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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Just pre-ordered my Ceton InfiniTV 4.

13 Mar

For you media center enthusiasts out there, i just ordered the Ceton InfiniTV 4. It is set to ship March 31st (fingers crossed).  It is a 4 stream CableCard tuner card (internal) that only requires one CableCard. This is to replace my external usb tuners that I have.  Here are some specs via cetoncorp.com

The Ceton InfiniTV 4 is the world’s first multi-tuner PC card for watching digital cable TV on the PC, including support for premium cable channels. It enables Media Center PCs to play or record up to four live channels of HDTV at once, and stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple HDTVs throughout the home, all from a single cable connection and a single CableCARD™. Replace your cable set-top boxes and their costly monthly rental fees and enjoy premium cable TV throughout the home, all from a single PC. With the Ceton InfiniTV 4 your Media Center PC becomes a complete entertainment platform for all your media, including premium cable TV.

- Watch and/or record four live channels of standard-definition or high-definition TV simultaneously, including all your favorite premium and encrypted cable channels.

- With Media Center Extenders like the Xbox 360™, your Media Center PC with the Ceton InfiniTV 4 becomes a whole-home entertainment device for digital cable. Watch and record different channels in different rooms, all from one PC, and using the familiar Windows Media Center user interface on all TVs.

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Alix board for my firewall is in

09 Mar

My alix board arrived. Waiting on the power supply which should be here tomorrow

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

New projects. WARNING – NERD ALERT.

08 Mar

My 3 new projects that i have decided to take on are the following:

1. Changing the surveillance camera system to utilize better cameras that are night sensitive.

2. Building my own firewall device including a DHCP server. I will be using an ALIX 2D2 board and pfSense software for the firewall.

3. Migrating some data from my 13TB WHS to an UNRAID solution using a new Atom dual core processor.  This will allow better usage of the hard drive space and the atom board will cut power usage by ALOT!

I will post more about each project as they progress.

ALIX2D2
 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Tried to upgrade my PS3 hard drive today; again FAIL!

12 Dec

I tried to replace my 40GB hard drive with one of the 120GB drives from my laptop. Just could not get it going. I replaced it, turned on the system and it said to put in a 3.15 firmware system update drive. I tried it on a CD, USB drive, and usb hard drive. It kept saying it could not find the drive. I put the 3.15 firmware file in the PS3/UPDATE directory structure, but it didnt go.

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Replaced my Laptop HD with a SSD Drive.

12 Dec

I replaced my dual 120GB drives in my laptop with a 64GB Kingston Solid State Drive (SSD). So far the speed is very much improved. Also, battery life is better and there is alot less heat generated. I dont need the space, so 64GB is fine with me.

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Upgrading my 12TB WHS to a RAID 1 OS.

10 Dec

Ok, so this is mostly for you techies out there. I still need to do a write-up of my setup, but since it keeps getting more complex, i keep putting it off. I am running a quad core 20 bay Rack Server running WHS (Windows Home Server). I have 12 TB of storage and am running VM Server on top of WHS which runs a linux box running Zoneminder, and and Windows XP x64 running SQL server and Mainlobby for my touchscreens.

I have run WHS since its release, starting with a mediasmart server and quickly out growing its capabilities. Now that i have a good solution that I can expand easily, i need to reconfigure it slightly. I want failure protection for the OS drive. WHS provides duplication for your important data, so I am not worried about that. It does not protect the OS drive at all. So if (when) that hard drive fails, I am going to have to take a lot of time to rebuild.

I am going to use the Intel Matrix Storage onboard RAID to setup a mirror (RAID 1). I have two seagate barracuda 500GB drives that I will use for the OS. The only downside is that I cant “convert” my current drive to a raid. I will need to format the data off the drive to create the mirror. I considered just duplicating the drive through a dd copy, but I dont mind a fresh install every now and then.

I would like to do the upgrade this weekend, but I will not have the new 500GB drive. I am thinking of taking my gaming rig 500GB and my media center 500GB and using those, then restoring the OS to a 750GB for the media center and the new 500GB for the gaming rig when I get it.

I promise I will get a detailed writeup of my setup for you guys soon. I am currently setting up Mainlobby for a touch screen experience throughout the house.

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Theater Room near completion

07 Aug

I finished a big piece of the theater room today. The electric projection screen is hanging. I could not hang it any sooner because I needed to make sure the TV on the wall would not get in the way. I took a chance and ordered 6″ brackets made for a different screen (although suppose to work with mine) and hoped that the screen would have enough clearance. It has alittle less than 1″ between the TV when the screen goes down. The TV was mounted with a low profile mount, so it only sticks out about 5″ or so. I have also included a video :) Its about 1 and a half minutes and shows the screen operation. The screen will look a little dim until the projector warms up.

100_0817

 
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Posted in House, Technology

 

Quick peek into the wiring closet

07 Aug

I am far from done in the unfinished part of the basement, but here are a couple pics of the wiring, rack and computer, and the security system.  Lots left to do :(

100_0812 100_0815 100_0814 100_0813

 
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Posted in House, Technology

 

52" Samsung 240hz TV installed

05 Aug

Ok, so I got the Samsung LN52B750 240Hz 1080p TV.  It is the best looking LCD TV i have seen in a while!  I had the house built with a receptacle and video feeds about 3 feet high, centered in the room.  That is why you cant see a single wire.

100_0808 100_0809 100_0810 100_0816

 
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Posted in Adam, Technology

 

Change thermostat with iPhone

02 Aug

Well, its official.  I can now use my iPhone to change the thermostat temperature in the house.  I am using a system called the Elk M1 Gold.  It is a custom security system and home automation controller.  It will be used to control household lighting, temperature, and security.  There will be many more posts about this system when I finish it, but here is a quick picture of the iPhone App control for the thermostat.

eKeypad

 
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Posted in House, Technology

 
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