Google TV – I want my [blank] TV!

Meh. I want my boxee box… but the longer it takes, i’m either going for another macmini or bailing on expanding the media center all together… [to be continued]

Share this Post[?]

Moving Media Around the House

By definition, this is a “first world” problem. In the news gap between CES and the Apple event next week, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I might manage my media collections between all of my computers. The buzz around the Boxee box and anticipating the need to have most of my working data in the cloud so that I can access it regardless of what computer or platform I’m using has inspired me to find a better way to work with my media. Actually this is a “problem” that I didn’t have until I moved from my one-room studio to my one-bedroom apartment and then two-bedroom townhouse. I have four macs floating around the house (and anticipate a fifth Apple in the form of an iPad-netbook-media-thingy), each with their own full copies of my iTunes library, DVDs ripped to a couple macs, and daily podcasts downloaded to all four computers. In the past I manually erased podcasts I’d already listened to on one of the four computer and my iPhone, but given how many podcasts I listen to this method is just too much work. I’d also been hoping to store my DVDs on one computer and be able to view them on any of the other devices. The upcoming release of the Boxee box has me rethinking my media sharing scheme.

Boxee Beta from boxee on Vimeo.

Read more

Share this Post[?]

Damn You, HD Nation!

Several months ago I was contemplating simplifying my home-theater thing by drafting my Nintendo Wii to take care of media server details. Only a couple problems with this plan: 1) No DVD support, 2) low-resolution screen, 3) No native iTunes support. Yeah. Not so great. Not being able to just play a DVD was bad enough, but the Wii has such a low resolution that it makes doing simple web browsing ridiculous and made it impossible to use the Wii to play my iTunes media (using the MyTunes software on the MacMini). Fail. Then I fell in love with the idea building a Hackintosh to do the media server role, especially because of how great the Apple app Front Row works with DVDs and videos stored on connected and networked hard drives. I was building a case against investing in BluRay, because, except for digital animations like Wall*E, the sharpness of the picture takes me out of the movie (I feel like I can tell we’re on a film set and fully expect to see a boom mic fall into the frame). Then I started watching Revision 3′s latest offering, HD Nation. Damn it, now I can’t imagine not doing BluRay. Argh!!!

I’m much closer to putting down the cash for a PS3… then I heard that Sony is going to do some upgrade/product roll-out sometime in August. Damn.

Share this Post[?]