By tonight I'll have a TiVo and Foxtel iQ2 sitting side-by-side in my lounge room, and an iPhone in each hand, in a week where too much tech is barely enough.

I've been really impressed with the TiVo so far this week. Before you read any further, we need to set the mood. Push play on the YouTube window, then keep reading.

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I know TiVo isn't perfect, but I'd pit its superb storage management and scheduling features against any PVR that dared enter the arena. There's still something weird about a remote control that doesn't have a stop button on it. Yes, that's right, no stop button. I understand it's not technically necessary when you can hit the TiVo button to go back to the main menu, but it's still weird. TiVo is fighting to win over mums n dads users, but I reckon the lack of a stop button will bake the noodle of your average suburbanite. I don't envy the poor salesman in Harvey Norman who has to explain it to people.

My Foxtel iQ2 and the HD service are being hooked up today, but the iQ2 is going to need to pull out something special to beat the TiVo purely as a PVR. At the launch in January, Foxtel claimed its HD would look better than free to air HD. This certainly wasn't the case at the Foxtel event I went to last week, but I'm reserving judgement until I get it in my lounge room and ready to do battle with the TiVo.

TiVo v Foxtel iQ2 makes a good headline but, to be honest, I don't think the two are really in competition. I doubt the iQ2 alone would convince you to get pay TV if you weren't already intending to do so, considering TiVo is available. I've decided PVRs are strategic weapons like the atomic bomb, if the competition has one then you need one, but once you've both got one the tactical advantage is cancelled out.

Of course the fact the two PVRs aren't really in competition isn't going to stop me pitting the two against in other in a lounge room death match - like gladiators in the Colosseum. I'll be putting in some serious hours in the couch this weekend, with the Spock versus Kirk fight music blaring in the background.

Then there's the jesusphone. I've got a first-gen iPhone in my pocket, so I'll pit it against the iPhone 3G over the weekend and we'll see which triumphs. Two phones enter, one phone leaves!

Some weeks it's good to be a nerd.