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Some people take the phrase build log just a bit to seriously. I may be one of those people. Though in my case I was building with sheets of plywood rather than logs. The start to this round of building was installing a built-in desk to give me the desk space I want for working on various projects including testing for MissingRemote.com. Pictures will follow once I add the trim and get my hardware choices in line with what I want to achieve.

This takes me to my second paragraph of this build log... extenders. My goal now is to replace my stand-alone HTPC with extenders. This is easier said then done in today's extender environment. As a few of you know, I moved on to the CableCard platform that leaves me with only a few choices for extenders. The problem here is that Microsoft based extenders can not stream Blu-ray rips. However, the SageTV extender can. Does that mean I have to go with two different extenders? Pretty much! At this point I plan on getting two extenders for my the main viewing area (Sage + Xbox 360) and one MS extender for the upstairs TV. What is the logic? Well a SageTV extender is cheaper then a stand-alone player.

The plan here is to back up my own DVDs/Blu-ray for streaming throughout the house. The standard def will be converted to DVR-MS files and should be accessible through both extenders.

Q. Does the SageTV extender playback DVR-MS files? I know SageTV added support sometime ago in their software, however I am not sure if the extender will work with these files.

On the Blu-ray front, I plan on ripping to a .mkv container. There has been some success to this on SageTV forums and will be following thier guidelines. 

As you can imagine, ripping a couple of hundred DVDs, and a handful of Blu-rays, setting up SageTV, and setting up the extenders will be rather time consuming. I will keep you updated as the process proceeds.

Another project I am working on is moving my WHS server to an actual server box rather then an OrigenAE S16V case. Lets face it, it is a nice case but it really doesn't work in a server environment. With that, I will be adding a couple of hard drives, with sizes yet to be determined.

Lastly, I am working on a complete upgrade to my main PC. Something modern but realistically priced. I plan on playing the occasional game as well. The call to World Of Warcraft is strong but I will have to find another, less time consuming game to fulfill my gaming desires.

I guess a good sign for my build log is that I do not have a whole lot to report :). Everything is working smoothly, especially with the latest firmware update to the ATi digital cable tuners. I have yet to experience a problem.

Since we last spoke, I did dip my toes into the Blu-ray waters by installing a Lite-On Blu-ray drive into an external enclosure. The external enclosure in question has been working great, however, the 40mm fan that is installed makes and awful screeching noise, so I will have to look into replacing that. Functionally it works great, but I can't recommend because the fan failed so soon after purchase. Below is a link to the newegg product page of the external enclosure.

Product Page

On the software end, I added Big Screen Headlines 2 and Arcsoft Total Media Theater. We will have reviews of these products coming out shortly. Arcsoft has done a great job integrating TMT (Total Media Theater) into the Vista Media Center experience. There are no focus issues, the remote works great and as of the latest software release, everything appears to work great for disk based playback (I have yet to rip the movies to a hard drive and try it). The UI is not a perfect match but it emulates a 10' experience nicely.

What are my future plans?

Well I plan on ripping my DVD collection using Video ReDo and converting to DVR-MS for easy streaming. This takes about 15 minutes per disc and are streamable to extenders. I am currently researching what to do for Blu-ray streaming. I am not sure that problem has been solved yet. I may have to wait until that process matures. I would like to go to an extender based setup, but the whole Blu-ray thing is limiting me right now. 

I plan on dipping my toes into the home automation world pretty soon. Chris has done a great job providing some beginner guides that I plan on following :).

Recently I've been pondering more and more what makes a good HDTV set. I pulled out my excellent Oppo 981HD and found that I should recalibrate my TV, however my quite basic 3 year old LCD TV is not able to save essential things like contrast and brightness per input. It groups the inputs. All the standard definition (composite, s-video, component #1) inputs share calibration settings, and likewise all high definition capable inputs (component #2, DVI-D, VGA) share settings. So sadly one of the sources had to be compromised a bit by adjusting at the player instead of at the TV.

