Ben Barrett wrote: > Granted, encoding is being done by the CPU, but 2GHz boxen can be > had for >$400 now! Add a $40 tuner card and you're off and ready to > play...
Keep in mind that the initial purchase price is only part of the total cost of either solution. TiVo charges $13/month, or $156/year, subscription fee. Or $300 for a lifetime subscription. A P4 box uses a lot more electricity than a TiVo. Lane Electric charges $0.675 per kwh, so a 250 watt PC (typical for high-end systems) running 24x7 costs $12.15/month or $148/year to operate. You decide how much the indirect costs (e.g., global warming, terrorism) are worth to you. The TiVo uses electricity too, but I'm too lazy this morning to measure how much. It's less than 250 watts. (-: But the biggest cost is that to justify either box's existence, you have to watch a lot of TV. That wastes many hours of your life, kills off your critical thinking ability, and entices you to go out and spend even more money on the products you've seen advertised. -- Bob Miller K<bob> kbobsoft software consulting http://kbobsoft.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Eug-LUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.efn.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/eug-lug
