Renew Your Mind » Home Theater

Jumping on the Tivo Bandwagon

Matt — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:46:30 +0000

TiVo unveiled the Series 3 HD DVR at CES. It has no less than six tuners, two which can be used at a time. Two analog over the air tuners, two HD over the air and two that support cablecard. This may be the HD DVR I’ve been waiting for as I’ve stopped using my ReplayTv’s since moving up to my 47″ HD Rear projection television. Hopefully Tivo will deliver on this one unlike the HD vaporware Tivo they they demoed two years ago. ETA late 2006… just in time for Christmas

Wireless Bridging – Belkin 7230-4

Matt — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 22:52:47 +0000

I successfully bridged two Belkin 7230-4 54G Wireless routers. Here’s what I did.

1) I connected the first router (A) to my computer and changed the LAN IP to 192.168.2.2 and turned DHCP off.
2) I went to the wireless bridge menu and entered the WLAN MAC address of the second router (B).
3) I then disconnected router (A) and connected router (B) to my computer and entered the WLAN MAC address of router (A).
4) I pinged 192.168.2.2 and it worked. Success!
5) I turned on WEP 128 bit on both routers and pinged 192.168.2.2 for verification. Success!

Here is a link for more info about the Belkin Router

The Eagle has landed…

Matt — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 23:00:33 +0000

It has arrived and it looks fantastic. I purchased my Panasonic 47×54 from OneCall and received excellent service. So far I’ve only done the basic calibrations using my Avia Home Theater Calibration DVD. My only complaint is that SD doesn’t … Continue reading →

Firefly – Season One

Matt — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:44:53 +0000

I watched all 14 episodes of Firefly over the weekend. When Firefly was originally aired on Fox I saw one episode (The Train Job) and didn’t really get into it. I just thought it was western set in space and couldn’t identify with the characters. I ended up watching, “John Doe” that season as it had a close resemblance to one of my favorite shows, “The Pretender.” I think Fox made a big mistake by not showing the pilot episode first. After watching the Pilot I could better identify with the characters. The series ended up being much more than I expected. My only complaint was that the Chinese was horrible (my wife who speaks mandarin could understand less than half because the accents were all off) and if the cultures were so Asian and Western influenced, how come there were hardly any Asians? I enjoyed the series a lot and was glad that it didn’t have a hanging ending before being cancelled (like John Doe). Fortunately, there will be a movie coming out next year (April 22, 2005) called, “Serenity.” I hope the movie will tie up the loose ends or build enough momentum to kick off the series again.

Free Music

Matt — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 16:00:46 +0000

Despite all the press about illegal peer to peer sharing of legal music, there is a growing number of legal music (mp3) that is being offered on the internet. One genre that has definitely benefited from this is techno. Artists can now make mixes and release them to a world wide audience both quickly and without much cost. DJPi and DJDoboy are two artists that I’ve been following. Both DJ Doboy and DJ Pi have embraced using bittorrent as a distribution tool and DJDoboy also streams music over the web. If you are looking for some high-energy tunes to listen to at work you should check out these artists.

Setting Goals

Matt — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:31:01 +0000

So what’s the one item left to upgrade in my home theater? Well, if you’ve been to my house you’d know I need (well want) a new television set. Right now I have a 10+ year old 27 inch CRT set. Our couch is about 10 feet away so I think a 47 inch widescreen set should be about right. When I watch widescreen movies, my 27 inch set shrinks to a ~21 inch widescreen set. The Panasonic 47×54 is tops on my list right now for it’s price/performance ratio. I better start skipping lunches .

Was it worth it?

Matt — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 16:44:18 +0000

It has been eight months now since I’ve constructed my 15 inch cubed DIY Subwoofer based on a Stryke Audio AV12MKII and a 350 Watt Rythmik Amp. I used 3/4 inch MDF for the construction and used internal bracing. The subwoofer takes some effort to move it around for being a relatively small subwoofer (well at least in comparison to the beasts I have seen other people build). This replaced an Energy 8 inch ported subwoofer. I can’t express how much better my DIY subwoofer is. It is louder, more defined and has much more impact in my room. It is a sealed subwoofer, and it sounds fantastic with music as well. I’d highly recommend that anyone looking for a high end subwoofer without the high end price and is willing to put in a little time should looking into building one yourself. I built mine over a weekend. Here’s a rundown of my costs.

1 Sheet of MDF: $20
Wood Glue: $3
Styke Audio AV12MkII: $150
Rythmik 350 Watt Subwoofer Amplifier: $135
Flat Black Paint (2 Cans): $2
Truck Bed Liner (1 Can): $8
Speaker Wire/Connectors: $2
Drywall Screws: $4
Watching LOTR with a killer sub: Priceless

Total Cost: $324

Note: I used a circular saw to cut up the MDF, a jig saw to cut the holes, a sander, and clamps to hold the box together while the glue dried.