This incident, and the fact that I noticed that HD material looks nice and sharp when at the edge of my bed, but more like really nice SD when I'm all the way back in the room, made me start thinking about TV features and proper sizes for a given room. I have a 27" 720p LCD TV, and I sit anywhere from 3' to 8' away, which is just fine for SD material, but at 8' back I'm not able to resolve 720p.

What's more there is banding in what should be smooth gradations and the analog standard definition quality leaves quite a bit to be desired including really poor deinterlacing, it looks like the TV is just blindly bobbing everything and scaling to 720p. Lastly, fast motion smears, the response time isn't great, but the TV set is from 2005 and was rather inexpensive even then.

Now I'm not actually able to replace my flat panel right now, but it got me thinking about features I want, and those that I won't compromise on, even when trying to stick to a budget.

Read on for my list of HDTV features and comments about why I picked each feature.

Features checklist

Basics: 

• Independent input memories
  This is a biggie: If at all possible calibration should be done at the TV, not the source device.
• A 1:1 pixel (dot-by-dot) mode
  There's no need or want for overscan on HD sources
• A variety of aspect ratio controls including a non-linear stretch
  A variety of zoom modes is important when dealing with things like a 480i 16:9 source with embeded letterboxing or a 1080i 4:3 source that is pillarboxed.
• Ability to disable integrated speakers and route built-in tuner audio to a receiver
  Pretty basic feature, sadly my current TV doesn't disable its own speakers when connected to a stereo
• Input labeling
  This handy feature let's you assign device names to an input, great for the non-techies in the house
• 10-bit (or higher) video processing
  This is important because the more processing, the more potential errors to the source are made, so the higher the internal accuracy for manipulating video the better. Vendors like Sony and Toshiba tend to be clear about this, other vendors not so much...
• Quick panel response time [this is an LCD TV specific feature]
  This is really pretty important for an LCD set, however the ratings vendors list are generally total BS, it's far more important to read professional reviews and see the TV in person.
• Controllable backlight [this is an LCD TV specific feature]
  This lets you fine tune black levels, this is key on LCD TVs which are prone to a dark gray rather then true black.

The good news is that most 2007 and 2008 mid-range and high-end models of large brand name companies (Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc.) tend to have all of these. Low-end models and budget brands (Olevia, Westinghouse, Vizio, etc.) can't be counted on to have these features.

Advanced features that are somewhat less important but pretty darn important:

• Ability to accept 1080p/24 and display at a proper multiple of 24fps (48Hz, 72Hz, 120Hz).
  This is something that I almost put up in the first list, but there are some great flat-panels that do a good job with 3:2 pulldown (ex: Most of Panasonic's plasma TVs accept 1080p/24 but turn it back into the panel native 1080p/60 with fairly good results.)
• Ability to fine tune color temperature presets
  Still not standard, rarely is the out of box color temperature presets perfect D6500K. Sony still seems to leave this feature out of most of their mid-range flat-panels.
• Correctly deinterlace film and video material of both 480i and 1080i sources.
  This is also one I debated about putting up top, but so many otherwise great sets fail 1080i film deinterlacing, I can't be that picky, especially if you use a Media Center PC which will be doing the processing instead.
• Decent SD processing with customizable levels of noise reduction and sharpening
  This is also pretty important since standard definition resolution TV isn't going anywhere (just turning digital), it's also key that this be totally defeatable should the results be unwanted. In the past, both Sony and Samsung have been guilty of always having some level of image processing on no matter what.
• If considering an LCD TV, that it use a 10-bit panel (to reduce false contouring/banding).
  This is a good feature to look for but it only comes with the higher end of mid-priced sets. Many vendors don't disclose this; Sony and Toshiba are both good at mentioning when a TV set has a 10-bit LCD panel.

