Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

Originally posted by vansmack:
Welcome back to DirecTV. Before you buy anything, test your HR20. Improvements are being made weekly and it also works with Tversity. If you'd like to be part of the community improving tversity on the HR20, send me a PM/email. The interface is not very slick, but it might meet your needs. For the record, I don't use my HR20 but for beta-testing for DirecTV, and not because of limitations - it's just not as user friendly or as slick as the 360. All the music we listen to in our main room is now from the server and it has to be user-friendly for smackette…

interesting … so i may be able to use the directv DVR to stream video from my vista desktop? that would change everything (and open up some of my tech budget for that monitor…)

Originally posted by vansmack:
I have yet to have a good experience with wireless HD, so if that's the hang up, I'd be more concerned about your network then your media device. If you are unable to hookup your home theater system to a wired network, expect a decent amount of headache. How far from the router is your system? Even an N router one room over can be trouble - it sounds like yours is upstairs/downstairs so music should be fine, but HD movies are going to be tough. Now, when I say HD, it all depneds on your source and if your source files are small (for example, most bit torrent under 4 GB is not full HD), then the G vs. N won't matter much.

yeah it's an upstairs/downstairs setup, but the rooms are right on top of each other and each has windows, so it might be pretty easy to drop a cable down the side of the house

Originally posted by vansmack:
The Xbox vs. Ps3 debate is really a preference of games - nothing more, nothing less. There are pros and cons to both systems, but I'll tell you my thoughts on both.

so everything the 360 can do in terms of media extender capabilities the PS3 can also handle? it all just comes down to how slick the interfaces are?

Originally posted by vansmack:
As for the monitor, sweet. Monitors are getting cheaper because TV's with tuners are now accepting PC's creating competition (and touch screens are the future in the 2009 Operating Systems so the price of non-touch monitors will continue to plummet). It's nice, and as long as you have a digital source like cable or satellite, those are the way to go. It should meet my $400 threashold shortly which means HD for the bedroom (I'm also holding out for Multi-room viewing with DirecTV before going HD in the bedroom).

i use my 22" widescreen monitor right now as a bedroom TV (hooked up to a comcast HD-DVR) and i absolutely love it … you can get one for ~$170 right now, which is pretty ridiculous … 22" is a little small, but it works fine for the bedroom

i don't see the benefit of buying a TV under 32" when you can get a monitor for similar prices … seems like most TVs can't handle the resolution from PC input that monitors can (the 28" i linked to is 1900x1200, while most TVs give you 1366x768) … if you ever want to hook a PC up to the TV/monitor and you have a cable/satellite box, why would you ever go with a sub-32" TV rather than a monitor?

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
interesting … so i may be able to use the directv DVR to stream video from my vista desktop?

Yes, although the codecs can be limited. I've ripped all of my movies to file types that both the 360 and the HR20 can play. But some downloaded movies can be problematic in terms of not being able to play certain codecs - it's trial and error really.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
yeah it's an upstairs/downstairs setup, but the rooms are right on top of each other and each has windows, so it might be pretty easy to drop a cable down the side of the house

Try the wireless solution and see if it meets your needs. The Linksys-N gaming adapter can be used by both the 360 and the HR20 so you can try it on both. If it's too slow, do a cable drop and sell the adapter - they're fairly popular.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
so everything the 360 can do in terms of media extender capabilities the PS3 can also handle? it all just comes down to how slick the interfaces are?

Not necessarily. A lot of it depends on your media server software (WMP 11, tversity, media tomb, etc) and each machine varies on which codecs it supports vs. which codecs your software supports.

For example, a WMP11 movie served up by Windows XP Media Center cannot be played on my 360, however, if I copy the movie to a flash drive and plug it directly into the 360, it plays without a hitch. You're going to run into this a lot with whichever media server software and media center hardware you get. After you figure out what combinations work, though, and you start ripping to strictly those combinations, then it only comes down to interface.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:

i don't see the benefit of buying a TV under 32" when you can get a monitor for similar prices … seems like most TVs can't handle the resolution from PC input that monitors can (the 28" i linked to is 1900x1200, while most TVs give you 1366x768) … if you ever want to hook a PC up to the TV/monitor and you have a cable/satellite box, why would you ever go with a sub-32" TV rather than a monitor?

