Home Page  | My Experience = Your Success! I've tried lots of things to create a better Audio-Visual experience throughout my house. It started with stringing some networking wire, then I ran some X10 stuff, and now I've started to tinker with Audio-Visual items. I currently use an ATI All-in-wonder card to record TV, TVersity to share my recorded TV, GeeXboX to watch my recorded TV, and X10 modules and MisterHouse software to control my house lighting and outlets. Learn from my experience to better your own. |
In The Beginning...
 | It started with a cheap X10 firecracker, transceiver with outlet, and remote, so I could turn on/off my Christmas lights at will without having to go outside. Now I use a computer program (MisterHouse) with my own customizations to control my Holiday lighting, turn on/off my porch lights at dusk/dawn, turn on my sprinklers (if the local weather report doesn't call for rain, and if the wind is less than 15 mph, and how many days a week changes with the current month), and turn on/off various lights and radios throughout my house to make it look like we're home when we're away. See the X10 page for more details. |
First Home A/V Project: cheap Tivo-like functionality with no subscriptions
 | I bought a used ATI all-in-wonder 7500 off e-bay, installed it in my kids' PC (which is next to the TV), hooked a cable line up to it, and could record TV. A homemade Tivo for less than $20 (including shipping)! Even after getting the purple dongle (AIW owners know what I mean), the Remote Wonder, and a larger hard drive, I was still in it for less than $100. Then I created my own program to automate the updating of the Gemstar Guide Plus program. Knowing others might not use/want the same settings as me, I built a graphical configuration screen, and decided it was good enough to sell. See the GemAU page for more details. | | Next comes Universal Plug and Play A/V
 | It was sweet being able to record TV, but now I wanted to watch my recordings on other TV's. You could purchase other "Radeon" cards, load the ATI MMC software, and use EasyShare, but getting locked into a particular vendor's hardware as a solution left a bad taste in my mouth! TVersity and GeeXboX to the rescue! See the UPNP page for more details. |
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