How to set "Series Based" recording rules:

From The 7MC Main Screen: TV -> Recorded TV -> View Scheduled -> [Sort by Series] -> [Select Series] -> Series Settings

I was unable to find the steps listed above documented anywhere on Microsoft's Media Center site - either it doesn't exist or the instructions are buried in an obscure place.

After navigating through a maze of options, a variety of recording rules for the individual series become available:

• Show Type: Live, New, New&Rerun
• Channels: Any Channel, HD Only, HD Preferred, SD Only, SD Preferred, [X] Channel Only
• Airtime: Anytime, Around [X] Time
• Keep: Until Space Needed, Latest Recordings, Until I Watch, Until I Delete,
• Keep up to: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, As Many as Possible
• Stop: On Time, [X] Minutes After, When Possible

The settings above provide everything needed to fine tune series based recordings.

On Friday (July 29th), I went to my local Comcast facility to pickup a CableCARD. When asked for a CableCARD, the representative said that Self Install CableCARD kits (SIK) did not arrive, but they would be available August 1st. (August 1st is the date the FCC mandated that cable companies have to provide CableCARD SIK to customers.) I find it particularity interesting that every other cable company has adopted SIK kits months ago, yet Comcast chose to wait until the mandated deadline to provide kits to customers. Though disappointed, I would have waited until Monday. Before I left though, the representative told me to head to another Comcast center that would have the SIK kits available today. Great news! .. Or not.

I went home and found the address for the Comcast Center - After a 20 minute drive I arrived to find the address listed on Comcast's website is not for a service center, but rather an administrative building. After traveling another 15 minutes I found the actual service center (the address of which I am STILL not able to locate on Comcast website). After waiting in line for 15 minutes I asked the employee for a SIK CableCARD. The employee (rudely) told me they would not give one out until Monday - even after I explained what my local Comcast branch told me. Evidently there is zero communication between any offices for official policies.

I went home (another half hour drive) and contacted @ComcastBill on Twitter. I have always had good luck with Comcast Twitter support - they generally offer solutions quickly without having to deal with normal phone support. I was told by @ComcastBill that SIK kits would not be available until August 1st due to "provisioning". I have an issue with this "provisioning" statement. CableCARDs have existed years. This is by no means a new technology. Also, there is doubtful to be ANY significant flux is CableCARD demand due to an obscure FCC guideline that a handful of people know about.  So far, I have wasted about 2 hours worth of driving and gas because a Comcast employee told me another branch would have SIK available on Friday.

By this time, I realized that it was going to be impossible to receive a CableCARD until August 1st. That's fine though; SIK Kits will be available Monday. Since Comcast has taken their time with this implementation, I expected a nice kit and an automated activation number to call. Oh how wrong I was...

Obtaining the CableCARD Aug. 1st:
On Monday, I went down to my local Comcast Sales location and requested an M-Card SIK. The "SIK" provided by Comcast consisted of 1 CableCARD and 4 pages of (ink jet) printed instructions contained within a plastic bag. The card I was given was obviously used. It showed signs of marking and scratches on it. At this point, I didn't care if it the card was new or used as long as it worked. The instruction manual consisted of a cover page, 2 pages for TiVO specific instructions, and 1 page for "other devices". I find it amazing that I couldn't get my hands on a CableCARD until the 1st because of a 4 page instruction manual (of which, 1 was needed). In reality, the entire instruction manual could have been condensed into 1 4"x6" note card that said "Call this number:"  The entire process took 10 minutes to obtain the card.

The "instruction manual" I was given was dated 7/12/2011 - The manual was completed nearly three weeks before the August 1st deadline -- Why couldn't Comcast give SIK kits out early again...?

When I got home, I continued with the Infinitv installation instructions. When I inserted the CableCARD into the Infinitv I was prompted with an error that told me I had inserted a S-Card. After confirming the card I was given was an S-Card, I had to make another trip to Comcast within 45 minutes of my previous visit. I told the representative at Comcast that I requested an M-Card but received an S-Card. She then tells me they only have S-Cards SIK available. Lets recap for a second - after I was told I was receiving an M-Card, the representative knowingly gave my an S-Card.

I asked the representative to call nearby locations if they have M-Cards in stock. She called one other location and told me they only received S-Cards for Self Install Kits as well. I find it strange that Comcast is only shipping S-Cards for SIK when M-Cards are exponentially more popular and required for almost every new device being produced today. I believe that only offering S-Cards as SIK is Comcasts way of complying with FCC rules, but at the same time screwing their customers by requiring a tech to come out to the house to install an M-Card (with an associated truck roll fee of course).

