SyncToy

I found a nifty tool to sync my photos and music from my laptop to the Media Center.

Netflix Instant Watching

Netflix has introduced a new Instant Watching capability which customers have lapped up...nearly 2 million movies have been watched in under 3 weeks since its introduction.

Check their demo.




My take...I love this functionality. media convergence has been a when rather than an if. I dont mind watching it on my laptop but I'd rather watch it on my television and work with the controls of my remote. It will be only a matter of time before TiVo and Microsoft MCE integrate Netflix functionality as plug-ins and extensions.

LinuxMCE on Digg

A post about LinuxMCE made it to the top 10 topics on Digg today, so I decided to check it out.

Heres their take on LinuxMCE vs Microsoft MCE in this Google video. The commentary is very monotonous and is clearly biased, so beware of the propaganda.



It seems like LinuxMCE is based on the MythTV project with some cooler skins and user interface. The video, however, has contradicted the philosophy they are touting - "Linux MCE maintains the philosophy that if you're using a Media Center PC, it's all about the media, stupid, not the PC". The on-screen guide has completely obscured the media played in the background, even though it is in full-screen.

I like the navigation functionality of the media - programming guide, music catalog, movies in Linux MCE. On Microsoft MCE (XP), browsing through a large collection is such a pain that I am sometimes only listening to music in the 'A' section. Search is definitely a good help if you know exactly what you are looking for, but a technique like the iTunes Cover Flow makes selection so much easier.

The video hasn't covered Microsoft Vista, its only fair to do such a comparison as Vista has a lot more to offer such as HDTV support. At my end, I need to try out Vista myself.

About add-ons in LinuxMCE like close-circuit cameras, controlling thermostats and controlling television using a blue-tooth cellphone, I really dont care about such features and don't know if such features constitute a media-center PC.

Place-Shifting via Orb

If time-shifting is the mechanism to record and watch TV programming at my convenience, then place-shifting is the mechanism to watch them on any internet connected device with a monitor at my convenience. I have been on the road a lot lately and I have to wait till I return home to watch my recorded shows. I needed a mechanism to stream my data from my HTPC over the internet so I could watch it on my laptop.

I read about slingbox and its capabilities in this regard and then I found out about Orb Networks which I could install on my Windows MCE . Considering my cost-cutting measures, I decided on the latter so I could recoup my investments on my HTPC (Slingbox ~ $275, Orb = $0).

Orb was easy to install and set up (See www.orb.com) and after the configuration I was able log in from my laptop and see all my photos, recorded TV programming, songs and videos.


I was able to watch the TV shows on Windows Media Player and Real Player, although at a much lower resolution, than in the original recording.



The compression implies viewing on a Wi-Fi network. This is too good to be true. Orb claims to be working on creating a client for PalmOS so I can watch the videos directly on my Treo 650 and drain my already short-lived battery out!

TiVo Series 3 HD DVR

My friend Jaideep & Manna (who works at TiVo) just got a nice looking TiVo Series 3 DVR. It has 2 CableCARDs that allow it to record HDTV programming simultaneously. Comcast is now obligated to provide CableCARDs to customers at no cost instead of the the set-top box, so you don't waste all the valuable space in the entertainment center. Unfortunately, these CableCARDs don't allow you to record Comcast OnDemand programming that is possible from the HD Comcast DVRs. The TiVo boxes however have THX digital sound capability to enhance the home theater experience. These boxes allow you to stream iTunes music from playlists on a computer on the same network but unlike a MCE you can not search for songs/albums/artists and small user interface issue that stops music playback once you go to another menu.

Pros:

• Sleek Device with front-panel displays showing the shows being currently viewed/recorded
• Good display of HD programming
  

Cons:

• No OnDemand Recording (Got to wait for CableCARD 2.0 cards)
• Expensive (~$800, lower if you are know a TiVo employee)
  

New Wishlist

My HTPC has been working great for almost 2 years now, and my foresight has enabled its longevity. However, some new technologies and products have caused me to think about some hardware and software upgrades.

• I need a bigger hard-drive to accomodate my growing recorded shows, downloaded music and videos that I wish to keep. I have been eyeing deals on 500 GB Seagate drives on Frys and Newegg for a while now. I also need a quieter drive.
  
• My surround-sound system doesnt have an optical/digital input (SP/DIF). I am using the headphones-out from my HTPC into the sound-system thus killing the dolby/thx effect.
• I need a way to record HD programming
  
• Lightscribe DVD-RW Recording Drives - To etch labels on the disks directly.
  
• Blu-Ray/HD-DVD Combo Player Drives

Advanced Universal Remote

I bought a Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote so I could get rid of all the remotes that I use individually to control the Television, Cable Box, Sound System and the HTPC.

Pros:

• Can program 'Activities' like 'Watch My TV', or 'Listen Digital Music' that can control the settings on Television, Stereo, Cable and the HTPC together. For example, can change the input of the TV to DVI, turn on the HTPC, switch stereo to the AUX input.
• Sweet to use just one remote
  

Cons:

• The Remote toggles the on/off state of the device when activated. Consequently if the TV was already on when you select 'Watch My TV', it will be turned off.
  
• Charging the remote is a pain.
  

Cost: $141 from Comp-U-Plus

I have not added this to the total cost of the HTPC as I use it to control other devices as well.

