Nov 27 Podcast #401: What we're thankful for '09
Podcast 
Thanksgiving is a time to, well, to give thanks. So that's what we're going to do; give thanks for everything we have in our lives. The things we're most thankful for: our families, our health, our friends, and our wonderful listeners, don't make good topics for a show about HDTV and Home Theater. So as is tradition over the last five Thanksgivings, on today's show we give you our list of consumer electronics things we are thankful for.
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What we're thankful for '09
Thanksgiving is a time to, well, to give thanks. So that's what we're going to do; give thanks for everything we have in our lives. The things we're most thankful for: our families, our health, our friends, and our wonderful listeners, don't make good topics for a show about HDTV and Home Theater. So as is tradition over the last five Thanksgivings, on today's show we give you our list of consumer electronics things we are thankful for.
Braden:
Netflix - First of all, any Blu-ray movie I want to watch in my mailbox within a matter of days, that's awesome. (We'll ignore the long wait for new releases stuff for now). But beyond that, Netflix is really pushing the streamed movie technology more than anyone else. You can get Netflix 'watch it now' on almost anything that plugs into the wall. That's cool.
Insteon - Sure, I've known about home automation, lighting control, the whole shot, for many years. But ever since I started actually putting it in my home, it's like a part of me has come to life that i never knew existed. This is the most excited I've been about a technology or gadget since the PS3...
PS3 - Ah, the Sony Playstation 3, it truly is the home theater Swiss army knife. First of all, it's a Blu-ray player. But not any old Blu-ray player, probably the most capable one out there. and you know when managed copy hits, it'll be the first to support it. It's also a DLNA player, so it can stream movies from anywhere on the network. The Netflix integrations is superb. Oh yeah, and it plays some cool games, too.
High Definition Television - Every time I'm forced to watch anything in standard definition it reminds me of how thankful I am for high definition. This one might be getting old for some, but it's still a has a huge impact on my enjoyment of Home Theater. I honestly can't imagine watching NCIS or Flash Forward in standard def. I tried watching football at a restaurant the other day and gave up. What's the point if you can't watch it in high def?
The DVR - While I'm not thankful for DVR guilt, and I am still suffering from it (Sorry Numb3rs, you probably won't make it to next season), I love my DVR. It is the absolute best technology since the invention of the refrigerator or the flush toilet. I honestly don't know how I'd survive without any of those three. Sliced bread I could live without, but not my DVR.
Ara:
High Speed Internet - I know we live in a bubble here in Orange County CA and our Internet access is quite good. But with that said I am very thankful for big fat pipes. It makes things like Netflix Watch it Now enjoyable. High Speed Internet is necessary for the future of digital downloads and the connected living room.
Slingbox - I visit my in-laws quite a bit. They do not have DirecTV so I can't watch my Bears on Sunday. Right now that may be a good thing. But with my SlingBox HD I can not only watch on my 15" MacBook Pro but its an enjoyable experience. We have even used it in the car with 3G while driving up CA State Route 99.
Remote DVR Programming - How many times have you wished you could set something to be recorded when you are away from home? With this feature you no longer have to miss a special event. Its available on DirecTV, Dish Network, FiOS and some cable company's DVRs.
Netflix - I pay $20 a month to have Netflix store just about every DVD made. And for that price then send me any title I request for free and provide return shipping. All this with a one day turn around in most cases.
And of course we have our listeners to be thankful for. You make doing the show fun and, in a lot of cases, easier. Thank you for your news leads, story ideas, email, voicemail, everything you send that we get to turn right around and use as show content. And thank you so much for keeping us going by supporting our sponsors, shopping at our store and feeding our caffeine addiction! You rock!
Reader Comments (8)
The link to the MP3 seems to be broken - I just get a 404 Not Found error.
What about mp3 download? Seems to be broken somehow... ;(
Still not working :(
The link should be fixed now. Sorry for the problems.
Ara
I had never heard of Black Friday until I started listening to this podcast about 3 years ago. It is slowly making its way up here to Canada now. I see a lot of big box retailers jumping on the band wagon.
10 More Things California Should Regulate - LAME
You guys bashing the California regulation was one of the few things you guys say that I vehemently disagree with.
The law is not banning anything, it is just setting energy limits which TVs of certain sizes must abide by.
As you guys have even said on previous episodes, some companies (e.g. Vizio) were for the regulation. When I look for a HDTV, I will definitely use power consumption (including "off" power consumption, though I may just put it on a power strip too) as one of the criteria.
You guys love remotes. I have Uverse, so I bought the Uverse RF remote.
Works great. Works through walls and floors. I run a second TV in the basement using the RF out of the box.
Beats paying for another Uverse box.
Black Friday is old old old. Going on at least 40 years...