Digital Diversion

Home networking took a great leap forward with the proliferation of Wi-Fi networking products and have improved generation-to-generation in terms of bandwidth, range and quality of service. While it’s hard to argue with the attractiveness of networking without wires, I found Wi-Fi alone to be insufficient for my needs. 

My circumstances may differ from yours, but I have to assume that I am not alone.  I live on a hill so my house is tall (four levels) and wide, making coverage at an adequate bandwidth a challenge.  My 802.11g wireless router is co-located with my broadband modem next to my home theater on the third level.  Unfortunately, this setup doesn’t provide a strong enough signal to either my office computers (second level) or TiVo (fourth level).  Looking forward to the day when I can distribute video within the home (an HD stream can consume >10 Mbps), I wanted as much bandwidth as possible.  While 802.11n promises better range and bandwidth than my current solution, of the 15 or so devices I have networked within my house, only one currently has .11n built-in.  Of the remainder, only two are capable of being upgraded to 802.11n.  So simply upgrading my router wasn’t going to entirely solve my problem.  What I really needed was a way to extend my existing 802.11g network to wired and wireless devices without the cost and hassle of pulling CAT5 cable throughout the house.  The networking companies make range extenders, but I gave up on this option after wrestling with a wireless repeater for a few days; unfortunately after almost 10 years in the market, ease of configuration of wireless networking devices remains a challenge for most consumers.

My solution?  (continue reading…)

A few months ago the first TV I ever bought (~1990) passed away.  First the sound went, then the picture gradually faded to black … a dignified death.  Taking the TV to be recycled, I didn’t feel sad for my loss but rather appreciative of the 18 years of dedicated service without a single problem.  

So when my 3 year old Sharp LCD stopped working last week, I took it to the repair shop, dreading the repair estimate.  Sure enough … $465 to replace a failed “main board!”  How can this be when I can buy a brand new TV with equivalent or better features for that much!?!  (continue reading…)

Uno

Microsoft’s “Major Nelson” shared some Xbox Live statistics post-NXE launch on his blog this week.  Some of the data I have already reported on in my previous post on NXE but there are a few new tidbits (quoted directly from Major Nelson’s blog) that I feel are worthy of discussion:

• Movie downloads increased 49% and TV episode downloads were up 30% the week after launch
• Xbox LIVE Arcade sales almost tripled in the first week after the New Xbox Experience launched
• Avatar-specific titles like A Kingdom for Keflings registered the second-best first week of performance ever
• UNO which was updated to include in-game Avatars, saw a 650% increase in sales in just one day

All-in-all this sounds like a great initial result but (continue reading…)

I was cleaning out my storage closet over the weekend and, as I went through my piles of stuff, I realized how much of a pack rat I really am.  Before you get the wrong idea, I’m not any where near one of those hoarders you hear about on Dr. Phil, but I am the type of person that doesn’t dispose of a gadget if it still works.  The result is that I have many perfectly good electronic and computer devices that are stored away waiting for the right opportunity to be put back into action.  I also have some real duds that will never feel the warmth of an electrical outlet again… (continue reading…)

I read last week that Atlantic Records (owned by Warner Bros.) announced that it’s sales of MP3′s and ringtones have out-sold physical CD’s for the first time ever and that Warner Bros. as a whole brought in 27% of it’s revenue from digital sales.  While this is certainly a major milestone for this particular label, it comes as no surprise to me as I’ve watched the ongoing transformation of the music business.  I’ve always been a big music fan and, while I take comfort in having a physical copy of CDs, I have embraced digital music for its flexibility and portability.  But to a large extent, carrying a physical CD around has only been replaced with carrying your MP3 player around.  The holy grail for me has always been to replace this “sneakernet” with true music streaming within the home over my home network.  Most solutions that allow music streaming within the home consist of a few common elements:

1. Media server hardware.  This is the device on which your music resides and is most commonly your computer hard drive.
2. Media server software.  This is software that runs on your media server hardware and is responsible for organizing your music library and sending it to other connected devices.  Windows Vista comes with its own media server (Windows Media Connect) as do any number of applications that you may use to manage your music library on your computer including iTunes, Musicmatch and Rhapsody.
3. Digital media adapter (DMA).  This is the device that receives the music from your media server and plays the music on speakers.  The DMA typically comes with a remote control.
4. Connectivity.  The media server needs to be connected to the digital media adapter; typically over a wired or wireless network.

Over the years, I’ve tried many different devices and configurations before landing on my preferred solutions.  I’ve tried devices from the likes of Linksys, Dlink, Netgear, Microsoft, Roku, Sonos and iCube and there are new devices are coming out all the time.  A quick search on Amazon.com turned up additional products from Logitech, Philips, Escient, MediaGate, Sony, Olive, Denon, Apple and Creative Labs.  With all these alternatives out there, how does one choose?  Here were my considerations: (continue reading…)