The REAL Josh Anderson

Slashdot has an article discussing the pros/cons of 3 popular DVR alternatives:
Slashdot TiVo vs Microsoft vs HDTV Cable

This is certainly a subject that is near and dear to my heart and it sparks quite an internal debate within my, rather large and quite busy, cranium. I am a rather big TiVo fan (as my friends and co-workers know), but the $1,000 price tag on the HD-TiVo was a major deal-breaker for me. Along with my love for TiVo, I have the same feelings for DirecTV. In fact, possibly the single greatest piece of consumer electronics I may ever own in my lifetime is my Sony SAT-T60 DirecTV/TiVo combination box. It truly revolutionized my life. I watched my shows when I wanted to. For those of you that haven't experienced the liberation that a DVR brings, I highly recommend getting one. Can you tell that I enjoy TV yet?

I tried Microsoft's "solution" and found it rather clunky. It wasn't the same smooth and seamless experience that TiVo had created. After about 2 weeks of seriously giving it a shot, I dismissed this as a non-factor in the DVR race.

About 6 years ago, I swore off cable. It was too expensive, the signal sucked, and I hated cable boxes. Sadly, DirecTV keeps raising rates, but they don't seem to be adding any valuable programming? Sure they have this massive campaign talking about how they are adding something like 1,500 HD channels in the "future" (by the way, "future" never really defined in the ad), but those are all of the local channels in all of the halfway decent markets across the country. Big deal!!! Its not like they are adding all of these super-cool HD channels, they are just adding the four major stations in like 400 cities. Way to go DirecTV!!! I can get mine with a $35 antenna.

Anyways, I have come to a very important juncture in my TV life. I am seriously contemplating returning to cable (which I swore that I would never do). Living in good ole' Wadstucky, Time Warner is ridiculously cheap because they have to compete with the city's cable company. To give you an example, my RoadRunner service is less than $25 due to the competition with Wadsworth's cable company. So the cable TV rates are cheap hear AND they throw in a FREE HD DVR. It seems like I can't lose, but I swore off cable over 6 years ago.

Oh the traumas of a late 20's nerd...