Community Newsletter: Q&A: Community Newsletter Feedback
- 2/15/07 5:07 PM
Community Newsletter Feedback
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 2/15/07 5:07 PM
Hi readers,
Typically every week with any given community Q&A topic, we receive anywhere from a few dozen submissions to more than a hundred from our members, but this week it was a bit strange--receiving only a handful of answers to Mike's question of how he can set up his PC to become a multimedia workhorse for his home theater.
So, I'm curious as to why there were so little submissions from you. Was it because the question from Mike was too vague or unclear? Was it a topic some of you folks just weren't interested in or simply a question you didn't have an answer to? I'm always looking to make this newsletter helpful and interesting to you, so if you can tell me what's on your mind, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks everyone!
-Lee Koo
CNET Community
Just to start this off,
by MarkFlax - 2/16/07 2:46 AM
In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I read the "Member Question of the week" each week and hope to find a question I feel I can contribute to. With last week's question, since I do not have a home multimedia system I knew I did not have any knowledge that I could talk about, so I left the question alone.
Mark
Why I didn't reply
by telya7 - 2/18/07 12:40 PM In reply to: Just to start this off, by MarkFlax
I just love reading so I can learn. I am not smart enough to have any answers, just want to learn from others.
I appreciate your column very much.
Thank you.
Home movie
by Savile Burdett - 2/16/07 2:53 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The subject was of no interest to me,
Just not interested!
by ddingbat - 2/16/07 2:55 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I know it can be done, I know it is what Msoft and others would like us to do, but for me the various separate devices work just fine. On top of that, using the PC as the heart of the thing assumes that everyone in the household would be happy and comfortable working that way. In my case, just not so. My wife is totally indifferent to PCs and computing in general and so making the PC the core of things would actually cut her off from many of the entertainments provided. Not a wise move!
Personally, I suspect this form of integration will continue to be a niche pleasure/need/desire, whatever the various manufacturers may want to think!
workhorse for his home theater.
by aaa11zzz - 2/16/07 3:03 AM In reply to: Just not interested! by ddingbatIf you are self-building a home theater from scratch, maybe having the computer (you know, it's that bunch of wiring and boxes the family nerd sits at every, and all, night.
However, if you buy a home theater complete, it begs the question (except for nerds and geeks): why bother?
JHM
It would just be a conversation piece
by k1dai - 2/17/07 9:53 AM In reply to: Just not interested! by ddingbatPlus the fact that that you are operating too many devices at the same time to get one results. While individually you could operate them separately and get several results, Music, TV, Internet, etc. I guess that's what you are saying. Plus the fact that if there is only one individual doing one thing you are consuming too much energy running all these other things when you don't have to.
leart
Sorry, Mike
by rrrgroup - 2/16/07 3:18 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If your query would have been how to shovel snow without breaking your back or incurring cardiac arrest, we might have responded.
Who has time to convert a PC for entertainment nowadays, tech slackers?
Rich Reynolds
Shoveling snow
by beddog - 2/16/07 1:48 PM In reply to: Sorry, Mike by rrrgroupAmen Rich, those of us that have more important things to do with what time we do have do them. Computer with home entertainment system ? I don't think so. Must be someone with lots of time and money on his hands.
Dave
Home Media Centre using Mac Computer
by rafiki65 - 2/16/07 3:25 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I like the idea of integrating my computer with my home media and do so in my den where I can listen to a wide variety of music, mostly through I-Tunes, and watch the occasional video.
However I would like to set the system up in my living room and enlarge it to include watching television - partly to cater for my wife's tastes. She tends not to use the computer.
I wonder if anyone out there can advise me on the best way forward?
Ideally I would like to buy a new Mac Pro in July when Leopard is due to 'pounce' and connect it to an LCD screen-say 24" or thereabout so that I can use my computer during the day and watch TV in the evenings with the family.
Is there a suitable screen and are there any snags I have not foreseen?
media integration
by Lawr38 - 2/16/07 3:58 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think there is so much fog around this issue that most folks don't know what to ask. I am a member of a PC club and the questions from our membership leads me to belive that the media mess is what it is. Does a house need a server? What is a server? I think I should wait for wireless 11N? What is wireless 11N? How can I develop an evolutionary plan that gets to to where I want to be, when I'm not sure where i want to be? I get good questions like why should I get a new TV to view Mpeg4 and how does this make sense with HDTV. What is the cable companies plan to get me didigtized? Should I get Direct TV?
OK enough, just my thoughts
Larry
mulimedia computer
by johannes koedood - 2/16/07 4:10 AM In reply to: media integration by Lawr38i work now a wile with my pc doing dj and home partys but it is easy to do it as long you got the good parts like bmp4 home studio then you dont need mutch
There's been a generational shift
by capt36 - 2/16/07 4:18 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Who has time to sit and watch mind-numbing content?
I have goals in my life, and being a couch potato with an ever increasing girth isn't one of them.
Too much to see, do, to many places to go see, live, in far too short a life.
I'd rather create my own adventures than watch some fantasy about fictional characters.
Home Theater Media Management
by drvazquez - 2/16/07 4:18 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I personally do not have the skill to advise others regarding this matter. I am currently researching the subject and I have made a good start toward the goal of using a PC and home network to organize digital media and distribute the content throughout my home. Perhaps the CNET members who responded that they have no interest in such a project do not understand the utility of using a PC as a multimedia workhorse to run a home theater. Personally, I am drowning in digital media and I can't find the digital media I want easily with CD's, DVD's, jpeg photos and the like on chips, drives and optical media.
I have started the pursuit of this project by installing an 8 port switch in the attic of my 3 floor townhouse. I had my contractor pull a wire bundle from the switch box to any of the rooms where I wished to distribute the media. We pulled two RG6 wires, 2 cat 5e wires, and optical fiber in a bundle wound on a 500 foot spool that I purchased from Smarthome. I had professional help for installation of the switch and the termination at wall outlets. There are two cat 5e outlets in each outlet cluster.
Now that the distribution hub is in place and connected to the internet and a home PC, storage, management, and control of the media distribution comes next. My son handled his home theater by loading Myth TV software onto a Linux box dediated to his home theater. He is quite happy with this solution, but since he is a commercail Unix Administrator by profession. He has a clear advantage over many of us who do not have such talents.
I may use Beyond TV or some similar Windows based software to run a Windows based multimedia server, but I am fearful of the frequent crashes that Windows PC's have experienced. I also use a Mac comptuters, but Mac's appear to be bit behind the other OS's in this arena.
The magnitude of these projects can be daunting, and turn-key solutions such as controllers and systems installed by professional home theater consultants can cost a fortune. Now comes the issue of troubleshooting the system when it inevitably fails. The user better know how to do this or have a big check book balance to pay tech support for this service.
The one thing I know for sure is that I plan to use a dedicated PC for this multimedia purpose so that when it fails, I will experience only a digital media failure but I can still get work done on my other PC.
Home Theater
by vernl - 2/16/07 4:27 AM In reply to: Community Newsletter Feedback by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I was always afriad of messing things up. I need exact instrutions.
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