Re: Any advice for ambitious newbie?

[Andy Laurence <andy@xxxxxxx>]

> But as I say, use it if you want. I have no problem with people
doing
> things their way. As long as people have no problems with me doing
> things my way.

That's fair enough.  You already know you're limiting yourself as far
as 
HA software goes.

> > A lot of are doing the same with collections regularly in the
100s of
> > gigabytes.
>
> 100s of Gb of MP3s? How much music do they possess? Using VBR at a
> pretty high quality setting, I can rip a CD into around 70Mb without
any
> loss of quality discernible to me (but I'm not an audiophile). So my
35
> Gb represents around 500 CDs. I'm pretty keen on music, but 100s of
Gb
> is more than I would know what to do with (or be able to afford).

It's shocking, but there's people on this list with substantial interests
in music, and even more substantial collections!

> > Have you seen the SliMP3, DDAR, Audiotron etc?
>
> I'm sure they're good, but will they also function to playback
video,
> play games, browse the web, read email, write letters etc? If I want
a
> computer for these purposes in each room, why not get one box to
do
> everything? It would certainly please my wife, who would rather I had
no
> technology visible, and certainly not a handful of boxes for each
> purpose. Plus there's the cost factor....

OK, playing video, I understand what you're saying, but do you need a 
device to do all this in every room?  Video, for example.  Surely
one 
device, and a distribution medium to each room would be acceptable? 
Browsing the web would require you sat infront of the monitor.  I
don't 
know about you, but I can't read my monitor from over 6 feet away. 
Surely 
a laptop would be a better solution, or a tablet PC?

If you're reading email, writing letters, or playing games, you want to be
sat at the computer.  The stuff onscreen is what you need to see, and
even 
with a large TV you're limiting yourself, unless you have a high 
resolution plasma screen in each room.  As for cost factor, to do all
the 
above, you're looking at pretty beefy machines, so I'd say there's little
in it.

> > Do yourself and buy a TiVo (or two if you want multi-channel
> > recording).
>
> How do I watch what I have recorded on TiVo in the rooms where it
isn't
> located? Is it network-enabled? And can the storage be upped
without
> invalidating the warranty?

You can do the above, but not whilst keeping the warranty.  However,
if 
you use a Tivo, youo'll realise why we rave about it.  Instant SWMBO
compliance, and pure ease of use out of the box.  SWMBO has yet to
watch 
the video on how to use it, or read the manual.  I just handed her the
remote, and said "press Tivo to get to this screen, those go up and
down, 
and that selects".  That was it - she's hooked.

> > How many CAT5s per room do you plan?
>
> I know this goes against established practice in this group, but I
was
> only planning on one run per workstation, plus a few extra
scattered
> around where I think I might want cameras, WiFi access points, points
to
> plug in laptops etc. This will probably mean 2 or 3 per room.

You may regret this later on.  There are people here who ran 4 drops
to 
each room and now regret putting in so little.  I think the general
consensus is that you can never have enough CAT5.

> > Personally those low-energy bulbs give off an awful light.
>
> I agree. It's a toss-up between principles and utility. I suspect
that
> my wife will ensure that utility wins.

I'm considering the options too ATM.  Energy savers that are not
dimmable, 
or short lifetime convential bulbs.  I'm still planning to go LED in
the 
kitchen though.

Andy
-- 
Building a community network for Bristol
http://consume.andylaurence.co.uk
- updated 14/08
4x4 in town - bog brush for your teeth
NB: Alternate E-Mail - andylaurence at yahoo dot co dot uk

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