In this run down I am going to go over what it takes to share this content freely through my house with no fuss. If you didn’t check out my post on the nuts and bolts of my system, check that out first. That post explains the wiring and how everything is ... Read more]]> Posted in AppleHome TheaterReviews

The Basics

In this run down I am going to go over what it takes to share this content freely through my house with no fuss. If you didn’t check out my post on the nuts and bolts of my system, check that out first. That post explains the wiring and how everything is connected. This post will tackle the software.

What I’m Streaming

Content gets distributed through network. The content I am sharing is pretty standard, its HD videos, photos, and music. I access this content via two different methods. The first method being the Xbox360 & PS3, and the second being Boxee.

The Nitty Gritty

We are an all Mac household, so If you’re on a PC you’re 360 connection solutions should be much easier. Since Xbox 360 is built by Microsoft it is set up out of the box to play nice with Windows, not the Mac. The 360 does not connect to my Macs by default. Thus lies the first problem with streaming video content from the Mac to the 360.

Connect360

Connect 360 is a third party app that makes the 360 play nice with my Mac. It is a very simple application that only makes minutes to set up (depending on your network configuration). I have also heard many people mention Rivet (but I have never tried them myself). If you’re using a PS3 try out Medialink. All these applications get us about halfway there, as you should be able to see the media on your 360 now and access it.

The Content

This next section mainly concerning video content as music these days is mostly DRM free and should play just fine on your 360. I’ll assume you already have video content on your computer. If you’re looking for content ideas stay tuned for part 3. Sharing video files can be a bag of hurt if you have the wrong file type, codec, bit rate, etc. These are the settings I use to get my stuff up and running on my 360′s. The 360′s should be able to stream H.264, DIVX, XVID, MOV, AVI, WMV, ASF. Check the Xbox support site for more details and limitations on each file type. If your video doesn’t meet the specific criteria for playback, you will have to get all fancy pants and convert your video files. If you have a video format other than MKV skip to the Visualhub section, else keep reading or (If (videoFormat != MKV) { $(‘.VisualHub’).show(); } else { $(‘.nextSection’).show(); }; //he he he).

MKV Files

MKV files were the trickiest files for me to wrap my head around. MKV files, like most video types, are just wrappers for your standard video and audio files. These MKV files are not supported by the 360 and will not play by default. You will need to convert your content to one of the supported formats listed above to play it on the 360. I use awesome application called MKVtools. It takes the guess work out of converting your files for the 360. Select the device: "Xbox 360", video: "Pass Thru", and audio: acc. I use "Pass Thru" to give me the original video quality. The conversion is fast and works pretty much without a hitch. If you buy the full version MKVtools allows batch conversion, which is a really great feature. However, if you’re trying to convert a movie you’ll be out of luck with this application. MKVtools has trouble with files longer than an hour or more.

VisualHub

VisualHub is the Swiss army knife for video conversion. Unfortunately VisualHub is no longer supported or sold. If you don’t have a copy check out VideoMonkey which is trying to become the Open Source answer for VisualHub as it uses much of the same source code. Another option is HandBreak to which I speak to below. For those of us lucky to still have VisualHub: you can simply drop your movie into the queue, select MP4, select "go nuts", go to advanced options, select at max bit-rate of "3600", and convert away. I have found this is the optimal settings for streaming movies to the 360. It is a fine science however, so you may have to tweak the settings every now and again for certain encodes. I use "3600" as my bit-rate as anything higher seems to cause major problems for the stream and in some cases won’t even play.

HandBrake

HandBrake was originally a DVD ripper/converter. It would take your DVD and rip it to many different formats. Today it’s the same program but now it has built in presets to help you convert easier. Also you can now load videos such as 3GP, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOD, MOV, MP4, MPG, and WMV. Select the 360 preset and start converting. Even with the presets selected you can still muddle around with the settings to get optimal performance. I love this program. It is heavily supported and they add stability and features with every update.

Video Exhaustion

Getting your content to the 360 can be more than a little time consuming. However, with the right tools you can view almost any video on your 360. I have a wired gigabit connection from my computer to my 360′s so it makes streaming HD video a breeze. If you are new to this whole video from the internet idea you will be interested in part 3 which will deal with getting content on your computer.

UPDATE Part 2 is here!!!

My wife and I host a Super Bowl Party every year. Each year the party seems to get bigger and bigger. I get a lot of questions at and after the party regarding my set up. “How do I do this”, type of questions. I thought it would be great to ... Read more]]> Posted in Home TheaterReviews

UPDATE Part 2 is here!!!

