DVR Options?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Reg or Rog?
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Reg or Rog?

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Man, I hate getting bad news before I even finish my first cup of coffee.

There's a problem with the fire control system. Dampers won't close. That's a BIG problem.

All I can do is pray it's software or FACP-related, not a hard-wiring issue. But I'm back on the job, same hours, starting tonight. So much for watching the playoffs, unless I get this fixed ASAP. Oh well, at least I got to see Alice Cooper this weekend.

So it's DVR city for the playoffs. I guess I have to either buy one or drive down to the Valley to Spectrum today and rent one.

I don't watch much TV except for sports, so I've never used a DVR. I have some acquaintances that watch TV constantly and know all the popular shows. I haven't watch a 'TV show' for decades. The last time I've watched TV shows regularly, "Cheers" was the most popular.

So...any advice on the best DVR's? I hate dealing with Spectrum.

Thanks in advance!


I don't watch Saturday Night Live very often either, but my buddy sent me this link. It's "Cancelling Cable" from SNL earlier this year. Possibly their funniest sketch in years. And spot-on!

 
Here's the Cnet article for all the out of market people, they do have some info for streaming in market which presumably doesn't have 24 hour rules on live events. I'm not sure if you can get a stand alone dvr anymore. I think the Cable companies are monopolizing those. I also don't know if Ballys is doing on demand without having a 24 hour rule for replays.

NHL in 2022: How to Watch the Rest of the Hockey Season
 
jammer06 said:
This article also references streaming. I think the RSN's get to do the first two rounds still, but it's always so confusing.
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It might be that Bally's and other RSNs do 1st rounds exclusively to their market, which means ESPN and TNT Blackouts.
 
It's beginning to look like Spectrum is my best option. It's an extra ten bucks a month, so no biggie. There used to be a Spectrum store two blocks away, but it closed last year. So it's Eagle Rock or bust.

On the bright side, I should be able to get home and watch the games without knowing the score. The last time this happened...the 2017 World Series...it was pointless going the DVR route. Everyone on the job was shouting out the score as the game unfolded. I won't have the problem with the Los Angeles "I Thought They Played in Sacramento" Kings. As long as I don't turn the car radio on driving home.

But thanks for all the replies!
 
I don't think you can buy a standalone DVR that plugs into your cable anymore. You just have to rent an upgraded cable box from Spectrum for the playoffs and give it back afterwards.
 
santiclaws said:
I don't think you can buy a standalone DVR that plugs into your cable anymore. You just have to rent an upgraded cable box from Spectrum for the playoffs and give it back afterwards.
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Yeah, that's what I found out.

The last time I used a DVR was my wife's TiVo...but that was like 13 years ago.

Oh well, at least that's a good cheap option. But man it sucks just trying to spend the night avoiding all things related to media. What really sucks is almost making it all the way through the night, then hearing the score at the last minute. Win or lose, it ruins the game. I will make sure I warn everyone not to tell me. Or else. That usually works...
 
Reg or Rog? said:
Yeah, that's what I found out.

The last time I used a DVR was my wife's TiVo...but that was like 13 years ago.

Oh well, at least that's a good cheap option. But man it sucks just trying to spend the night avoiding all things related to media. What really sucks is almost making it all the way through the night, then hearing the score at the last minute. Win or lose, it ruins the game. I will make sure I warn everyone not to tell me. Or else. That usually works...
Click to expand...

When I'm in dark mode and trying to avoid spoilers, its the only time on earth I've ever tried audio books or podcasts. Comedy routines work nicely if you have 20-30 minute blocks (RIP Mitch Hedberg). Audio books are more for the 2 hour commutes. I wish there was an easily accessible radio archive of sports events. That would be ideal.
 
Well that was relatively painless. No traffic to Eagle Rock, no line at Spectrum, and the DVR is plugged in.

Hopefully this will become academic and I will resolve the issue long before the playoffs begin. If it's the FACP or software, no problem. If there's an issue with a splice somewhere...that falls on me and it's my responsibility to find it and fix it. Even though I've never made a bad splice in my career, and I preach constantly about good technique in splicing, people get in a hurry (or more often just lazy) and don't take the time to make sure the joint is solid. The rule of thumb is: If it's mechanically sound, it's electrically sound...so check it twice.

One of my lead men made a bad splice at Jet Propulsion Lab and blew-up a brand new UPS system (no neutral). That one cost me my job, and I loved working at JPL. I was going to double-check his work before I energized the system...but I didn't want to crawl through the mezz again, and it cost me a good job. By the time I got up to the floor, I could smell the modules smoking.

In any electrical system, each and every splice represents a potential point of failure. This is why critical life-safety systems such as train controls for subways have unspliced cable running from the train control relays to the tracks as it eliminates any possible failure due to bad splices. I've installed cables several miles in length for the DC subway system (Glenmont, MD).

In fire alarm and life safety installations in commercial buildings and high-rises, series wiring is required for all modern systems. We do the best we can to install the wiring with minimal splices, but eliminating all splices, is, of course, logistically impossible. And trouble shooting a failure in a series system can be a daunting task. High-voltage wiring (110v and above) is made up in parallel, and therefore much easier to troubleshoot. But signal wiring is a different story. But I'll bet dollars to donuts this is a software/panel issue (it better be...)
 
The schedule goes until this weekend. The playoffs don't even start until 5/2 so get your butt down the the job site, drink a couple red bulls, and go find the problem :). Tell your team they need to get this done in the next 7 days, failure is not an option, blah, blah, blah. Good luck!

