Mike's Blog

M-Card Tuner coming for Vista Media Center?

2009-01-06T16:58:45Z

Looks like they'll soon be a new player in town for Digital Cable Tuners Ceton Corp. has a product page up claiming they have an M-Card Tuner coming soon for Vista Media Center.

I'll be very interested to see how this performs compared to the current ATI tuners, and being M-Card tuners I could cut my tuner count in half which would be a good thing. Hopefully we'll see this released soon and obtainable by users with existing certified CableCard machines.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Awesome Video of Media Center Evolution

2009-01-05T04:13:00Z

I usually don't post things other bloggers post, but just in case someone reads my blog and not Ian's (fat chance I know) I thought I'd pass this along.

Enjoy!

Some reason the embedded video isn't showing up.. here's a direct link:
Evolution of Windows Media Center

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Top Microsoft Exec Shows Off Media Center-Based Home

2008-12-29T18:33:09Z

Electronic House has a really nice article about a Senior MS Exec and his 11,000 square foot home powered by Media Center and Lifeware. Check it out here:
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/top_microsoft_exec_shows_off_media_center_based_home

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Slingbox PRO-HD

2008-12-09T15:34:42Z

So I was at a friends house a few weeks ago and he asked me to help him hook up his Slingbox solo to his Tivo. After getting it hooked up, which was extremely easy and extremely cool, it got me to thinking about how I could use one in my current Media Center setup.

Previously I used webguide, but since going with CableCards 2 years ago that hasn't worked for remote viewing, and now it doesn't even work for remote scheduling with the TVPack.

After giving it some thought I decided to pickup the PRO-HD model along with another DMA-2100. Before even setting up the 2100 I hooked it up to the SlingBox and installed the software on my desktop and did all the configuration via its interface. Using the device local in my house or via a good Internet connection (like from work) I'm able to access and watch all my Media Center content in HD including those protected CableCard recordings since it's really coming off an extender. On my laptop using an AT&T 3G card it still works well but takes the resolution down to accommodate for the lower bandwidth, but is still totally watchable.

Since I was forced to give up my Windows Mobile for a crackberry, I've not been able to test the mobile client, but supposedly there is a BlackBerry client coming for it sometime in my lifetime. At that point I'll be back to being able to schedule recordings using my phone like I was pre TVPack and as a bonus be able to watch my protected content on the device.

While it's not a cheap solution it works well and fills a big gap I had since switching to CableCards, after a week of use I'm very impressed with the device and its software, my only gripe is that the software remote doesn't look like a media center remote (when you set it up to control a tivo the remote actually looks like a tivo remote). For anyone in the same situation I was I would take a look at this solution and see if it makes sense for you, and if you don't care about having HD you can pickup the solo model pretty cheaply.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

More information / Video on Live Mesh Homeserver and Media Center Integration

2008-11-07T15:47:41Z

Here's a great video that shows the potential of live mesh to integrate with Windows Home Server and Media Center, I for one can't wait for both of these apps to become available at least in a beta format!

http://on10.net/blogs/nic/Windows-Home-Server--Live-Mesh--PDC2008/

If you're not familiar with live mesh, check out www.mesh.com to get an idea of it's capabilities and to sign up to get notified when there are more slots available in the beta.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Media Center Sideshow Gadgets RTM Download

2008-10-22T02:35:36Z

Looks like the Media Center SideShow gadgets are finally out of beta. Check the Windows SideShow Team Blog for all the details and the download links.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

S1Digitial Platinum Edition with TV Pack Review

2008-09-26T04:08:28Z

So it's been about a month since my S1Digital Media Center arrived and I couldn't be happier with it. Like every other review I've read about their systems this thing is just rock sold! I meant to get this post written sooner but IKE had other plans for me, including no power for a week!

In my last post I said I'd go into some detail into my tuner setup. The machine shipped with 2 Internal CableCard tuners, I added 2 additional external CableCard tuners and 2 HDHomeRun units, for a total of 8 tuners. This is working quite well. The HDHomeRun tuners are setup as QAM tuners, natively supported by the TV Pack upgrade, no more tricking Media Center into thinking the signal is ATSC.

The TV Pack only automatically adds QAM channels that also have their station ID in the stream, scanning found 6 here in Houston. Adding the missing channels is pretty easy, I used a combination of the SiliconDust Channel list, and where I found discrepancies I fired up VLC and went to zap2it.com to identify the channel by what was currently playing. After I got all the channels I wanted added I combined them with the guide listings I already had for that channel from my CableCard tuner. Doing so eliminated the duplicate channels that I found annoying in my last setup (cablecard and hdhomerun also) where for example I would have two HD NBC's one on the CableCard tuners and one on the HDHomeRun tuners, now I have 1 HD NBC and Media Center can use any of the 8 tuners that are free to record the show.

