Media Center Thingies

So here I am, an Apple TV upstairs and a Roku downstairs, Plex Media Server and iTunes running on the Mac Mini downstairs. I am a little frustrated that manufacturers want to have it all to themselves and not let individuals have a choice in how they view their media. Well, now I can watch the audio and video that I have stored away on the Mac Mini, but right now I have duplicate files on the system. I am not exactly sure of how PMS and iTunes will play together. I do know that I can let PMS access the iTunes library so that is one way of reducing the amount of files available. Right now I have 3TB of storage to do my thing, but I am the type of person that watches how much data I store since I have been burned in the past.

I am seriously thinking of moving the desktop system from upstairs to downstairs and plugging it into the HDTV. In that way, I should be able to use WMC to play the TV channels from the HDHomeRun Prime. Such a simple idea and yet to get it to work, it causes great grief. Not sure what the next round of experiments will bring.


- LW

Thinking Differently about Home Media Servers

Since last post, I have been on a quest to direct myself on what other tidbits need to be added to my home network.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that TV Streamer/GoodPlayer App combo on my iPad is actually able to stream an HD TV program from the HDHomeRun Prime.  That means that the HDHomeRun App by Elgato will probably be eliminated from my iPad 2.  It doesn't make any sense to have more than one App to perform a function especially if the second App not only performs the functions of the first but exceeds it in many ways.  The GoodPlayer App actually has some other capabilities that I had not explored previously.  So I consider it worth the extra money.  So now I have pretty much full up streaming to my iPad 2, at least until Verizon changes their CableCard policies (got wind of that one with a letter from them about some coming changes affecting CableCards).  So far, the TV programs that I like can be watched where I like on the iPad.  It would really make it a whole lot simpler and obviate the need for all these network changes if I could just stream to anything from any STB or DVR like a number of competitors do.

I am currently paying about $170 a month (1 STB and 1 DVR with no movie channels) for TV / Internet [25/25] / Telephone.  That is a big hunk of change and as the economy starts changing more, I will be looking for ways to cut that amount down.  I typically get into these things for the long haul until the company does something that causes me to leave.  That's what happened with our subscription to Cox Communications - they didn't have some of the niceties that Verizon FIOS did.  However, speaking from experience, Verizon is in the business of making money and I have noticed a definite cost per month creep that is just about to the tilt point of $175.  It won't matter that they have a blue zillion channels or have really top of the line data speeds if I can't afford it.  I don't have movie channels because I already have a stash of DVDs at home and I rent DVDs.  I don't stream from Netflix anymore because I found myself not interested in what movies they did have to offer.  I don't use video on demand because its an additional cost that I am not willing to pay.  I am not interested in going to see latest releases multiple times because I am pretty much a see it one time person, unless I really like the movie then I will buy a DVD.  I rip my DVDs so that it is easier to pull them up and watch them in my house using Plex Media Server / Windows Media Center / iTunes, and no I don't loan my ripped DVD files to anyone - so don't go around and accuse me of being a pirate just because I want convenience.  This constant push to charge for every view of a movie is for the birds.  The big houses are wondering why they are not getting customers at the movie houses it's because of the cost of going there.

My real desire is to be able to get to my TV and movies from any TV or computer in the house with a minimum of cost and do it while learning a little about media streaming.

Decided to go Down the Apple Rabbit Hole Again

Yesterday, while the power was out in various parts of the county, I went with the family to one of our local malls. The mall has an Apple store in it and while the others were occupied, I went in with my grandson. While in the store, I asked one of the employees whether I could stream a non-iTunes purchased video from iTunes to the Apple TV. His response was that it had to be a purchased item from the iTunes store. So I put the Apple TV back on the shelf and walked out the door - I don't feel like re-purchasing things that I already have in my library.
While outside, my grandson hinted that I had not phrased the question correctly. Brilliant! So he and I talked for a few minutes about the wording and we went back in the store. I then asked a different employee if I ripped a DVD that was in my library to a form which could be imported to iTunes, if I then could stream that movie from my Mac Mini to the Apple TV through my home network. I then got a positive response to my question. I then decided to purchase the Apple TV (ATV), the newest version (can't jailbreak it yet).
My motive for doing this is twofold, I want to stream movies I have already ripped and I want to be able to stream to the Apple TV from my iPad. When I got the ATV home, I unboxed it and tried it out one my TV downstairs by following the instructions on the enclosed booklet.
It was an easy install, I unplugged the STB and plugged the HDMI cable into the Apple TV. By simply following the instructions on the screen, including the part about connecting to the wi-fi with my password, I was soon able to get the ATV up and running. I then located the "Computer" block on the front screen. When this was selected, I was asked to enter my AppleID and password. Apparently, Apple does it's home streaming based on a common AppleID rather than a specific IP address. I am not doing anything illegal here so I went with the flow. The ATV then instructed me to set up home serving on iTunes with my AppleID. I then went and booted iTunes up with a new configuration file (press option while launching iTunes), did an add of all media that I had, set the home streaming bit on (from the menu), and made sure I was using the same AppleID that I put into the ATV. Once that was complete I was able to link into the library that I had created and stream pictures, audio, and video from my library.
Other things I learned:
1. Leave iTunes running because it breaks the connection. There does not seem to be a way of keeping the streaming running without a copy of iTunes running.
2. In order to stream to the ATV, the format must be either mp4 or m4v.
3. Do not make the mistake of pointing to all material because if it gets to some TV rips, it will place the contents into the movie category, not the TV category - should probably look to see what format is required.
4. You will need to spend some time getting the cover art and movie metadata squared away.
Other than that, once I get a remote controlled HDMI switch I will be all set on the downstairs TV.
- LW