My wife and I host a Super Bowl Party every year. Each year the party seems to get bigger and bigger. I get a lot of questions at and after the party regarding my set up. “How do I do this”, type of questions. I thought it would be great to write up a detailed guide on how I set everything up. Let me give you a quick run down of what I have and what I wanted to accomplish. My system as a whole is very cheap, but I get a lot of bang for my buck. Here’s what I got; I have U-Verse, featuring the Total Home DVR system, but I also have a large collection of DVD’s that I have started to backup. I wanted this content on all my TV’s. I have a Projector, a Plasma, and Projection LCD. Ara from the HTGuys podcast chose to make Mac Mini’s the heart of his set up. Xbox 360′s are at the heart of my set up.

Visual Wiring Guide

First off I want to apologize for everything sounding very elementary, I wanted this to be easily understandable to everyone. Let me also say that the wiring diagram does not include surround sound wiring, nor does it include the wiring for my U-Verse setup. However, the surround sound wiring is pretty straight forward, I just ran the wires through the walls and out through the celling. The U-Verse part simply used my existing cable wiring and phone lines to connect the U-Verse system. All of the cables and wires were purchased from monoprice.com. If you are buying cables anywhere else, STOP. I opted for a wired connection to most of my devices I stream to. All of the ethernet wires are run through the wall, so there is no mess.

Media Room

As you can see in my wiring guide, I have a Dell 2400MP projector and an 80″ homemade screen. The screen itself is MDF with several coats of primer and paint. The surrounding frame is painted flat black and wrapped in felt. The screen is very smooth and I get great results. I am about to add some ScreenGoo to give me even more contrast. I have a 360, a PS3, and U-Verse box all using component and optical cables. These cables run into a switcher which allows me to easily have multiple devices on one input. The Harmony 520 remote makes it easy to press one button and have everything turn on. These remotes are cheap, easy to use, and I have one in every room. The optical out from the switch connects to my surround sound system. I can stream Netflix movies, and access content on my computer, all through the Xbox 360. Not to mention playing Gears of War 2 on an 80″ screen is not too shabby either. I can also access most of the same content on the PS3, but I primarily use it as a Blu-Ray player.

Living Room

There is not as many wires running through the walls in this room. I got a 52″ Panasonic Projection LCD couple of years ago, and it only has 1 HDMI input. I have an HDMI switch that takes care of the multiple inputs for me and handles all the switching. This is the most complicated part about this system as I have my U-Verse DVR and Sony Blu-Ray player both running into the the switch. The optical runs out of the TV and connects to my surround sound system. If I want to stream from my computer, I just hook up the MacBook to HDMI switch and fire up Boxee. Boxee is a great media center program that also gives me access to my content as well as other great content available on the internet (I’ll talk more about it in Part 2). Again, this is all controlled with 1 Harmony Remote. This room is my only room that is wireless. I was worried about the streaming ability of the wireless connection, but to my surprise it works just as good though.

Bed Room

This room has the least going on. I have an awesome wife that bought me a second 360 for valentines day. This 360 is primarily used for streaming my content, and streaming Netflix movies. This is a great way to add media center like functionality with very little cost. This 360 is the arcade unit, and it also has HDMI built right in. If I want to play games I just pop my 360 hard-drive from my other 360 in, and start playing. The 360 and my U-Verse receiver are running into another HDMI switcher. It is all being controlled by a Harmony Remote.

Baby’s Room

This room is my project room. I have got and old Dell lying around, so I loaded Ubuntu on it (Windows is outlawed) and loaded up Boxee. I also have a PowerMac G4 that I’m not using. I might end up swapping the Dell with the Mac. I have a 19″ monitor hanging on the wall. We will use this as a TV for that room. Again this is my project room, so things will probably change several more times before the baby comes, but I enjoy figuring out solutions.

The Office

The office is the central hub for this little setup. The content on my network is being shared from my MacPro. Again, the direct connection to the AirPort Extreme makes it easy for me to share 1080P videos over the network with ease. I wanted to have all the devices that I don’t need to see, well outta sight. So all of the network devices are in the closet. I have room in the closet, so I can continue to add pieces to the mix and have space for them.

