<p>That way he can have the best of all possible worlds (computing and enjoying entertainment), as well as run DVDs off his laptop computer.</p>
<p>In our experience, the DVR has removed the distraction/urgency factor out of the TV equation in our kids’ lives (and ours). Knowing that your favorite episode of whatever (or the replay of Bama destroying Florida) is just sitting there on the DVR in glorious HD has been enough to keep our students focused on vegetables first (i.e. studying), dessert second.</p>
<p>And now that your secret is out, MikeWozowski, help us design the Mancave, ok? Your lovely daughter will be welcomed (and respected!!) any time. :)</p>
<p>^^^Don’t beat yourself up too badly, BB. Mike had me fooled for months as well. As for the surround sound, what earth-shattering model do you recommend?</p>
<p>Don’t have model numbers, but quad 15" woofers, quad 6" subs and quad 3" tweets should suffice. I want that puppy to be registering on the richter scale when your son cranks it up! </p>
<p>I’m the DVD lady in the house. My son has a TiVo where he watches his shows at his leisure. We will not be springing for TiVo in the dorms. As for movies, son hopes to get involved with whatever group runs the movies at the Ferg, something he’s been active in during school.</p>
<p>I do have to find out the basic cable provider and channels provided, as the Food Network down here is on a higher number station, so I have to make sure he can get Iron Chef.
Comedy Central is a little lower, but that’s a must have as well. Family Guy and South Park are on TBS, which is usually a lower number.</p>
<p>Since y’all are talking about watching Hulu and DVDs on their computers, the only computer son will have will be the one he gets for National Merit. I doubt that’s going to have lots of bells and whistles on it, or am I wrong?</p>
<p>Montegut: That Dell that the NM kids have received is loaded with all kinds of software. Your son will not be hurting, trust me, in the computer department. As for TV, basic Comcast is what I have at my home. It has about 65 stations, including Food Network, Comedy Central and TBS. Food Network is a favorite of the youngest son.</p>
<p>^
Yup. The Dell (I have last year’s, as I’m a sophomore now) will run just about anything you throw at it, with the exception of some newish games. I don’t play PC games, though, so I could really care less. The laptop has 4 usb ports, a DVD burner, and plenty of space on the HD; with Windows 7 (free upgrade, btw) I can get 4 hours or so of battery life. In short, it’s a great laptop, though it’s a tad bit ugly- it looks like a Dell Thinkpad with a crimson casing.</p>
<p>As for comcast, we get 60 or so channels of basic cable; no HBO, Starz, or the like are included, though. (I download episodes of Treme elsewhere, heh)</p>
<p>So apparently there are a good number of our kids who are Food Network fans…D included. She just found the new Cooking Channel yesterday & has now been exposed to original Julia Child & Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet.) Maybe they should form a UA fan/watching group…are they all in Ridgecrest West?</p>
<p>As an Iron Chef tangent, D & I are taking a trip to Cleveland before school starts (one of my bucket list items…I know, I know, it’s Cleveland!) so we can go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and to see the Yankees play the Indians. D informed me that Michael Symon (one of the Iron Chefs) has 2 or 3 restaurants in Cleveland and that’s getting added to our itinerary.</p>
<p>Oh, Rob, that’s awesome on all fronts. Hope you’ve got your tickets for the Indians/Yankees game. It is the Yankees. I will have to look for the cooking channel. I loved Julia and Graham growing up and would love to show son the repeats. And Symon is one of his favorite Iron Chefs, so he’d definitely like to go to one of his restaurants.</p>
<p>Good idea to go to Cleveland this time of year. Not so much in the winter.</p>
<p>Son is in Riverside West, but I’m sure he’d love to be part of a Food Network watching club.</p>
<p>The Cooking Channel sounds cool. The cable that’s included does have all the popular cable channels except for Bravo, which a few people complain about. We do get both country channels and TV land (when I was bored at midnight, Roseanne was the one of the few good shows on).</p>
<p>I think I’ve mentioned this before, but there exist flash drive-sized TV tuners that plug into a USB port and you just attach the cable to the tuner and use Windows Media Center for DVR software. I have a built-in one on my desktop at home and while it is inconvenient having to have the computer on to record the show, it doesn’t take up much space and costs under $80.</p>
<p>Of course, the rest of my family still uses VCR’s when possible, but seeing one of those in a dorm would be akin to seeing a record player.</p>
<p>RobD: The youngest son loves Food Network. The oldest son is the UA student – not into Food Network at all (but he does love to eat). He has a lot of friends who are seriously into reality TV (particularly Survivor) … and musicals. They really do not have much time for TV. They are too busy at this meeting or that event. … BTW, Cleveland really is a nice city. You will find lots to do there.</p>
<p>Well, I must confess that DH told son to just take the 50" DLP from home so that DH could buy a plasma for himself. We hauled a 50" TV from IL to 'Bama. I felt like a fool hauling that huge TV into the dorm, but they had a popular room for the away games and the video game nights. Comcast did deliver the HD box to the room and they happily sent the bill to our house. The 25" LCD for his room was never hooked up. He watched lots of shows on hulu.com on his laptop.</p>
<p>*I felt like a fool hauling that huge TV into the dorm, *</p>
<p>Hey, did I see your family carrying it out of Ridgecrest South on May 7th. When I was walking in, a family was carrying a huge flatscreen out. If it wasn’t your family, then another one did the same thing. :)</p>
<p>Kansas - funny you should say that. Friends were asking S (OOS) if he planned to do that. He’ll have laptop and PS3; guess that’d be a good way to have group viewing.</p>