The Start of my Christmas List. . . .

1. AppleTV - i really want to try this out. Both for the boxee/XMBC hack, its simplicity, and to try the boxee + Airplay combination.
   
2. Kindle Fire - I already have a few ipads and from the intial reviews this seems not quite as good. . . but it's $200 cheaper and has already been hacked. I love to tinker and for $200 this would be fun. Plus the combination of this and Amazon Prime there very strong potential. This is going to sell well during Christmas.
   
3. XBOX360 - Whether you have a gamer in the family or not this is an incredible media devices. Microsoft is inching closer and closer to cracking the code. Setup a Tuner on a system running Media Center and stream live TV. Or enjoy ESPN streamed live directly to the system. 

This is a start. . . . . 

Boxee + Live TV?

Big news is that the Boxee Box is looking to add live TV via this USB dongle. Great idea, full coverage over at Engadget,.  I'm a big fan of boxee and want to be really excited about this but i'm not. This is why.

I can watch OTA w/ my HDTV. I can watch OTA + Tivo and get DVR functionality. Why do i need this? Even if I didn't have the Tivo I still need DVR. Its a baseline these days. Expected.

Now on the Boxee website here it appears DVR could be a possibly w/ an HDD add. We just all need to vote. Well if that happens, sign me up and the Tivo is getting craisglist'd.

HD Nation: Theater Video Blog

I enjoy HD nation. I wish it was still a full show instead of getting folded into Tekzilla, but at least they didn't cancel it. If you haven't seen an episode. Check it out.

HTPC Build @ MaximumPC

I've built my fair share of HPTC's over time. My current is a Sandybridge based system as I wait for the intel Ivybridge platform next year. I've found my usages have drifted away from really high rez gaming (especially b/c my projector is only 720p now. . . i know) so gaming w/ the Sandybridge integrated graphics is just fine. I push it the most with Dragon Age, but even then i do most of that on my regular PC.

So i've found having another moving part creating heat and additional drviers to create more problmes just wasn't worth the tradeoff. To each his own. But this is a great how-to build and he makes a solid machine.

http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/htpc

Picture from MaxiummPC Article

"We’ve built our fair share of home theater PCs in the past, with all sorts of different use cases in mind. Our August 2010 HTPC was a stunner built for 3D, with passively cooled GPU, CPU, and PSU, as well as a four-channel CableCard tuner and Blu-ray 3D support. In June 2011, Gordon tried to make a small-form-factor HTPC that could cut out the previous build’s bulk (and CableCard) while still supporting Blu-ray 3D. Both of those rigs handled their respective tasks well, but what if I don’t care about cable but do care about gaming? This month’s task is to create a kick-ass gaming rig in an HTPC form factor—one that can handle modern games, as well as 3D Blu-ray and Dolby TrueHD audio, without sounding like a jet engine."

One of the better Roku Reviews

Building off my last post, Roku review from some of my favorites @ Tekzilla

Best Christmas Gift for Movie Lovers

I love the classic Christmas movies. Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Nation Lampoon Christmas vacation, etc. In a future post i'll do my top 5 or top 10 movies. I started to think about my Christmas list and I have a few on there that love movies as much as I do. I'll admit it too. I watch my favorites over and over. I do. Its a guilty pleasure. So having those movies at my fingertips is a huge benefit of the streaming media.

But not everyone can or should setup a Home NAS, rip their content, setup the nodes, and play IT support for the family. Its just what I like to do. So i started thinking about how to make it easier. I came up with this, I haven't tried it yet but if you have drop me a note.

Here's my thought. I want a basic box, inexpensive, 720p is fine. But I want it to somehow have local storage. I contemplated an external HDD to Boxee but that could be messy and for as much as I love Boxee it crashes more then I'd like. I also wanted the box to have the option of online streaming like Netflix and Pandora.

Here's my proposed solution.

Roku($60) + High Capacity SD Card($40) + Movies Ripped to SD Card = Great Xmas Gift

I'm going to give this a try and will report back what happens. If you've done this already drop me a line.

Man Cave or Wii Tourney Setup?

Family Time with the Outdoor Theater

I love my man cave. its an escape into a secluded room upstairs where i can wrap myself in the warm blanket of fall football or a quick deathmatch. I've found with 2 kids and one getting a little older the cave gets more interruptions then it used too.

So in the next few month i'll be relocating down to Sacramento. I'm relo'ing to be closer to the Intel graphics team (which i'm a part of). With that brings a new home search. Great time to be looking and Sacramento is filled with great Mediterranean homes (love that style). But I digress. I have a choice now.

Do I get a house with another man cave or not? I'm voting yes, but there are a few houses that don't have it. What if we buy one of those? Well i started thinking about that. Is it a deal breaker if i have a great back yard? I could buy one of those Optima HD20 projectors, get a large white sheet, and have some killer Wii Tourney's. What do you think? I have you done this? Leave a note.