A Networked Home

Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category

For a while now I have wanted to add a media center PC to my entertainment center rack in the living room.  As more and more content has become available online that desire has grown - Netflix on-demand, Hulu, etc.  Not to mention a few years ago I ripped all of our 600+ CD’s to an external hard drive and I really wanted to have that easy digital access with my Yamaha A/V Receiver and speakers.

Recently I made up my mind to finally take the plunge with an affordable DIY version of the Media Center.

I began by scanning Ebay for an existing, working box with the one criteria being the shape - a desktop instead of a tower.  This would make it much easier to fit into the rack since it has the basic stereo component shape.

I ended up bidding on, and winning, a Compaq Pentium 4 with a fresh install of XP Pro.  It has 512mb of RAM and a 40GB hard drive.  On-board sound and video round out this basic package.

Like I said, the important thing here was the form, so now the real work begins…

I have a new Dell laptop running Windows Vista and a desktop running XP Pro.  Everything was going well on my network until I tried to send a Word doc from the laptop to the printer which is hooked to the desktop.  No luck.

I figured I needed to “install” the printer on the laptop.  So, I ckicked on “Add a new printer” and chose the “wireless” option.  Silly me!  Imagine, trying to use logic in a Windows enviroment!

As it turns out you have to throw logic out the window on this one.

• Choose “Add a local printer”.
• Click “Create a new port”.
• The default is “Local port” and you need to stick with that one.
• Click “Next”.
• A box appears asking for the port name (printer address).  Type “\\computer name/printer name” (without the quotation marks - in my case \\Desktop-1\Stylus-C86)

And you are done.  This worked perfectly for me but a couple of other people did still have printer issues.

I recently received a new Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop (running Windows Vista) along with the set of travel adapters (plugs for the car, airplane, etc.) and the Co-Pilot Navigator GPS hardware and software for laptops.

I have begun trying all of this out and will be posting a review of each item soon.  For now, I will give a quick first impression.

The laptop and Vista are both solid and Vista is much less annoying than I was afraid it would be.

The travel pack is as-advertised but also a little confusing due to lack of documentation.

The Co-Pilot Navigator is fantastic based on the first couple of test.

I have been hearing the radio ads recently for FreeLaptopReward.com. After hearing the ads enough I decided to give it a run and see how many hoops I’d have to jump through.

First, it asks which laptop you would like to receive and gives you 5 choices. Next it asks your choice of several $200 gas cards.

This is how it works. You are presented with a series of advertisers and asked to click a Yes or No radio button. You need to say yes to a certain number of these (in various categories) in order to proceed.

In case you missed it, here’s the fine print in a size you can actually read:

“*This promotion is conducted exclusively by FreeLaptopReward. To receive the gift for this promotion you must: 1) register with valid information; 2) complete the user survey; 3) complete at least 2 Silver, 2 Gold and 6 Platinum offers. Available offers will vary and some offers may require a purchase to qualify. Receipt of your item requires compliance with offer terms, including: age and residency requirements; registration with valid email address, shipping address and contact phone number; completion of user survey and sponsor promotions. Upon valid completion of all Program Requirements we will ship your item to the shipping address you provided. Unless otherwise indicated, participation eligibility is restricted to US residents, 18 and over. Void where prohibited. “

So, you need to say yes to a total of 10 vendors. Will these cost you money? In most cases, yes. How much? I can’t say for sure. In most cases you will receive something for your money spent - such as the old Combia Records deal.

If you fail to choose 10 vendors then you will be asked to choose from a lower tier prize - a $50 gift card from one of several stores.

I chose to back out at this point because I didn’t need the laptop and I didn’t want to eventually have to make all of the phone calls to cancel all of the “free” trials and to pay for the non-trial items.

My conclusions:

• Can you actually get a “free” laptop? Probably.
• Will it cost you less than buying one? Maybe.
• Is it worth the time and trouble? I doubt it.

A while back I posted news of the pending release of the Ziova CS615.  To date, there has been no other news about the product.

News on the Ziova website was last updated December 26, 2007 announcing the CS615 with a release date of March 2008 for the US.  Since then there has been no update.  I am trying to contact a company rep and I will keep everyone posted.

The standard wireless router comes with 4 wired ports on the back (plus the line-in).  For most people this is plenty.  But if you need more, or need more than one wired connection in a different part of the home, then you are a candidate for a Wired Network Switch.

This is a simple “dumb” box with multiple ethernet ports on the back.  Any, and all, of the ports can function as in or out.  You can run an ethernet cable out of your wireless router to the wired switch.  You can plug into any of the ports and all of the other ports will then become outs to wherever you need connectivity.

I recently installed one in my basement and ran a connection off of my wireless router  in the office down to it.  I then used the switch to run two new connections to my living room - one to a media center PC and one to the DirecTV DVR.