Other niceties:

• A full resolution VGA input
  Far too often VGA inputs seem to be thrown in and not treated well, many don't actually accept the native resolution of the panel, a VGA input isn't so important given the good state of DVI/HDMI output from PCs today.
• RS232 control port for automation
  This is a neat extra useful for integrating your HDTV into potential home automation projects.
• A QAM capable digital TV tuner
  Most mid-range TVs today include an ATSC tuner that is also a clear QAM tuner (for getting local HD channels via digital cable) however, it isn't always a given and would be a nice feature to have for cable customers.
• TV volume normalization
  A neat extra feature that helps prevent the shock of changing volumes when going to a commercial or changing to an especially loud channel

Click Next for the Size and Resolution factors 

The Size and Resolution Questions

The size and resolution questions:

This chart is incredibly useful, it helps you find at what size and distance would a given resolution be useful. From where I flop in bed, to get anything resembling full 720p resolving I would need at least a 37" HDTV. A 40" HDTV is somewhere around $100 more so it makes sense to go for 40", going slightly larger then you need is nearly always a good idea when it comes to TV sizes, having a slightly larger TV then the bare minimum helps ensure you are enveloped in the action on the screen. 

So why don't I care too much about whether my flat panel is 720p or 1080p? 
Two reasons:

1. 1080p is becoming pretty common/affordable, so it's quickly becoming a moot point.
2. And more importantly, good contrast and black levels matter more then 720p vs. 1080p. The eye is far more sensitive to light and dark (luminance) then a specific digital TV resolution. Case in point: a 720p resolution model of Pioneer's excellent Kuro plasma line won the top spot in a Home Theater Magazine shootout among HDTVs of various technologies, including other plasma vendors, most of which were 1080p native.

Here are a few of my thoughts on improving Vista Media Center.

1. Some sort of digital distribution that ties nicely into Media Center. After using a 3rd Party Netflix plugin, it is very clear to me, and no doubt to anyone who has used that same plugin, that digital distribution is here and damn great. I guess the obvious place to start is integration with the Xbox Live Marketplace. I do think that Netflix has the right formula here and that $4 digital rentals are not the future.

On the TV side? There are all sorts of folks coming out with 2' UI so people can watch TV on their computer. I wonder why they aren't clamouring to get their shows on Media Center. I hope Microsoft makes some key partnerships in this area.

2. Native Blu-ray support. Contradicting myself? No not really, while digital distribution is great. 50 gigabyte downloads will NOT be here for a while. It is nice to have a portable physical copy I can play in another machine. Plus, there are some people who still want physical copies.

3. The ability to customize the EPG. I suppose my main gripe is not being able to group certain channels together. Another change I would like to see is adjusting the number of columns and rows as well.

Along the same line is the search capability. It really isn't intuitive at all. It takes several clicks to find the search function from the EPG. I think Microsoft could do some work on advancing the whole PVR concept by adding rating systems, suggestions etc. Welcome to the social?! After all, surfing is very passe.

4. Customization of the start menu. This could open up a can of worms but there needs to be some level of customization that does not include registry hacks. While the Sport Strip is nice, some people just are not sports fanatics and would like it removed. Even the ability to be able to assign plugins to various strips. We all don't want our plugins in the Other Programs area.

5. I really do not have any suggestiosn for the music part. You can rate, and edit tags. One little nitpick is to be able to integrate which store you buy music from. I wouldn't mind have Zune store integration or the Amazon MP3 store. :). Oh and there appears to be no way to sort by highest rated songs. 

6. The video library is a bit odd. They have stripped out all that is good about the music library and left the scraps for the video library. I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind this. If you have a video 5 folders deep, you are required to drill down to eventually find the video.

6.5 DVD Streaming. There is no DVD streaming for extenders. This is not a good thing.

7. Integration of Microsoft's Other Services. Nothing new here, I am sure we have all heard it before but here are they are again.

• Xbox smex box. Let us see some digital distribution lovin on the MCE
• Zune integration. Why not have a 10' UI to purchase media from the Zune store? Wireless sync of all TV shows and purchased media? I think so.
• Welcome to the social? How about a media community? How about top 10 lists of popular recordings? Community ratings?
• Live messenger? Where art thou?