At this point, I contacted @ComcastBill again on Twitter. I probably should have done this from the start; As I mentioned earlier, Comcast's Twitter Team is the best thing to happen to Comcast in a long time. After contacting @ComcastBill, I assumed that a response would take some time so I called regular Comcast support myself. I asked if the representative could tell me which locations within a 20 mile radius of my location had M-Cards in stock. I was told by the representative that Comcast has no way of tracking which locations have stock of what items. REALLY?! How does a company the size of Comcast not have a method of monitoring inventory at their locations? I asked if the representative could call another location near me to ask if they had stock - I was told by the representative that it was impossible to call. Impossible? If it was impossible then how was my local Comcast Store able to call another store?

While on the phone, I missed a call from Comcast Corporate. After I completed my phone call with the original representative, I called Terrance from Comcast Corporate back. I am assuming that @ComcastBill had him call. Just like the Twitter support, Terrance from Corporate was extremely helpful. I explained my problem, he said he would make some phone calls and see how I could get a card in my possession today (Monday). About 45 minutes later I received a call back from Terrance informing me no locations in my area have any stock of M-Cards, but he arranged for a truck from the local warehouse to run a card over to a Comcast location that was about a half hour from my location. He said it would either arrive today or tomorrow morning.

I took the risk of going that evening, when I arrived to the Comcast location, there was an brand new M-Card waiting for me. Terrance was extremely helpful in this regard. I thought after receiving my M-Card, all my issues were over. Unfortunately, they were just beginning.

Activating the Original CableCARD:

Cable Card Activation Attempt #1

After returning home (6:30 PM), I was finally able to complete the Infinitv install. I reached the point where I had to call Comcast to activate my CableCARD. I assumed this process would be entirely automated - you know, since Comcast spent so much time "provisioning" the new cards; one would think that an automated solution would be developed. I was wrong. The activation process should taken all of five minutes to accomplish. The activation process is fairly trivial on Comcast's end - I read a series of 4 numbers over the phone, they submit the information and send an activation signal to my card. The lack of experience from regular Comcast support is blatantly obvious when I attempted to activate a CableCARD over the phone. The process took a hour and five minutes to complete. At one point, I was put on hold for 25 minutes because the representative had to research how to activate a CableCARD. Eventually the representative said she would call back shortly after the card was activated. After 15 minutes she called back and said the card was "activated". I was told that it would take between 45 - 60 additional minutes to fully complete the activation process. At this point, it was after 8:30PM. I decided to let the card sit for the night.

Cable Card Activation Attempt #2

The next morning I woke up to test the card. I originally thought it was a success. I could receive local channels, and most other channels under 100. When I attempted to view channels above 100, I received an error "Subscription Required" that essentially told me I didn't have permission to view these channels. I double checked my diagnosis software provided by Centon to verify I had everything configured properly. Everything passed except one of the CableCARD tests. The diagnosis message read "CableCARD is not entitled to decrypt because the information about it is entered incorrectly at the cable company. An INIT signal from the cable company might help." I researched the diagnosis message online to find that this issue was definitely Comcast related. When I called Comcast again, I informed the representative of the diagnosis message. Again, she told me this was the first CableCARD she had worked with. She attempted to hit the card as the diagnosis message suggested, but it was unsuccessful. After 33 minutes on the phone, I was informed that she couldn't do anything else over the phone. As the representative didn't have experience with CableCARDs, I decided to not schedule a truck to roll at this point. Terrance from Comcast Corporate told me he would call me today (Tuesday) to verify I received my card.

As promised, Terrance called me early afternoon on Tuesday. I informed him of my problem I was having. He verified that the rate codes on the account "looked right at a glance". ("Rate Codes" are codes that determine what channels my CableCARD has access to). He made a suggestion to directly connect my card to the incoming cable line rather then going through a splitter. Later that afternoon, I attempted his suggestion. After directly connecting to the Infinitv, I verified that the Signal Strength was in the required range, which it was. This still did not fix my issue, I was still only able to receive local channels, and most channels under 100.

I attempted to call Terrance back, but he was out of the office at the time. After researching online, I found that one of the last attempts to get this card working is to ask Comcast to un-pair and re-pair the card on their end. The representative I spoke with on regular support seemed to know what she was doing more then anyone else I have spoke with on regular support during this process. I asked her to un/re pair the card, which she did. After a 20 minute call, the card still wasn't functioning correctly. She said she has heard stories where its taken techs 6+ CableCARDs to successfully pair with a device.

