By:
In: Home Theater
With: 27 Comments

Update 2010-Jan-21: For playback of FLAC in Windows 7, use either the xiph.org Directshow Filters or the Shark007 Codec Pack. The Lossless Audio Blog is reporting that FLAC lossless audio files can now be played in Windows Media Center 2005.  This is great news, because every music player I own now supports FLAC, the format I use to encode all of my music files.  So I can listen to my FLAC music files at my PC using dbPowerAmp or one of many players, around the house on my Sonos, in my car with my PhatNoise PhatBox, and now in my home theater with Windows MediaRead More →

By:
In: Entertainment, Home Theater
With: 3 Comments

I’ve been a Netflix subscriber since 2001 and rented from them starting in 1999. When I received an e-mail about a Netflix class action lawsuit, I knew immediately what prompted it. They promised unlimited rentals but they wouldn’t ship out new DVDs until several days after the movie was returned to them, thus artificially limiting the number of movies you could rent in a month. They would claim issues with the US Postal Service, but I found it strange that the USPS would hold on to every Netflix movie sent to them for several days before delivering it. Of course, this was not the caseRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

The weaknees blog is reporting that the DirecTV  HR10-250 will get the 6.2 software upgrade.  This was supposedly communicated at CES, though not officially.  I hope that this is true, because I really want folders, the speed optimizations, and basic network adapter support (to get around VoIP modem issues).  The HD-capable HR10-250 is currently the best TiVo unit available and  it deserves a newer and more modern version of the TiVo software.  My fingers are crossed.Read More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I finally purchased a new piece of Home Theater Equipment!  I’m the proud owner of a new Sherbourn 7/2100a 200 watts x 7 channel amplifier.  This is the first step in replacing my 8-year old Onkyo receiver.  First the new amplifier, then the 2 new in-wall Sonance Cinema Ultra II SUR surround speakers to go from 5.1 to 7.1 surround, and then finally a new Anthem AVM-50 receiver to give built-in video processing and true 7.1 sound.  (Still don’t know when that one will be available.) I know, I just got something new, and I’m already talking about the next thing.  But it’s a system,Read More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I setup a TiVo series 2 today for a friend. There was no telephone jack near the TV, so the only real option was wireless ethernet. Unfortunately, the first activation call must be made via a telephone (or via a wired USB ethernet adapter using ,#401 as the dialing prefix). Finding a compatible wireless adapter was almost impossible because there are so many different hardware revisions, no one knows which adapter contains which chipset, even if you use the cheat sheet on Tivo.com. I got lucky and found an old revision of a Netgear adapter, the only one in the store. Luckily, this was anRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 2 Comments

I’ve been wanting to post a photo album on my website for a few years now. I finally got around to doing it. For now, there are just pictures of my 2 home theater projects. The pictures cover the projects from start-to-finish (well, almost finished, I’m not quite done with the latest). My first home theater was in my first house and was more of a media room because it was in a huge basement room with a bar and pool table. Nicole and I moved about a year and a half ago and went with a dedicated home theater for version 2.0. I stillRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

After working on it for several weeks, I finally finished my guide for audiophile-quality extraction of music from CDs. To get the best possible audio quality, it is necessary to have bit-perfect extraction from the CD (with no unnecessary error correction trying to reconstruct misreads due to CD drive offset). Then, the perfectly-extracted audio should be compressed using a lossless format to maintain the original quality. The guide shows how to use setup and use some free programs to do this: EAC, FLAC, and AccurateRip. To be honest, I’m not positive I could identify the difference between a “regular” extraction and a bit-perfect extraction, andRead More →

By:
In: Automotive, Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I finally took the first step in getting my music collection back into my car. I used to listen to CD’s all the time when I had my Pioneer 6-disc changer and a bunch of cartridges. However, after my headunit when bad, I had no changer and starting listening more to the radio. Today, I ordered a PhatNoise PhatBox for my Infiniti. If all goes well, I’ll probably get one for my other vehicles as well. I was seriously considering the Omnifi devices (with openfi add-on) because of WiFi synchronization, but decided on the PhatBox because of FLAC support, OEM headunit interface, and voice promptsRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

Two weekends ago, I attended my 4th and final CEDIA Expo to see all of the great new home theater gear. I love going because all of the latest gear is there and experts, and even the designers themselves, are often there to display the equipment. Unfortunately, it will probably be my last CEDIA because the show has grown to be too large for the Indy Convention Center. At least there is a convention center expansion planned, but it won’t be ready until next decade. This was the best CEDIA I attended as far as new product goes. It topped CEDIA 2001, where all ofRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 21 Comments

Overview I purchased network home music players from both Roku SoundBridge M2000 and a Sonos Digital Music System Bundle, with the objective being a winner-take-all comparison where one is kept and the other is returned. I’ve completed my evaluation and the results are below. Roku SoundBridge M2000 vs. Sonos Digital Music System Setup The Sonos system was easier to setup than the Roku. However, the Sonos did require a wired network connection. The advantage is that no wireless network configuration is necessary because the Sonos uses its own encrypted wireless network from that device to every other one in your house. The Roku, however, didRead More →