR, play the tape, and get 10 minutes into the show, and the tape gets totally unreadable -- no sound, and barely any video. So we clean the heads on the VCR, and it didn't help -- the tape was toast. I fast forwarded through the episode, and it came back so you could actually hear it about five minutes before the end, which didn't do us any good.

So my next purchase when I've got money to blow? I'm getting a DVR, dangit. I probably will build one, as I like having that kind of customization ability (and I already have a TV tuner card I could throw in there). Meanwhile, if anybody has last Friday's episode of Monk on tape (or digitally) that I can borrow so I can watch it, please let me know (e-mail me at utterlyboring [at] gmail [dot] com).

Posted by Jake on 02/05/06 @ 10:34 AM
Posted in Jake | 12 Comments | Permalink
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12 Comments

thedren said on 02/05/06 @ 01:17 PM:
Jake,

Have you tried looking for DIVX downloads of these shows on a site like torrent spider?

If I miss a show on the Tivo, I go find it there and watch it on my laptop.

-The Dren

Jake said on 02/05/06 @ 02:44 PM:
I tried a couple Torrent sites, but couldn't find the episode I was looking for (Mr. Monk and The Big Reward). I didn't look really hard, however, so I'll try again later.

amanda said on 02/05/06 @ 03:03 PM:
http://www.torrentportal.com/details/327808/

mps said on 02/05/06 @ 04:34 PM:
You can always download it from iTunes.

Jake said on 02/05/06 @ 04:44 PM:
Well crap, I didn't know iTunes had it -- I'll check the price when I get home where iTunes is installed.

Dan said on 02/06/06 @ 03:24 AM:
I'm right there with ya on the House front. Whenever I try to turn it on an American Idol is there, a little piece of me dies.

On the DVR front: I built my own MCE DVR, which was pretty easy. Let me know if you want any pointers on doing so.

Neil T. said on 02/06/06 @ 09:37 AM:
Building one shouldn't be difficult, or all that expensive, and you can put software like MythTV on there to handle the UI. It'll also let you watch downloaded videos if you network it up properly.

Mark said on 02/06/06 @ 11:22 AM:
*Cough*
http://torrentsearcher.filesharingplace.com
*cough*

Not that I condone piracy. But I heard from a guy that heard from a guy that thats a great way to find torrents.

-mark

mps said on 02/06/06 @ 11:34 AM:
This should be the link to all the monk vidcasts:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=120790734&p=102898952&s=143441

Looks like they will cost you $1.99, just like the Battlestar Galactica downloads I got.

Advantage: at a buck 99, I don't have to bug my friends to tape it for me if I'm busy or out of town. Also, commercials are edited out, so it's only 43 minutes long. Sound is in HiFi stereo.

Disadvantage: It's a protected MPEG-4 video file, 320 X 192 pixels, 24 frames per second. Looks decent doubled, a little grainy at full screen.

greg said on 02/07/06 @ 06:55 PM:
Jake, you could build your own here.
http://www.pcalchemy.com/

Greg

Mrs. H said on 02/13/06 @ 03:53 PM:
MOXI rocks

Jake said on 02/13/06 @ 03:55 PM:
I'm sure it does, Mrs. H, but I can't afford it on top of my cable bill.

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