With no big plans for four days we decided to embark on a crusade of home improvement, albeit with a decidedly geeky slant. Well... to be honest it was probably all my idea really but Alison was especially supportive.
The first project on the list was to convert good old Gemini into the new DVR. My original plan was to reinstall Windows and to use Sage TV software to act as a media recorder. Early tests had already discounted using Linux/MythTV (as I couldn't get Ubuntu to recognise the bluetooth adapter on the laptop) and free alternative GB-PVR (as the software refused to recognise the Toshiba internal hybrid tuner) so I was short on options. In the beginning I was pretty happy with my choice as the interface was pretty snazzy with cool features but half a day of light use immediately uncovered some troubling stability issues with the program.
Gutted and desperately looking for a means to validate my decision to turn a perfectly working laptop into a glorified set top box, I resigned myself to giving Windows Media Centre a shot. I had dismissed WMC due to the dismal support for Australian EPG which is a pretty big part of Digital TV in my book... but then I found out about this free service. It's not 100% perfect but it's certainly good enough for light use and it seems like the developers are keen to improve the content they provide. On top of that I've even found a way to launch Joost from the Media Centre menu which is pretty darn nifty. Now if the Joost developers would just implement decent support for the MCE remote I'd be a happy chappy. While I'm writing a wish list, it'd also be grand if Hulu could come to Australia sometime this century... just a thought.
I'd like to pick up one of these babies for some couch bound surfing and typing but till then I'll just have to squat by the laptop with a mouse plugged in. Might pick up a mini keyboard to sit on top of the lid too.
The only other major technical snag I hit in the setup was trying to get HDMI to output to the LCD TV consistently. For some reason, the Windows NVIDIA driver refuses to keep output going to the TV when I switch the TV to standby. Not claiming to be a driver expert by any means but I would have thought keeping output from a "set top box computer" going to the TELEVISION to be pretty crucial. As a temporary work around I'm piping the video out through S-Video instead which is a slap in the face given that I was looking forward to watching HD content in... oh I dunno... High Definition maybe... *sigh*
Second Easter project was to dispose of the fish tank that was once home to our little friends. There were two sucker fish that managed to survive the genocide so we bagged them and donated them to the pet store at Indooroopilly where they'll hopefully be re-homed to another loving family. Amongst the waves of melancholy we can't help but feel a little pleased with the reclaimed counter space.
Third Easter project was to finally clean out the study. No words, certainly not my own clumsy writing anyway, could describe the monumental feat this was so I'd definitely be underselling it by saying we're a little chuffed with our accomplishment. To give you an idea, there were bills on the floor from 2005 that needed to be filed alongside photos and material from the Wedding in June last year. Piles of random documents meant that what little bare carpet space we could walk on was now coated with an insulating layer of dust and dirt desperately in need of a vacuum. Then there was the glass desk which I was fairly certain was bought clear but had now taken on a "frosted" look due to the rings of mug marks and sweat stains.
Not a pretty picture...
Never one to miss an opportunity to wrangle a new purchase, I convinced that the Herculean effort of cleaning up the study would be a complete waste if we had to put back my ageing 19" CRT monitor. Thus we had to pick up a cheap LCD monitor to grace the freshly Windexed desk. I find it amazing that a 19" widescreen is the smallest LCD you can get these days (which we managed to pick up for a tidy sum of $200). Mind boggling considering I paid considerably more for the 19" CRT all those years ago. I think the end result is an improvement if you'll excuse the dodgy low-light photography.
Last but not least, I've been wanting to address the woeful WiFi reception in our house for some time by testing it out in the library upstairs. I'd always put the crap signal down to the brick in the house but it's lovely to see what a little elevation will do to boost your range. Reception upstairs has now gone from Very Poor to Very Good or even Excellent, if the WiFi evaluation in Windows XP is anything to judge by. I had to navigate the miniature paradigm shift of not having ANY computers directly plugged into a router (not sure why but it was hard for me to swallow) so now the Study computer is hooked up via a discarded Wireless Bridge that I bought years ago. Knew that hoarding would have its advantages.
Still not quite fast enough to stream videos across the network unfortunately. Guess that'll have to wait till the day I upgrade to 802.11n with an Airport Extreme and maybe Time Capsule.
2 comments:
And that's how you do the laptop-->set-top box properly. My solution is AV cables from the laptop to the front of the TV, and VNC since it doesn't have a remote. Ugly, but then I'm lazy. :)
(Solution based on Corrin's "old" laptop which developed an interesting sequence of vertical lines down its LCD, obscuring practically everything.)
Well... technically there shouldn't be a problem with connecting the laptop to the TV via HDMI out but it just doesn't want to play nice. Rather frustrating if you ask me.
So you're using a laptop to control a laptop that's connected to a TV... interesting. :)
Post a Comment