Hidden Theater

One of the best decisions I ever made about my home theater was to move all the gear out of sight.  I know, I like to show off all the blinking lights and newest equipment to everyone, and I still can.  I just open the door it is hidden behind.  I read an article a year or two ago in Sound and Vision magazine by Theo Kalomirakis, a home theater designer.  He said to hide the gear and your room will look so much better.  So, I improvised on a rack and picked up an ir repeater to send the signals of my remote to the hidden gear.

It worked.  The room is much cleaner now with only speakers and display.  In fact the room seems bigger without everything in it, as well.  And there is definitely more wife approval going on.  Perhaps the best part is that new gear can always come in unseen by anyone who might think we don't need a new blu-ray player.

So, if you have the space and time to move your gear, try it.  Doing this simple process may make your theater look that much better.

Merry Christmas!

The presents are under the tree, or soon will be.  Your ready, I'm ready.   Good gosh, the kids are ready.  Before you rip the wrapping off and start connecting all the wires and installing the batteries,  I hope you take a moment, if only a moment, to spend with your family in remembering the reason of the season.

Merry Christmas!

Update Firmware on Home Theater Receiver

I had been having several problems with audio drop outs over hdmi on my reciever.  Every time I paused or rewound video from any source the reciever would lose the audio signal.  I could switch inputs to something else and then back and it would resync itself, but that had been getting old.  I had also used the toslink cables to bring in the audio, but that does not fix the fact that I needed hdmi for Dolby TruHD or DTS Master Audio from the blu-ray player.

I decided to check for a firmware update for my Harmon Kardon reciever.  It turns out there was an update out there.  I downloaded it and connected a cable from the laptop to the reciever and followed the directions.  It required me to press two buttons on the rear of the reciever several times as I clicked on the next step on the computer.  Eventually, as in 45 minutes later, I was done.

Now, I have no problems with annoying audio drop outs.  I would suggest that anyone who has a modern receiver that can have the firmware updated to check and see if a newer version is available.  You may be surprised with the results in what the manufacturer may have made since you purchased yours.

Ipad or Android Tablet?

I went to the local Apple store soon after the Ipad came out this year and decided I needed one.  I could really imagine taking it with me on trips, or just lounging around the house not having to boot up my laptop.  But with a starting price of $499, it sure was not in my budget.  I started seeing posts on Engadget about Android tablets and began to research them.  The low, low prices looked great.  Then I noticed different models showing up at K-mart and drugstores even.  Unfortunately, most of them maybe bargains at $100-150, but they just can't compete with an Ipad.

I bought a Sansa MP3 player once, and used it until it died.  It worked most of the time, but it didn't fully replace the Ipod that came before it.  When it did die, I went back and got another Ipod.  The same may go with Android tablets.  The Sansa was a bargain and it worked, even if it did so crudely.  To really make them go over, some major consumer electronics maker is going to have to make one.  And a major manufacturer will probably drive the price up closer to the Ipad; sorta how the Zune is positioned.  Good parts and service adds to the cost.

Will I buy a current, cheap Android tablet?  More than likely I will, if only to try it out and pass it along to my kids.  Then, maybe, I can get the real thing.

Popbox, Google TV, or Boxee Box?

I really wanted to upgrade my Popcorn Hour A-100.  It works great, I've set up a nice movie server via yamj.  It does not output audio over hdmi, so there is no hd-audio with this unit.  I had set my hopes on either the Boxee Box or Popbox earlier this year.  Both were postponed and then the Popbox came with more of a fizzle than pop.  My Popcorn Hour is a little buggy, not a lot of polish and it looked like the Popbox, with all the cool features, would be more of the same. So, my Christmas home theater plans started to include the Boxee Box.  Then the Google TV started making waves.  What's a guy to do?  I like the fact that the Google TV integrates well with Dish Network, but that does come with a monthly fee.  While even the name of Google sounds cool, I have not really scene anything yet about it that is cool as far as a media streamer goes.  I'm really hoping that the app store will have something when it opens next year. And what about the Boxee Box?  They finally got their act together and implemented a better chip from Intel so that it can really play HD video and HD audio files.  It came out this week, and immediately had the firmware updated.  I've read that internet content works great, but local content won't all play well.  More updating and more updating.  Until they get it working as it should I'll keep on updating my movie server on my Popcorn Hour and watch and wait.

Printing With Airport Express

One of my jobs at home is to answer the call of "hey, honey....." from my wife.  One of the more recent reasons for calling was that her computer had failed to print.  We've had printers hooked up in a variety of ways, and currently use an airport express as a print server.  We had been out of town for a few days previously and some storms had caused a power outage.

I began troubleshooting why it failed to print.  The other computer with access to the printer would not print, but I could stream music to the airport express.  Then I assumed the printer had failed, but that was not the case.  After opening up the airport utility program and comparing the ip address of it to the selected printer, I realized it had changed when the power was out.

I ended up installing a "new printer" on the new ip address to make it work.  When I finished I realized I could have probably changed the ip address on the airport express quicker.  I may try a static address on it if a power outage causes the same problem again.  And I'll know soon enough as I hear "hey, honey......"

Blu-ray Won't Play For Family Night

While I have extolled the virtues of blu-ray discs before, the great picture and sound, sometimes it really fails to live up to its potential.

Grandma picked up Toy Story 3 for the kids yesterday. A wonderful movie we had watched at the theaters and couldn't wait to try at home. I turned on our home theater system and loaded the disc. And waited. The disc loaded up to the point where you could select the audio language to be played. After selecting English, it hung up. I rebooted once, then twice before it would load up to the menu. Meanwhile, the kids were on the warpath.

DVD's never give any trouble. They just play. Sure, you have to sit through previews and FBI warnings, but you never wonder if the disc will load or not. Maybe this is a sign of getting older. My father can play an Ipod, but I'm sure he would have trouble getting any songs or video on it himself. No, I think in this case the technology is sometimes not up to the expectations of the consumer. We want it to work. We want it to play. We don't need firmware updates on consumer electronic devices to keep them going.

Okay, I'm done complaining now. Is the blu-ray player finished loading yet?