Poll - What TV related gift would you like to find under the Christmas Tree?

Well after the highs in voting we experienced in the last poll, this one was quite a come down. Either I didn't promote this one as well as I could have (entirely possible) or everyone is content with the electronic gear they have. And yet even with a voter turnout of four (4!) there does seem to be a clear concensus. If the number of hits I get in a week is accurate, virtually everyone is content with the stuff they've got. Of the people who expressed an opinion however, none wanted a Universal Remote, a DVD Recorder, a new TV, or Home Theatre Seating. Despite all of the problems with the initial run of them, a quarter of respondents (that's one person to you) wanted an X-Box 360. The big winner, with 75% of the vote (three people) wanted a Personal Video Recorder.

This one is interesting even with the low turnout. It seems clear that people want a replacement for the VCR, and the preferred choice, I suppose because of its flexibility, is a PVR like a TiVo or what the satellite and cable companies are offering bundled with their equipment. I confess that I'd like to replace my VCR as well, but the options to me as a Canadian with Digital Cable are severely limited. I can buy a TiVo and just recently the company has started offering scheduling services for Canadian channels even though the company does not sell the device in Canada or offer service to Canadian owners. The problem is that some of what I regard as the functionality of the TiVo would seem to be lost if I'm forced to record only what's on my digital box, or to get a second box just for the TiVo in order to be able to watch one show in digital and record another. How is that different from what a DVD Recorder or my current VCR does? I confess however, that some of the DVD Recorders with the built in Hard Disk Drive are appealing as a way of having your cake and eating it too, but I tend to be wary of any sort of combination unit of this sort - if one thing breaks you lose the use of both while getting it repaired, always assuming you can get it repaired.

New Poll (on a better topic I hope) later today.