Hardware wise I've only added an LG HD DVD/Blu-ray reader via the e-Sata port by using the Addonics Zebra enclosure, I only wish the Intel e-Sata chipsets supported port multipliers so I could run more then one device off the e-Sata connection.

Software/Plugin wise I'm running mControl, Total Media Theater, myTV, My Movies, and HeatWave all of which run just fine with the TV Pack. myTV has a small issue currently where after a show ends or you press stop you're left at a frozen frame of what was playing and going back to play a 2nd show crashes the app but I'm sure this will be worked out in the next beta release. Additionally I've used MC Menu Mender to create a custom strip with all my plugins on it and removed them from the other strips. Also removed the sports strip as I'm not a sports fan.

I've also have 2 DMA-2100's, 1 DMA-2200 and an Xbox 360 hooked up to the system, and even with them all fired up and the machine recording all of mine and the wives shows the box doesn't break a sweat.

So anyone looking for a true Media Center with official TV Pack support from an awesome OEM give S1Digital a serious look before you buy elsewhere. (if you don't want/need official tv pack support hit me up, I'm selling my old velocity micro cablecard media center.) ; )

I think since my blog is called "Mike's Digital Home" in my next post I'll start detailing everything I've got going on here from home automation to homeserver to a dedicated home theater room and how they're all integrated together.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

S1Digital Platinum Edition Unboxing pics and initial impressions

2008-08-20T20:02:10Z

With the new features of the 2008 TV Pack, I couldn't resist buying a new media center from a cutting edge OEM like S1Digital who was the first to ship systems with the new update, and according to Paul I was the first to get one. I plan on writing (at least) a couple posts on this system, in this one I won't be going into any details on the new TV Pack update. This is a kind of a sticky situation, Microsoft OEM is saying it's OK for me to discuss all the new features since I've purchased a machine with it loaded but the Media Center Beta Team (I am on the beta) has asked that I not until my NDA expires on 9/3, so I've decided that I like testing Media Center and wish to remain on the beta's I'm on so I'll wait until my NDA is released before going into any details.

So lets start with the system specs. Paul was great to work with and let me customize some of the components of their Platinum Edition Media Center. In addition to the default specs (which are quite good to begin with), I went with a Quad Core 9300 CPU, added 2GB of RAM for a total of 4 and got Vista Ultimate instead of Home Premium. Disk wise I went with 2 500GB drives in a Raid 0 (striped disks) for a total of 1TB. For the tuners I got 2 internal Digital Cable Tuners, I'll go into more detail on my tuner setup in a later post. I just went with the default DVDRW drive as all of our Blu-ray and HD-DVD viewing is done on standalone players in our home theater, this machine is in the living room. The system has an e-SATA port so I could easily add a SATA HD-DVD/Blu-ray combo drive later on if needed.

The system took about a week and a half to get to me after I ordered it, I did the cheap ground shipping which was 4 days of that time. The system arrived in perfect condition. I hooked the system up in my office to get everything configured, the first time you boot the system it runs through the final steps of the image deployment and the Vista OOBE wizard which took about 15 minutes. I'll detail out my setup in a later post, but I've had the system in the living room replacing my Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater system since Saturday and it's been solid as a rock.

Look for my next post after 9/3 where I'll get into all the details of my setup and the TV Pack update.

More unboxing pictures are available here.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Linksys DMA-2100 $199 (or cheaper) at dell.com

2008-06-29T02:23:03Z

As a poster at thegreenbutton.com pointed out Dell is selling the Linksys DMA-2100 for $199 right now. But you can get it even cheaper. If your company has an employee purchase program with Dell you get an extra $50 off select network hardware right now and that does include the DMA-2100, on top of that if you pay with your Dell credit account you'll get an extra 4% off. So after taxes and shipping the unit cost me $129. If you've been waiting, I'd say now is the time to go pick one up.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

VidaBox PicoPC

2008-06-24T03:17:24Z

I just received an email from VidaBox about a a new product they're releasing. Before I go any further I must say that I think VidaBox is a great company and are doing great things for the Media Center community. The new product is called the PicoPC. It's a small PC running XPe (embedded XP) on solid state disks so there are no moving parts. They're marketing as a PC for your HDTV to use to surf the net and check email. I thought that phase (webtv anyone?) was over but I guess I was wrong. Also the box is almost a grand, $929.

I'm sorry guys, but I'm just not seeing the value. I hope this new area doesn't distract them from their true talent of building very nice Media Centers.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

mControl SideShow client to ship with version 2.1

2007-12-18T16:32:00Z

Ted from Embedded Automation posted some info on their Vista SideShow client that will be a part of mControl version 2.1. Check it out at http://www.embeddedautomation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=670

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Media Center wins over Apple fan

2007-12-06T13:24:00Z

I love stories like this. Big Apple fan who never thought they'd be running Windows ends up having their entire house powered by Media Center. Good read:

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/media_center_convert_wins_microsoft_ultimate_install_contest/

I'm a little surprised that this house won Microsoft's ultimate install contest though given that they're using Tivos for recorded TV, can't win them all I guess.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

FUZE™ Media Systems Launches Revolutionary Whole-Home Media Solution

2007-08-15T13:06:00Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FUZE™ Media Systems Launches Revolutionary Whole-Home Media Solution

System Designed to Be Used by Any Family Member, Anywhere in the Home

San Jose, Calif., August 15, 2007 – FUZE™ Media Systems today emerged from stealth mode by announcing the launch of its next-generation whole-home media management solution. Founded in 2005, the company set out to address the problems associated with home media systems—disparate devices, multiple remotes, complex and confusing interfaces, unreliability, and the lack of true whole-home capability. Following a year of successful beta deployments, FUZE™ has begun selling systems through home theater installer/dealers.

FUZE™ is a complete hardware and software solution that enables all media—live or recorded TV, videos, music, pictures, and more—to be instantly enjoyed at the touch of a button, anywhere in the home.

The system delivers whole-home PVR (including HDTV) with multiple CableCARD tuners, offers built-in whole-home audio capability, and enables one-touch digital photo slideshows. The entire system operates with a single preprogrammed remote, leverages a single interface throughout the home, centrally stores all media, and is the first media management solution to offer the reliability that consumers expect from electronic entertainment products.

FUZE™ offers a unique approach to media management that is neither a control-based system nor a Media Center PC. Designed from the ground up as a whole-home media system, FUZE™ consists of all the necessary components for media storage and distribution—a primary media server, video clients, audio clients, and multiple interface options. FUZE™ delivers a controlled, managed system that does not falter due to user modifications or when operating system updates are initiated. Additionally, FUZE™ offers its own high-quality parallel gigabit network, which ensures quality of service (QoS); remote monitoring to ensure continuous operation; DRM-friendly whole-home HD video; Internet-based content; whole-home capability for all media functions; and a simple, easy-to-use interface that even novices can understand.

“From a technology standpoint, we’re delivering the industry’s most robust media management system,” said Michael D’Addio, FUZE™ Chief Executive Officer. “But, at the end of the day, what we’re really delivering is ease-of-use in an elegant design. We designed our solution with the average consumer in mind—not highly skilled technologists. Within seconds of picking up a FUZE™ remote, the average person will be able to watch and record shows throughout the home, instantly play music anywhere, or pull up a picture slideshow of their favorite memories. In this way, our system will help to sell itself.”

FUZE™ Founder, President, and CTO Richard Fenwick (formerly VP of R&D/Engineering at OnCommand Video) expressed his excitement about his company’s product launch: “In addition to designing the industry’s most powerful media management solution, we’ve delivered the simplest system available. This system will revolutionize home entertainment because it is the only system that delivers easy-to-use, true whole-home capability—including HDTV.”

The company noted that it will publicly exhibit its system at CEDIA in September at booth 3605.

About FUZE™ Media Systems

Founded by former OnCommand Video executives, FUZE™ Media Systems shatters conventional notions about home entertainment. FUZE™ is the first media-driven whole-home entertainment solution. Built from the ground-up to manage media (not a control or MCE system), FUZE™ delivers a complete system that stores, manages, organizes, and distributes all of your digital media—to any part of the home. Live TV, recorded TV, movies, videos, music, digital photos, and more are all stored and managed centrally. Most importantly, media is no longer tied to a particular device or a particular location in the home. Regardless of where a user records a show or video (HD included)—or where music or photos were originally stored—any TV or speaker in the home can easily access any media at the touch of a button. To learn more about FUZE™, visit www.fuzeav.com, email info@fuzeav.com, or call 408.363.8090.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

I'm Still Alive!

2007-07-24T12:43:52Z

Just wanted to put up a quick post, yes I'm still alive. My son was born about a month ago so I've not had much time for blogging or Media Center in general. Before he was born my Velocity Micro CableCard system came in so I'm planning a post on my experiences with it over the last 6 weeks or so, so look for that in the not so distant future.

Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog

Free DivX Pro 6 for a limited time.

2007-06-08T13:19:00Z

DivX is giving away their Pro version 6 software for a limited time, get it at http://www.divx.com/dff/?lang=en&version=win Cross Posted from My Media Center Blog