I am in need of two new pieces of gear and would like YOUR suggestions and insights on what to get.
First, we need to replace our dead (kaput!) Series 1 TiVo. It lasted an amazing 7 years and change, but it has made the final ascent to the great Now Showing in the sky. So, what should we get to replace it? An HD TiVo? The HD XL TiVo? We have nothing but HD TVs in our house, so the Series 2 isn't terribly desirable. Or should we nix TiVo and go with a different brand altogether? We're on Time Warner Cable (despite their awfulness), in case that affects your recommendation.
Second, I need a smallish digital camera with a reasonable resolution (5MP+), but with as much optical zoom as possible (320mm and greater would be ideal). This is for use with the GigaPan Imager I acquired for work purposes. The GigaPan mount won't support something like a dSLR, so nothing that massive can be considered. What suggestions do you have for this purchase?
Thanks in advance for your comments, here on GearBits (using the form below), to me via Twitter (CRA1G), or via my Facebook account (Craig Froehle).
I have to vouch for the HD TiVo. We got ours for Christmas and I have to say I'm in love with it. The cable company (yes, TWC) came out and installed the cable cards, allowing me to return my cable box. The cable cards have dual tuners, so I can watch one channel and record another transparently. (You always could before with some creative cabling, but now it's at the touch of a button.) And of course I can now pause, record, etc. HD shows.
The real reason I wanted it is that TiVo now supports Netflix Instant movies. Unfortunately, about half the time I try to watch a movie, the service seems to be down - don't know if that's on Netflix or on TiVo. But when the service is up, the movie streams good quality w/o buffering.