The TiVO HD

I used to have Comcast, who provide a pretty good DVR with their service. But then I moved to a place that had Cablevision, and their DVR was absolutely
horrible. It just sucked. When I was moving again to another place that had Cablevision, I decided to go with TiVo instead - the DVR is very important to me because I never watch shows at their standard time, and the Cablevision DVR was too awful for me to be OK with it.

I purchased a TiVo HD from DVRUpgrade - a customized model with 43 hours of HD recording time instead of the normal 20 hours. They threw in a free Wireless G Adapter worth $50, so it really netted me $50 for doubling the recording time, a great deal. It was worth it because now I never have to worry about my DVR getting filled; it never remotely comes close. And it helps more than I would've expected because of the TiVo Recommendations feature - TiVo automatically records some shows it thinks you'll like, based on what you're recording. One time I set up a recording for a South Park episode, and it automatically recorded three other episodes that I'd never seen, so that was cool. The TiVo also stores recently deleted stuff, in case you accidentally delete something, and having a lot of free space helps with that. TiVo offers an HD XL DVR that stores 150 hours of HD programming, but I don't think anyone would need *that* much recording time! That model costs $600, so an extra $50-$100 for doubling your disk space is a much better deal.

The TiVo has some bugs that pop up every now and then, but nothing big. The main one that I've found bothersome is that in pretty much every show I record, there will be a 10 second period where there's no sound. I can live with that though, and most people don't seem to have that problem. The TiVo is certainly the best DVR I've ever seen. It also has a good community - TiVoCommunity is a good place to find answers about stuff (it's where I learned about DVR upgrades).

One of the coolest things available is something called pyTiVo - this is a great piece of software that allows you to transfer videos from your PC to your TiVo! It's especially great because now I can use my beloved 30 second skip forward button on the TiVo on shows from my computer, while watching them on my large screen TV. You just place the videos in your Videos folder on your computer, then transfer them to your TiVo. It can take a bit of time to transfer so you probably won't be able to watch right away, but that's not really a big deal. I use pyTiVo pretty often and love it.

TiVo has a very user-friendly interface, and definitely the best features of any DVR I've used. The TiVo HD is the model to get, and if you watch a lot of TV (which I'm afraid most people do these days!) or record a lot of HD shows then you might want to consider getting an upgraded model. You'll probably be paying $129 per year or $399 for a lifetime plan, which are quite hefty sums themselves just for the service. So the cost of the upgrade is a fairly good investment.

On the lifetime subscription, it is written that TiVo policy is a Lifetime subscription cannot be transferred from one DVR to another. However when I ordered my subscription on the phone, I was told that if you purchased a new unit, you could call tech support (he specificially said not customer service) and ask for a one-time exception.

Some notes on things I've learned:

• The Instant Replay button goes back 8 seconds.
• To turn Closed Captioning on or off, hit the Info button and scroll down the the CC icon and hit Select. You can change your closed captioning options under Messages & Settings>Settings>Displays>Closed Captioning.
• The Advance button normally skips to the end of the recording, but I find it much more useful when it's altered to become a 30 second skip forward button. That way I can very easily skip commercial breaks - fastforwarding is much more annoying and cumbersome. To change it, while playing any recording, do the following: Play any recording, hit 'Select', 'Play', 'Select', '3', '0', 'Select'. If you did it right you should hear three bongs. To disable this and revert back to the default Advance button behavior, just repeat the steps.
• Also if you hit the Advance button while fastforwarding or rewinding, you will skip forward or backward to the 15 minute markers. This can come in handy, and makes the default Advance button behavior even less useful.
• You may need to set the display definition of the TiVo to 'Native' if that is not the default value after setup, or you may want to match the definition of your television. To set this go to Messages & Settings>Settings>Video>Video Output Format. 'Native' is the preferred option, as that will display HD shows in HD and SD shows in SD.
• For the TV Power, volume, mute, and TV input buttons to work, you will need to program them. This is done by going to Messages & Settings>Settings>Remote, CableCARD, & Devices>Remote Control. Then follow the instructions for Part 1. Setting up Part 1 should also setup the TV input button (Part 3). Part 2 is not necessary unless you have an A/V receiver for sound.