What I want to add next

Of course one of the first things I want to upgrade is my surround sound systems. I am partial to Onkyo, and I want a 7 speaker surround sound system with multiple HDMI inputs. Next I want to pick up a sound bar system for my bedroom. I really don’t want to deal with surround sound speakers and wires in the bedroom, so a sound-bar is really tempting. One of the next big items I am going to add to the house is speakers in every room of the house. This would be great to play my iTunes library over the entire house. My plan is to place the main receiver in the office closet, but I still haven’t figured out exactly what I need and how much control I need in each room. If anyone wants to weigh in, feel free. The baby’s room is going to eventually contain a webcam that is always running. That way we can easily video monitor the baby through our computers. I might end up adding a MacMini to that room to make it easier for a much cleaner solution. However I still haven’t decided between using a webcam/iChat, or an IP network camera solution.

Conclusion

Using 360′s are great ways to extend media center functionality on your network without costing an arm and a leg. If you shop right and do all the wiring yourself, then you can have a system like mine for a small price too. For example I only paid around 2400 for everything in my media room.

Part 2 is coming soon here. In part 2 I will discuss the software I use for video sharing, conversion, torrenting, and network configurations. Questions? Add a comment below or send me an email.

If you read my latest post you know that last week Netflix decided that they were going to cancel the profiles feature. I received an email yesterday from Netflix entitled “We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles”. I have to say this is awesome news. This is what it said:

Dear Jason,

You spoke, and we listened. We are ... Read more]]> Posted in Home TheaterReviews

If you read my latest post you know that last week Netflix decided that they were going to cancel the profiles feature. I received an email yesterday from Netflix entitled “We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles”. I have to say this is awesome news. This is what it said:

Dear Jason,

You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

-Your friends at Netflix

This is incredible news, as well as a big win for the internet community. Many times companies and studios decide to get rid of something, whether it is a TV show or a feature we like. There is often a letter writing campaign or internet uproar, but most of the time they fall on deaf ears. I think that Netflix is going to continue to grow if they listen to their customers. I really have to give them credit as not every company would have listened. I think if they keep this attitude up we will see many great things from them in the future. I mean they still have a couple of things to work on, but it was definitely a victory for them today!

I also want to take a moment and congratulate the internet community. Everywhere I turned this story was begin publicized. There were lots of great blog posts, news stories, podcasts, user comments and letters, surrounding this news. It was because of all this attention that Netflix did something about it. This would not have been possible just a couple of years ago, so a big thanks to technology and to all the great people behind this movement. Keep it up, and speak out when you feel passionately about something. You never know, the next time we may be able to save our favorite TV show!

If you haven’t heard yet, the Netflix profile feature is going away. If you’re not using it you may wonder, what is this feature? Well it is a very valuable feature for those who know how to use it. In fact it is the main reason Netflix works so great for my ... Read more]]> Posted in Home TheaterReviews

If you haven’t heard yet, the Netflix profile feature is going away. If you’re not using it you may wonder, what is this feature? Well it is a very valuable feature for those who know how to use it. In fact it is the main reason Netflix works so great for my family.

What is the profile feature, and the big deal?

Basically I am able to separate my account into different profiles based on who uses the account. I have the Netflix 3 movies out plan. I have created another profile for my wife, and gave her 1 of the movie slots for the account. I now get 2 movies out at once. This solves the problem of micromanaging your queue, as each person has their own queue to manage as well.

This feature works beautifully for us. My wife tends to get chick flicks and I tend to get sci-fi and action movies. Needless to say she doesn’t like all of the movies I like, and vice versa. The profiles feature allows us to not argue over what movie is coming next, as we each get our own pick. It also allows us to use the ratings system. I mean I would not have rated those chick flicks very well at all. If we shared an account, this would have affected the types of recommended movies for my wife. Basically this feature allows families to live in movie bliss as everyone in that household is happy.

One of my Netflix friends has 3 kids. He uses this feature to give his kids the ability to choose the movie they want, but also set parental limitations. In fact it won’t even show the movies that do not meet the parental control. This is great, as again it gives everyone what they want. Mom and Dad can also select the movies they want to watch without having to reset the rating limits each time.

We have been strong evangelists for Netflix, so we have lots of Netflix friends that we post note to and keep up with each other’s movie recommendations. This is great as I have several friends that have the same movie tastes as I do. I can see their rating and know instantly if a movie will be a waste of my time or not. Unfortunately if you are a created profile, you will lose all of your friends. Talk about a bummer

What will happen to your profile on September 1st? via Netflix.