Hidden Costs

nVidia PureVideo Drivers

Switching to Microsoft MCE

MythTV keeps crashing on me, even when I watch non-HD shows. I am done with downloading the latest code, rebuilding and restarting the computer. I have therefore decided to switch to Microsoft Media Center for Entertainment 2005 (MCE 2005), as I believe they have no software bugs whatsoever :)

Since the firewire option does n't work with MCE anymore, I am purchasing a dual-TV tuner from Hauppauge (WinTV-PVR-500MCE PCI-Tuner) to record programming. This TV tuner card allows me to record one show and watch another simultaneously or record two shows at the same time.

Cost: $133 (Buy.com)

Downcast with Comcast

Comcast has more than one reason to bring me sorrow. I swapped in/out three Comcast HDTV receivers in the last month because they kept switching off randomly. In my last visit to the local Comcast store, I was pitched the new DVR Comcast HDTV receiver which only costs $5 extra per month. Although It doesnt provide any of the additional plug-ins like MythTV does (that I still havent gotten working)...the integrated viewing capability is very enticing. It provides 15 hours of HDTV and 90 hours of non-HD recordings with a maximum of two simultaneous recordings. Also, I records any HD content even from movie channels like HBO.

My biggest gripe is that my present Comcast receiver has disabled the firewire port that provided my MythTV box access to the unencrypted HDTV feed.

I am contemplating putting Microsoft MCE 2005...I hope things change before I do that.

Tad Tuner, 802.11g

The story so far...I got a backend AMD64 Linux machine connected to my Television. It records HDTV and non-HDTV content from the firewire connection okay but...
- Comcast deactivates the firewire when any of the movie channels including IFC are selected.
- Installing the new nVidia drivers has resulted in my Television display gone all awry. For the interim, I am watching the non-HD shows on my PowerBook.

To watch IFC and Encore (dont like many of their movies actually) I will need to get a TV Tuner card and connect it via S/Video. The Hauppauge 350 is an option although I have exceeded the budget.

I need to tweak with the display properties (xorg.conf)...for this I will finally need to read the television manual. I like the PowerBook option, but can not hope to use it with the HD recordings as I only have a 802.11b wireless router which supports a maximum 11 Mbps transfer rate...and my PowerBook doesnt support the 802.11g option.

Now I am staring at an 802.11g wireless gateway along with a PCMCIA card. The Apple Airport Base station and Airport Extreme look like good options although they are very pricey. If MythTV decides to support iSeeiTunes like TiVo, then it might be an interesting option.

Scope Creep - PowerBook Support

I originally intended to have only the Shuttle box in my living room...but with my Mom visiting I need to provide MythTV watching capabilities on my PowerBook as well so she can watch her Zee TV and I can watch my shows.

I tried the easy way by installing a VNCServer on my backend and a VNCViewer on my MAC OS X and running mythfrontend in a session. The GANT theme looked alright but I couldnt watch the shows or any recordings.

Luckily MythTV supports multiple front ends that can connect to a backend (very scalable). I followed the instructions in MythOnMacOsx. Instructions were easy to follow although a bit out-to-date regarding the mysql client part. I made the correction and also my first contribution to the MythOnMacOsx wiki.

Shopping Cart Contents

Here are the system specifications at the checkout counter...

Newegg.com
Shuttle XPC SN95G5 SFF Case with nForce3 Motherboard: $288
AMD Athlon 3200+ Processor: $190
Sony DVD+-RW Drive: $52
nVidia GeForce FX5200 Video Card: $53

Outpost.com
Seagate 200 GB HDD: $130

Crucial.com
1 GB DDR: $110

Frys Electronics
Firewire Cable

Living on the Edge - HDTV Support

"If you are not living on the edge, you are taking too much space."

To watch shows in HDTV, one first needs an HDTV input. I have Comcast's Digital Cable and get a few channels on hi-def. Some local TV stations air HDTV content terrestrially. This provides me with several options:

1. Use a TV Tuner card that supports HDTV content from Comcast
   
2. Use a TV Tuner card, like pcHDTV or Air2pc that allows me to receive terrestrial HDTV content using an antenna
   
3. Use the firewire output from the Comcast receiver containing the decrypted HDTV content.
   

I decided to go with #3 as it meets the cheap/inexpensive criteria. Firewire support was recently included in the latest 0.17 release of MythTV but is getting better in the top of the trunk. I have decided to use the freshest sources from the CVS repository to build my mythtv.

Very bleeding edge!

Choices...choices...choices

"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice."

My quest for owning/building a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) is fraught with challenges. The biggest one of them is about making the right choices. From the overarching solution down to the processor there are multiple options:

Assembled boxes:
TiVo, ReplayTV, Microsoft Media Center for Entertainment Boxes, Comcast DVR
Do-It-Yourself:
MythTV, SageTV, Microsoft MCE

Processor:
Intel Pentium, AMD Athlon, AMD 64...

Computer Case:
Dell, Shuttle, Alienware, Mac Mini

TV Tuner Card:
Hauppauge, pcHDTV, Air2PC,

Ultimately, my options will be limited to and selected based on these criteria.

- HDTV Support
- Quiet/Noiseless
- Remote Control support
- Music Library
- DVD Library
- News Feeds
- $$$