Computer and Smartphone Stuff
This document last modified January 30, 2012.
Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) support.
Smartphone Stuff
Techie News and Product Reviews
Home Theater Personal Computer
My Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) is arguably my favorite techie-toy. A HTPC is basically a digital video recorder (or DVR, like TiVo) built around a common personal computer. Unlike TiVo or other commercial DVRs, though, I can save my movies and TV programs to any computer storage, or transfer it over a network to my laptop, or move it to a smartphone or portable video player, or back it up, or even transfer it over the internet to view while I'm away on business travel or vacation. I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want, and where-ever I want. At this point, the technology is mature and the system operates without fault, 24x7. I have this system hooked up my TV, and the record and playback quality is indistinguishable from the original broadcast.
My current system uses Snapstream's Beyond TV software. This application and the associated hardware have made for an absolutely rock-solid HTPC experience. Read about the features on their web site, and be assured from me that everything works. Still, though, this is not quite as straightforward as plugging a cable into the back of your TV, so there's occasionally a need for some configuration help. My preferred source is the forums section of Snapstream's web site.
I can transfer movies and news programs (or whatever else I want to record and watch) to my laptop computer
and play it back with either Windows Media Player or the DivX Player. The DivX player can play back DivX, AVI, MKV, MP4 and MOV videos. DivX seems to make for higher quality recordings than Microsoft's WMV format, so that's my preference for movies or anything else that I want to have the best possible picture quality.
I can even transfer the files to my smartphone and play them back while at the gym, or out for a walk, or I can even connect to the car stereo via Bluetooth to listen to news and commentary programs while I'm driving to work in the morning.
I have two Hauppauge HVR-2250 dual tuner cards in my HTPC, and I just recently added an external USB tuner, allowing me to record up to five programs at once. At present, this is in a home-built computer built around a motherboard from MSI, but these cards could go into any common desktop computer.
Android Smartphone Stuff
In the summer of 2011, I switched to an Android phone on Virgin Mobile. I'm paying $45 per month for 1200 minutes of voice calls, unlimited data and unlimited messaging.
I briefly considered an Apple iPhone on either Verizon or AT&T, but really didn't want to get sucked into the world of iTunes for every multimedia transfer. That's a big issue for me, since I tend to watch news programs from my home theater PC on my phone when I go running or out for walks or work outs.
And then a friend told me about Virgin Mobile: you *buy* the phone at full price, as opposed to getting it for free or discounted with a contract, but the monthly rates are incredibly low. There's no contract, and no early termination fees. You're running on Sprint's network, but unlike most carriers, there are no roaming agreements with other carriers. What this means is that when you wander outside of Sprint's coverage area, the phone doesn't automatically switch to another carrier so that you can continue to make phone calls - you just lose voice and text messaging capability altogether. Data functions still work if you have a wifi connection that you can use. This is all fine for me, since my old Palm Pre was on Sprint and I knew where I had coverage and where I had the roaming symbol showing on the phone. It was pretty rare, and wouldn't be an issue for my Virgin Mobile coverage. Check with Sprint users near you before you decide to switch to Virgin Mobile, or buy your phone and start your plan, but don't port your old number over until you've tried the phone for some period within Virgin's 30-day return period.
I ended up getting Virgin Mobile's best smartphone: a Motorola Triumph running Google's Android phone operating system. It's really only a mid-range phone, and comes standard with an older version of the Android operating system (2.2) that has a few minor bugs about it, but it covers all of the smartphone basics as it should. If you're just a little adventurous, you can upgrade the phone with one of the aftermarket ROMs that are available. I switch to MIUI, which is based on Android 2.3 and has a much slicker user interface than the stock ROM.
In the meantime, I have a few sites that I check every once in a while to learn about fixing issues or adding new apps and functionality:
Triumph - All Things Root - Android Forums is a support forum for aftermarket ROMs on the Motorola Triumph.
Motorola Owners' Forum: MOTOROLA TRIUMPH is Motorola's factory-sanctioned, end-user support forum.
Android Central
Motorola Triumph on Virgin Mobile
Motorola Triumph - Android Forums
Motorola Triumph
Reviews
Tom's Hardware Guide is probably the premiere computer product review site on the web.
Anandtech is another great site.
Small Net Builder has current reviews and articles on Small Office/Home Office networking equipment.
Frostytech has reviews that are specific to computer builders/hobbyists that are looking for cooling systems and cases. This has direct relevance to my ongoing home theater PC project.