8. Speed up development time.We know software development takes time and we are not asking Microsoft to rush products out the door but their needs to be some improvement in this area. I wonder if they don't feel the pressure from SageTV? :)

Are these problems worth it? Absolutely! There is no perfect media center software out there however the experience and functionality I have gotten from Vista Media Center outshines anything I have seen and used in the CE world. Of course, I will come out with an article explaining what I like about Media Center!

I had the Media Center all gussied up and ready to go in anticipation of the CableCard install. After all of these months, I could hardly stand the anticipation :).

Right out of the box, I knew it wasn't going to be a painless experience. The tech only came out with one card to install and it was an M-Card to boot. Not looking good so far but this is basically the first Media Center install performed by this cable co. I knew I had to be patient.

As noted above, this is basically the first HTPC install of a CableCard in this city. The tech spent the first 20 minutes of the install tracing down a signal issue and then we moved on to the actuall install. The next little while consisted of the tech moving up the support ladder trying to find someone who might know something on how to proceed. After this turned up little results I talked to Chris Morley, the fricking CableCard genius, to get us started.

As mentioned in the manual, you will want to setup the DCT's ahead of time with at least the analog cable signal. This makes the install portion with the cable co. a whole lot easier. All you have to do to get the DCT installed properly is plug in the CableCard and a little pop up window comes up asking you to proceed with CableCard setup. After that you follow the prompts until you get to the screen that gives you the CableCard information that the tech has to give to the company. After that, the cable co. sends an init signal and you should be set.

I will be asking Chris to update his CableCard FAQ. M-Cards are backwards compatabile with S-Cards. So if your installer comes out with M-Cards, do not worry! They will work :).

Other then some Harmony remote configuration, I should be in HTPC heaven next week when the tech comes back out to install the second system.

Digg To Share! 

I've seen an alarming amount of customers over at TheGreenButton and other communities, where people have spent their hard earned dollars on a Cable Card Media Center computer, get it all setup & ready to get installation, when they're told by one/some/all of their Cable Company's representatives that they will NOT do an installation on a computer!

SO, I'll be honest. I'm SICK & TIRED of this type of bullying tactic. As some of you know, the reason the cable card standard was even created was because of the monopolistic tendencies of the cable companies forcing cable customers to HAVE to use their absurdly priced Set Top Boxes (STB) for a recurring monthly fee. As my understanding goes with regards to that law, ALL CABLE COMPANIES MUST allow their customers the use of cable cards with ANY and ALL types of cable card-supported devices!!! No exceptions!

That being said, people are still being told on a disturbingly regular basis that Media Center computers are NOT supported, and that they will not do the installation. Some people have been persistant enough to get the installation completed, and some have been so dissuaded & unsuccessful. But the power is always in the consumer's hands.

STEPS FOR CONTACTING CABLE CO's 

Customer service reps are often uninformed, and odds are they don't have the power to do much anyways if a mandate is sent. That being said, here's what you should always do:

1. Call back!! You'll almost always get a different customer service rep, and maybe someone who's heard of Media Center and will be helpful
2. Ask to speak to a supervisor! They often have a lot more power & abilities to get things done
3. Keep climbing the corporate ladder until you get the service you require. Thanks to some tips from the Consumerist website, I've been able to find some executive contacts for some of the major Cable Companies, that should hopefully help you. The key thing is to REMAIN PROFESSIONAL AND CALM!!! Using profanity or making your contact seem like a 15-year old kid will get you NOWHERE FAST!
4. POST ONLINE!!! Post your experiences in our forums, over at the Green Button, at the Microsoft Digital Cable forum...everywhere!!! Send an e-mail to the Consumerist!! Send one to your OEM, to Microsoft...make sure EVERYONE knows what's going on. Exposure is the ONLY way this will ever change.

