OK, so at this point at least the Cable Vs. Satellite decisions have been settled. I still don’t like Cablevisions DVR and their CableCard support is non-existent… but Cablevision it is! What else has transpired since being in the new house? Well, I’m glad you asked.

1 - TV/HD - I ended up canceling the order for the 1080p JVC. It was too much money, and I felt like I got ripped off. I called Crutchfield just to see what their pricing was on their DLP’s and just to bullshit about TV’s with the guy. That’s what I love about Crutchfield, you can just call, not have to wait on hold, and talk to someone about technology, for hours. Which I’ve done. So I end up giving up on the requirement of a true 1080p input and order the Samsung HLR series 1080p 50″. He gave me a break on the price, and their warranty is VERY reasonable, and includes bulb replacement. The set shows up within a week or so, and I’m not that impressed. I have an HD source plugged and, yet I’m seeing macroblocking and mosquito noise in some of the shows. But then other shows look pretty good, so maybe it’s just the source material. I dont know. All I knew was I was leaving the TV as new as possible, because I have 30 days to be happy with it. Lucky for me, I don’t even have to wait 30 days. Samsungs 2006 model line starts shipping, the HLS 1080p 50″. As soon as it hits Crutchfields website, I ask to have mine returned and replaced. No charge, and now I just have to wait for delivery. Sweet!

2 - VOIP - The Optimum Voice has been working perfectly. I also love the fact that it emails our phones with an attached .wav file so you can just hear the message as soon as it was left. The service was down the other night at 12:30 though. I called cablevision and they are doing upgrades, and they’ve determined that 12:30 at night is the least used window so it shouldn’t impact anyone. Umm, hello? What about 3AM - 4AM? I bet there’s a LOT less people on at that time! So, I had no phone or internet at that time, but at least it was upgrades and not an outage.

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Wow, I don’t think I’ve gone this long without a post yet, but moving to a new house takes up a lot of time. I wont bore you with the highly technical chores of unpacking, changing electrical outlets, changing door knobs, or my favorite, furniture shopping. Instead, I’ve made some changes to the geek lifestyle to be, and I wanted to follow up on my last post. Here’s what has transpired since then. This post ended up being a bit too long for everything, so it only covers the first major change… Dish Network! Enjoy…

So, Dish Network shipped me out a shiny new Vip 622 which I happily unpacked, smelled, and put back into the box. It won’t provide any value until the satellite feed gets hooked up anyway. And sometimes the Dish technicians can get a little annoyed if you unpack and invariably “lose” something that was supposed to be in the box. The install date was scheduled 2 days after we moved in. Don’t worry; the DVR was still plugged in for those two days at the old house, so we wouldn’t miss any critical shows.
The 11AM window arrives… The doorbell rings. I run to the door to be greeted by an overweight, chain smoking satellite installer. I immediately thought to myself, “This guy is going to be scampering over my roof?” He surveys the sky from various points on the roof, then to the yard, back to the roof again. He doesn’t look happy.
“What’s up?”, I ask.
“Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you can see 110/119 but you can’t see 61.5″
Being well versed in the terminology of geostationary satellite orbits I reply with a puzzled, “What?”
“Well, are you going to be watching any HD channels?”
“Of course, I even upgraded to the DishHD package, I don’t plan on watching anything NOT HD”
“Well, all of the HD channels are broadcast on 61.5 and the only way you can see it is with a 20 foot tripod mounted pole off the front of your house.”

So, to make a long story longer, I didn’t get Dish Network. The installer suggested cutting down the offending tree, which to me looked like it was 300 years old. Nah, I don’t think we really want to cut that tree down. He had to have a supervisor come out to confirm this wasn’t some sort of scam. As is normal with service cancellations, a Dish Network retention supervisor called a few days later to try and “keep me” as a customer.
“Sir, we’re very upset that you’re leaving.”
“Yeah, so am I”
“Is there anything I can do keep you as a customer?”
“Yes, can you change the orbit of 61.5 so it’s more visible to the southern sky from NY?”
“Umm, no. I’ll refund you this months charges, have a nice day”

I’m now using Cablevision for my TV, Internet, Phone, Power, Oil Delivery and Water Supply. The cost for the Optimum Sextuple Play pack was only $199 a month for the first 12 months, but will change to the standard pricing of $649.99 afterwards. God I hate Cablevision, I’ve only had them back in my life for 2 weeks now and I’ve gotten into 3 fights with them. And I’m actually staging some kind of hunger strike, by refusing to watch cable TV. So far, so good.

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