At this point, I have no other option then to schedule a truck to roll out on Friday. This is obviously an issue with the CableCARD and/or Comcast activation process. It's not a battle I can win myself. What I can't understand is why are their so many issues with defective CableCARDs? Comcast has to have some way of testing or verifying their cards before giving them to customers. A process that should have taken 5 minutes has now accumulated over 2.5 hours of phone calls and over 3 hours worth of driving to different Comcast locations without a working device! Worst part of having a truck roll out is no one is able to confirm weather I will be charged for the service call or not.

Part 2 will consist of how this ordeal ended on Friday (hopefully).

UPDATE 8/6/2011:

A Comcast Technician came to my house on Friday. He was very polite and knowledgeable about CableCARDs. As soon as he looked at the diagnostic message on the Ceton Device, he confirmed my suspicion and said the Comcast employee who paired the card did so incorrectly. (Note: This means two separate employees paired this card incorrectly - the first Monday night, and the next Tuesday afternoon over the phone). The technician sent a message to dispatch to pair the card correctly - within 5 minutes my card was working properly.

After taking a weeks worth of phone calls and driving, I finally have a working Ceton Infinitv 4.

Streaming:

In May 2011, Wired reported “Netflix accounts for 22.2 percent of all U.S. broadband traffic compared to BitTorrent’s 21.6 percent share. And at peak times, Netflix hits 30 percent of all traffic…” It's not surprising to see that when a company offers content that is commercial free and fairly priced that people are willing to pay for it rather then resorting to pirating their material. Currently, Netflix has the best streaming service available; offering thousands of TV Series and Movies for as low as $8 dollars a month. While Netflix may offer an excellent selection of Movies and TV Series, it's still not a complete solution for ditching physical media. The majority of content available on Netflix is still marked as “Disc Only” which forces the consumer to deal with old-fashioned discs. I feel that this limitation is a combination of entertainment industry limitations and Netflix lack of motivation to improve on such a great service.

Hulu offers a similar service to Netflix. Hulu is an online streaming service that has both free and premium packages. As expected; the free service gives access to a subset of Hulu’s total content, which is also ad supported. Hulu offers a premium membership that allows access to current season episodes (which Netflix does not offer). In theory, this service should compliment Netflix well. I have trouble saying anything positive about Hulu due to the fact that their “Premium” membership still includes commercials in their streaming content. Paying a premium for access to content should not also include commercials. For this reason alone, I can't justify supporting Hulu with a premium membership. I don't believe Hulu will ever become a true competitor to Netflix until the ads are removed from premium content.

Amazon VOD offers their Prime Members unlimited free streaming of select titles. Prime costs around $80 dollars yearly. In my opinion, their collection of prime titles falls short of being worth the yearly premium. Amazon advertises “Unlimited instant streaming of 6,000 movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime” which is inaccurate. Sorting by Prime eligible content yields only 2,549 results. It appears that Amazon VOD is considering each individual TV episode as part of their 6000 total. I find this to be a terrible business practice by Amazon. They are overselling a service that just isn’t that great. In theory, if Amazon were to release their entire VOD collection to Prime members (free streaming) – then it would turn into a Netflix competitor overnight.

As it stands right now, Netflix is miles ahead of any other streaming competition and each day continues to move ahead further. While this is great for Netflix, I feel that other companies are hesitant to make major leaps forward because they (most likely) still fall behind Netflix in terms of service and content.

Digital Downloads:

Services such as Amazon and iTunes both offer unique features that could potentially compete with Netflix. Unlike Netflix, Amazon VOD has an option to download a DRM digital copy of the media to a computer or portable device. In theory, this service could be a real competitor to Netflix because offers a solution to view material offline or on the go that Netflix currently does not offer. Unfortunately, both Amazon and iTunes fail when it comes to pricing. Individual episodes of TV Series can be purchased for (on average) $1.99 (SD), or $2.99 (HD) from Amazon or iTunes. Amazon offers season passes, which can be purchased for a discount. Unfortunately, both are grossly overpriced.

Lets take a look at an example by comparing Fringe Season 1 in High Definition to Amazon VOD, iTunes, or Physical Media (Blu Ray). Fringe Season 1 can be purchased digitally from iTunes for ~$60. If episodes are purchased individually from Amazon, episodes will total $60 as well. Amazon also offers a bulk pricing option for $35.On the other hand, Fringe Season 1 can be purchased on a physical Blu Ray disc for $20. The physical media also contains extensive special feature material that is otherwise unavailable on digital downloads. Why would anyone want to pay an additional $15 (or $40 from iTunes) for something that contains fewer features then the physical media? If Netflix can manage to offer thousands of Movies and TV Series for pennies a day, anyone reasonably sized company should also be able to offer digital downloads for less then the cost of its associated physical media. I would be happy to pay a reasonable price for physical download capabilities. Ditch the DRM and charge a flat rate of $10 dollars per season for any TV Series and I would be a lifetime customer.