• All DVDs currently at home or in transit will be associated with the main account Queue
• All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history
• Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out
• Prior to Profiles going away, we will also email you a copy of your Profile Queues
• Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available
• You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account
• You will be able to set a maturity filter on the main account

The bottom line

To put it simply; Netflix is screwing over their heavy users. They mention that this feature is not widely used and will only affect a minute group of people. First off, one of the major reasons that it is not widely used is that Netflix virtually does nothing to promote this feature. I used the service for a couple of months before even realizing it was there. It kept me with Netflix, as I realized that the service would not work for us sharing one queue. If Netflix would simply ask you if you would like to set up a profile when initially signing up, or feature it more prominently on their site, you would see a much larger rate of users, and I suspect a higher level of customer retention.

To the statement that this only affects a small group of users, the heavy users, well this group happens to be the loudest group and the ones that evangelize Netflix the most. On the Netflix blog there are roughly 1000 comments (mostly negative) regarding this topic. There are trackbacks to dozens of huge stories regarding this issue. Buzz Out Loud episode number 749 talked about this Netflix move, as well as how it affected everyone on the show. In an age when new sites and services can popup at any time, you would think that Netflix would be adding features, not taking them away. If Blockbuster has this feature by September 1st I will be moving my services, or looking into other options. I was going to pick up that Roku Netflix streamer this week, well AppleTV here I come. Here is what I wrote to Netflix just airing my grievances.

I am extremely disappointed that you are doing this. This is a horrible idea and you are going to lose members because of it. I plan on canceling my account and moving to another service as of September 1st if this is taken away. It’s simple; I do not want my wife’s rating and movies in my queue. Nor does she want mine. By sharing one profile it makes it virtually impossible for families to use your recommendation system and your service as a whole

What’s even more upsetting is that you didn’t even provide an alternative to this. You basically state “While it may be disappointing…” or as I see it, “tough cookies”. I would even be willing to pay a little more for this valuable feature as it is one of the major reasons I have stuck with Netflix over the years. I do not think, however, it is worth getting a whole new account for, which by the way is the only alternative you have left us with. With the growing adoption of online rentals, steaming, and digital downloads on demand, one would think Netflix would be adding more features, not taking them away. I can already download high def movies on my Xbox360, and now I am strongly considering picking up an AppleTV. Up until this point I have not been that interested in using these other services, as I have been extremely satisfied with the Netflix service, that is until now.

The worst part of this all is that you will be losing a huge Netflix fan. I have introduced several family members and friends to Netflix over the years. Additionally, I have purchased accounts for 2 sets of parents. You can bet that I will now be advising them to move their service elsewhere. I really hope you realize what you’re doing and that penalizing your members is not a way to keep brand loyalty.

Regards,

-Jason Cypret
Soon to be ex-member

I just want to say it I love EMULaunch. I love it so much that I dedicated one of my very first posts to EMULaunch, or maybe it was because I had nothing else to blog about. In any case EMULaunch is an awesome program if you have several video game emulators on your mac. ... Read more]]> Posted in AppleVideo Games

I just want to say it I love EMULaunch. I love it so much that I dedicated one of my very first posts to EMULaunch, or maybe it was because I had nothing else to blog about. In any case EMULaunch is an awesome program if you have several video game emulators on your mac. It makes the process of deciding which game to play easy. It has a beautiful interface and looks amazing on an HD Projector. One of the biggest thing that this update brought is the ability to add second artwork, and scalled backgrounds. If you need a jump start on getting this set up or still want to wrap your head around the whole emulator thing, check out this video.

Here are all of the details of the update.

EMUlaunch has been updated to v1.5 with the following changes:

* Layout customization options (more options in regards to font size and background bevels to come)
* Option for second artwork
* Option to remove dock
* Updated 512px icon for Leopard
* Improved mutli resolution support, especially for vertical resolutions such as 1200x 1920 and legacy resolutions such as 6410 x480
* Background image now scales properly in vertical monitor situations.

Future updates will bring more customization options, but what has been updated should give the ability for people to create more elaborate layouts such as the one featured below (this uses a custom background – instructions can be found in the read me as to how to swap backgrounds).

So I am finally doing it. I am taking the plunge. I will be purchasing a PS3 today. It has been a long time coming, but the price drop finally put me over the edge.

