Seattle Desi

What I want is Tivo-like functionality for my parents in India. But since such a service isn't available in India -- I'm looking for a DVD recorder (with a hard drive) that can record (PAL) Cable TV in India (BTW, I'm not even sure if the Cable tv signalis are differentiated as NTSC & PAL). Today I went to Good Guys & bought the Pioneer DVR520-HS for ~$325. Seemed like a good price, but the salesperson didn't know if it could record cable tv in other countries. I looked through the owners manual -- couldn't find any info either. Does anyone know if I can use this Pioneer DVD-Recorder for recording cable tv in other countries? I don't care so much about the DVD-Player or DVD-Recorder functionality.

Buying diamonds for the very first time is an interesting experience. Getting to know the various cuts, colors, clarity, etc is fun. Some of those cheapo diamond rings in your local Macys or JCPennys can be flawed. Don't forget to check out the diamond under a microscope before you buy it.

I'm looking for a DVD-Recorder with a built-in hard-drive that supports both NTSC & PAL signals (and one that does not need a Tivo like service). Pioneer DVR-520HS looks like a good one, but I'm getting conflicting information on whether it supports only NTSC or supports PAL also. Would love to hear from someone who has this unit.

Going through a huge economic cycle is interesting. Take for example, the current "housing bubble" -- almost everyone that I know seems to be thinking that the housing boom will exisit forever. Very few want to sell homes & almost everyone wants to buy a first or a second or a third home. Any home that comes on the market on the west coast seems to be getting multiple offers (many above the asking price). Credit is dirt cheap; buying a home in a city without seeing the property (& sometimes even without seeing the city) has become a common thing. "The housing market has never crashed; so, buying real estate is not risky" is a commonly heard statement. People don't seem to remember the past bubbles . Earlier today, I read an article that claims that the number of people searching for a bubble on the web has increased . Some experts claim that the the housing market is 'more prone to bubbles than stocks '. Only time will tell if there's a hou...