It shocks me that anyone is willing to purchase digital media for such an inflated price. It seems that consumers automatically believe that digital downloads would be cheaper without comparing prices elsewhere. I would love to support other services such as Amazon VOD and iTunes; unfortunately, due to the inflated pricing I still find myself purchasing physical media more then digital media.

It's important to note that services such as iTunes and Amazon VOD can not completely be blamed for the over inflation of content. The entertainment industry is taking advantage of their customers. I fear that until consumers realize how badly they are being scammed this terrible trend of overpriced digital media will never end. Competition between streaming services and digital download services needs to gain momentum. Competition between content providers will force the entertainment industry to lower prices for their content.

I found that turning off Location Services (Settings>General>Location Servies) for Weather and Reminders (and whatever else you don't need activated) appears to drastically increase battery life on iOS5. I was able to go through a 16 hour day with roughly 25% of my battery life remaining. While this is 10% lower then on iOS4, I consider it acceptable due to the new feature set and considering this is still a beta release.

In order to maximize iOS5 battery life during beta, I would also recommend completely disabling iCloud if it's not being used.

/applications/conversations/views/messages/messages.php:

On or around Line 36, change Gdn_Format::To to Gdn_Format::Html.

After the change, HTML will render properly in Inbox Conversations.

• Stability: I am extremely impressed with the overall stability of iOS5 Beta 1. Last year when Apple released the iOS4 beta; using it as a primary OS was completely out of the question. This time around, it appears that Apple has spent more time concentrating on stability for initial beta release. I consider iOS5 Beta stable enough to use on a daily basis (which I am planning on doing). The only Application I have come across that doesn't seem to function properly is Netflix. While it is disappointing, it is to be expected with beta released. It is certainly not a deal breaker when it comes to keeping the beta on my phone.
• iMessage: iMessage is my favorite feature in iOS5. The look and feel of iMessage is nearly identical to the existing SMS app on iOS4 devices. My friend (@remococco) also installed the iOS5 beta yesterday as well. As soon as he installed it, iMessage automatically switched our conversation from an SMS conversation to an  iMessage conversation. To differentiate between SMS and iMessage conversations, iMessage color codes outgoing messages; SMS are green and iMessage are blue.  iMessage shows when my message is delivered and read by @remococco and also shows when he is typing a response. Picture messages over iMessage also seem to work flawlessly. I haven't been able to test group iMessage functionality yet. As of right now, I plan on calcelling my SMS plan on my iPhone when iOS5 is released to the public. I plan on directing all non iOS friends to my Google Voice number. This has the potential to save $240 yearly on my AT&T bill. I believe this trend will continue forcing AT&T and other phone customers to drastically change their SMS rates  (which is LONG overdue).
• 

  iOS Notification Pull Down

  Notifications: Notifications no longer suck. The pull down menu provides easy access to Weather, Mail, iMessage, and Phone notifications. One feature that I find really handy is notifications on the lock screen; If an iMessage notification comes through when the phone is locked, simply slide a finger across the message and the phone will unlock displaying the message. Apple did a great job with automatically converting existing third party app notifications. For example, my Prowl and Words With Friends notifications automatically appeared on the Notifications pull down menu with no additional configuration needed on my end. This is definitely a plus; developers do not have to have their apps available on release day in order to utilize the new notification functions. I can't wait to see what developers will do to take advantage of the new notification widgets.

• Keyboard Shortcuts: The ability to add words and shortcuts to the dictionary is now possible. Going into Settings > General > Keyboard now provides a way to link shortcuts for a given phrase. For example; I have the shortcut "wu" setup to automatically turn into the phrase "what's  up". I haven't had a chance to extensivly test this feature out, but it seems like it will be very useful in the future.
• 

  Lockscreen Camera

  Lockscreen Camera: Need to take a picture fast? Easy - when your phone is locked, double tap the home button and a camera button will appear. This feature eluded me until @remococco figured out how to activate the lock screen camera.

