Bringing Harmony back into the home

I have been living with my wife but without Harmony ever since I upgraded my AV center with a new blueray player.

Years ago the TV controlled everything with a built in DVD player using the RCA remote control. Then came the Comcast HD DVR and another remote. I added surround sound with another remote. The final sin was my new blueray player with a remote containing 45 buttons.

I programmed the Comcast remote to turn on all 3 TV devices, amp, tv and cable box, but changing anything other than channels and volume was a major pain, select TV then input ect. Playing a DVD was a major pain, find the amps remote, select a new input, get the DVR remote, turn it on, fumble thru the keys and finding pause in a dark room was hit or miss with the stop button located next to it.

Then I ran across an article in the GR press this week about universal remotes and they reviewed the high end Harmony from logitech. Being a logitech customer I got an email offer with a discounted price on the Harmony the next day, but walking thru Costco I saw the Harmony 700 on sale for $87.99 and picked it up on Wednesday.

The Harmony has a USB interface to your computer for setup, enter your devices/model numbers and the web site will guide you thru setting up 4 activities. Press watch TV and it will turn on my TV, select the input, turn on the amp and select the input and output and turn on the comcast box.

Select watch a movie and it turns off the comcast box, changes the amps input and turns on my blueray player.

The model 700 can control up to 6 devices. It has matching color buttons to jive with my blueray player, (netflix, youtube, pandora or blockbuster).

What I really like is the display screen that allows you to move thru various menus depending on the device you want to control. For example my AV AMP has 32 menus, I can select the surround settings all from the Harmony remote.

Another feature, when you pick it up all the keys light up so you can see what you are looking for in the dark room. It has a large IR lens on the front along with a small one on the back so aiming is easy.

IT Rehab gets makeover

Check it out @ ITrehab.blogspot.com

Playon on the IPhone (via Mobile Access)

Check out the new Mobile Access Playon capability. You have to enable it in the client, then install the application on the iPhone (visit playon.tv). It automatically finds your Playon server when it's launched (assuming you're on your home WIFI), or you can go manually to it if you've configured NAT on your router to or can use UPNP. Very nice - let's you watch all the programs (especially nice if you've got Playon Premium) on the iPhone. Quality is excellent over WIFI.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I am continually amazed at the quality and capability of many free online and mobile applications. It seems like just yesterday, I was paying for floppy disks loaded with 1,000 fonts. My, how times have changed. So here is a collection of my favorite free sites and utilities, most of which I use on a regular (if not daily) basis and can genuinely recommend:

Check out the review of the Roku XDS

Google TV Event Shows Off Android-Loaded Logitech Revue Components - Cloud Computing from eWeek

Google TV Event Shows Off Android-Loaded Logitech Revue Components - Cloud Computing from eWeek: "NEW YORK—Logitech executives convened here Oct. 6 to show off more than a year of hard work developing a companion box, full and mini keyboard controllers and a TV Cam for making high-definition video calling, all for Google TV. Though packed into a tiny show space in Chinatown, Logitech officials offered an impressive demonstration of their products to support the service, which allows users to channel surf and navigate the Web from one keyboard controller, mini controller or iPhone or Android smartphone. Officials for the company easily flitted from one application to search and then to the next application. Then they shifted between TV and Web content all without snags and only minimal latency. The Revue box, which connects easily to TVs at home with an HDMI cable, is preloaded with several applications, including Netflix, Amazon On Demand, Napster, CNBC Realtime, Logitech Media Player and more. The Revue box and Keyboard Controller are available for preorder now from Logitech.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. Delivery is expected by the end of the month. There is also a mini controller and Logitech TV Cam for making video calls through Google TV. See the prices, along with the devices in action, in this eWEEK slide show."

Polycom CMA desktop videoconferencing - in-flight follow-up

Here is a picture taken on my Delta flight to San Jose using gogo in-flight wireless. 

 

 Overall experience was not bad.  A little break up in the video but audio was crisp and clear.  Better than expected with the latency.

Sqeezebox radio is new in my home

For years I have enjoyed streaming Internet music from my squeezebox audio player which is in my living room hooked up to a Bose CD/Radio system. It can stream music from Pandora, Slacker or from my home media computer over my home wireless network. Not to easy to move out to the deck, garage or front porch however.

Recently Best Buy had an ad for the Logitech Sqeezebox Radio on sale for $159 so I picked one up. Great sound from the speaker, can run on a rechargeable battery pack (not included, remote is not included either). I keep it on my nightstand, easy to read clock, cool control knobs and wireless of course. I set it to turn off after 30 minutes of play time every night. The display shows the album cover of the song playing on Pandora as a bonus. Highly recommended as a replacement for the cheap sounding clock radios that don't stream from the Internet.

Ted5000 Update

Here is a chart from igoogle showing how much juice my AC was sucking from the grid yesterday.
Last night I finally opened the windows and enjoyed the fresh air. The dark green shows todays
usage, the light green to the left is yesterdays usage.

IPTV - UVerse - NHL Playoffs

Throughout the year, I evaluate costs and usually during the summer - cut down on our TV expense by downgrading service. However, when realizing that downgrade removed Versus from my package and not being able to watch the Detroit Red Wings on Versus - there's an exception.

The game started at 8:00pm ET, but I started looking to get it on my TV around 9:20 pm ET after listening to the game on the radio. I went out to att.com/uversecentral and logged into my account and within 3 minutes, I had updated my service plan, took advantage of a monthly discount with the change from U100 to U200 for the summer, and was watching Versus HD before I logged off my PC.

Does Uverse costs a little more then a Dish Service or Cable company - slightly - but that flexibility and customer service without having to deal with "Customer Service", is bar none worth every dime.

