Michael's Blog:

Fly a lot ? Need a decent seat ? Seatguru is the place

Funny and great initiative – www.seatguru.com. Find the best seats on planes before you book…..

Posted on 23/04/2009 at 06:13 in Fun Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Cute new Twitter client..

www.digitweet.com

Posted on 20/04/2009 at 17:48 in Fun Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Our new Multimedia House – The Story – Part 3

First of all – my apologies for the people waiting for the next episodes in the story of my house. Have been a bit busy, some vacations and busy at work. And then things slip. But here we go again….

Last episode I explained the setup in diagrams and promised to spend an episode on the hardware used. As I mentioned before I wanted everything to be standard industry hardware and software. No exotic flavors of Linux or other non-manageable stuff. So this is where I ended up to match the diagrams and have installed at home:

Start with the basement setup – actually everything used in the first floor is located in the basement, except for the screens and remotes. Did this for sound and noise reasons and works out beautifully. Including remote controls which use USB over UTP to go to the basement located devices.

Basement Setup

Cable Modem is a basic cable modem doing nothing else than internet. No DHCP or whatever.
Patch Panel is a HP Procurve 3500yl switch – I know, a bit of an overkill but still handy – does Power Over Ethernet which is useful. But you can do with less if needed.
The 2 Media Centers run on Windows Vista Ultimate (currently they are on Windows 7 build 7077 for testing purposes).
The Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo HomeServer runs Windows Home Server SP2.
Wiring is CAT6 STP for performance reasons – I don’t want to run HD television over wireless and have chosen to have my full house cabled.
Internet is plain Telenet Turbo “something”.
Satellite set is using 2 FireDTV external FireWire tuners connected to TV Vlaanderen Digital Television.

Ground Floor Setup

1 Media Center Extender – LinkSys DMA2200 (which is in the basement actually and cabled using HDMI cable)
Amplifier is a Harman Kardon Digital Amplifier, capable of multi-room support and powering both the kitchen and the living independently.
The touch screen in the living is a plain 7” standard touch screen which is attached to the Media Center as a dual screen using a standard VGA connection in the basement and allows you to play music without turning on your Television. Energy wise.

First Floor Setup

1 Media Center Extender – LinkSys DMA2200 attached to a screen connected to the network.
Xbox 360 used as a gaming console and Media Center Extender connected to the network and a screen.

Remotes I use are a Philip SRM7500 and a Microsoft Wireless Media Keyboard 7000 (Bluetooth) for typing if needed.

Again, the goal was to use standard stuff. And I’m pretty much there I think. The proof of the pudding is in the fact that I upgraded all to Windows 7 build 7077 last week and it works flawlessly.

Next post will be about the Domotica integration. A sneak preview – I’m using BTICINO MyHome everywhere and have this integrated into Media Center. Meaning we can control all our house from the screen if needed.

Posted on 20/04/2009 at 15:25 in Fun Stuff, Media at Home, Microsoft Related | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)