The new PS3 will also finally put me into a camp for the HD DVD vs Blu-ray battle. Since I am ... Read more]]> Posted in Home Theater

So I am finally doing it. I am taking the plunge. I will be purchasing a PS3 today. It has been a long time coming, but the price drop finally put me over the edge.

The new PS3 will also finally put me into a camp for the HD DVD vs Blu-ray battle. Since I am a proclaimed Apple fanboy this seems to be a very good place to be, since Apple is backing Blu-ray. I also have to admit that I am still not totally backing Blu-Ray as the HD DVD player just hit under $100. I think that HD DVD has started to pick up speed and is starting to be a real contender in the next generation format wars.

Let me then divulge my ultimate plan. I plan to also purchase the HD DVD player for my other HDTV. I can then test the waters out in both camps. I am not planning on buying any HD DVD or Blu-ray discs however. I will get my movies from Netflix like always and not really have to pick a side until someone wins. If Blu-Ray looses I still have an incredible gaming system. If HD DVD wins I will have a great un-scaling DVD player that I can use for my massive collection of DVD’s. I see it as a win win.

In either case I really look forward to getting movies in HD. I have been longing for this ever since I got my HD set up last year.

I recently read an article from TUAW discussing Mac users and Xbox 360. Being that I am in this category I was very intrigued. By default Xbox 360 does not directly support Mac OSX. It does however interface very nicely with Microsoft’s own Media Center (imagine that) and adds great media center abilities to the ... Read more]]> Posted in AppleHome TheaterVideo Games

I recently read an article from TUAW discussing Mac users and Xbox 360. Being that I am in this category I was very intrigued. By default Xbox 360 does not directly support Mac OSX. It does however interface very nicely with Microsoft’s own Media Center (imagine that) and adds great media center abilities to the already awesome 360. Unfortunately Mac users are left out in the cold, that is until Connect 360 came out. Connect 360 is the bridge between the Xbox 360 and your Mac, by adding streaming abilities for your music, photos, and videos.

I have a little review of the three products I needed to make streaming utopia happen on your Xbox 360. The main ingredient I have already mentioned, Connect 360. Connect 360 costs $20 to purchase, however you can try out their demo for free. The demo does not expire, but does limit the amount of music, photos, and video you can stream. There is not much to explain about Connect 360. It was very easy to set up, and has worked flawlessly for me. With Connect 360 you can easily listen to all of your iTunes songs (DRM free) and playlists. The iPhoto streaming feature is also great for displaying your photos to family and friends. I found that is really works great for parties. For this I turn my music and photo slideshow on random. It really makes a great conversation piece when a great random photo appears.

The tricky part of the whole equation is video streaming. Unfortunately the Xbox 360 only supports WMV formated videos only. I don’t know many Mac users that have WMV files on their computer as Microsoft stopped making WMV player for the Mac years ago. First you need to be able to play WMV format videos on your Mac. Download Flip4Mac Components for Quicktime. This little app is required to play WMV files on your Mac. Also Connect 360 will not work correctly with out it installed. Now the last problem, how do I get my video converted to WMV format. Well you could download Flip4Mac Studio Pro but that will run you around $100. I prefer VisualHub at around $24. Visual Hub will convert your video files to WMV, as well as iPod, PSP, DV, DVD, Tivo, AVI, MP4, MPEG and Flash. It is the Swiss army knife of video encoding. VH has a simple drag and drop interface that makes it truly easy to convert your video without knowing anything about converting video. Now let me speak to the overall quality of the video being streamed. While I stated the conversion was easy to convert, it will take a fine art to master the quality of the video you are converting. VisualHub has a setting called "Go Nuts" which by default is their highest pre-configured preset. While the video quality looks great you may run into lag problems while streaming as the overall sizes produced are much larger. I found the best results while encoding on the "high" setting and by changing the qmin to 5. However results may vary for you.

Next the experience with on the Xbox 360 is not all roses. Rewinding and fast-forwarding does not work correctly. If you FF the video will likely freeze or boot you back to the Xbox 360 dashboard. Again results may vary. Overall I found that streaming to the Xbox 360 is very great experience. If you compare this solution to the newly released Apple TV the results sound even more compelling. I think it is a great reason for those with home theaters to reconsider purchasing the Xbox 360 for a media extender. It is a wonderful gaming platform, has HD and surround sound built in, can download HD content directly to the box, and it can play HD-DVD’s. Also Microsoft plans to unleash more functionality in their upcoming spring update.

• Support for streaming WM-DRM protected content from a PC

• H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.

• Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.