Pioneer SE-DIR800C Dolby-Certified cordless headphones — are the single best electronic goodie I’ve bought in recent years. True Dolby 5.1 surround sound that stays outside the center of your head — unlike most headphones. List $399. Street $299 and down.
If you’re not yet into Hi-Def TV, you will be, sooner or later. It really helps having a DVR that can handle HD — unless you fear time-shifting or like watching commercials. DirecTV and Dish offer their own units. TiVo makes the Series 3 for folks with cable. Since I’ve been with DirecTV since their 3rd month on the street, I have their HR20-700.
It’s unavailable, today, from DirecTV; but, it rocks — and some of the big box stores still have some. Dec/Jan should have them back in stock via DirecTV. Comes with Ethernet [not yet activated] and an e-SATA port for an external hard drive/RAID array. List $299. Cost can range from $229 down.
External storage is something we discuss often. My favorite manufacturer, nowadays is Lacie. They seem to run quieter than the Maxtors I used to prefer. I run automated redundant backups into 2 standalones, daily.
There’s no need to be stingy about external storage. Their d2 HD Extreme w/triple interface 500gb x 2 gets you a Terabyte! With Firewire you can daisychain these. List $320 each. Street $279-ish.
The big Lacie drives have received terrible reviews on Amazon.
I’m leaning towards a NAS device myself, but I agree 100% on the HR20-700.
thier GREAT!! unitll you have two of them go bad.
but at least both of the drives that make up the 500G (2-250G drives each)
ended up being good once I got them in in to a new drive case.
As far as external storage goes, I have an external 250gb hd, it has one usb 2 port and two firewire ports, essentially, you can daisy-chain them together. It’s called a MyBook (dunno link, im at work, busy now)
and its is VERY quiet – i am always having to check to see if it’s on, runs essentially silent.
i got it for $200 at besybuy last year – its prolly cheaper now.