Hello friends,

I've been absent here lately but if you have questions on sat radio or door sills or whatever, PM me. For the next month or so I will be knee deep in my 'other' hobby.... back to home theater. I am building a distributed HT network in my house. It's quite the project, so I am living at another chat room for tech help. This project links my network with HT distribution and serial port 2-way control of HT components all via 2-way 12" color touchpads around the house. Its pretty wild to say the least.

So, rather than be active here for 6 months and then drop off the face of the earth, thats the deal for those that give $0.02. Ill be over here for a while getting help: http://www.charmedquark.com/phpBB2/

If you are interested in this project, which ultimately will somehow link audio and video to my 997 wirelessly (but I'm not sure how yet!! ), you can check this out.... http://www.charmedquark.com/

drive safe!!

Adam

 

good luck with that.. Sounds great!..

Im a HT addict as well.

 

This thread, posted by a user over there, will show you the end result of what I intend to accomplish (keep in mind those screen shots are taken from a 12" touchpad so you simply tap the DVD or CD you wish to watch, etc. You can also control from any PC on the network, or even via your PDA!!!! : http://www.charmedquark.com/phpBB2/v...t=6558&start=0

 

You mean there is something other than Rennlist on the net???

In all seriousness, that sounds awesome! I plan on doing something similar in my new place we are building in NC. I will be watching that thread closely.

Good luck with the project

 

Looks good! I wimped out and paid for Crestron. This looks even better! Good luck

 

That's right...Love us and leave us!!!...Don't worry you'll be back as soon as the long rumoured Ipod hookup breaks cover.

Have fun with the HT

 

The stuff I posted above is all Do-It-Yourself and is many, many thousands less then Crestron (but Crestron is GREAT by the way). Gotta run to work but I'll answer some of the questions above later.

 

Wow that is some great work. And I thought I was big stuff with my Pronto remote...Keep us in touch when you get your system up and running.

 

Yes, the new color Pronto works great.

 

Awesome project, I'm working on a similar one. I have the security system installed, I've built the media server, my bonus room is about 1000 sq/ft I'll be using for a home theater... fun, fun, fun!

 

I know..I know. I would have already had a 911 if I didn't do the Crestron.

With that said, I am still happy that I have it.

 

The CQC product I posted is "distributed architecture" software. Basically, there are 7 software components that can be placed either on one computer, or on 10 computers, throughout the house. So in my example, I have the main application server on my Win Server 2003 server, and then various other component servers on the computers in the other media rooms.

So, for example, I have my digital processor and DVD player hooked up to the computer in the theater room via a serial cable interface (obviously you need a component with a serial interface - but you can use Infrared blasters on other components - however serial provides 2 way interaction). Now, I can control those devices from any TCP/IP connection in the house (or even anywhere on the net) - wired or wireless. So I can set up touch panels wherever I want and control those devices, and get feedback on the state of the device. So if I switch an XM station, I'll see the channel I am hearing on the touch panel.

Other cool stuff.... extract DVDs to the server,and serve them up to any media room. It does not stream the video over IP (so no signal looss) - - it just 'transports' the DVD's ISO file. Then, the media server in that room picks up the ISO file and outputs it on the video card to the display in that room. Since the program is "distributed", you can control all components in all rooms and feed audio and video to all rooms.

Think of it as the ultimate combination and integration of a computer network and every piece of AV equipment in the house - all linked together and talking to each other.

I have been into this stuff forever and this is the best 'gadget' I ever saw. There is a learning curve, but since its DIY you can get up and running for under $500.

The site can tell you more if you are interested. I intend to get it up and running and then integrate the 997 somehow - - probably via a wireless way to update the soon to be integrated iPod when I pull into the garage - all automatically.

-adam

 

I read about Bill Gates' house. All automated. People wear badges that electronically store their preferences and when they walk into a room the pictures on the wall change to reflect their tastes. How corny and stupid is that?

Who needs to have every room in the house wired for HD TV? That's what the family room is for.

I sometimes get a glimpse of these new houses with modern art in a vast nearly empty foyer. Looks more like a museum than a home. Who wants to live there?

Money decidedly does not necessarily buy good taste.

 

It's because he can, that's why.

Just because your home has electronic surveillance and home entertainment options doesn't mean it needs to look like it rolled out of MOMA.

 

You do all that just to watch a movie?

So when you get that done, will you be spending more time at home or out driving your Cab?