Harmony 900
As I have mentioned before, we like the Harmony line of remotes, and have owned several of the models. The buttons on the Harmony 890 remote that we have been using for the past several years started to fail. Even though they don’t seem to last, the Harmony remote line contains the best universal remote controls.
I decided to get the Harmony 900
The Harmony 900 uses the same web base configuration tool as the other remotes, but unfortunately I had to create a new account for this new remote as the tool wouldn’t allow me to add the new remote to my existing account. This required me to re-add all of my devices.
The IR repeater that is included in the Harmony 900 is different than the one included in the 890. The IR repeaters include with the 890, could be attached directly to the devices to be controlled. This helped improve the reliability of the remote signal reception. The Harmony 900′s IR repeaters are meant to sit on the shelf with the component itself. This is not ideal for furnature where there isn’t a door covering the equipment. In my case, I had to disable the internal IR receiver on my Media Center PC, and use an external USB IR receiver located right next to the IR repeater.
So far the remote is working pretty well for us. My wife is pleased as well, especially since pressing the buttons actually work.
Network reorganization
I had been having problems with the reliablity of the Media Center Extender connection to the Media Center PC, from our bedroom. Often, playback would pause, and I would have to reconnect to the PC. This continued to happen even after switching to the Xbox.
I decide to reorganize my home network, to try and improve things. I switched things around so all of the media related devices are on the same Gigabit ethernet switch. Hopefully, this will help prevent bandwidth contention, when attempting to watch television or movies.
Next time I climb up to the attic, I need to label each of the ethernet cables, so I can know which room and port each go to. Currently, it takes me a few tries to determine what is connected to each.
Xbox 360 in bedroom
A while ago, I mentioned that my wife bought me the new slim Xbox 360. I was trying to decide where I wanted to set up the old Xbox. We have been using Linksys Media Center Extenders on each of the other TVs around the house, to give them access to the content on the Media Center. But the Linksys extenders do not support other content like Netflix streaming.
I decided to set up the Xbox in our bedroom. (And got the OK from my wife too.) I have configured it to automatically start up in Media Center Extender mode when the Xbox starts up. Since I want to access our Netflix streaming account from the Xbox, I created a Xbox Live Gold account for the Xbox, and associated my Netflix account to this Xbox account.
With this setup, I can access:
- Live and Recorded TV from the Media Center
- Netflix streaming content
- DVD content
- Content from the Zune Video marketplace
- Hulu, Youtube, and other internet streaming content through the PlayOn server running on the Media Center
Also, we will be able to play games on this Xbox. (Most likely only when my wife has her woman’s group over)
HDHomeRun for Media Center
As I have mentioned before, I am looking to cancel our cable TV service. This weekend I purchased a HDHomeRun Dual
I installed it in our attic, where our networking panel is, and the installation was very easy. All I had to do was connect the antenna cables and connect the tuner to the network. When I installed the software on one of my computers, I was able to scan for channels and make sure that the antenna was pointed in the right direction.
I was then able to install the tuner software on our Windows 7 Media Center. The tuners were instantly recognized, and the Microsoft’s program guide had all of the data for those channels. The quality of video is very good. I can tell that the video is not as compressed as it is through Comcast. Read more
Setting up D-Link DAP-2553
Our Airport base stations were starting to die. Every once in a while, the basestations would still broadcast the SSID, and wireless devices could still connect to them but wouldn’t transmit any data to our wired network. Since this was happening to both our Airport Express and Airport Extreme base stations, I assume that there was something, either on the wired network, or some RF interference that was causing them to lock up.
I took this opportunity to upgrade to a 802.11n base station, so I bought the D-Link DAP-2553
iPhone 3.0 and USASpec adapter
As I have written in my previous posts, I have been pretty happy with the iPhone 3.0 update. I have been experiencing one annoying problem.
When I connect my iPhone 3.0 to my USASpec PA15-HON2 adapter that is installed in my car, the iPhone stops playing audio and the screen flashes for about a minute, before audio starts playing. Here are the steps that I use where the problems occurs for me
- Play a track/playlist
- Connect the iPhone to the dock
- => The Radio switches to the cd changer input (correct for my setup)
- => The screen in the iPhone continues to flash the iPod graphic for about a minute
- => After about a minute a different track starts playing
Once music is playing, the interface works perfectly. It will continue to work, until I disconnect and reconnect the iPhone.
I think that the iPhone 3.0 software added some addition scanning that happens when connected to this adapter.
Hulu Desktop
Hulu has released Hulu Desktop in beta. This application, for Mac OS X and Windows, allows you to watch Hulu content with only using a remote for control.
I think that this is an interesting move on their part, and you can see why they wanted to stop Boxee from showing Hulu content. If they will also create a Windows Media Center plugin, that would allow this content to be viewed within the Media Center UI, I will be that much closer to canceling Comcast cable service.
[via Mashable]
Netflix on Windows Media Center
Microsoft just released the ability to stream Netflix movies to Vista Media Center. This is something that Microsoft had implemented in the New Xbox Experience last year.
These implementations allow you to play videos that are on your Netflix instant queue. It looks like Microsoft did a more functional implementation for Media Center, than what exists on the Xbox . In addition to letting you play content that is already on your queue, you can browse the whole library of videos available for streaming. Also, you can manage both your disc and streaming queues.
Playlist mode with USASpec dock
The USASpec adapter was included as part of the iPhone dock install. The USASpec adapters have several ways of accessing the music on the iPod or iPhone. You can access the media either by:
- Direct – where you need to select the music to play on the iPhone/iPod
- Folder – where you can browse the music collection by Artist or Album
- Playlist – where you can preselect some number of playlists that will be easily playable on the headunit
I decided to use Playlist mode, as it also offers the ability to play 6 playlist, also "all songs" and a direct mode. For the six playlist, it looks for playlist named HONDA1 – HONDA6. If not all six are found, then it will randomly pick other playlists to fill in the missing spots. If the adapter is connected to the radio through the XM interface, the playlists are accessed by tuning to channels 1-6. When using CD changer interface, the playlists appear as CDs.
In addition to playing user playlist, number 7 is used to play all tracks. And number 8 is for direct mode. (This is the mode that is used if you want to play Pandora.)
Fixed problem with MyMoves for WHS on Extenders
I have been using My Movies for a while now. I am using the Windows Home Server version. My Movies for Windows Home server allows you to keep all of your movies on the server, and play them back in Windows Media Center. This has been working great. I have been having problems with playing the movies on the Media Center Extenders
The first problem is that the cover art doesn’t appear. Then when attempting to play the movie, an error would appear that the file could not be found.
This thread on the My Movies forum describes the steps needed to fix the thumbnails on the extender. I found a similar solution that fixed the video files. I RDP’d into the Home Server and then went into the "Sharing & Security" setting of the share that has the movie files. In that setting page I made sure that both "Anonymous Users" and "Everyone" has read access to that share. Once I did that, everything works great.
