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  1. V

    FYI: "Intro to HA" webinars if you want to learn.

    Sorry for the delay, wife went out of town this weekend and I opted to take the young'uns out to eat for every meal rather than cook. Plus, destroying the house while mommy was out seemed to be the right thing to do:) I haven't heard of that package. Honestly, what I'm realizing is that the...
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    FYI: "Intro to HA" webinars if you want to learn.

    There's a chatroom here? Oh dear god. I can feel the time getting sucked away already. Thanks for the heads up.
  3. V

    FYI: "Intro to HA" webinars if you want to learn.

    Hi folks. If you haven't heard, my passion over the past few years has been to integrate all the various home subsystems into a common integrated system. At this point, i've got lighting, security, whole house audio, video distribution, irrigation, hvac, security cameras, and a few more areas...
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    Switchbox for RCA cables?

    Sorry, not clueing in - do you want to send 2ch or multichannel to your receiver? If your soundcard has digital out, and your receiver has digital in, you could just send the sound over the digital channels and not deal with all those cables. I have my HTPC double-connected: I use 1) the...
  5. V

    HTPC, necessary?

    Sorry, just noticed this post. Yes, you could use an IR receiver ie USBUIRT to receive the IR signals, and have the system behave differently. My warning is that my screens are designed to be used with a mouse. I don't actually use a touchscreen or tablet in my HomeTheater, I use an MX850...
  6. V

    HTPC, necessary?

    Nah, cool is when you can use your PDA cellphone to do it from a restaurant 100miles away from your house, so you can turn on the stereo and DVD player, and kick off a DVD for the grandparents when they babysit your kids. Or, when they call you to say "it won't work", you can respond with "don't...
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    HTPC, necessary?

    To me, one of the most major benefits of an HTPC that an xBox/etc will NEVER be able to have is the ability to control my non-computer equipment over RS232. I say RS232 b/c it's a bidirectional interface where you can both control and see the current status of your equipment, as opposed to IR...
  8. V

    PC to Component Video output for HDTV hookup

    I have an ATI 9800Pro and bought the ATI purple dongle that has a component out adapter. Pretty well regarded, nowadays considered mid-end.
  9. V

    PC to Component Video output for HDTV hookup

    That's a pretty slow video card. Is replacing it with something that can do component out an option? If so, that's your best bet. I believe nowadays you should try to spend around $150-$200 to get a good video card that does component out.
  10. V

    HTPC - what do you have?

    For me, it was ease of use, flexibility, and extensibility. I built an HTPC b/c I was sick of learning how to use all the dang devices in my house, each through a different program or interface. Furthermore, I decided that the existing systems had awful UI's, or were too limited in what they...
  11. V

    PLease help! My Videos folder just disapeared into thin air

    odd - everything else is still there? And it's not in your recycle bin?
  12. V

    I Love reading Dell Tech Support horror stories :)

    With all due respect, it's not the location that's an issue. It's the training. Have you tried asking anyone at a brick&mortar store a question lately? And I don't mean immigrants, I mean the native born folks. I was in a Home Depot the other day, i won't recount the story as it's...
  13. V

    any reason not to go all in wonder card?

    That's a nice machine you got - why not just slap a TV tuner in there?
  14. V

    any reason not to go all in wonder card?

    Ease/Cost of upgrade path: If you want to upgrade your video card to get better picture quality, you need to upgrade your tuner, which is probably working fine.
  15. V

    y-pb-pr compatible graphics card?

    I don't do it, but in theory it shouldn't. Get a decent card, though.
  16. V

    y-pb-pr compatible graphics card?

    that's the regular component out, right? Most ATI cards can do that via the purple dongle/VGA->component adapter they sell. I know the 9800 Pro can.
  17. V

    Dorm ideas?

    A strategically placed copy of "Remains of the Day" or other chick flicks, and a copy of "U-571", so the dorm babes can realize you've got a soft side and a manly side. Ahhh, the first few months of college. I vaguely remember it. Or at least I think I do...
  18. V

    Dorm ideas?

