Saturday, December 25, 2010

A sound solution

I finally came up with a fix for my troublesome receiver... replaced it!
I went with the Sony HT-CT150.
That's right, a sound bar. So far so good. It's a muuuuuch cleaner installation. Fewer wires because it actually supports HDMI video and audio, and oh yeah, IT's ONE FRIGGIN SPEAKER!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Rabbit Ears!

I love seeing articles on the rise of OTA... If only I had something to do with it.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/business/media/06rabbitears.html

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hulu+ coming to roku

Looks like Hulu Plus is making it's way onto the roku boxes (which there are like 3 different models of now, totally annoying). I personally haven't gone for the $9.99 a month subscription despite not having cable. I'm still considering it, but i really don't know how different from regular old Hulu it actually is.

If I could get a higher quality stream from netflix on my mac mini, I'd probably drop the Roku box altogether, so unless Hulu Plus is totally awesome on Roku, I'm not sure I'd ever use it

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Plex/Nine!

Plex/Nine has been released, a day early (maybe 2 days, I wasn't looking yesterday)!
For any of you current users, you're probably very excited for all the new changes in Alexandria.
There are all sorts of streamy goodness, including an iOS app (like $5 I think).

So here's a link to some nerdiness that I don't understand.

And here's a link to Plex: http://www.plexapp.com/

Half-assed review to come after the break, which might be weeks

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Someone's listening!



I'm often afraid that my conversations can be heard through the mic I have on my mac... well I know it's not a matter of can, but a matter if.
Putting big-brother style paranoia aside, apple as released what I've hoped and dreamed for...
the "magic trackpad"... taking the track pad from the macbook pro and portableizing it.
stupid name is in line with apple's latest line of dumb names... that being said, I'm headed to the apple store at lunch time... I think I'll have Calexico




Thursday, July 1, 2010

HuluPlus

Hulu is going to offer up a new service... Hulu Plus
Maybe the plus comes from: Ad supported + $10 a month
still, interesting idea...
•available on iphone, ipad, some tv's and blu-ray players, PS3, XBOX360, and hulu desktop i guess.
•HD avaiable, which I would love to see
•Full current seasons for, i dunno, most of what they have i guess
•Past seasons available... sounds nice. I'd like to watch Modern family

http://www.hulu.com/plus


Saturday, June 12, 2010

World Cup

So one of the big statements against getting rid of cable has been sports related... here's how I'm dealing with the world cup.
Today's USA vs. England (1-1 btw baby) aired on ABC 7 in HD, so that was great... I'm not positive that their will be another... however, if you're ok with watching it in spanish (let's face it, it's waaay more exciting in spanish), most games look like they're on ch 68-2 which is, i dunno univision or something.
otherwise, you can watch online at:

or, if you happen to be in Europe (most countries, it would seem), try:

if you've got access to espn3.com, (sorry, not TWC) they've got you covered

Soon, I'll be testing out slingbox set up from my parents house in staten island... it's kinda cheating but whatevs

so looks like there are a few games on ABC (HD), all other games are on 68-2 en espaƱol

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Streaming with your wii cont.

The disc to stream netflix to wii came in the mail today. I don't think I'll ever use it (no HD support), but I just like to be able to do it. Pics after the break

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Those damned black bars

Since my initial htpc setup, I've had an overscan / underscan issue. I was very excited about snow leopard's 720p display setting, but it yielded the same results... 1 inch black bar all around with overscan unchecked, way way way too big when overscan checked (too overscanned?).
I had read about switchResX and DisplayConfigX.... also attempted and failed to get it to work several times.
2 days ago, I spent the entire day, trying to get a nice full screen going... end result, I got a lot closer than ever before with switchresx, only problem was the screen was shifted to the left about 40px and to the top about 8px...I tried to reposition (horizontal and vertical, front porch and back porch), and can't seem to get it to move.
I eventually left it at 720p default... but I posted the question on 123macmini.co, I was advised to try connecting via VGA... I suppose I'll try it and see how it goes... but I'm concerned about sacrificing quality (VGA analog, but I think supports 720p... vs. DVI-HDMI, which is all digital)... I'll have to "borrow" a cable from work... will keep you updated... in the mean time, any advise from my loyal followers?