CONTACT YOUR CABLE EXECUTIVES 

So here it is, as promised, some Executive contact information to help you on your Cable Card mission

• Comcast
  
  • Executive Customer Service Telephone Line: 215-640-8960
    • Read THIS MANUAL first on using this service line
  • If e-mail is your preference, check out this page from Consumerist on E-Mails of Comcast Executives (remember, that's why the CC: in your e-mail was invented)
  • And lastly, you can even contact Comcast's CEO (Doesn't hurt to try everything!)
• Time Warner Cable
  • Executive Customer Service Telephone Line: 203-328-0600
    • Ask for Barry Rosenblum for starters

That's just a taste from two of the largest cable companies in the nation. I highly recommend this website, for a list of the Top 100 Cable Systems contact information. Also, a quick search through the Consumerist website might also give you some more contact information as well.

CONTACT THE FCC

The final step, when all else fails, is to escalate this to the United States Government!! The FCC is around to enforce the laws that they help pass, and Cable Cards are one of them!! Check out the FCC Website for contacts there that might be able to help you. Probably not for an immediate solution, but at least for some visibility.  

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

See this website for Wikipedia's history of the FCC's Telecommunications Act of 1996 & all the information regarding Cable Card. The beautiful part that should always be quoted, is that "cable companies [must] allow non cable company provided devices to access their networks." 

I recently got in somewhat of a debate with a fellow MCE enthusiast over Softsled. I've held firm that I don't believe Microsoft will ever do softsled, even though it's something I would love and use. I thought I'd take the time to combine my position with my thinking (complete assumptions) as to why it'll never happen. I'm sure some of this will upset enthusiasts, but I'm hoping some will read this and think it makes sense.

First, a history lesson. Softsled is a rumored product from Microsoft (for several YEARS now) which will supposedly allow a user to have the exact experience you get with Extenders, but from a PC in your house. So essentially, it's an Extender you can build yourself. It has never been confirmed by Microsoft to even have been worked on. 

1. Competition with Extenders! Softsled would directly compete with Extenders, which Microsoft has invested a lot of time & money into redeveloping its brand & reputation there
2. There's no money in it! How would they sell it, as an addon software package? And then what, all the work it would take, and what would make users happy? $50 would make sense but still I'm sure would upset a large majority of users.
3. The demand simply isn't there outside the enthusiast community. Sure, every geek would love it since we all have 20 computers & would rather use those in multiple rooms instead of forking out $300 on Extenders, but the average person doesn't care as they probably only have 1 or 2 systems.
4. Not enough resources. I know some of you might scoff at this one since Microsoft is "oh so big" a company, but think about it. Look at all the more important features users are STILL waiting for: DirecTV, better CableCard, Picture-in-Picture, etc...etc. Softsled would be an enormous task & would certainly bump more important things out.
5. Support Issues! Just think about the can of worms this would open. I've been around the MCE community since it was an OEM-only product, and there are a MILLION of support inquiries when the entire OS was dedicated to MCE...imagine now an addon that would need to support who knows what system setup & network environment, and there goes some more profits.
6. Copy protection dangers - Microsoft has spent an enormous amount of time locking down the copy protection schemes within Vista to comply with Cablelab's ridiculous requirements, and if they now opened the ability to stream to another complete PC, that could cause some discomfort in that relationship.
7. Minus CableCard TV & the Skin, It's really already a possibility, kinda. Technically speaking, there's nothing preventing people from using Media Center PC's throughout the house & having them all share the same content. There are hacks which allow you to record to a network storage, as well as monitor various network locations for TV. The main limitation here is Cablecard protected content, which I'll get to later. But besides CableCards, essentially you can already have a Softsled-experience which should be sufficient. You can build a cheap, inexpensive system with Vista Home Premium, and a tiny hard drive, and just link all the media files to the central MCE. I know it's not as good as an Extender experience, but...it's not exactly Nothing.

When last we spoke (er, wrote/read) things were not going well for the electronics in my house.  My frontend (client) motherboard had died, my backup/development system was having a tough time picking up the slack with video and audio issues, and my fallback system (my wife's laptop) was suffering a midlife crisis.  Well, today I'm gonna give you a quick followup.

First off, I finally got my motherboard back from MSI.  Since this was the second time that I have sent this board in, they decided to replace it with a new one it appears (atleast the MAC address of the ethernet is different).  After putting the board back in, the frontend started right back up.  Hopefully a new board will resolve whatever the issue was.  I never really did hear what was wrong.

