When I pitched the idea of Home Automation to my wife, all she asked was, "Why does our house need to be automated?". Not a good start to my home automation project. Starting off with a negative WAF can be a hard hole to climb out of. The good news is that after several years of marriage, I am ready […]
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After using Boxee with my Apple TV for a few days (Day 1 Setup | Day 2 First Use ) I noticed the one downside about using AppleTV as my platform of coice–I absolutely hated the remote. I don’t have abnormally large hands, yet the remote would constantly get lost in my hands and pushing buttons was not very comfortable. […]
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For those of you that read my Home Server challenge review , you will know that I have been living with HP’s original EX475 for several months now and have really had fun playing with it, and of course upgrading its memory to be a wonderful and reliable server. I had since taken the system and replaced all three of […]
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Following up on part one of setup of Boxee on AppleTV , is the actual living and using the software in a home theater environment. Luckily my receiver has multiple inputs, so I didn’t necessarily have to CHOOSE to migrate 100% over to Boxee, as I still have a need for my cablecard and blu-ray abilities that my main Media […]
Read moreThere has been a bit of hub bub in the Media Center world with Chris Lanier lashing out against Microsoft for lack of online content and the apparent lack of market focus Media Center has. Posts can be found on his blog here . With that came a number of response from various other ehome blogs such as Ian Dixon […]
Read moreThe music library, a place where an HTPC application can live or die. Microsoft has managed to keep the music library in good health with a few needed tweaks but has failed to take it to the Olympic level. Let me start by saying I think Microsoft has really shined with their music library. All of the possible sorts […]
Read moreThe TV strip in Windows 7, while similar to Vista, did receive several tweaks that alter the appearance and functionality of viewing and recording TV. The major changes to your TV viewing experience will be the revamped details screen. This concept is applied throughout the program and allows for content specific interaction such as program info, actions and other […]
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I was hoping to see QAM enabled by default when using a Hauppauge 1600 and W7MC, however this is not the case. The good news is that a couple of quick fixes will have you on your way. First up, apply this registry key that is linked here. After that, install the latest drivers from Hauppauge’s website and you are […]
Read moreWhile setting up Windows 7, I am testing a few plugins that I have in my Vista production machine. Some are working out of the box and others are taking tweaks to function correctly and some are just downright refusing to work. Here is what I have tested so far: Movie Collectorz – Working great! vmcnetflix – Did not install […]
Read moreThere has been lots of talk in the Sage world about UI’s and what folks like to see in order to gain mass adoption. While not specifically related to the entire UI, my thoughts driffted to what I would like to see for the intitial screen when I sit down to use my HTPC. The menu structure has long since […]
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