If I'm going to buy something the first thing I do is go to ConsumerSearch.com They aggregate and analyze reviews for many different products and provide detailed write ups of their findings. They also weight reviews so for example Consumer Reports reviews are given more credibility than Epinions. So at the very least you can find links to all the review sites for a given product at best you just go ahead and buy one of their aggregated recommendations. It cuts out a lot of the analysis paralysis.

ConsumerSearch.com

So Tivo finally released a HD version of Tivo that mere mortals can actually afford Tivo HD. It looks great. They don't seem to have to have missed out anything from the $800 Series 3 that really matters in this $300 version. Sure the hard drive is smaller but of course that can be upgraded if your tech savy or you can buy one already upgraded from Weaknees and still keep well below the Series 3 price. It's all good and very tempting.

However until the CableCARD 2.0 mess is sorted out it's still a broken solution. Without CableCARD 2.o I will still have to keep (and pay for) my existing cable box so that I can still access Pay-Per-View and OnDemand. So in addition to paying $300 for the box and $8 - $17 for the Tivo service I still have the $12 fee for my existing cable box. But really I just want everything to work with 1 box.

So I'm going to continue to wait impatiently for the Comcast Tivo thats been coming soon for at least 2 years now. Unless CableCARD 2.0 is available before then.

Like 51% of cars (TWICE Double-DIN Share Gaining) mine came with a Double-DIN sized stereo. This means that it is twice the size of the average after market stereo your probably used to seeing.


Double DIN


Single DIN

What can you stick in that hole?
If you want to replace your stereo you have 2 options. Buy a regular Single DIN stereo + an adapter that usually fills the extra space with a cubby. Otherwise find a Double DIN after market stereo. I think the space may as well be used as intended so Double DIN for me. However there is not much of a selection. You most likely won't find any in Best Buy, etc. Kenwood are the only ones I could find that had up to date features (e.g. MP3 playback rather than a Tape Deck). Kenwood has 4 models to choose from.

What did I get?
I went for the Kenwood DPX-301 as I liked the USB/MP3/WMV feature. This means I can connect any USB drive with any number of MP3 or WMV files and play them back via the stereo. As this is a digital connection the sound quality is great and I don't have to mess around with tuning in a FM radio transmitter. Also the stereo can read all the ID3 tags so that it can display the track, album, artist and genre. An added bonus is that if you fill the drive with the included software utility it also creates voice prompts. So you can navigate all that music while keeping your eyes on the road.

The Kenwood DPX-301 also has the usual features. Single CD player (surely there is room in there for a changer but with MP3's thats a moot point), Radio with RDS (displays station name etc) support for Satellite and HD radio, etc.

It can't be all good
This is a great stereo however it's not that intuitive to use. I challenge anyone to work out how to turn it on/off without the manual. Turns out you can cycle through the sources to standby or hold down the standby button to turn it off. Obvious eh?

The other problem I had was the time it takes to be ready to play from the USB drive. It was painfully long. The solution was to switch from my aging USB 1.o hard drive based MP3 player to a super fast Corsair Flash Voyager USB drive which solved the problem.

When you spend a bunch of money on something like a new TV you go to the store and test them out right? And you know what to look for? Well maybe not the latter but if you go to the store armed with a test disc you stand a much better chance of making an informed decision.

When You Can't Trust Your Eyes, Trust A Test Disc

Dishwashers are going up in flames so they are being recalled.

2.5 Million GE Potentially Flammable Dishwashers Recalled

Is yours on the list?
List off General Electric Recalls Dishwashers Due to Fire Hazard