Time Warner Cable updated the firmware on their SA-8300HD DVR boxes on 10/26/05 at around 3:55am. I know because I was watching TV when the box turned off and a bunch of hex numbers ran across the front panel of the DVR. After it rebooted, I was curious, so I looked into the settings menu. Imagine my surprise when I saw this:
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Who knew that engineers at Scientific Atlanta and\or Aptiv had a sense of humor? And why is this so funny? Because the VCR models listed – Sorny, Magnetbox and Carnivale – are knockoff brands that Homer Simpson was tempted to buy in Simpsons episode 3F11 – “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield”. Bart and Homer walk into an electronics store to buy a new TV and the following conversation takes place:
Homer: [gasps] Look at these low, low prices on famous brand-name electronics!
Bart: Don’t be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs.
Homer: Pfft. I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there’s Magnetbox and Sorny.
Salesman: [walking up] Listen, I’m not going to lie to you. Those are all superior machines. But if you like to watch your TV, and I mean really watch it, you want the Carnivale. It features two-pronged wall plug, pre-molded hand grip well, durable outer casing to prevent fallapart…
Homer: Sold. You wrap it up, I’ll start bringing in the pennies.
Obviously, I thought this was funny enough to take a picture of it. On a lark, I emailed a link to the pic to the guys at Engadget and believe it or not, they decided to post it! So I was famous on one of the Internet’s biggest gadget blogs for around 15 minutes… Woo-hoo!!