The HP w2408h LCD monitor

I saw the HP w2408h in person at MicroCenter, and I decided this was the monitor for me. It looked great in the store - both in terms of physical appearance and picture quality. HP makes some very attractive, high quality stuff.

My old monitor was a 19" CRT, but all monitors these days are widescreen, including PC monitors. The CRT had gotten old and didn't have the picture quality of the new flat screen monitors so I decided to make the move. The w2408h is a very good size, and is available at the fair price of $349. It's not a great deal and I wouldn't recommend it as a value buy, but it is a good purchase.

I got mine even though my graphics card only has a DVI input, no HDMI input, and the w2408h only comes with an HDMI cable. However HDMI-to-DVI adapters are available pretty cheap (don't bother to get the expensive Monster ones), and using an adapter doesn't affect the picture quality.

The monitor offers a native resolution of 1920x1200, and it has vibrant colors. I love the resolution - it really makes a difference from my CRT monitor's resolution of 1024x768. The only problem with higher resolutions is that the text is smaller, even with the larger screen size. That took a little while to get used to, but it's worth it for the higher resolution. And you can adjust your font size settings for most programs, or even adjust your DPI setting in your OS to affect everything (although I wouldn't recommend that as it might cause some minor graphics issues - I tried it but went back to the normal setting).

When it comes to widescreen monitors I recommend purchasing at least a 19", and preferably 22". A 19" widescreen has the same total viewing area as a 16.9" standard 4:3 fullscreen monitor, and a 22" widescreen is the equivalent of a 19.6" fullscreen. A 22" will also have a significantly improved native resolution - 19" screens have native resolutions of 1280x1024, while 22" screens have native resolutions of 1680x1050. That's a big jump, and 1680x1050 is a very high quality resolution.

The most a normal person can probably afford is a 24", which will get you a native resolution of 1920x1200. That's a nice upgrade over 1680x1050, but not a huge upgrade. Though I'm happy with my 24", I'd say 22" screens actually offer the best price point for value shoppers.

In order to improve on a 1920x1200 resolution, you have to go all the way up to 30" - and those are very expensive, probably costing you close to or more than a full $1,000. Obviously only those with loads of spare cash could afford that. Buying a new monitor then really boils down to getting one in the 19"-24" range - a monitor in the 24+" to under 30" range isn't all that advisable because it doesn't offer an increase in resolution. So if you want a bargain, look for a 19"; if you want a great value, look for a 22"; and if you want high end (but not super expensive), get a 24".

The Panasonic TH50PX80U

The Panasonic Viera TH50PX80U is a great TV and a great deal. I bought it after doing a lot of research. One key thing I learned was that 1080p is really not advisable for televisions under 56" - the experts say that you can't really tell the difference, and there's a big jump in price going from 720p to 1080p. While a 50" TV is big, it's just not big enough to make 1080p worthwhile. A 1080p 42" will cost you just as much as a 720p 50". You're much better off with the larger screen than with 1080p.

And the TH50PX80U is a beauty. It has great picture quality, and looks gorgeous too with its sleek, pure black finish. I got a solid black TV stand to place it on and it looks great. I have no regrets buying it - it was one of the best bang-for-the-buck purchases I've made.

I did a lot of price comparisons at sites like PriceGrabber, but surprisingly the best deal I found was at my local PC Richards (PC Richards is one of those stores that doesn't seem to be found on price comparison websites). I got the TV for $995.97+tax, and picked it up myself (with help from my family - it's a big box!). At the time it was the cheapest optoin by $100. Nowadays you can get it for $999 at a few places, including Newegg.

Panny makes some excellent plasma TVs, they are truly one of the top TV brands. In my experience they make better TVs than Samsung. Sony also makes good TVs, but in my opinion they're overpriced. The best TVs are made by Pioneer - they have the best rep in the business. However they also are quite expensive. If you want absolute high end stuff, go with Pioneer; but Samsung and Panasonic are better values, and I'd steer you in the direction of Panasonic.

Regardless of brand, bottom line is that you should go with a 720p unless you're getting a behemoth of a screen. You will be able to get a larger screen for the same price, and the larger screen will impact your TV watching enjoyment a helluva lot more than 1080p could.