The editor for WordPress (what I use to update this site) changed a lot with this last upgrade I did. It seems to have broken a lot of things, including embedded video. So in case you missed the Little Big Planet video from my earlier post, here it is again:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taiurn541SE[/youtube]

Thanks to Viper’s Video Quicktags plugin for WordPress.

In other news, here’s a quick review of the Hauppage Wireless MediaMVP– I already have a Tivo and the POS Time Warner DVR, so with 3 tuners recording I didn’t really need another. I was thinking of setting up a MythTV box, but decided to go with the MediaMVP instead. Right now, I have a space PC running the Tivo Desktop software. I have a few shows that are scheduled to automatically transfer. Every night I have a scheduled task that runs a command line utility that converts the .tivo files into a playable MPEG. It’s not the perfect setup (I’d like to stream shows right off the Tivo – hey Tivo, how about something like the MediaMVP to do this with Tivo?) but works perfectly for the bedroom TV.
The device itself is a cool little thin-client. It’ll show your pictures, play music, and any compatible videos located on your PC. I really like the ability to play internet radio as well – one of my favorite stations (WOXY) is now “internet only.” Speaking of internet radio, help us save it! