Fall ia a time to re-focus on your home as we "nest in" for the coming winter, especially as fall routines have settled in. We want to know--what are you looking to do next around your home in regards to technology?
We'll help you do the research if you let us know what you're looking for; if you want the help of the editors and the AT:HT community on a specific issue, send us an email and we'll help you find find the right solution.
Whoa, great topic. I don't even know what to vote exactly. My roommate is moving out soon, and he's taking everything but the DVD player with him. I'd really like to get a home media center set up via a Mac Mini and a new LCD TV to go with it, but I'm kind of unsure where to start.
Anyone have any recommendations beyond the obvious of a Mac Mini and a TV? I'd probably like to run my music off the system as well, so it'll need an external drive. Is it worth replacing my DVR with the mini? That would save me $120/yr from Time Warner. Probably a nice set of computer speakers to take the place of the sound system we have now (I'm not much of an audiophile).
Any other recommendations?
view munckee's profile
I'm putting far too much thought into my alarm clock. My old standby automagically sets itself, but was made before Congress changed the dates for Daylight Savings. It fell back an hour Sunday, and won't be correct for another few weeks.
So I've been thinking about a replacement. I use two alarms, buzzer and music. I like my NPR in the morning, so reception's key. Should be easy for the girlfriend to turn off if I forget when I'm out of town.
But maybe I want more. Maybe I want to transform my bedside table into some sort of xvid-playing, iTunes-streaming, gmail-checking, xbox-live-friends-monitoring bed station.
I've been looking at www.chumby.com, and investigating whether it can do anything I might be able to use.
view Okinopolytrans's profile
Never used a mac mini as an entertainment centerpiece, though I know they're popular. My old roommate built a Windows PC to use as an HD DVR a couple of years ago. Had two tuner cards, hooked up through a stereo to a big HDTV, with cable and an HD antenna coming in. He also hooked up a PS2, Xbox, and eventually a Wii.
The biggest problem I noticed with such a setup was with remotes. He used a Harmony 880 (I think that's the model) to control everything, which could issue batch controls (Turn on TV, set to component-in, start the stereo, set to TV, start Windows Media Center, go to Movies: all mapped to a single button). Sometimes one component or another wouldn't pick up a command (i.e. everything else would happen, but the stereo would miss the "set to TV" command), and everything was b0rked. I started to miss the simplicity of having a button on a remote that would fulfill a single task, instantly.
Of course, if he had not had that, our lives would have been controlled by remotes. It's a nasty trade-off.
I don't know about the mac interface, but even with the added functionality of torrents and music, I prefer Tivo to Windows Media Center.
view Okinopolytrans's profile