And we still have to make the playoffs. I know the odds are 99+% and we need one single point, but I don't want to jinx it.
 
hokiecat said:
The schedule goes until this weekend. The playoffs don't even start until 5/2 so get your butt down the the job site, drink a couple red bulls, and go find the problem :). Tell your team they need to get this done in the next 7 days, failure is not an option, blah, blah, blah. Good luck!

And we still have to make the playoffs. I know the odds are 99+% and we need one single point, but I don't want to jinx it.
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LOL!

Thanks man!

Yeah, we use that line from "Apollo 13" on the job all the time!

So I just got back...good news and bad news. First the good...

...the building engineers were wrong (what else is new?) and only 25% of the dampers have issues. Narrowing the troubleshooting down to one quadrant virtually guarantees I will he here for the playoffs!

The bad news is this is a hard-wiring issue, therefore one of my guys screwed-up. Probably something as simple as not twisting a Wire-Nut hard enough. But whatever the problem is, it's officially my fault, and I have to find it. Fortunately it will only take me and one apprentice to troubleshoot. And I have a pretty good idea who did it and where to start tonight. But it's definitely not a control panel or software issue.

As long as I find it quick, it's no harm and no foul since the space is still offcially unoccupied.

But back to "Failure is not an option"...

...we use movie quotes on the job all the time. If there are communication issues (usually while pulling cable), we either say "Put the candle back!" ("Young Frankenstein") or "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." ("Cool Hand Luke"). If we have issues with another contractor, we break out "Make him an offer he can't refuse." ("The Godfather") or if someone gets in our face it's "Go ahead, make my day" ("Dirty Harry"). If we need to move equipment into a space that's too small, it's "We're gonna need a bigger boat!" ("Jaws"). And if an overzealous security guard asks for our badges....well, this one is obvious: "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" ("The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"). And finally, if someone screws up...it's Joe E Brown as Osgood from "Some Like It Hot" ("Well, nobody's perfect").

If you can't have a good time working, why bother?
 
Reg or Rog? said:
LOL!

Thanks man!

Yeah, we use that line from "Apollo 13" on the job all the time!

So I just got back...good news and bad news. First the good...

...the building engineers were wrong (what else is new?) and only 25% of the dampers have issues. Narrowing the troubleshooting down to one quadrant virtually guarantees I will he here for the playoffs!

The bad news is this is a hard-wiring issue, therefore one of my guys screwed-up. Probably something as simple as not twisting a Wire-Nut hard enough. But whatever the problem is, it's officially my fault, and I have to find it. Fortunately it will only take me and one apprentice to troubleshoot. And I have a pretty good idea who did it and where to start tonight. But it's definitely not a control panel or software issue.

As long as I find it quick, it's no harm and no foul since the space is still offcially unoccupied.

But back to "Failure is not an option"...

...we use movie quotes on the job all the time. If there are communication issues (usually while pulling cable), we either say "Put the candle back!" ("Young Frankenstein") or "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." ("Cool Hand Luke"). If we have issues with another contractor, we break out "Make him an offer he can't refuse." ("The Godfather") or if someone gets in our face it's "Go ahead, make my day" ("Dirty Harry"). If we need to move equipment into a space that's too small, it's "We're gonna need a bigger boat!" ("Jaws"). And if an overzealous security guard asks for our badges....well, this one is obvious: "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" ("The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"). And finally, if someone screws up...it's Joe E Brown as Osgood from "Some Like It Hot" ("Well, nobody's perfect").

If you can't have a good time working, why bother?
Click to expand...

A great one we used was from Braveheart. Any time there was some other department person that intruded into a conversation about strategy we'd break out "Who is this person who speaks to me as if I needed their advice"



we got in trouble for it after a while, so it eventually got shortened to "Ok Phillip" which usually just left them confused and us giggling.
 
jammer06 said:
A great one we used was from Braveheart. Any time there was some other department person that intruded into a conversation about strategy we'd break out "Who is this person who speaks to me as if I needed their advice"



we got in trouble for it after a while, so it eventually got shortened to "Ok Phillip" which usually just left them confused and us giggling.
Click to expand...


LOL!

That's freakin' great! One of our favorites! We'll have to incorporate that into our routine! I love how you shortened it up to "Ok Phillip"...genius!
 
As I mentioned in last night's GDT, it took me a grand total of one hour to solve the problem. An issue like that could have easily taken a couple of weeks.

I had a pretty good idea it was the owner of the company's son who dropped the ball, so I asked my apprentice where he was working last week and bingo! Out of all those potential points of failure, the first junction box I opened up had two bad splices (loose Wire-Nuts = laziness).

The big issue was how to present the resolution to my superiors. This is not the first time the owner's son screwed up, putting me in a very delicate situation.

At the Sierracin Aerospace Plant in Sylmar (manufacturers of canopies for commercial airliners, jet fighters, and spacecraft), we had to remove and reinstall some really bad quality work when I got to the project. After we fixed it, we went into great detail explaining to the owner of the company how inept and incompetent the electrician was that made those installations.

It turns out it was his son. We got our pink slips the next week. Whoops.

Fortunately for me, I was not at the top of the food chain on this project. There is one management level employee above me, and I told him what the problem was with the dampers. Now it's up to him what to do with that information...but I would imagine he's not going to tell the truth. He'll probably blame some other poor soul. But my instincts were spot-on: I figured it was the owner's son and I was right. And it saved the playoffs for me.

This has actually happened a few times. The owner's relatives can back-door into the union without going through the apprenticeship program, and they are usually a disaster.

Anyway, now I have this freaking DVR I don't know what to do with. Oh well...better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
 
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