Having the ideal equipment for your home theater system is great but it could be better. I came to this conclusion while thinking about how to best use all my equipment. So I wanted to see what kind of programs I could find for my system.
Starting out with the best, I did not go much further. The first plan I saw sold me it was called the Total Choice Premier Package with DirecTV Tivo. The more I looked at it, the quicker I decided that it was what I wanted. The program itself offered 205 channels. I immediately chuckled to myself and thought that might be a little bit of an overkill, but knew, at least, that I had one massive choice to make of what programs and movies I wanted to watch. Now, if only I might be able to hide the TV guide from the rest of my family.
Another great feature was the choice of DVD recorders. It seemed that the Samsung SIR-S4120R was the perfect machine. Although I did not need it, it could receive up to 255 channels. Anyway, I did not need to miss anything. Being able to record two things at a time meant we could watch what we wanted, or I could watch one and record something else. The great thing was that that it had about twice as much hard drive space for recording as most other similar machines. This is what I like being able to record something, and then watching it when I have time on demand, they call it.
When football season comes around, I know I don’t have to miss any of it. The remote is going to get some exercise since I can do a rewind and slow play on any action even on live TV. Those refs won’t be safe either since now I can check every call they make. I’ll be able to see it better than they can. And when I watch the movies from my couch, I know it’ll almost be like I was there, being able to hear the sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, or in the Dolby Digital 5.1. And when I need to get a snack, or answer the telephone, I can actually pause live TV for up to 30 full minutes.
The only thing I didn’t like was that it can’t record actual HD signals. Oh well, everything is just great, and I’m waiting to try it out on the new season.
Here is a brief summary of the current content of the package from DirecTV (Be sure to go to DirecTV for the most recent packages):
Has more than 30 of the premium movie channels.
More than 25 channels of sports
7 HBO channels.
12 separate channels on the Starz Super Pack - 12 distinct movie channels, including 4 Starz channels, 2 Encore channels and 6 Encore theme channels.
9 Showtime channels - 5 SHOWTIME channels, 2 channels of The Movie Channel, 1 FLIX channel and 1 Sundance Channel.
3 channels from Cinemax
Here are some specs on the Samsung SIR-S4120R Digital TV Receiver:
Service compatible with: DirecTV TiVo
Audio Support Dolby Digital Recorder
Features One Touch Recording Pause Live TV • Records 2 Programs Simultaneously
Recording Time 100 Hrs.
Programmable Timer that can program up to weeks away
Program Guide: Advanced Program Guide
90 day Warranty