[opendtv] The PRV guy
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 11:49:41 -0500
As some of you may be aware, the high tech consulting business ain't
what it used to be. When I am not writing columns for BE or feeding
this list, I do remodeling construction, like the office I renovated
this summer. Sometimes I do whatever a client needs.
Recently I started doing work for a new client who learned about my
talents through my work on that office remodeling project. Her
husband is CEO of a company with some unique water purification
products. They live in one of the nicer homes in Gainesville on a
hidden lake that is really beautiful. they both have offices in the
home that look out onto the lake.
The client likes to call me "the handyman." To date she has not found
a project that I cannot handle...until yesterday.
When I arrived my first task was to help her husband solve a problem
with the Dell laptop that he uses (apparently mostly as a DVD movie
player) when he travels. This laptop was recently corrupted by a
virus; with help from his admin person they managed to get things
working again; everything , that is, except for the DVD playback
capability. It turns out that WinDVD was not re-installed, so this
task took only a few minutes.
The next task took most of the rest of the day, and ended in at least
temporary failure.
Two years ago their daughter and son in law gave them a Panasonic
Showstopper, the infamous Reply PVR marketed by Panasonic. They did
not attempt to hook it up until just prior to this Christmas, in
advance of the arrival of the daughter, son-in-law and grandchild.
They could not get it to work. I suggested that they send the PVR
back with their kids, who might get some use out of it; as they
already send a big check to Cox cable every month for two broadband
lines, digital cable, and two analog STBs. I suggested that they
upgrade their digital cable STB to the one with integrated PVR.
But yesterday the Showstopper was still there and I was tasked with
hooking it up in her office.
The TV there was hooked up to an analog cable STB; apparently they
have the analog boxes because they subscribe to HBO or Showtime.
So I dug into the documentation and discovered a product that only a
geek could love. The PV-HS2000 can be connected in so many
permutations that even I had to study the manual to figure out the
best configuration for this installation. The cable box was left in
the system in case they wanted to record something from the premium
movie channel. This required the use of the IR blaster cable to
control the cable box. This product also has a serial cable for use
with certain DBS STbs.
The other big hassle was the phone line connection. There was an
outlet right next to the TV but it was hooked up to the office line.
After figuring out how their phone system was wired I was able to
connector a line that would not cause any problems. With everything
hooked up I powered up the unit and had a brief flashback experience.
The noisy hard drive spun up reminding me of the noisy arrays we used
to use for non-linear editing. The setup menu came up and I stepped
through the process of getting the unit to find the local access
number and download the program guide. The unit would connect, but
after about a minute it announced that it was unable to authorize.
When all else fails, you call the customer service number. After
waiting a few minutes to talk to a technician we rebooted the unit,
pressed a few arcane commands on the remote, and a screen came up
with the unit configuration. As the tech suspected, this unit has
version 2.0 software.
IF it had been connected when they bought it, it would have been
automatically upgraded to version 3.0 software. Without the new
software, however, the unit is useless. It cannot connect to get the
program guide or to download the software update. I was informed
that the only way to proceed would be to send the unit to a Panasonic
service center in Elgin IL, where they could perform the update.
The client decided this was not worth the hassle, especially as they
can get a more capable PVR on the set with digital cable. What's
more, I disconnected the old analog cable box and set up the
integrated TV tuner for cable, as she never watches movies on his TV,
just HGTV, FOOD, Discovery and Fox News. Thus the net increase for
the Cox PVR will be offset by returning one of their analog cable
boxes.
I told her that I would investigate alternatives to sending the unit
back to Panasonic, and that I might be able to help her sell the
unit, if I do not decide to buy it.
So now I need some expert help.
I strongly suspect that the software update can be downloaded via the
serial port used to connect to some DBS boxes, but I have no idea
where to get the download file or what it takes to communicate with
this beast. The unit claims 30 hour recording capacity - the unit
configuration seems to indicate that they may be space to add up to
three more drives to the unit.
Can anybody help?
Does anyone know what this thing is worth (or is it worthless)?
Does anyone want to buy it?
This experience, together with the new levels of complexity I have
experience with my new Samsung speak volumes about the transition we
are all going through. This product is way too complex for the
average consumer to install; small wonder that most consumers are
opting for a PVR that is integrated with their cable or DBS service.
Aunt Emily might want to get DTV, but she is scared to death that it
will be too complex to install or use.
My final task of the day was to reconfigure her physical computer
set-up, organizing a rats nest of cables many of which were not being
used. The kids put a webcam on the computer so that they can
videoconference - the son-in-law is tech savvy, working at Sandia
Labs.
Bottom line: both she and her husband are fairly savvy when it comes
to using technology...as long as someone else sets it up and teaches
them how to use it.
Maybe its time to open up an HD store like that guy in Connetticut.
What do you think John?
;-)
Regards
Craig
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