My Blog: June 2006

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

For many of my goals, I’ll probably take the “Disney” approach, which is to:

So first, I have to dream it.

Family room
- HD-TV, ability to view from back porch
- Closed caption, support realtime translation to other languages (in particular Japanese)
- HD-DVR, ability to archive to PC
- Archive (at least 1.6 TB)
- Backup of archive (another 1.6 TB)
- Central library for video, photo, music
- Region-free DVD player/recorder
- Internet radio
- Security camera
- Home automation
- Video/photo/audio streaming to any room / outdoors, separate control panel in each room
- Place-shifting (both inside of house and outside of house)
- Internet surfing, weather
- Remote control with display, also can be used for surfing
Media room
- HD Projector, 16×9 native mode
- Closed caption
- Approximately 120” screen
- Surround-sound
- Golf simulator :)
- Remote control with display, also can be used for surfing
Game room
- ???
Bedroom and other rooms
- Access to central library for video, photo, music
- Comfortable position for viewing from bed
- Home automation / security camera
- Internet surfing
Outdoors
- Projector for projecting “drive-in” movie on garage door
- Closed caption
- Appropriate screen for projector (sheet?)
- Outdoor sound system (speakers which look like old-time drive-in speakers)

Family Room

Item	Target year	Comments
HD-TV	Long term	Currently have 42" plasma but not true HDTV
Closed caption	3+	Currently have CC device but it frequently causes TV picture to become distorted
HD-DVR	?	Currently using ReplayTV, no HD recording. DNNA introducing TV card with ReplayTV software
Archive	<1	Currently over 1 TB of storage but need device with fan. Stardom Sohotank is good candidate, available from PC Pitstop ($129). Update: Bought it and it failed after 1 year + 4 months. I have now replaced it with a Buffalo TeraStation Pro II.
Backup of archive	3+	No backup. Need at least interim backup in short term--Media room PC?
Central library	?	Will this end up being the same as the Archive? Currently using media room PC
Region-free DVD player / recorder	?	Currently would prefer not to support BluRay and HD-DVD
Internet radio	?	Should be part of whole house streaming strategy
Security camera	?	Should be visible as part of HTPC set up, should be expandable to support additional cameras
Home automation	?	Should be integrated as part of HTPC
Streaming	?	Should be integrated as part of HTPC. Should each room have a PC? If each room has PC, this can replace ReplayTV unit
Place-shifting	?	For outside of house, is Slingbox the answer. For inside the house, a video streaming router...?
Internet surfing	?	Should be supported by HTPC
Remote	1	Should be able to support ReplayTV, also use to navigate PC. Gyroscopic mouse would be most intuitive for navigating

My Blog