The biggest issue with iOS5 right now is iCloud. It seems like there is some real black  magic going on behind the scenes. Somewhere along the lines of setting up iCloud on my iPhone; I received a warning box that said I should use my MobileMe login credentials to fully utilize iCoud. [NOTE: My MobileMe account has been inactive for well over a year]. It accepted the expired MobileMe credentials and iCloud seems to be storing my contacts. I can also receive email to my @me.com address again. The issue is, if I try logging into me.com with my credentials, It will only allow me access to Find My iPhone, not my mail, or contacts to verify they have indeed backed up to the cloud successfully. As far as I can tell, there is no web interface to verify that the information has backed up successfully to the cloud. Until there is some sort of web interface available to verify syncing is actually occurring, I won't be using iCloud for anything other then Contacts.

In my experience, battery life has seemingly taken a bit of a hit. This really isn't very surprising given all of Apples new features included in the beta. Yesterday I got about 6 hours into the day and my phone was already at 50%. Normally by lunch, I am hovering somewhere around 75%. I hope that the battery life will improve through beta releases before the GM release.

The above YouTube clip is probably one of the best fan-made trailers for a series I have seen in a long while. I believe a Doctor Who/Sherlock crossover episode or movie would be brilliant. Too bad it looks like it'll never become a reality:

Last year, Moffat told the New York Times:

“I think everyone who’s passing me in the streets is suggesting that at the moment. I think there are problems of doing that, because then you would say that Sherlock Holmes lives in the same world as the Doctor, and there are Daleks and all sorts of things. If a Sherlock Holmes story depends on time travel being impossible, it’s quite hard if he’s a personal friend of the Doctor’s, isn’t it?”

In the article, Moffat does bring up a valid concern regarding a Doctor Who/Sherlock crossover. The only way I can see a crossover episode working is if it was made for as a Children in Need special where the content in the episode was specifically stated as non-canon.

Syfy - Imagine Failure

Given Syfy's track record with cancelling new series (Bionic Women, Dresden Files, Caprica, and most recently, Stargate Universe); I am finding it hard to justify watching any new series created by Syfy due to the high probability it will be cancelled before the series is given a proper chance to grow. Since the re-imaging of their company in 2009 (changing their name from Sci-fi to Syfy), the station has started a steady decline in terms of quality of content. I argue that Syfy has not produced one watchable, original series, since the revamping of their company.

A few weeks ago I heard of a new Syfy original series called Alphas. I am hard pressed to consider this an "original series" due to the fact that from what I have read, it sounds like a glorified Heroes knockoff. Regardless, I am questioning why anyone would bother watching any new Syfy content. As listed above, several quality shows were cut short because Syfy refused to give them a chance to grow. In addition to premature cancellation, Syfy refuses to give the cancelled series a proper ending (weather it be a final episode, half season, or wrap up movie). In my opinion, not allowing a series to have a proper ending is more insulting then the actual cancellation of the series. Given the risk, I can see no reason why anyone should bother watching any series on Syfy before it has a solid three seasons under its belt.

Offering a wrap up half-season is not unheard of. In 2008, after the great Peanut revolution of 2007 (where 20 tons of Peanuts were sent to CBS), Jericho was granted an additional 7 episode wrap up half season to give the series a proper ending. While the ending was certainly rushed and not perfect; it at least provided closure for dedicated fans. This simple gesture is something Syfy refuses to provide their fans.

One of the most insulting "original series" aired on Syfy is Being Human (US). For those who don't know, Being Human originated as a show developed in the UK by BBC. I have watched the first series of Being Human (UK) and was extremely impressed (I am planning on catching up once my schedule allows it). In 2010, Syfy announced their newest "original series" would be Being Human (US). After hearing the news, I found it hard to imagine how Syfy could consider Being Human (US) an original series since the show had existed in the UK for two years prior. I could barely make it through the pilot episode of the US knock off - the US rendition of Being Human is nothing more then a poor imitation of the far superior UK version. Instead of creating real "original content", Syfy would rather buy rights to create cheap imitations of existing series. In some ways, Syfy is no better then Chinese Bootleg DVDs makers. In my opinion, Syfy should have simply aired existing Being Human (UK) episodes rather then creating a replica.

After the cancellation of Stargate Universe; I vowed to never watch any show on Syfy again. This is a vow that I fully intend to keep for the time being. For my opinion on Syfy to change, they need to drastically cut down on their Ghost Hunters and Wrestling content, produce unique original content, and give new series a fighting chance before axing the shows. If Syfy continues their decline in quality of content, which is very likely, they will have to look into changing their slogan from "Imagine Greater" to "Imagine Failure" or "Imagine Disappointment".

The script can be run from a command line:

perl xkcd.pl

or, by setting xkcd.pl to executable and running it as:

./xkcd.pl

The latest revision of the code can be found on Github. Please read the README file on Github for Perl requirements.