TiVo TCD649080 Series 2 80-Hour Dual Tuner Digital Video Recorder

• Record two basic cable channels, or one basic and one digital cable channel, at once.
• Up to 80 hours of digital audio/video recording capacity (NTSC); works with cable, digital cable, satellite.
• USB and Ethernet ports offer ability to stream digital music and photos from a computer to TiVo and transfer programming to PCs
• TiVo service includes Season Pass, WishList, program guide, digital music, digital photos, and online scheduling
• Everything required for installation is supplied; subscription to TiVo service is additional requirement. An appropriate set top box is needed for digital cable, or satellite.

The world’s first, best, and easiest-to-use digital video recorder just got better. Now, record two shows at once! Only the TiVo service gives you the freedom to watch your favorite shows any time, anywhere.The TiVo Series2 DT does something that only DirecTV TiVo users have enjoyed up till now–the ability to record two shows at once. This dual-tuner (DT) TiVo Series2 is the first standalone DVR that’s optimized for households with cable television. Now, you’ll never have to miss any of your favorite shows–even if they’re on at the same time. It also offers the same entertainment services as other TiVo Series2 DVRs, including digital music, digital photos, remote scheduling, and hassle-free favorites recording. All this and the famed luxury of being able to pause and view instant replays of live television, too. TiVo DVRs record television programming directly to an onboard digital ATA/IDE hard drive, eliminating the hassles of videotape (imprecise tape searching, head cleaning, stea

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List Price: $ 149.99

Price: $ 39.99

A young man rang Charter Cable to cancel his cable TV connection and maintain his Internet connection. Why? Because cable TV is an anathema to this generation’s vision of media consumption and/or it sucks. So he calls Charter and Charter informs him that he has to pay a $10 no-cable fee and he is told that soon Charter and the rest of the cable companies will control all streaming, thereby rendering all streaming media unusable after “May 1.”

Consumerist has his note:

At this point, he said he would see what the cost of internet alone was, and said there would be a $10 “no cable TV” fee (sounds like b.s. to me), which would make it $49.95 a month for internet alone. Then he went on to say that he strongly suggested that I keep the tv service because come May 1, all of the online streaming services would be shut down because the cable TV providers are taking over, and that the FCC regulations are changing so that the cable companies will have total control over streaming video.

Total control, eh? Sounds fishy. Look: cable companies have cables that come into people’s homes. They can make lots of money offering fat pipes to people who want them. But they don’t. They want to stick to whatever consumption model appeals to them and that model is the the cable channel. Cable channels don’t cost them money to maintain, they don’t have to be up 24/7, and they can sell premium channels and services to rubes who don’t know any better. The Internet is like offering running water to the home. Cable TV is like offering a bottled water service with a special “shower package” for those who want to wash. Which one is more lucrative?

I read something the other day that argued that Netflix has not a chance in hell of becoming “this century’s HBO.” Netflix may be popular, but don’t expect it to achieve the type of penetration and success of the cable channel. Hollywood politics and whatnot. Another reason is that HBO has designs on the on-demand market with HBO Go, a service that lets its subscribers see “anything they want to see, anytime, anywhere, over their laptop, iPhone, tablet, PlayStation.” The first cable system to get HBO Go is Verizon FIOS. Supposedly HBO Go will eventually be available to all HBO subscribers, but deals need to be put in place between your ISP and the cable channel.

You need to have FIOS TV and FIOS Internet access to partake right now. If you have both, grasshopper, then you merely log into either hbogo.com or verizon.com/fiostvonline to enjoy whatever.

It’s funny: I’ve been running my own on-demand service since like 2002: it’s called Usenet.

With HBO Go, you’ll be able to see anything HBO has the license to from anywhere there’s an Internet connection. Well, presumably only within the United States. If you just so happen to be on vacation in Europe and want to see “that episode of The Sopranos” from your hotel in Madeira, you’re probably SOL.

Strikeforce will air, for free, an MMA fight on the EA Sports MMA Web site this Saturday. It’s Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs, which is just one fight that’s part of a much larger card, one headlined by Nick Diaz vs. Marius Žaromskis. Presumably Mr. Diaz has put down his pipe long enough to pass the required tests.

The move is being done, as if I even need to mention this, to promote the upcoming video game, scheduled for release sometime this year.

The show, Strikeforce: Miami, also features former WWE pro wrestler (and current TNA pro wrestler, but he’s barely there anymore) Bobby Lashely. It airs on live on the cable channel Showtime.

Hey, it’s not Apple news, right?

via Wrestling Observer

(Credit: Comcast)

Cable giant Comcast plans to add movies from the cable channel Starz to its test of “On Demand Online,” a new service its testing that allows Comcast subscribers to watch cable TV online at no additional charge.

Comcast is set to begin testing the service in the next …

I’m much too “handy,” wink wink, with a computer to personally care about Epix, the movie studios’ latest attempt to take the Internet head-on. It’s part cable TV channel and part 720p Internet streaming, and it’s run by Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate. No cable companies have announced that they’ve signed up as yet.

And to be fair, the idea isn’t bad at all, just too little, too late for someone like me to care much at all. It’s a cable channel—no cable companies have announced that they’ve picked it up yet—that won’t cost you a dime. It’ll have movies that you’d find on HBO and other pay channels, but for free!

The movies shown on the channel and then also available on the Epix Web site, à la Hulu. You pick your movie, and then it stream, like magic. Video quality goes all the way up to 720p. And while that’s certainly impressive for a streaming service—well, if you have a PC; as fellow Mac users know, Flash runs like pure garbage on OS X—720p ain’t exactly impressive. I mean, I can “find” a 1080p Blu-ray rip, and download it in less than 30 minutes. See, that’s what I’m used to. Legal? I’m not too concerned, to be honest.

Epix goes into private (read: you’ll need an invite) today.