The Mint.com blog offers up a great info-graphic explaining why you don’t need that $250 monster cable to go with that PS3 and HDTV. Its succinct and to the point, and if you have recently purchased an expensive cable, you need to take it back and buy the cheapest HDMI cable that you can find.
With all of the recent changes on the Canadian television landscape, its hard to tell what is currently going on. On September 1st, the CRTC ruled that Cable, Satellite and IPTV services would have to remit a 1.5% fee to the new “Local Programming Improvement Fund”. At the same time, the CRTC also opened the door for “fee for carriage” which basically translates to around $6/month per household to pay for the channels that currently, and will continue to show commercials! So the recap, you will be paying more money per month for television service in Canada, but you will not bet getting anything in return.
Keep reading after the jump….
The day Bell 6141 HD reciever owners have been waiting for is finally here. Last week, Bell TV (ExpressVu) began delivering firmware version 165 to customers. This new firmware, allows customers to connect a USB 2.0 drive to their 6141 receiver and record video!
You now have a HD PVR with nearly unlimited video recording storage, as you can swap drives to allow you more recording time. Please note that once data is recorded onto the drive, you cannot connect the drive to a computer; nor can you connect the drive to a different 6141 receiver. The 6141 can accept a USB drive up to 1 Terabyte in size, giving you a max recording capacity of up to 100 hours of High Def content.
If you have problems getting your USB drive to work, power cycle your 6141 and you should be good to go.
Please feel free to post your experiences in the comments.
ExpressVu HD subscribers will be happy to know that we will be getting two new HD channels that we can subscribe to!
Bell ExpressVu is the first to launch the new Super Channel, and starting on November 2nd, ExpressVu HD subscribers will be the first to preview the new set of stations until November 22nd.
The biggest complaint about the Bell ExpressVu PVR models was finally addressed today, all Bell ExpressVu receivers should now be capable of a 9 day program guide. I can’t confirm if this is the case for other reciever models first hand, but early reports and email tips show that this is the case.
The limitation of a 40 hour guide was by far the largest complaint of ExpressVu 9200 HD PVR owners, and owners of Bell’s earlier PVR models. ExpressVu had been quietly updating the firmware of their receivers over the summer, and just flipped the 9 day guide switch sometime today.
With the addition of the 9 day guide comes 9200 firmware version 150. I have not noticed any new enhancements other than the longer guide, but the extra days of information will be really useful for planning PVR recording timers.
Hugh at Digital Home has released his updated report listing what HD channels are available to Canadian consumers. I look forward to this report, but I find my self starting to feel as if the grass is greener on the other side of the country (I’m on the west coast), especially considering that Cogeco is now offering 25 HD channels in their Ontario line up.
[My commentary on the report follows after the jump]…
The much anticipated MPEG4 replacements for the ExpressVu 6100 and the 9200 have been delayed until the fourth quarter of 2007 according to a memo released to ExpressVu dealers. With this announcement, its also been revealed that Bell does not forsee moving to MPEG4 broadcasts until 2009, which means that we are not likely to see a mass upgrade program, and that 9200 HD PVR you just purchased is still going to work for a few more years.
Its worth mentioning that ExpressVu has also stated that the Ethernet port, and the USB 2.0 ports on the two new recievers are to be disabled at launch, reserving them for “future use”.
With all of the uncertainty surrounding the new HD receivers, I’m glad I decided to rent my 9200. I won’t loose anything when the new receivers are finally released, and with the date pushed back, the new units will be available at the same time as my contract is up.
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