Second, issues with my test system have been alleviated because my wife was very good to me this Christmas and got me a new video card.  Since it's an AGP based system, it's nothing super fancy, but I got upgraded from an Nvidia Geforce 4 MX440 to an Nvidia 7600GS.  This has allowed me to upgrade from legacy video drivers to current video drivers.  The new video card allows me to playback HD without stutters.  This was not possible with the old card.  The sound issue I don't really have need to do anything about.  I will live with stereo speakers.  I don't need to have S/PDIF outputs on that system.  Plus, since the frontend is working again, I shouldn't have to worry about it for (hopefully) quite some time.

Finally, Dell was never able to figure out what was wrong with my wife's laptop.  Since it was purchased through work we are considered a business customer so they were trying to be very helpful to us.  As part of the purchase price, we had a 4 year in-home warranty.  We've had to make use of it twice.  Earlier this summer the LCD on the laptop started displaying red dots, generally after doing a little web surfing.  If you tried to scroll or anything at that point, more dots would appear until finally the system just locked up.  I connected my LCD monitor to the VGA port and that just accelerated the issue one hundred fold.  Dell finally decided to replace the screen and video card.  Seemed to help. 

Then this time around the system would start to boot for about 3/4 sec and then beep and lose power.  Maybe one in ten times it would actually boot up and work for a while before randomly turning off.  Dell had no idea what the problem was but thought the motherboard might be going bad. So they sent out a new board (next day) to the local repair guy who put it in the system for us.  Same result.  So then Dell sent out another new board.  No change.  When they wanted to send out a third board, my wife told the tech support guy that either it wasn't a problem with the motherboard or else they had a serious quality control issue there.  They decided that perhaps it was something else but they didn't know what.  In the end they decided to send a new system to replace the one we had.  Apparently it was "so old" that they weren't even going to take a look at it; it was going straight into the dumpster when they got it back (it's barely even two years old).  As a result, they replaced the laptop with a very nice system.  The only issue we had with it was that it came pre-installed with Vista Home Premium and my wife has decided that she really doesn't like it (it took us about 30 minutes to find the command prompt so I could figure out what the MAC address was so that I could put it on the network) so we put WinMCE on it instead.  But since the original laptop was top of the line for the time (we sunk a decent amount of money into it) they replaced it with a very nice system.  We didn't even have to pay to have the old system sent back. 

The only real problem we had with the whole deal was that it took almost a full month for the new system to get to us (should have been about a week) because someone dropped the ball according to their tech support.  After asking them where the new system was for about two weeks, we finally talked to someone the Wednesday before Christmas who said they had no idea where it was but was trying his best to help us.  He must have done something right though because we got notification on the 22nd (Saturday) that the replacement system had shipped and the DHL guy dropped it off on Monday the 24th.  My wife was very excited to say the least.

So now life is good again here for us.  It was a very good Christmas.  And for the most part WAF is back where it should be, mostly up there but still nagging me to improve things even more.

To put a little more organization to my build log I have decided to rename all future posts relating to my personal projects "Alan's Building Log" :) Episode #1 is mostly an introduction and a project update.

Way back on June7th, 2007 I posted a blog titled Getting Started. As it turns out, I didn't get started. In fact, I took a step back with my TV getting damaged during shipping :(. After some back and forth with the shipping company, I managed to procure a Sony SXRD 60A3000 TV (1080p24) as my HP 5880's replacement. I had intended on providing a review of the TV but held off since Sony will now be exiting the rear projection TV market. All in all this is a really great detail and I am very happy with the detail and colour of the picture. The only problem I have encountered so far is a slight geometry issue when that is barely noticeable when browsing.

Fast forward to the end of November and the digital home train began to pick up some speed. Of course, I had to post a Getting Started Again blog post as my direction had changed somewhat since my original post. A few weeks later I was the proud owner of a Dell XPS 420. It goes against my DIY attitude, but the WAF is more important. Check out my CableCard post as well. For a detailed FAQ, head on over to Chris Lanier's Blog.

