I understand where you're coming from. I'd hate to have spent a significant amount of time and money setting up a system in my house just so I can have a good quality TV viewing experience. I used to have Cox and their UI was horrible. I'm in a unique area that allows me to select between Cox and Time Warner, so I went to them. Their DVRs, while the same hardware, offer a better experience. I'm relatively happy, but I'd probably enjoy having a Tivo better.
However from what I understand, SDV will work with the two way cable cards. And SDV may become necessary in the next... I don't know, 5 to 10 years once SD TV finally goes away.
The cable industry is going through a transitory period and they move slowly. I happen to be in the industry and I'm pretty unhappy with how slowly things move, but I can see why. There are too many players in the game. You have the CE manufacturers, the MSOs, the security guys, the network vendors. They all have to work together and its not a simple process. There is a lot of politics involved and each company seems to have an interest of maintaining control. It's not easy to agree to a standard when everyone wants to control that standard.
I too want choice over what kind of set top I want to run (media center PC, Tivo or otherwise) but I know its just not "there" yet.
I do agree that Cox should have let their customers know what was going on. Even if you were in a test market there's no excuse for that.
I understand that you're not bashing people for playing the game. I agree that playing a real guitar is a much more worthy activity. Knowing how to play any instrument is a great skill to have. It's a good conversation starter, it rounds you out, and we've all read the reports that link creativity and intelligence to playing music. Video games? Not so much.
The argument that I have a problem with is that you claim that learning how to play a real guitar takes the same amount of time as learning how to play guitar heroes. On the easiest difficulty setting one button press may equate to a series of chord strums or plucking a series of individual strings. That may be a really hard thing to do depending on the fingering and timing. In less than a few hours I was already playing songs on the "Hard" mode (there's one more difficulty setting above that).
I don't think I'd be anywhere near playing any of those songs in a few hours on a real guitar. Sure, maybe I'm just a kickass video game player, and a subpar guitar player, but somehow I doubt I'm in the minority. I don't think its just fear that is stopping people from getting a real guitar. Guitar Heroes is relatively new compared to real guitars. If it were that simple, why don't we see a lot more Joe Satriani's out there?
I think this leads us back to the original post. Video games in general are meant to be easier than their real life counterparts. Anything that is worth doing in real life is much harder than it is in a video game. That's the appeal.
Skateboards are really cheap. Hell, a basic one is probably the same cost of any Tony Hawk game. Do I want to spend 6 months just learning how to ride the board with confidence, let alone doing any kind of trick? Or would I rather jump into the game and perform maneuvers that only professionals can pull off?
Not everyone has the time, or devotion to learn how to do "real world" things that these games are based on. That's where these simulation games come in. They give you a taste of what it's like. And maybe people out there will take that next step. Or maybe not, but that's a personal choice.
(The regular MacBook, surprisingly enough, since Apple is usually overpriced, matches up pretty well with PC manufacturers. It's hard to compare it directly because of the odd screen size, but it's only $100-$200 more than a PC, if even that.)
This is probably my Apple fanboyism talking, but the MacBook (or, previously iBook) has always been competively priced. The entry level iBook was going for 1000 USD and included more standard features than any PC laptop did, for that price. I wouldn't say Apple is usually overpriced, maybe just their pro line. But then again, the pro line is targeted towards business and professionals. You'd expect to pay more.
Isn't this an unfair comparison? You can't just take an exchange rate and compare the actual value of something directly. I mean, how much do things actually "cost" over there? A movie ticket here in the US is probably 8 to 11 dollars depending on where you live. If you went over to the UK, exchanged your dollars for pounds, would a movie ticket still cost 8 to 11 dollars or would it be more?
That's true, but part of the experience of running OS X is the ability for the hardware and software to work together seamlessly. If you have to scour the internet to drivers to get any of your peripherals working, that's not the "mac" experience.
I think there is a hardware difference between the iPod photo and the iPod video. So, you couldn't just update it. I do understand your position though. There are a lot of small software features that, for whatever reason, aren't updated on older iPods.
I don't think it's retardation, it's purely business. Apple doesn't love us, they love the bottom line.
But damn do I love their products:-(
Nobody's forcing you to buy another iPod. If what you have still works then why upgrade? As cool as video is, I personally don't have a big use for it. I like listening to music on my iPod and that's good enough for me. If they kept making 4th Gen click wheels with more storage, made them thinner, and maybe add some sort of wireless option, I'd upgrade in a second.
Haha, cool. Good luck on it. I didn't figure it out by myself. My girlfriend was messing around with settings and saw these options. And here I thought i was the geek of the house.
