Now thats entertainment

I had a much needed day off work yesterday, so I did a big job that I've been wanting to do for some time.

I re-organized my home theater setup.

Now, I don't have a hugely expensive setup, nor is it professional quality, but each of the components I researched what would be best within my budget at the time, and bought wisely.

I have a 46" Sharp Aquos LCD TV, which sounds big, but it fits the room well. It's got a great picture, with rich colors.

Directly below it I have a Yamaha 5:1 Dolby Digital audio receiver that drives the speakers that came with it. It's subwoofer lives right underneath.

I have now moved all the components into a seperate tower next to it, instead of scattered all over the place.

On the bottom rung, I have a Sony DVD player, which upscales regular DVDs to nearly HD quality, outputting 1080i. It is connected to the TV over HDMI and the receiver over Digital Coaxial.

Above that I now have a series 3 HD Tivo DVR, which I love love love. This outputs to the TV over HDMI, filling up the HDMI inputs, and to the receiver over Digital Optical for full digital sound.

Above that, and raised high and off the ground for best WiFi signal is my xBox 360. It connects to the TV by component HD cables, and uses the last Digital Optical port on the receiver to output it's sound.

Lastly, on the very top, is the Nintendo Wii, it used a regular RCA connection into the TV for both video and audio as it needs neither surround sound, nor high definition.

Primarily I wanted to get the Tivo in, as I was using a digital cable box and a series 2 Tivo before. Comcast are coming out tomorrow to provide me with two cable cards so I will get full digital dual tuner goodness into my Tivo by the weekend.

Secondarily I wanted to get my xBox and Wii off the ground and higher up, due to them living under the TV, they had a lot of inteference between them and my wireless access point, and neither had good network reception. The Wii is fantastic for browsing the internet, especially YouTube on the big screen, but when you have to wait for the video to buffer, it gets old quick.

Thirdly, and analy, I wanted to organize my cables. Having so many video, audio and power cables in one place, it gets very mess very quickly. I had picked up some cable pipes for organization from BJs a while back, and this gave me the chance to sort them out. So now you only see 3 black pipes between the component stack and the TV, which is a dramatic improvement over the mass of wires, cables and connections that were there before!

Sorry for the geek out entry, this is why I'm called "Geek" though ;)

As important as religion

This is a debate that rages amongst certain circles. The uninitiated don't understand, and the experienced whince. Large sums of money ride on the choice.

Series 3 Tivo or Comcast HD DVR.

It's the struggle I'm having deciding between the two, and the emotions that rage across the internet when you research this, trying to make an objective choice. I don't believe there is a single objective choice out there on the subject - its all down to your home theatre background and beliefs :)

My background

I have a regular Comcast cable subscription, and a perfectly functional Series 2 Tivo, with life time subscription. This means the only money I pay out monthly is for my programming. I love Tivo. It changed the way I watch TV infinitely. I love the interface, I love the company, I love the hardware and it's functionality.

I have TivoToGo on my server, downloading my favourite programs automatically, although it can be a bit picky and crash occasionally.

However, I have a 46inch HDTV. I have an upscaling DVD player. I have an xBox 360 playing in hi-def.

Obviously, I'm not making the most of my setup by running a regular Comcast Cable connection. I need HD cable. Thats not a hard choice either, a regular upgrade to HD is only a few dollars a month, plus a small call out fee.

The issue is the DVR. Tivo, or Comcast.

The Series 3 Tivo is an awesome piece of machinery. Dual tuners, plenty of drive space for me. HD recording. I'd love my TivoToGo, and it wouldn't talk with my series 2 Tivo, but I could forgive that. What I can't forgive is the $500 -$700 price tag. OUCH.

Comcast DVR though - thats only $15 a month, which is a much nicer number. It is also dual tuner, and also records in HD, despite it apparantly not having much drive space. It's the interface I'm cautious of. People who like it, haven't used a Tivo. People who hate it, have used a Tivo.

Is it worth the risk to go for the Comcast box, save some money, but lose my beloved Tivo menus, options and sound effects? Or should I save my pennies. I could wait for the rumoured Series 3 Lite, or the Tivo interface on Comcast options coming in the future, but neither have a date, neither are pending, and both could be terrible. Plus I have no patience.

Like I said, religious debates - Tivo or Comcast, Comcast or Tivo.