Last week our DVD player started making sad little staticky noises instead of actually playing any sound. Hmph. So much for watching News Radio while lazily eating pizza.
Possible solutions: we could clean our DVD player . . . buy a new DVD player . . . or we could network the whole house! Use our 200 GB hard drive to record TV! Download movies! Set up our internet connection to run thru the walls on our electrical wiring! Copy our old VHS tapes to a portable hard drive!
Naturally we chose option three.
We haven't set it up yet, but here's what I've learned so far about doing it (as well as prices, for my own amusement in case they come down before I get around to doing this):
- Total cost to get the TV network set up should be $300-$400. Wow, less than I thought!
- No need for Windows Media Center edition - in spite of Microsoft's nasty website that tells me I need to buy a whole new computer!
- We'll need a TV tuner & recorder to install into the computer - $134
- We'll also need a Media extender to get the signal from the computer into the TV - $90
- Two powerline ethernet adapters to get the network signal from the room with the computer into the room with the TV. Sounds like the older ones are too slower, but the latest from NetGear might work: see Powerline Networking that Doesn't Suck, and Mossberg's column
- Possibly Sagetv, which supposedly has a better UI to navigate recorded stuff & find new things to record - $100 (including the site license re: the TV networked in the other room)
- This page has great details on how to set up recording from various sources. Another good reference guide is here.
- Can we watch DivX movies and/or streaming movies with this setup (eg CinemaNow - and is there a better site than this one)?
- The TV tuner supports 125 channels. BBC America is on channel 162. Will this work?
1 comment:
Indeed, "Gadgetry" is the suitable category. I suggest also cross-indexing under the infamous slogan, "Think! There must be a harder way to do it!"
Post a Comment