The setup/transfer went pretty easy, especially since the software to transfer data from the old hard drive is included on the new Xbox.  (You do need to purchase the Xbox 360 transfer cable.)  All content was transferred, except for the games that had been installed on the hard drive.  Even though the content was transferred, it was still licensed to my old Xbox.  (The DRM on the Xbox licenses content to the Xbox where the content was purchased, and the Xbox Live account.)

Since I want the content to be playable when my Xbox Live account is not logged in, I needed to transfer the licenses to the new Xbox.  Microsoft has a tool where you can transfer the licenses for your content to a different Xbox.  Unfortunately, after you transfer the licenses, you need to redownload the content.  The download manager on the Xbox only allows 30 items to be added to the queue.  So I re-downloaded the games, but haven’t redownloaded the Rock Band tracks that I had purchased.

I do like the hardware on the new Xbox, for reasons other than how silent it runs.  Since HDMI and toslink optical are on board, I can now use HDMI and digital audio.  (There wasn’t room with the placement of the ports to use both before.)

Since the Xbox 360 is so quiet, I have been thinking about using the Xbox as our main media viewing interface.  The Xbox is significantly quieter than the computer that we have running Windows Media Center, so I could move the Media Center PC to a closet, and improve the viewing experience in the living room. Since we use Media Center as our DVR, I would configure the Xbox to start up in Media Center Extender mode. This would allow us to watch live TV or any recorded content. The Xbox natively supports Netflix, so we would have easy access to movies and kids shows, and Zune integration would give us access to newer movies.

The one thing that is preventing me from making the switch is that I need to find a solution for watching the movies that I have ripped and are on our server at home. The Xbox 360 can not play video from VIDEO_TS folders. (It doesn’t parse the index and it doesn’t play across a trasition across multiple VOB files. I could rip the DVD content into single Windows Media files, but I would loose DVD menu navigation.

My ideal solution would be to get the MyMovies interface and functionality through the Xbox 360, including DVD menu navigation.

I am annoyed, especially since we are paying Comcast for this box.  Since our Series3 works downstairs, maybe I will look in to replacing the Comcast DVR with a SlingBox/SlingCatcher or a Media Center/Extender combination

The PowerBridge is a kit that makes it easy to add a recessed outlet behind a wall mounted TV.  The kit includes all of the items needed, except for the romex wire.

APC offers a wall mounted power filter. This offers surge protection and noise filtering for tvs. The cool thing about is that it is hidden by the TV.

The lights that have been usually left on, are the one down to and in the garage.  Since we normally keep the garage door closed, I tend to not notice that the light is on, so the light gets left on.  The other problem is that when we are rushing out in the morning, the lights get left on

I wanted to find a solution that would automatically turn off these lights, but I also wanted the light switch to look like a regular light switch.  Unfortunatelly, the motion sensing light switch that we used in our previous house wouldn’t work with florescent light bulbs.  Also, many of the timer light switches aren’t as easy to use as regular switches.

I found the INSTEON Switchlinc Relay Countdown Timer, and it does exactly what we want.  When you press the upper part of the light switch, the light will stay on for 15 minutes.  For every subsequent press, the light will stay on for an interval of an hour.  (Obviously, you can turn off the light by pressing the lower part of the switch.)

Unfortunately, I should have read the instructions closer, as there is one thing that it doesn’t do.  One of the lights is controlled by a three way switch.  With the Switchlinc, only one of the switches actually controls the load.  The other switch sends an INSTEON signal to the primary switch. 

The problem is that, when you use the Switchlinc Timer switch to control another switch/device, when the timer fires, the load is not turned off.

The instructions on this page worked perfectly.  The command line tftp tool on Mac OS X upgraded the router seamlessly.  I used the instructions were the password is specified on the command line.  (There is a space between the end of the file name and “octet”.)

I wanted to find an easier way to reboot the computer remotely.  I found the Dataprobe iBoot is a device that can cut power to any device that is connected to the electrical outlet.  It also looks like you can configure it so that a it will cut power and restore it if this devices doesn’t receive any network pings.

It looks like this will be available at the end of August for around $250.

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