To close out my first post - Go Uverse and Go Wings!

TED5000 is now in my home, monitors household power utilization

I have been looking into energy monitoring devices for my home for awhile. I first started with the Kill-a-watt meter which monitors one device plugged into the monitor. Then I experimented with a upgrade to the Kill-a-watt that transfers the data via zigbee wireless to my computer in real time. Both failed to impress me with the information gathered. It worked well for a quick look at the energy the device was sucking from the grid but did not change any behavior in my home. Lights, computers, TVs continued to be left on while no one was in the room.

The TED5000 connects to your main breaker box power inputs using small clamps, the feeds go into a monitor that is connected to a dual pole breaker (my AC). This monitor send the real time data via the power lines to a gateway plugged into the wall under my worksurface in my office. The gateway looks like a wall wart transformer and is connected to my LAN via a cable to my wireless router.

Configuration is a snap once the monitor and gateway is plugged in using my PC (you need to write down the mac address of the devices) and I was able to monitor total house usage in 30 minutes. I also purchased a remote display which is located in the kitchen, it communicates via wireless zigbee to the gateway in the basement and displays the usage and cost per hour. This morning with the house quiet I was sucking 270watts from the grid (until I fired up the coffee maker). The remote display updates every 5 seconds showing you what you are sucking from the grid in real time.

Another key feature is the ability to upload the data from the gateway to google's power meter site. Once this is configured it runs automatically, sending me weekly updates on my usage as well as the ability to use a gadget with igoogle to look at my daily suckage from the grid.

Now my wife can glance at the display and enjoy the fact that leaving the kitchen halogen lights on suck 240watts from the grid while the sun is shining.

The whole deal cost about $250 for the devices from TED.

New open source video codec to watch from Google

Interesting post regarding a rumored video codec coming from Google at the May developer conference.

My Book World Edition

Hi all, thought I might chime in here with a piece of hardware I have found has solved alot of my home file storage issues. The "My Book World Edition" networked hard drive is very easy to set up and offers the home user a terabyte of storage for all your media needs at a very cost effective pricepoint. Access speeds can be optimized with a gigabit ethernet port (most techy rehabs have gigabit for their home networks :) and with an additional USB port you can daisy chain another drive if you fill this one. The network access was the big thing I was looking for, with several computers in the house, adding hardisk to each one was becomming an exercise in reformatting and rebuilding. itunes and other media files are getting easier and easier to access on the internet and where else better to store them than onyou own networked storage device.

The lack of RAID support was a bit of a ding in reviews but for my home network I was looking for something that would be easy for everyone in the family to use. I know there are other solutions out there and many that are as cost effective, I would be interested to hear what others are using.

Roku

Roku what is it? When I first heard the name I thought it might have been something that Godzilla battled on Monster Island. No this little device is a Netflix Streaming set-top box that has all of your Netflix instant que pushed to it. The setup is a breeze and with wireless it can support streaming of a 720p signal of anything that you add to your que. They have also included channels from Revision3,TWIT.tv,Amazon Video on Demand and MLB Live. This is the best TV watching experince that I have had in a long time. No commercials and Full Seasons of TV shows are available.

PlayOn Digital Media Server | PlayOn

PlayOn Digital Media Server PlayOn

Cut the cable! Finally an inexpensive way to bring Internet video to your TV. Just make sure your systems meet the minimum requirements.

Polycom CMA desktop videoconferencing

This picture was taken on my Amtrak train ride to Chicago testing the new Polycom CMA desktop videoconference client for work using my tethered blackberry Tour for my data connection!

Audio and Video worked great. 

I did throttle down the network preferences to the following ...

Here is a snapshot from the other end of the desktop videoconference call . . .

Blue Ray Player - PS3

There is only one 100% compatable blue ray player. That is a PS3. It is the only one that can be updated on the file for software support. It is the only device out there that can be used for a BlueRay player, DVD Player, Game Console, Streaming Media Player (All the Barry Manilo that you got from Limewire) and fully interacts with Netflix. (www.netflix.com) Netflix is a must have. There is other BlueRay players that play higher lines of resolution and sound outputs but for one box that does it all, ,must have a PS3.

ScribeFire

ScribeFire is the most popular blogging software for Firefox. It is compatible with Blogger, Wordpress, and many other blog hosts.  Just started using it and I'm very impressed.  Makes blogging much easier, especially if you are blogging to multiple sites and you are using Mozilla Firefox.

Download

Getting Started with ScribeFire

SlingBox

The Slingbox PRO-HD delivers your favorite shows and content over the Internet in stunning high definition to your desktop, or laptop—anywhere you go. It gives you the same great features and ease-of-use as the Slingbox SOLO with the benefit of multiple inputs, a built-in TV tuner, and a true-to-life HD viewing experience.

I recently purchased the Slingbox PRO-HD because I had the need to watch live TV in my home office.  I have a dual 22" monitor setup and thought it would be nice to use the second monitor as a television.  

It works great and the quality is phenomenal when accessing it from my local LAN.  I also can view my cable box through slingbox.com which will connect to my cable box after I log in.  There is a mobile client for $30.00 for a i-phone or blackberry, which would allow you to watch and connect to your cable box, DVR, BlueRay, etc.  Connecting remotely does not have the HD quality but works pretty well. Here is a demo of the installation.

Demo

In the summer, it will turn my laptop into a portable television when sitting on the deck and there is a big game on.

For those that can not resist. - WOOT

This is where I find some great deals and gifts while saving money. My wife things I am addicted. If I was addicted I would have the Wootalyzer on every computer I own. Stay away from this site. You will be addicted to it once you try it. http://www.wootalyzer.com/
It gives you deals of the day from many sources including Amazon deal of the day.