Kyle Ohme — In the life of a dot com

If you love technology and hacking everything you own, check out this little quick project.  Here you will find the scripts and tools it takes to mod / hack your wii-mote so you can use it on your mediacenter (no hacking required).

Thanks to this project and the information located on http://www.wisave.com/news/ you can use your wii-mote to control your Vista Mediacenter.

The Script can be found here

You will also need (http://www.wiili.org)
* GlovePIE version 2.4
* A Wiimote
* A Bluetooth enabled PC running Windows 2000 or XP.
* DirectX 8.0

You can also check out a video of it here.

I must have been under a rock for the past year, this is the first time that I have heard of a product like this.  I’m actually very amazed on how practical this could be in many scenarios. 

I have no shortage of PC’s running in my house (MAME, 2 Laptops, Media Center, Desktop and Server) so for me its harder to justify other then the geek factor.  (I have spent $100 in worse ways in the past).

I would guess the perfect scenario would be the individual with a laptop they take with them all day.  This device would sit on the network and continue the download even when the laptop is gone.

engadget has a nice write up on it.

The BitTorrent and HTTP / FTP server clients all reside in the box and are accessible through your web browser, allowing you to engage in all sorts of energy-saving activities — like downloading lots of “films” without the need for any computers around. According to the review, the whole package can be yours for around $100. Of course, you can get all the thrilling details if you simply hit the read link.

The AirLive WMU-6500FS BitTorrent NAS gets reviewed

I would guess this will be on my xmas list this year (hint-hint)

I realize this is not at all the most complex post but I have been amazed on how many times people are unaware of how to pull this off.

Here is the scenario - You have some people over and you want to just hook up your laptop to your Microsoft Media Center as you are all in a different room from your TV.  (You get the point - TV is in the living room and your in the kitchen or bar)

Problem becomes that every time you log into your Media Center it does two things.

* Logs you off of the Media Center and your TV now goes to a login screen.

* Pulls your audio from your house and now forces playback on your laptop or tablet.

Fix:

Log onto your Media Center by entering the following into RUN mstsc /console  This will open a remote desktop window and allow you to connect right to the console (note: Vista knows what you are doing and will not allow Media Center to run in this way - it will require a registry edit and I will cover this at a later time)

Before you enter the name of the computer change the following:

1) Go under Options
2) Local Resources
3) Select “leave at remote computer” for the Remote Computer Sound option

Just like that you are now using your Laptop or other PC for a big remote.

One topic in the HTPC / Mediacenter market that i fail to see a lot of attention on is how to distribute your HTPC to more than one TV at at time.I understand and I am aware of many other ways of doing this; many of which are more costly or require more hardware.I am also not saying this is the best way of doing this but think of this scenario.

• You have a Windows Mediacenter in your house and you only can watch it on one TV in your house.
• You dont have a dedicated PC that you want assigned only to your Mediacenter experience and its in a different room in your house.your office)
• You want access to all of your music at all times from more locations in your house than just one.
• You have an automation system that you would like to see working from any TV or you have web cams that you can now only see in one location.
• You get the point, your currently stuck in one location and you want more!

I have used several products form channel plus to perform such a task, the nice thing with this solution is you can also control your Tivo, DVD changer or any other component you would like to see throughout your home.Head on over to ebay and do a search for “Channel Plus” what you are looking for is a RF modulator that will allow you to have a video input and turn it into a selectable TV channel for your house.The options for this range from $50 used to $475.

On the cheaper side (Channel Plus 3025) you still get a great unit tht works very well for what you are after, it allows you to make a TV channel (Example: channel 78, 80, 82 and so on) for this one source in your house.The cool thing with the channel plus products, it also gives you a way to control your devices via IR.(I will post on this later).With the more expensive solution gives your more channels to create and also S-Video and better audio.

The overall concept is very easy you take a device like the 3025 (giving you 2 sources) plug in the audio of your HTPC and video, select the channel that you would like to create and inject the channel into your house cable system.Now with this system they show you that you should run all video feeds to the rest of your house through this solution, I have been able to actually inject the signal into the CATV system in my house using some filters also available from Channel plus.

Do the video runs from your HTPC, into this solution, then via coax to your cable splitter in your basement and put it in front of your cable splitter for the rest of the house.(or if you dont have cable TV Service you are even better off).
Once successful you will have the ability to get to your TV from any TV that is hooked up to your coax system in your house.

You now have music in every room that you have a TV, movies in all rooms, DVR content to every TV and best of all it only cost you about $50 of parts.

I currently have my home set up this way, I am using this solution to make the TV channels for the TV’s in the kitchen, guess bed rooms, garage and so on.I dont need HDTV to every TV in the house but its sure nice to know that my Tivo and MCE work from any TV.
PS: Adding more units creates more channels - You can also use this for video cameras to create a channel that any TV in your home can get to.Use of a multiplexor may be a good idea when you add more than one camera.

A few days back we received our first hands on look at the new Ricavision SideShow remote control.

I will be doing more extensive reviews when I can track down the missing software to make this remote work.

So far the look and feel of this device puts it as a must have for Vista Medacenter - however we will have to hold off on my review for the time being.

Here is a (choppy and quick) video of the unboxing of the unit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPh9jQqMN8