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   RM> I had a minor disaster the other day when the recorder for   
   RM> my Satellite TV service ate it's storage drive.   
      
   AA>Does it still spin up? I've heard that the hdds can be   
     >repurposed for other storage outside the sattv box.   
      
   These newer units have a 1TB SSD so, when it dies, it dies.   
   Looking online they say the average life is under 3 years   
   in most cases so maybe I shouldn't have been shocked.   
   I believe I've had this PVR for over 2 years.   
      
   AA>Yeah.. too bad that the hdd failed. I guess there really wasn't   
     >any option to do a "backup" even if you wanted to.   
      
   No, you can add a second external drive if you like, but I'd   
   have to look into how much control you have, where things get   
   put when recorded, if they even give you the option. Mine was   
   relatively full but still had over 200 Gig of space left on it.   
      
   AA>Sounds like those drives were only intended to be for temporary   
     >storage, not archival.  So.. the idea is to watch watch what   
     >you record "as soon as possible"?   
      
   I suppose their main interest is for you to record things when   
   you don't have time to watch them, or are not home, until later.   
   Long term storage was likely never their intent.   
      
   RM> Another help at this point is Rogers have added 4 feeds of the   
   RM> Starz Network which show mostly older shows and lots of movies   
   RM> all commercial free.   
      
   AA>Maybe no $'d commecials..  but they might interrupt the   
     >programming with station calls or announcements?   
      
   A lot of specialty 'pay' channels don't have commercials, but   
   for some reason they managed to add these without charging extra.   
   The colour of thelisting in the guide tells you whether a channel   
   is temporarily available or if it's a 'regular' channel, and it   
   appears these are regular now.   
      
   RM> Tonight I watched Stephen King's Christine for the 2nd or 3rd   
   RM> time and, another that's so well known I thought I must have   
   RM> seen it at some point (but apparently hadn't)  The Notebook.   
      
   AA>Never seen the former.  I just learned that many of King's   
     >stories are interconnected and related to each other. "As the   
     >author himself has acknowledged, 'All of the books kind of   
     >relate to other ones.'"   
      
   There are often overlaps with places, and maybe charcters, but   
   most of his movies stand alone fine, other than the sequels   
   he's made of a few of them.   
      
   AA>The latter was quite ok.  But.. as with most Nicholas Sparks   
     >stories, I think he paints the man as righteous and the woman   
     >as the infidel.   
      
   Interesting.. I didn't think to look into where the story   
   came from. I don't recall in the info that it was based on   
   a book of his but likely I just missed the line.   
   Looking back through my Library records for 15 years I haven't   
   read any of his books yet. It looks like 11 of his books have   
   been made into movies. I may have seen some of those..   
      
   AA>Only ever had OTA TV here.  I bought an LG HDD/DVR (don't   
     >remember the year) and it was great to "pause" OTA and come   
     >back to the program later, and even skip the commercials.   
      
   OTA as in by antenna? I'd recently heard that was coming back.   
   Many years ago we could get a whole 3 channels here by antenna   
   but they started dropping off one at a time until they were all   
   gone since no one wanted to repair the equipment to keep them on   
   the air. We all had to start using satellite services, or cable   
   in towns.   
      
   AA>I still have the HDD/DVD unit hooked up, but haven't used it in   
     >years.   
      
   Ha.. my LG DVD player can play/record VHS Tapes, but that's the   
   only unit I have other than the PVR. I have probably well over   
   100 Tapes but most are so old I don't think they are watchable   
   any more. It's years since I tried one I recorded. The tapes are   
   likely still good but the magnetic recording itself deteriorates.   
      
   ---   
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