Blue: Office; Red: Bedroom; Green: Living room. Office is next
to the living room.
The PowerMac is used to record TV. Some recordings are exported
to iTunes, in iPhone format so I can watch them while commuting.
Other recordings are exported in DivX format, to be sent (using a
Folder Action) to the Mac Mini. The NAS PC will replicate the
recordings folders from the Mac Mini into it's RAID-5 so that they
can be watched from the Xbox without using the flaky WiFi
network.
The Mac Mini is used to watch TV & movies in bed. It is
quiet enough, even with the miniStack, to be left running all day
(& night) long. The remote can be used (via the Keyspan IR
receiver) to control Front Row, EyeTV software, or the DVD
Player.
The Mac Mini is used to backup our personal home folders (from
the PowerMac and iMac). Backups are also saved on the NAS PC and on
a remote server, all of this using CrashPlan.
Not illustrated: the PowerMac has DVI & 1/8" audio
connections to the plasma display and the receiver, so that I can
show videos etc. on the big screen as needed.
The AirPort Express has all options disabled (WDS, DHCP server,
etc.) to make it work in bridge mode, effectively bridging
the WiFi network with the living room LAN.
Universal remotes with learning capability are useful!
I bought the Powerline adapters to replace the slow (2MBps)
wireless network, but I'm getting at most 1MBps on the same
distance with them, so I now use the Powerline adapters to connect
the living room and the office LANs, which are in the same room...
More details about those crappy network adapters can be found in my
Review of the Netgear HDX101 HD
Ethernet Adapters.
Dell E207WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor
1680x1050 native resolution
800:1 contrast ratio
5ms response time
Analog & DVI-D connectors
Digital video recorder for Mac
MPEG-2/4 and DivX hardware compression
Watch, pause, rewind and skip forward live TV
Scheduled recording & EPG (Electronic Program Guide) using
EyeTV
software
S-Video and Composite connectors, Analog Cable connector
Three 750GB HDD in a RAID-5 configuration provides 1.4TB of
fault-tolerant (one HDD can fail without loosing any data) network
storage
3 x Seagate Barracuda ST3750640A
Won in november 2005 (before official launch!) through a Montain
Dew promotion
The wireless controller works #1; never had any problems with
it.
Lights flash when the batteries are getting low, and games will
pause when batteries die.
Not recommended! More about that here.
Supposed to do 200mbps; I can push them to 4MBps at most when they
are in the same room, and to about 1MBps from one side of the house
to the other.
Not recommended! More about that here.
Supposed to do 200mbps; I can push them to 4MBps at most when they
are in the same room, and to about 1MBps from one side of the house
to the other.
Professional Series Plasma Display Panel (no audio/tuner)
852x480 resolution
16:9 aspect ratio
4,000:1 contrast ratio
60,000-hour life
Over 160 degree viewing angle
Terminal board installed to add a DVI-D connector
Product link