After these initial two plugins were configured and out of the way, I took an afternoon to integrate the above mentioned 420 into my home theater as best I good. Hooking it up to my Sony was relatively easy. The Windows Desktop was slightly underscanned and I adjusted this using the Catalyst Control Center overscan adjustment option. It didn't appear there as though there were any adverse scaling issues. All test images remained very sharp before and after the adjustments.

On the input side of things I had a Gyration keyboard\mouse set that just doesn't have the range I need. I am not sure if this is due to old age or interference, but I can't get reliable input. Based on Mike's review of the diNovo Edge, I went ahead and ordered a Logitech diNovo Edge today. It is a bit pricey I know, but if it works it will be well worth the dollars spent. The other minor purchase was a Logitech Cordless pad so I can get my Super Mario Brothers on!

Coming up in Episode 2, I will be sharing a bit more about my Home Theater and how integrated my Media Center setup into it. As well, I will be featuring my upcoming WHS build.

There are many options available for CableCard PCs besides the Dell XPS 420. I went that route for a couple of reasons, chief among them is that this PC is going to be hidden from view and I assume I am not going to need a minimal level of support.

HP also has support for CableCard systems with their Elite line of Pavillion desktops. After going through the configuration manager you should arrive at $1649 for a similarly equipped computer. However, do keep in mind HP does not offer a dual CableCard tuner option. $1649 may seem steep but HP regularly offers coupons that should bring the price in line. A trip to Techbargains.com should get you what you needed. The other difference here is that the computer is built around the ATX standard. This will allow you to stuff the guts in another HTPC case, though that could add significantly to the cost.  One other note, HP allows you to add the LG combo player for an additional $280, whereas the Dell only allows for a Blu-ray writer for $300+.

HP.com 

Okoro Media

Velocity Micro

S1 Digital (https://www.s1digital.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MCPETGB)

CableCard systems are still in their infancy, as such, you should be prepared to have some-issues. If you aren't prepared to deal with tech support of a mammoth corporation, you maybe better off spending the money on a custom build that looks and feels like a HTPC. The beauty here is that folks like S1 Digital, Okoro and Velocity Micro have people you can deal with who are dealing with CableCard issues on a day to day basis. There is a price premium to be paid, but if you start trying to swap out components etc, they are they are the type of folks you want on your side.

The reality of the situation is that you are going to have to buy a pre-built HTPC to get premium cable content. That is why I drank the kool-aid. 

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, "Drinking The Kool-Aid" I went ahead and purchased the Dell XPS 420 with Dual CableCard option. I still feel a little dirty doing so, but in order to maintain the WAF, you sometimes have to do what you have to do.

My configured system, as follows, is mostly the default system with a few upgrades.

CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (upgraded from 2400 pro)

Hard Drive: 500 GB (upgraded from 320 GB)

Tuners: Dual CableCard (upgraded from tunerless)

Software: Declined every option including virus scan, etc.

Warranty: Standard

Optical: Default DVD Writer

Memory: 3GB

Everything arrived in only a few days, however, the CableCards were shipped via DHL will arrive around a week later then the main box.

The hardware came bundled with a very nice mouse pad, pleather CD binder and an iffy keyboad and mouse. Except for the cheapy keyboard everything was presented nicely and would be something you would expect buying a company's flagship computer (or at least not a $400 one).

Before booting up, I took off the side of the case to examine the wiring and see the BTX layout. The wiring was done very well, and as such, no air flow was being impeded. The CPU cooler is a tower HSF similar to a Scythe Ninja that has kept temperatures below 30C so far. This is no doubt in part to the 120mm fan in the front of the case that draws air in and exhausts to the back. Dell gets a bad rap for using BTX, however, I can see the airflow benefits. Under normal use, with an ambient of 20 C or so, the computer runs around 20C to 25C and the 2600 XT runs around 50C. **Note** - This is not under heavy testing :). I will report back with various load tests including HD video playback.