Friday, March 5, 2010

Remote Buddy, ol' pal

iospirit.com makes some really impressive stuff. There's a plug-in i've been using for some time, it's essentially an apple remote fix for snow leopard; candelair.
I recently downloaded the demo to Remote Buddy... really powerful. what really got me was... a few month ago, while looking for a wireless mouse, all i really wanted was something that was like a wii controller.... turns out, remote buddy figured this out a few years ago... how did I miss that? anyway, this requires more testing and possibly a wireless wii sensor... will follow up eventually.
In the mean time, enjoy this...

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Logitech's TouchMouse iPhone app

Looks like Logitech as their own FREE iPhone app that allows it to act as a trackpad/keyboard... Stupid Air Mouse...
anyway, it's called TouchMouse... I shall test it tonight.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

stream with your wii

Netflix streaming is coming to Wii in early spring 2010!
It's going to be one of those, needs a disc to run it, joints.
this could allow me to ditch my roku player... however, Wii isn't HD.


http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/13/wii-streams-netflix-coming-spring-world-rejoices/

Saturday, January 2, 2010

C'mon Fox, quit TWC, don't be a pussy

Bahhaha, oh man, it would be friggin hilarious if TimeWarner no longer provided Fox. Oh and sucks for Cablevisioners... no Food Network or HGTV



Et tu, NYT?

So New York Times... that's um, pretty cool that you did an article on a couple that have given up cable. Yeah I mean, look, they've got a pretty dope setup. A mac mini, an xbox 360 (I know i don't have it yet.... budgetary restraints), controlled by an ugly mouse. Oh and um, using boxee and hulu desktop eh? would have never thought of that one...

I knew I should have taken that left toyn at alba-koi-key

There's been another move in my apartment. For the, I don't know 7th time in our 3.5 years in this apartment, my lovely girlfriend has decided we needed to move things around again. This time we ended up with the antenna on the opposite side of the apartment. It's sort of pointing east, which according to that website I found months ago, is not quite NorthWest. But... reception has been better than ever. coo...

Shooting stuff and streaming Netflix!

I've been thinking for a while now... how can I stream Netflix and shoot zombies (among other things) all in one unit? The answer is Xbox360. I've seen it in action at my future brother in law's, and it's really well done. I'd be able to get rid of my Roku box and give me something more to do while not watching live TV.
PS3 as of Nov 10th or so, can also stream Netflix (though I've heard it's a bit of a PITA, will confirm later) it involves loading a disc and installing stuff. It would also give me the ability to watch blu-ray (though my need for quality is slowly fading) and I would feel better about microsoft not getting my money.... no left4dead 2 though... oh and it costs a little more I think.
Obviously, I've done my research.

The Boxee Box (should have posted around Dec 7th 2009)

to be release quarter 2 of 2010
in collaboration with some jerks, blah blah blah... bottom line, looks awesome, but do i need yet another component? probably not, but i suppose if you dont have a HTPC, this little guy (abbout the size of a coke can), could fit conveniently... nowhere

Receiver Woes

It didn't seem so apparent at first, but sometimes when I'd switch to my HTPC set up, I saw some flickering... usually it would go away on it's own, but I found more often then not, that I would have to restart my mac and the flickering would stop. I assumed it was something related to the mac, but after a slight setup change, I noticed the same flickering from my Roku box. Which leads me to believe my receiver id F'd.

Now this isn't something new to me, I did buy it as an open box item from best buy... and it has already had it's share of issues, often not responding to volume control or sometimes not turning off... Sent an email to HarmanKardon, we'll see what they have to say... Sigh.

Wow, it's been a while. Um, I got a mouse...

So it's been about 6 months since I last wrote. Not too much change and still doing fine, 7 months cable free. I did finally get a wireless mouse... went for the Logitech MX AirMouse (pretty sexy, yeah?). Works in the air and/or on a desk... pretty sweet. It can get a little awkward controlling it in the air, there's no absolute space. I was sort of hoping it would be more like a Wii controller, but hey, it does the job.

I still think my ideal cursor mover would be a wireless version of Wacom's Bamboo Touch... or maybe it would be sort of like the touch pad of the latest macbook pro. I want zoom and all those fun iPhone like gestures!

I considered The Loop for a short while after reading an article in NYT (which I'll have post about later), but the decided it was stupid... also ugly.