Got a little ambitious with WMC

Well, I am on vacation for a few days. My granddaughter is graduating high school tomorrow. While I am out, I thought I might try to use a WMC to power my HDTV. I chanced upon a USB to VGA/DVI/HDMI converter in a Micro Center near me. I am thinking that the problem that I was having with setting up a Windows 7 computer to get it to authenticate with my HDHome Run Prime may be solved. I will try to get the Windows 7 system to use the new adapter as the primary display. The motherboard in the system is pretty old, but still has some life left in it. It should be powerful enough to crunch through the video feed. All it is doing is passing the video feed on to the HDTV. We shall see.


- LW

Frustrating ... Still No HDHomeRun Prime with Roku

Ok, back to figuring out the HDHomeRun Prime using Plex issue.  I have a Plex Client on Roku and I was hoping to be able to flow the TV stations to my Roku from the Plex Media Server running on my Mac Mini.  To repeat, I can watch TV from the HDHomeRun Prime from my Windows 7 Laptop Plex Client connection and from my Mac Mini Client connection.  I cannot get the feed via either the Roku Client or the iOS Client.  In addition, I have only been able to set up about 30 channels so far.  I am really stuck on this one.  I am able to play videos and other plug in outputs using the Roku and iOS clients but not the output from the HDHomeRun Prime plugin.  I will do some more experiments to see if there is a way to accomplish this.

I Need a Decent Journal - Time Keeping App

Do you have a Status Report that you have to deliver to several different customers during the week, each status being delivered on separate days?  It seems like all of the Apps available for iOS either allow you to collect time, collect journal information, but not both at the same time.  I need an App that does the time clock thing, but allows me to enter journal information on what I have been working on (sort of like GTD sub-projects) during that time period and then click on a different task and start timing for it.  When I want to generate a report to turn in for status purposes, I need to gather the information based on a time period with time collected and journaling information embeded.  I can't seem to find something to meet that need.  Maybe I will have to roll my own.

Updates over the air

Ok, I finally bit the bullet and allowed my iPhone 3GS and iPad 2 to update to iOS 5.1.1 over iCloud.  What is interesting is that the way Apple has engineered the experience is that you first see a Medalion over the Settings App.  So, out of curiosity you open the Settings App and discover that the General Settings has the number one next to the name.  Upon clicking on General you will see a number one next to the "Software Update" line.  Clicking on this will bring you to the Software Update page and a button that says Update Now.  You will also notice that the update has already been downloaded and the size is displayed.  When you click on the Update Now button, the system will go through the normal process of checking the download, unpacking the download, and then installing the download.  A few minutes later and it is ready to go.  Both devices went without a hitch.

You might be wondering why I haven't tried this before.  It's because I have always been afraid of loosing connection while the download is happening and not being able to recover.  That is why I have always done the iTunes route, which by the way I do not feel is intrusive.  I will still use the Mac Mini to run iTunes as a backup plan.  I don't plan on using iCloud to do my backups as my devices all have different loads of music, apps, etc.  In fact, my iPhone is 16GB and my iPad is 64GB.  The iPad would definately not fit on the iPhone.  I am waiting for the iPhone "5" or whatever they are going to call it to come out and then I will upgrade.  I have the old grandfathered unlimited data and I refuse to give that up.  Yep, I still use ATandT for cell phone service.  It's not as good as Cingular was but I have had the account for many years and some good bennies to boot.