Now, the only problem you'll face is when the unit decides not to let you play your recorded shows. It's happened about 3 times to me. The only solution is to walk away and hope that in an hour or two you'll be able to play them.
If this happens again, I'm calling TWC and demanding they give me a few months of free service, or I'll get a Tivo 2. Supposedly it works on digital cable.
I guess I should have replied to your first problem too. I'm not really sure if I have a solution for that though. If you're watching a certain show and have to leave, just go into the guide and hit record on that show. It'll record from that point until the end of the program... at least it does for me.
In fact, I'm pretty sure just hitting record from the show will just store that show. After the show is done, say you come back 2 hours later, you'll have some recorded info in there, but thats just in its buffer. It's not stored for later playback.
If you have the same DVR that I do (Scientific Atlanta), after you have set the DVR to record the entire series, press the List button on your remote and then press the B button. That will take you to "series manager". You can then fine tune some options for the series you wish to record. You can tell it to record only first run episodes, or to fix your problem, to record that show only when it plays at a certain time and only on that channel.
Their target market is very small, according to the folks at Disney that I talked to. It's targeted at people who rent like 10 movies per month and also incur a lot of late charges. This way they can still rent a lot of movies but not suffer from late fees.
A lot of good that money does you if you can't enjoy it. Additionally, just because they make more than, me or you or God for that matter, it doesn't mean they don't deserve every penny coming to them. Yes it may be extravagant NOW, but most bands have struggled to get where they are.
Never played the first one, but I had the opportunity to play the second. I wasn't able to play it at night. The game was just plain eerie, and seeing monsters which resemble some type of horrifically disfigured human just gives me the creeps. The animation on the monsters was also what got to me. They moved in an unnatural way, and for some reason that just creeped me out.
Also the basic premise of the story was enough to give me nightmares.
And the fact that the main character's name was the same as mine, James.
That said, this is true. Although for those that don't want to run a mac and instead use a PC there is finally an option (albiet limited) for them to have a laptop that is on par with the powerbook.
Is it just me?
on
Mr Anti-Google
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I'm lazy, but a direct link to the story would have been nice.
I thought the point of having an LCD monitor (besides Hollywood using them as props in "futuristic" settings, and "cool factor"), was to save space. Why bother with an LCD and keep your CRT around? I guess text is reall sharp and all on an LCD but, its simply not worth the extra money. If I'm going to drop a few G's on a screen, I'd hope it replaces my existing setup.
I guess it all depends on how you use your computer.
Really? I never broke mine as a child. Maybe they can combine the best of both worlds and make them higher quality yet retain the metallic look. That'll probably be cost prohibitive though.
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Ok, they listened to customers, but they didn't hear anything about MMS? Is it such a difficult feature to add? How about cut and paste?!
However from what I understand, SDV will work with the two way cable cards. And SDV may become necessary in the next... I don't know, 5 to 10 years once SD TV finally goes away.
The cable industry is going through a transitory period and they move slowly. I happen to be in the industry and I'm pretty unhappy with how slowly things move, but I can see why. There are too many players in the game. You have the CE manufacturers, the MSOs, the security guys, the network vendors. They all have to work together and its not a simple process. There is a lot of politics involved and each company seems to have an interest of maintaining control. It's not easy to agree to a standard when everyone wants to control that standard.
I too want choice over what kind of set top I want to run (media center PC, Tivo or otherwise) but I know its just not "there" yet.
I do agree that Cox should have let their customers know what was going on. Even if you were in a test market there's no excuse for that.
I understand that you're not bashing people for playing the game. I agree that playing a real guitar is a much more worthy activity. Knowing how to play any instrument is a great skill to have. It's a good conversation starter, it rounds you out, and we've all read the reports that link creativity and intelligence to playing music. Video games? Not so much.
The argument that I have a problem with is that you claim that learning how to play a real guitar takes the same amount of time as learning how to play guitar heroes. On the easiest difficulty setting one button press may equate to a series of chord strums or plucking a series of individual strings. That may be a really hard thing to do depending on the fingering and timing. In less than a few hours I was already playing songs on the "Hard" mode (there's one more difficulty setting above that).
I don't think I'd be anywhere near playing any of those songs in a few hours on a real guitar. Sure, maybe I'm just a kickass video game player, and a subpar guitar player, but somehow I doubt I'm in the minority. I don't think its just fear that is stopping people from getting a real guitar. Guitar Heroes is relatively new compared to real guitars. If it were that simple, why don't we see a lot more Joe Satriani's out there?
I think this leads us back to the original post. Video games in general are meant to be easier than their real life counterparts. Anything that is worth doing in real life is much harder than it is in a video game. That's the appeal.
