2008 March » theHTPC.net

Home Automation Considerations.

Mar 282008

Lately, while our house has been pretty much off-limits due to the painting, I’ve been doing more thinking of possible future projects. There are plenty of things I could do to improve my Home Theater system(s), but I’m being practical. What would make things more convenient while also being useful? What I mean is that while you could go out and spend X amount of dollars on the next cool technology, it doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t actually server your needs. I simply want to compliment what I have already done, while providing myself with future upgrade/expansion potential.

What came to mind was home automation. I’m not thinking big here, simply becaue there is only so much of it that would prove useful to me at this point in time. One thing I’d really like to have is the ability to control the lighting in my bedroom with the Harmony 670 I have. I’ve looked into the X10 line of products and it appears to do what I want, with the right combination of devices. A standard package looks to provide a little more than I’d even initially want. The only downside is the additional IR>RF bridge I would need since my Harmony remotes are both IR. Good news is that they are pretty inexpensive.

I’ll have to do some more research before I feel comfortable in going this route, however. X10 has been around a while, but I keep discovering reason to believe they aren’t the most reliable devices in the world. I don’t need the best, but I’m not buying junk either.

Please leave any comments or suggestions you may have regarding home automation products. I’d like some feedback on your experiences.

Home Theater Equipment Added.

Home Theater No Responses »

Mar 262008

I finally got around to getting my home theater equipment added in my projects list. I’ll get some pictures up soon. Painters started on the inside of our house today, so I’ll probably take a bunch of pictures after they’re finished and everything is put into place. That will probably slow things down for the site a bit, however, since I can’t stay at home until they finish. Hopefully everything will be done by week’s end.

Network Equipment Added.

Home Networking No Responses »

Mar 252008

I’ve added a network equipment table to my projects section. Next up will be a table describing my home theater equipment. Eventually, I’ll get pictures to associate everything to up here.

Link for the lazy.

MyMovies 2.44 Is Out.

HTPC No Responses »

Mar 252008

I missed it until this morning, but MyMovies 2.44 is available for download here. It appears to be some minor bugfixes over the 2.43 Final that was released a few days prior. I’ve not noticed any differences, but I ‘set and forget’ mine and don’t use anything beyond the MCE interface side of things (except for adding movies). I think it resolved some disc-copy issues.

Also, there is a new version of Vista4Cast (v1.3) available here. Another weather plugin, Extended4Cast is also available there. It looks very nice despite its beta-like status.

Important Update:

I didn’t realize it until now, but MyMovies 2.44 adds the capability of a new “wall of movies” display; similar to the 6-across hack I wrote about a while back. There is a catch, however…you need 500 contribution points in able to activate it in Collection Management. Lucky me. I have over 1800 :)