Vista in the living room

For some reason, I am obsessed with putting computers all around the house. Now that we have an HDTV in the living room, I've revived my quest of an internet-connected experience in the living room.


I've been waiting for a Windows PC to really take on the form factor of the Apple Mac Mini. Sure, there's always the Shuttle and some specialty PC makers that have home theatre PCs (aka HTPC), but they often run into the $1000s and aren't that small.

Then there is the Apple TV, Windows Media Extenders like the Linksys DMA2100, the Roku Netflix box, and others. While these have simple interfaces they are limited in what they can view and download. I'd like something more flexible.

Then Dell comes out with the Studio Hybrid Desktop. This looks very promising. Sort of similar to the line of Sony VAIO HTPCs, but less expensive.

Starting at $499, it comes with HDMI and DVI output and Windows Vista Home Basic (I didn't know anyone still sold that). So upgraded with decent specs and a real version of Vista, it comes to $1122:

• Vista Home Premium
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5850
  
• 3GB RAM
• 320GB hard drive
• Blu Ray/DVD-RW
  
• Media Center remote

Unfortunately, unlike the Dell XPS 420 you cannot get an optional digital cable tuner. :-(

I will be keeping an eye on this new development, and waiting for other manufacturers to follow suit.

*sigh*

I am running in to this same problem about every six months. So far, one of these methods works every time the network connections break again.

To fix certain networking problems in Windows XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm

*sigh*

*sigh*

*sigh*

I have a Lenovo T60p from December 2006. I've re-imaged it two or three times since then, but the last time was a while ago. I've been trying to troubleshoot and fix rather that reformat.

Time for:

a) A reformat with a fresh, clean, basic install of XP Pro
b) A reformat with Vista?
c) MacBook
d) None of the above

HD on the PC

So I love TV. I don't revolve my life around it like I used to, but I love a good show and relish a good movie.

When we finally took the plunge into the high definition television universe about a year ago we had a slight adjustment to how we watched TV. We had been so used to our ReplayTVs, we rarely ever watched TV shows at their regularly scheduled times.

We didn't get an HD DVR from the cable company right away. We got an HD cable box and tried recording the S-video output to the ReplayTV. It was ok, but HD shows were more like DVD shows. Naturally, an S-video connection is surely sub-par when it comes to anything above VHS quality. So we watched HD shows like Lost, Ugly Betty and American Idol live at their original airing times. With commercials.

When we switched to Verizon FiOS we decided to try their HomeMedia DVR and have been using it ever since. However, as nice as the mid-2007 media guide upgrade has been, it's no ReplayTV and it's surely not as slick as the Tivo interface.

So the alternative to the cable company's DVR, besides the expensive HD Tivo and its service fee, is a PC DVR like Windows Media Center or Snapstream. Fine and dandy, except when you want to record HD content.

Over the air HD tuners are readily available for new and custom build PCs. However, there currently is no easy way to get cable TV-based HD content on a PC. (QAM is supported on some cards, but FiOS doesn't appear to support that very well.)

New PCs with video cards that support the CableCard standard have been trickling out from companies like Dell. However, you need to buy a PC with the special video card already installed--they aren't readily available on the aftermarket.

So what's a person who already has a decent PC but doesn't want to spend $2000 on a new box to do?

Check this out: the new Hauppauge HD PVR that can record HD content from component outputs.

I am excited to see how this develops.

Sweet Vista Goodness

I finally reformatted the old desktop (Athlon64 3200+, 1GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 6600, 320GB hard drive) with a fresh install of Windows Vista Ultimate. I had almost given up on the damn thing because of all the problems I've had with the hardware. It had been sitting idle in the basement for months.

After replacing the power supply and video card last year and getting new SATA hard drive this year, we may have at least a temporary success. Besides the DVD drives (and case), the only original hardware is now the motherboard and RAM. We know what to blame if we still have problems.