In terms of expansion, the XPS 420 offers room for one more hard drive at the bottom of the case and an eSATA port for a full speed eSATA external drive. If that is not enough there are eight USB ports and two Firewire ports to keep you in connection heaven.

What about the Sideshow display? Absolutely useless at this point in the ball game; they even installed Solitaire on the dang thing, how pointless is that? They have a few PC stats like network traffic and some reminder/calender type stuff. /me passes. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find very few craplets in upon start up. In fact all I could see was Windows update, Google Sidebar and Adobe Acrobat update on first boot. Not bad at all. Looking into MSCONFIG, I found a couple of others, but all-in-all it looked much cleaner then even my personal machine. Vista is pretty damn snappy with a Q6600 and 3GB of ram with no craplets bogging down your system. All in all, it is a pretty good computer for a pretty good price.

Viiv comes installed and this article from Ars Technica should explain ViiV :p.

What about the Media Center aspect? To be frank, it has a lot going against it. First off, the configurator does very little to tell you what CableCard support is, all I could find was a note beside the OS selection and of course the tuner selection. While I praise BTX above, the BTX form factor does not allow you to take the guts of this system and put it in another HTPC case. This may or may not be a deal breaker. If your plan is to use this as a server, noise or form factor should not be an issue.

There are too many strikes against it too make it a viable in the Media Center community. Given some time, marketing, and a proper extender setup from MS, this could be HUGE! However, as it stands now... just a blip. This has 'great server' written all over it but not Media Center PC.

However, I drank the kool-aid and I have to live with it now. I hope the CableCard is worth while! I'll report back with my CableCard experience and on-going Digital Home transformation :).

Here are my next steps:

• Finish wiring Ethernet jacks at both TVs
• Configure WHS server for DVD, picture, music streaming and SageTV server
• Configure Media Center PC for HD DVD playback and install plugins
• Call Cable Company for appointment to install cards

The Wii was a Father's Day present many months ago. Since then I had waited patiently for Super Mario Galaxy to come out. Really really really patiently.... really.. Why? Well if you have played Super Mario 64, you know you were looking for a true sequel and Galaxy fits that bill.

The usual story applies, Bowser has kidnapped the Princess and it is up to Mario to rescue her :). It may feel a bit stale but why mess with a formula that works! The twist here is that Mario has to travel to different galaxies to save the Princess. In Mario 64, the Castle was the portal to all the different worlds, in Galaxy a space station acts as a portal to the different galaxies.

The basic "moves" you saw in Mario 64 are back. The triple  jump, wall jump, reverse jump and butt thump are here and use with ease on the Wii controllers. The nunchuck controller analog stick is used to steer Mario and perform the butt thump. The remote is used to jump and perform a spin maneuver. The control scheme is very familiar to me coming from N64 and in no time at all you will feel at home using the Wii controls. In not so many words, Galaxy gets high marks for its control scheme.

Though the graphics are not as realistic as what you would find on the PC; Galaxy has its own style that I love. However, for all the color and art this game employs, it does have its share of technical effects. I am only 6 stars in and I have seen a few examples of this merit. What really caught my eye was the Queen Bee's fuzz and the King Kaliente boss fight.

Nintendo touts the Wii as a "fun" console. Galaxy takes this monicher and runs with it. There are two points I need to stress. Number one, each world is unique and as such you will never suffer from boring old repetitive game play. Nothing would suck the wind out of this game quicker then having to grind for stars like you would have to grind for experience points in WOW. Secondly, this game is fun :). You are constantly finding new and different things to do with Mario. At one point you may end up a bee and in the next breath you are finding out you get butt thump blocks.

The cons? Outside the camera angle not always being perfect I can't really think of one so far. Well, that is my unofficial review of Super Mario Galaxy. I had a blast this weekend playing it and look forward to taking in the entire game and replaying it as Luigi :).

Does anyone else think the Wii GUI could be applied to a Media Center UI? TV Channel, DVD Channel, Music Channel anyone?