Kiwimeat’s Kitchen

It’s getting closer to Christmas…and also to release of the Linksys Media Extenders for Vista. Unfortunately none are available before Xmas which is a shame as I wanted to give one to my wife for her birthday (2 days after Christmas).

The product pages for the Linksys DMA2100 and DMA2200 are now up on the Linksys site and I’ve downloaded the manual.

Another product that caught my eye was the NAS200 an entry level Network Attached Storage Device.

• Ethernet connected network storage with two available SATA hard drive bays
• Add even more storage with twoUSB 2.0 ports for hard drive or flash USB storage devices
• Securely share files locally orthrough the Internet (FTP, HTTP)
• Built-in media server for streamingto PC or UPnP AV digital media adapter

It’s generally available sub $200 from computer shops and all you need to add is hard disks.

I’ve been after a simple NAS to install on the network for general media sharing, and backup duties. This may well fill the bill.

I was dashing too and fro yesterday (something to do with ‘Xmas), and arrive back home to discover son waiting to lodge a service ticket for the HT.

The screen had gone all hazing and then green. Fortunately son had just shut down HT and waited for me to return.

Quick diagnostics established that video from the AVR to the Display was not working. It is fed by a 10m HDMI cable which runs through conduit in the wall.
Some quick HDMI cable swapping (always powering all devices off between changes) established that the DVD player to the Display worked fine using a short HDMI cable but when trying the same combo with the in wall HDMI cable a green screen resulted.

A quick visit to Living Sound and the loan of a 10 metre Kordz Evolution S HDMI cable and I’ve well and truly proven that the in-wall cable is at fault. Bugger…not the easiest thing to replace.
(BTW try borrowing a couple hundred dollars of cable from your local box shifter, not to mention a sub and a HD-DVD player whilst waiting for yours to arrive)

So sometime during the recent frenetic activity in and around my HT during the last few weeks, the in-wall HDMI cable had been pulled/plugged/twisted one too many times.

So a new addition to the list of Holiday activities is to dismount the Plasma and pull the replacement HDMI cable through the approximate 8 metres of conduit (2 spare pull wires available). Not exactly what I had in mind for the festive season.

Moral of the story is to treat your cables but especially the HDMI ones well.

Upgraditis is a common affliction, especially in the technological age, and for some time I have been battling the symptoms on the home theatre front.

It’s been there for a while nagging away at my conscious. Initially I was looking to improve low frequency performance especially for music and thence began a search for a musical sub woofer. Then it was all compounded by my jumping off the fence regarding HiDef movies.

Anyway, with a bit of help from an excellent deal from my local dealer (certainly sounds like an addiction!) I may have been cured…well in remission at least.
Hi-Fi Additions

• Yamaha RX-V3800Bi AVR - replaces RX-V2600B
• REL R205 Sub Bass System -replaces Energy XL8 sub
• Toshiba HD-XE1 - replaces Denon 2930 for SD-DVD and HD-EP10 for HD-DVD
• Oppo 980HD for DVD/CD/SACD Playback (can carry SACD over HDMI as DSD) - replaces Denon 2930 for SACD/CD duties

Currently only the RX-V3800 is installed (and currently uncalibrated). The rest is on order with the Oppo coming from the US as the Australian supplier is out of stock and waiting for the new 983HD before ordering more.
Home Theatre PC

• Replaced original X1300 video card with a X2600PRO with Heat Pipe = near silence from HTPC!
• Added Pioneer BDC-S02
• Installed Slysoft AnyDVD HD and Upgraded the bundled Pioneer PowerDVD to the full PowerDVD Ultra.

As a result I now have region free (and AACS & HDCP free) Blu-Ray playback.
The only downside at the moment is that I have to use optical to feed the audio to my AVR and this results in the Hi-Def audio track being down-converted to Dolby Digital. The solution is to use the multi-channel analog outs into my AVR’s multi-channel analog in. Unfortunately these are currently occupied by the analog outs from my Denon 2930 for SACD support but once the Oppo 980HD arrives they will be freed up and I will be able to get PCM out to my AVR.