Now it has a fresh, clean install of Windows Vista, with no programs except Windows and Skype. I hooked it up to our new Sony 50" SXRD via DVI-to-HDMI and SPDIF to the receiver. It runs the Windows Media Center interface at full 1080p resolution (59Hz) and plays DVDs with full Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound. Sweet.

Oddly, the regular desktop interface overflows the screen if I set the resolution to 1920x1080, so I'm running it slightly under that which allows the whole desktop to show but puts a black border around it. When switching to Media Center it goes to full 1080p, which is nice.

Sony says to use the VGA input on the back of the SXRD for connecting PCs, but I'm using the HDMI input because it allows up to 1920x1080 resolution which fills the screen. The VGA input, for some reason, plops a small window in the middle of the screen with huge black borders and no way to stretch it. There's no way to even get close to 1080p using the VGA input.

Besides the desire to use Media Center as it was intended, on a TV, the other reason I did this was so we could actually use our Netflix video streaming hours. We get so many hours per month but we never use them because, let's face it, who wants to watch movies on a small laptop screen?

Let me tell you, the Netflix streaming works very well if you have a decent internet connection. We have the basic Verizon FiOS service (5Mbps), and we get the highest quality video. Watching videos via netflix.com is almost DVD quality. No Dolby Digital surround via Netflix though, at least not yet. But this is very, very usable. I'm hoping that Netflix makes a plug in for Media Center and/or releases a cool Avalon/Windows Presentation Foundation-based video browser that can be controlled via remote. And maybe Mac-support too. :-)

Man, this is more awesome than even I expected.

Vista law soot

Check out this cute story about the lawsuit over low-end Vista.

I generally agree. Microsoft screwed themselves with these numerous versions. While I, as a technically minded individual, can understand the differences in the varying versions, most people won't. My favorite quote:

"Because we here at CG are Microsoft shills, it's hard for us to badmouth the mother ship but this was our complaint from the start. All these ridiculous versions--Basic, Ultimate, Penultimate, Super Duper--just frustrate the bored and litigious. Make everything Ultimate, make everyone buy a new PC, and suck up the loss in low-end sales."

I am really buying a Mac as my next computer. Really. Or maybe I will go with Linux. Or a pad of paper. I'm a little confused in the head.

Get a Mac?

Ok, so I admit that I like the Mac ads on TV that have been appearing over the last year or so, you know the ones with John Hodgeman and that other guy. They're funny, sometimes pretentious, but generally amusing. I am a Windows user, but I'd love to have a Mac too. I am not wedded to one computing lifestyle.

But as much as this one is really, really funny, it annoys me just a little:



Yes, it's true that Windows Vista asks for permission to do a lot of things, something that Windows XP never did. However, Mac OS X does the same thing, but maybe not as often. It's not unique to Windows Vista or even Mac OS X. It all began with UNIX many years ago: the Principal Of Least Privilege.

User Access Control (UAC), which uses this principal, is one of the most important features of Vista. It allows you to run your personal account as a standard user and only use administrator privileges when necessary. This is when the pop up occurs. If you didn't instigate the process that make the pop up occur, you should cancel the action and investigate why your system is acting weird.

Windows has been open for way to long without this principal ingrained in the security of the system. Now it's there, at least more fully than in earlier Windows. Is it annoying? Yes, especially to seasoned Windows users as we have not had it before. But is it so bad? Not at all. As Martha says, "It's a good thing."

In case you missed it

About two weeks ago, Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System were finished and are being prepared for "release to manufacturing" as we speak.

If you have an MSDN software subscription, you can find Vista RTM (x86) and some parts of Office 2007 RTM right now! (Though I haven't seen the Office 2007 RTM servers yet...) Most everyone else will have to wait until January to buy the boxed versions of Vista and Office 2007 or get them on new PCs.