Because some people still require a TV tuner. We are fortunate enough to live in big metro areas where we are served with all our local channels in HD (except PBS). But if you lived in rural Kansas, DirecTV or your cable company may not provide you with all of your local channels in HD.

In SF, our PBS is broadcast in HD, though HD is not available from DirecTV. Comcast offers it in HD, but not the subchannels. So with my TV with a tuner and an antenna I get our local PBS in HD and all the subchannels, which I don't get through DirecTV. It's nice to have in the front room for the occasional Austin City Limits in HD, but probably not necessary in the bed room, where I would use a monitor.

Some in high risk weather areas also use them if their signal goes out, though I've never had to.

we dont get pbs in hd in dc, but we get like 3 of them in sd on dtv

i think ive completely lost the signal once or twice, but the local hd channels go out a little more often

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
we dont get pbs in hd in dc, but we get like 3 of them in sd on dtv

we get it on comcast … channel 220 i think … i love looking at jim lehrer's mug in HD every night …

on dtv in dc i meant. too many appreviations starting with d

id love to see globe trekker in hd though

Is GT even shot in HD?

Off topic a bit, but Verizon finally rolled out about 25 new HD channels in DC Metro, with more to come soon.

I'm about 3 months into my 2nd go-round with Fios and extremely happy so far. No plans to ditch.

Originally posted by chaz:
Off topic a bit, but Verizon finally rolled out about 25 new HD channels in DC Metro, with more to come soon.

I'm about 3 months into my 2nd go-round with Fios and extremely happy so far. No plans to ditch.

Verizon will NEVER be in my neighborhood - Market share is going to be an ongoing problem for them. It's a repeat of the cable model all over again.

Originally posted by vansmack:
Is GT even shot in HD?

who knows. it would be cool, though

Originally posted by vansmack:
(3) And this last one is the most important - with the massive advance in the market of Mobile Internet Devices (or ultra mobile PCs) with WiFi capability, like the iPhone, the iTouch, Samsungs Q1, mini-tablets and the "smaller than laptops but much better battery life" devices coming between $400 and $700 - very few people are going to fork out the cash for a oversized desktop at that price when they can have something sleek and portable that does 95% of what most folks use their desktop for today.

Nailed this… And since my Dell Mini arrives this weekend (sorry shoeshine, but I had to get mine before I leave so it will be XP), I'd like to point out that 9 of the top 10 laptops sold on Amazon are netbooks and nearly all are around or under $400…

<img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/09/age-of-netbooks.jpg" alt=" - " />

thats cool, still curious

Nerds.

Originally posted by vansmack:
Help us NKOTB, you're our only hope!

Fuck. The squeeze was the right call, it was simply poorly executed. The funny part was Scioscia called the squeeze because the Halo's weren't hitting for shit with runners in scoring position all series, and couldn't execute their bread and butter either…painful to swallow. Horrible defense, 5000 runners left on base, 2 losses in the 9th and one extra inning win. The 100 win season will mean nothing now.

Wow, that's awesome!

Originally posted by vansmack:
Help us NKOTB, you're our only hope!

Originally posted by vansmack:
Fuck. The squeeze was the right call, it was simply poorly executed. The funny part was Scioscia called the squeeze because the Halo's weren't hitting for shit with runners in scoring position all series, and couldn't execute their bread and butter either…painful to swallow. Horrible defense, 5000 runners left on base, 2 losses in the 9th and one extra inning win. The 100 win season will mean nothing now.

I honestly thought you were going to definitely score there and did not like the chances of going back to Anaheim. This year was definitely closer than 04 and 07.

can we have K-Rod next year?