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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
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Subject: Re: electrical deaths
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2024 22:20:01 -0700
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On 12/1/2024 2:31 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> I don't believe in paying for "broadcast" TV -- even if it is over a
>> constrained medium (e.g., "Cable").
> 
> Me neither, but life is boring outside of it.

I find it hard to make time for "(traditional) entertainment"; there
are far too many MORE interesting things to do!

>> What little we watch (now), we do with a DVR so we can time shift as well
>> as skip through the commercials.  SWMBO has fallen in love with it as
>> it trims 30% off of her viewing time!
> 
> We also have time shift, on all channels. The tiny box at home sends a command 
> to the server farm, and the time stops or goes backwards. Of course, the 
> response time is sluggish, but it works, with relatively dumb hardware at home.

So, your "provider" interacts with your "client" (box)?

I rescued a box that records OTA broadcasts onto disk.  So, there is no
other entity involved in the transaction.  No one knows what we are watching,
when we skip commercials, etc.

> Reminds me. Over a decade ago I bought a Gigaset M740 AV terrestrial digital tv 
> tuner. It could record or time shift using an external usb hard disk (not 
> provided) or a Windows or Linux computer sharing a directory.
> 
> It had two tuners. It was capable of recording from two stations at the same 
> time as playing a previous recording.

Yes, this is exactly similar.  But, the disk is built in.  (no idea how large
it is nor how much "content" it can store.  SWMBO just uses it to watch
early morning or late night (the night before) shows.  E.g., sometimes the
PBS channel will broadcast an old (or "artsy") movie that she won't want to
stay up to view "live".

> And it had a community of developers, so that there were alternative firmwares 
> more powerful than the original.
> 
> Unfortunately, the digital broadcasting system in Spain has been improved to HD 
> (high definition), and the machine does not work any more (as a 
> tuner/recorder). I have not found a modern replacement with similar capabilities.

You might want to check the Silicon Dust offerings.  No idea as to their
international capabilities.  But, I've designed them into my current
project.  The goal being to eliminate "real" TVs and just push pixels
down the wire to "displays".  as such, any display becomes a TV (or
movie screen or baby monitor/nanny cam or...)

>> Most of our "viewing" is in the form of movies.  Our local library is
>> pretty good at keeping current with titles -- though you may have to
>> wait for the title you want.  We typically have 10 titles out at a
>> time to cut down on our trips to the library.  You can each it for
>> 4 weeks, then renew for 3 weeks -- up to 4 times -- then be a month
>> late returning it without a fine.  Far too permissive, IMO, but it
>> seems to work reasonably well.  (and, they did away with fines,
>> recently, so what incentive to return titles??)
> 
> On DVDs?

Yes.  Tape has long been discarded.  CDs are also on the obsolescent
list.  Amusing how eagerly the library tries to rid itself of titles!
(this is exactly contrary to how things were when I was a kid; you
could find all sorts of "old material" archived in libraries!)

I'll watch "Despicable Me 4" (which will probably be a disappointment),
"The Wild Robot" (which will probably disappoint -- for different reasons),
"Deadpool & Wolverine" (which will likely be silly brain rot) and "IF"
(which may well be entertaining) next week.  Beyond that, it is hard to
predict when the reservations queued before mine will be filled.

> I don't think there are DVD libraries here. I should ask.

Sadly, I suspect the local library is used primarily for DVDs and
public computer access.  The librarian gets very excited when I
submit a request for some technical paper or text that they will
have to find in some other (out of state) library.  They always wonder
about the particular *content*.  I guess it makes them feel "needed"?