Skateboards are really cheap. Hell, a basic one is probably the same cost of any Tony Hawk game. Do I want to spend 6 months just learning how to ride the board with confidence, let alone doing any kind of trick? Or would I rather jump into the game and perform maneuvers that only professionals can pull off?
Not everyone has the time, or devotion to learn how to do "real world" things that these games are based on. That's where these simulation games come in. They give you a taste of what it's like. And maybe people out there will take that next step. Or maybe not, but that's a personal choice.
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of CES, not E3. CES is held in Las Vegas in January. E3 was usually in May, in LA.
This is probably my Apple fanboyism talking, but the MacBook (or, previously iBook) has always been competively priced. The entry level iBook was going for 1000 USD and included more standard features than any PC laptop did, for that price. I wouldn't say Apple is usually overpriced, maybe just their pro line. But then again, the pro line is targeted towards business and professionals. You'd expect to pay more.
Isn't this an unfair comparison? You can't just take an exchange rate and compare the actual value of something directly. I mean, how much do things actually "cost" over there? A movie ticket here in the US is probably 8 to 11 dollars depending on where you live. If you went over to the UK, exchanged your dollars for pounds, would a movie ticket still cost 8 to 11 dollars or would it be more?
That's true, but part of the experience of running OS X is the ability for the hardware and software to work together seamlessly. If you have to scour the internet to drivers to get any of your peripherals working, that's not the "mac" experience.
I think there is a hardware difference between the iPod photo and the iPod video. So, you couldn't just update it. I do understand your position though. There are a lot of small software features that, for whatever reason, aren't updated on older iPods. I don't think it's retardation, it's purely business. Apple doesn't love us, they love the bottom line. But damn do I love their products :-(
Nobody's forcing you to buy another iPod. If what you have still works then why upgrade? As cool as video is, I personally don't have a big use for it. I like listening to music on my iPod and that's good enough for me. If they kept making 4th Gen click wheels with more storage, made them thinner, and maybe add some sort of wireless option, I'd upgrade in a second.
Haha, cool. Good luck on it. I didn't figure it out by myself. My girlfriend was messing around with settings and saw these options. And here I thought i was the geek of the house. Now, the only problem you'll face is when the unit decides not to let you play your recorded shows. It's happened about 3 times to me. The only solution is to walk away and hope that in an hour or two you'll be able to play them. If this happens again, I'm calling TWC and demanding they give me a few months of free service, or I'll get a Tivo 2. Supposedly it works on digital cable.
I guess I should have replied to your first problem too. I'm not really sure if I have a solution for that though. If you're watching a certain show and have to leave, just go into the guide and hit record on that show. It'll record from that point until the end of the program... at least it does for me. In fact, I'm pretty sure just hitting record from the show will just store that show. After the show is done, say you come back 2 hours later, you'll have some recorded info in there, but thats just in its buffer. It's not stored for later playback.
If you have the same DVR that I do (Scientific Atlanta), after you have set the DVR to record the entire series, press the List button on your remote and then press the B button. That will take you to "series manager". You can then fine tune some options for the series you wish to record. You can tell it to record only first run episodes, or to fix your problem, to record that show only when it plays at a certain time and only on that channel.
Their target market is very small, according to the folks at Disney that I talked to. It's targeted at people who rent like 10 movies per month and also incur a lot of late charges. This way they can still rent a lot of movies but not suffer from late fees.
I meant the artists deserve the money coming to them, not the labels. And if you meant the artists don't deserve money then, wtf?
A lot of good that money does you if you can't enjoy it. Additionally, just because they make more than, me or you or God for that matter, it doesn't mean they don't deserve every penny coming to them. Yes it may be extravagant NOW, but most bands have struggled to get where they are.
Oh boo hoo
Never played the first one, but I had the opportunity to play the second. I wasn't able to play it at night. The game was just plain eerie, and seeing monsters which resemble some type of horrifically disfigured human just gives me the creeps. The animation on the monsters was also what got to me. They moved in an unnatural way, and for some reason that just creeped me out.
Also the basic premise of the story was enough to give me nightmares.
And the fact that the main character's name was the same as mine, James.
I own a Powerbook.
That said, this is true. Although for those that don't want to run a mac and instead use a PC there is finally an option (albiet limited) for them to have a laptop that is on par with the powerbook.
I'm lazy, but a direct link to the story would have been nice.
Worst... story... ever.
WWII, I think. Didn't New Zeland officially declare war against them? Or something. I don't know, it sounds like something I've read though.
I guess it all depends on how you use your computer.
Really? I never broke mine as a child. Maybe they can combine the best of both worlds and make them higher quality yet retain the metallic look. That'll probably be cost prohibitive though.
You sir, rule.