    FYI: You don't need a special DVD drive. Any one will do. Just turn it down to 1X if you're doing live DVD playback so that it's quiet. If you're going to rip, get a few big hard disks. If you want it to look super-nice, get a front-end like xLobby with some cool sklins. It's free, which is...
  19. V

    ViewSonic Airpanel as a web browsing tablet? Better solutions?

    Sorry, can't help you there. I usually leave it plugged in, rarely take it out to roam. Try the CQC forum (www.charmedquark.com) - there's tons of us using it on there for HA/HT purposes. Perhaps someone else has an opinion.
  20. V

    ViewSonic Airpanel as a web browsing tablet? Better solutions?

    Is it just for the web? How much typing versus clicking? I have a Fujitsu 3400 10" P3-400 that would be fine for just browsing or as a control interface for your HA/HT system. Upside is that it's a real PC, P3-400, now down to $160 on eBay, so it's cheap and re-usable in other areas. Heck...
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    What can you do with an old PC?

    You are all either single or terribly nice people. Stack up all your old PCs in the closet, right where your wife will get irritated. Then, one day, get rid of all of them, and get a nice new expensive one instead. If she asks why, tell her that you were just following her shoes & handbags...
  22. V

    Best option for connecting my HTPC to my system?

    s-video = super super super super bad. it's 480i, it will look AWFUL. But the good news is that the 9700 Pro does have a component dongle, buy it here for $30. Hook up the HTPC via digital audio out to the receiver, component to either the receiver or the TV, whichever you want.
  23. V

    Ragingly successful remote Home Theater control

    Holy cow! I worked with Mark Stega [CQC guy who wrote the DotNetViewer, i *think* he's the CEO] to optimize this. He sent me a new build, screw going down to text-based stuff, he optimized the DotNetViewer (pda viewer app, aka DNV) to allow the user to specify the timeperiod that it uses to not...
  24. V

    Replacement power supply needed

    Well, i don't know that much about these things, and you really should doub-check this unless you don't mind accidentally frying the enclosure: The random bits i've learned during my whole HA adventure is that you can go to radioshack, get a wallwart that outputs the right voltage [odd that...
  25. V

    Ragingly successful remote Home Theater control

    Actually I hear that Verizon's network is much faster than Cingular. Can't be worse - i'm only getting 5-10kbps over EDGE. Get a PDA with the right OS, stay the heck away from webserver access or logmein - too insecure for my preferences.
  26. V

    Ragingly successful remote Home Theater control

    Actually, with that PDA and the Cingular network, I don't have to be anywhere close to the chair. I kicked off a DVD for the kids from a movie theater 100 miles away. Plus, I had the opportunity to monitor which room they were in via the motion sensors. (They're 4 & 2, and were at home being...
  27. V

    Ragingly successful remote Home Theater control

    I have a Cingular 8125 PDA cellphone that I got primarily for work purposes, but secondarily to control/monitor the house while I'm away. Had some RAGING success yesterday, thought I'd share. Wife & I had a last minute out-of-town trip to Napa Valley as wife's folks were willing to watch...
  28. V

    Using my Cingular PDA to control my house...

    Thanks. The wife was pretty juiced when I told her about the "turn on the HVAC from this when we're 15mins from home" thing. I also realized I could install the CQC Desktop DotNetViewer at her parent's house. She goes there 1-2x/week with the kids, so now she can just use her parents PC to do...
  29. V

    Using my Cingular PDA to control my house...

    Got a Cingular 8125 PDA/cellphone today with the unlimited PDA data plan [ie, blackberry plan equivalent]. This is mostly for work purposes, but wife also wants a way to monitor house/CCTV away from home, probably to make sure I didn't screw up the Elk security panel install. I was...
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    Oooh, pretty: Single view of what CD/DVD/XM is on in the house

    Well, technically I rip IFO/VOB, but same theory. That's where TheaterTek comes into play, and why i was so excited about their IP control. Are you talking about using something like daemon tools/alcohol to mount images/etc for playback? If so, i'm a little skittish on that as i haven't heard...
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