If you happen to buy a new PC between now and then, you'll probably be able to upgrade to Vista for free or low cost via the Windows Vista Express Upgrade program. Most major PC manufacturers are listed, so if you're itching for that new PC or laptop (as we are) you can rest assured that you will get your Vista upgrade for free or almost free. If you want to stick to Windows XP (e.g. if you are afraid of Vista), buy now before the end of January so you can guarantee Windows XP is on your machine!

Happy installing!

Goodbye Norton, Hello Avast

I've finally given up on Norton Antivirus and Internet Security 2006. It's been removed from the laptop, wiped the desktop. We're now using Avast Home Edition, which incidentally is FREE. The Professional version costs money, and might even be worth the upgrade.

Norton was creating too many problems. Recently, Windows would not shut down properly on EITHER system, and the laptop was running SLOW. Suspicious timing, since Windows OneCare just came out. Alas, I cannot blame Microsoft. I've had problems with Symantec products before, so I was not surprised.

I have tried McAfee before, and also have CA eTrust Security Suite. Neither of those are worthy.

Avast just seems to work. It works great on Windows XP, as well as the beta of Windows Vista. It's nice when something just works.

I was about to lose all faith in computers, specifically Windows computers. I've regained it...for the moment. I have my credit card poised to purchase a MacBook if anything else goes awry. I'm about out of patience.

Back to the Basics

I've recently had to reformat and reinstall Windows on my home desktop computer. Something is seriously wrong with that machine, and I don't think my troubles are over.

Anyway, I have been taking the reinstalls very slowly, just to be sure everything is ok before I take the time and effort to reset everything back to normal. So after the most recent reinstall of Windows XP Professional, I let the system run for about two weeks before installing any other programs.

One of the first programs I installed was Real Rhapsody 3.0. For those of you who don't know, it allows you to listen to thousands of tracks of music without buying each one. In essence, you are renting music. It's kinda cool, as it allows you to discover new music before you buy, and also borrow music you may not want to own.

However, I ran into a problem this weekend: Rhapsody won't let me authorize my account on my desktop. It tells me that three computers are already authorized for the Rhapsody service on my account, so I can't authorize a forth. Here's the catch: One of those three computers IS my desktop. I had previously authorized the program on my work laptop, my home laptop, and the home desktop.

Yet, because my home desktop crashed I was unable to "de-authorize" Rhapsody (and, come to think of it, iTunes as well). So, in order to fix this, Rhapsody's answer is to have me call an 800 number, wait for 15 minutes, and convince some service representative that I'm not trying to break the rules.

Well, I may have just had enough with "authorization" and "activation." I think I'm going back to listening to short clips of music on the internet and buying CDs of artists who I like. Plus, I have XM radio, which has free online streaming.

Oh, and that desktop: It is screwed up again. I think there's something seriously wrong with it.

Idea for Windows Server Home Edition

Rick Hallihan recently wrote about his idea for a version of Windows Server for the home, aka Windows Server Home Edition. He got lots of feedback. I think it's a great idea.

We are moving into the era of multi-computer homes, computer-savvy kids, multimedia everywhere, and even grandma using the internet. The decentralized layout of most homes still works fine if you use just one computer. But many people, including myself, like being able to move around and still be connected, but without the burden of carrying a laptop or handheld everywhere. So the ability to share settings and data around the house and around the world is becoming more and more important.

For example, if my wife needs the better computer to do work, I can still use the older system to surf the internet. Which brings up another point--what to do with old computers. With a Windows Server Home System, maybe those older Windows XP/2000 and even 98/Me systems can be hooked in and be used for something, like surfing in the kitchen or supplying streaming media to the living room. The Server could help allocate the tasks and resources. So those old systems don't have to be tossed into the recycle bin so early. (Though, it's still a good thing to recycle systems into charity organizations!)

And, hmmm, what about Mac and Linux? Maybe they could throw a contender or two in this arena.

Anyway, it sounds like Rick has got a buzz going.