Personally, I used a D-Link DES-1105.  There was absolutely no setup of any kind needed.  I simply plugged in the ethernet cables and it all worked.  The best part was that it was $9.99 via TigerDirect!

Video-On-Demand

Yes, now DirecTV is entering the VOD fray. I don’t know if it’s available on the new non-HD boxes, but we have the option on the HD DVR HR20-100S.

It says it’s in Beta (what isn’t these days). But it looks fairly smooth and there’s a LOT of content available.

So, first you need an internet connection for your DirecTV box. As far as I know you have to use ethernet, but since there’s 2 USB ports it may be worth a try to insert a wireless adapter. Be warned that the manual says the USB is “for future use”, but it also says that about the 2 ethernet ports (why 2?).

I ran a Cat5 cable up through the floor to the box from a wired network switch mounted in the basement. You can probably also use ethernet over power line though.

The “VOD” shows up prominently in the main menu and you can sort programs in a variety of ways - categories such as Family and Children, Sports, Movies, etc are then broken down into smaller categories.

You simply click on a show and then choose Add To Queue. When the download is complete you can watch the program and then save or delete it. I downloaded a couple of short kids programs and it was fairly quick. There is also HD content which I suspect is not so quick!

Big Problems!

We are paying an additional $9.95 per month to receive HD broadcasts. I had assumed that would include things such as Discovery Channel HD Theater, but whenever I went to this (channel 76) it was blank. So, my wife called DirecTV and was told that this channel, along with 4 others, were part of a “special” HD package that would be an additional $4.95 per month! But, lucky us, there is a 3 month free trial so she agreed.

When I got home from work I tried accessing these channels. The info bar gave the channel name and the show currently on, bu the screen was blank. I tried several channels with the same result.

We called DirecTV. After walking through the basic tech-support (is it plugged in, etc.) they had us reset the unit. When that failed they had us reset the satellite (to a version that we don’t have!).

When the satellite reset failed it took out all of our channels! At that point they recommended a service call which would be $80.00 to fix the problem they had just created! Then they told us we could get the service call for $20.00 if we agreed to the service plan which will be an additional $5.95 per month!

I reset the satellite to the original configuration, and we now have our channels back, but now the additional HD channels we couldn’t see, but at least told us what they were and what was on, say “channel not available”!

The technician is coming the day after tomorrow, but I have no intention of paying for DirecTV’s incompetence!

I will keep you all updated!

UPDATE 2/29/08

After several lengthy phone calls to DirecTV they have decided that my satellite dish is not compatible with HD. So, they are sending out a rep tomorrow to install a new dish.

UPDATE 3/3/08

DirecTV came and installed the new dish and, voila, we have all of the HD! Now, I am not entirely letting them off of the hook here. After all, they knew what kind of dish we had when they let us order HD and they didn’t say a word!

For those about to take the plunge - YOU NEED THE 5 LNB DISH!

Interface 

I have had a few days now using the DirecTV HD DVR HR20-100s. First, I have to point out, this is NOT TiVo. Why DirecTV is still not working with TiVo is a whole different story.

That said, I have to say I am getting used to the new interface. It is not as intuitive, but it is not difficult to learn and it’s fairly easy to use once you do get the hang of it. Here are some thoughts:

• “Season Pass” is available and fairly easy to set up.
• The “Play List” is straight-forward and is similar to the “Folder” set-up in TiVo.
• The Fast-Forward is not as smooth.
• Surprisingly, a 30-second-skip is available.
• You can search for shows via several different searches, such as Title, Keyword, Actor, Etc.

Next up, I will follow up on the interface and also begin looking at the available ports.

Hardware 

I received the DirecTV HD receiver and have had 24 hours to play around with it.

At this point I don’t, yet, want to cover the interface because it has not been enough time to really get into it. I will say that it’s no TiVo, but I think I can get used to it.

For now I will cover the hardware itself. The box is fairly small and very light. It, surprisingly, came with 1 SATA port, 2 USB ports (1 rear and 1 front) and 1 ethernet port. In the manual these were all listed as “For future use”, but the ethernet, at least, is already active. I looked at the Network setup on-screen, but had not yet tried to set it up. All ports included:

Off Air Cable (1)
Satellite Cable (2)
Phone (1)
Component (1)
Composite Video (2)
Composite Audio (2)
Digital Audio-optical (1)
S-Video (1)
HDMI (1)
USB (2)
Ethernet (2)
SATA (1)

It came with all of the cables necessary - HDMI, Component, Composite and S-Video.

The hook-up (I used HDMI) was simple and then a quick call to DirecTV to activate was also smooth.

I have begun setting up my old “Season Passes” and figuring out the basics of navigating the interface. That is where I will pick up next time.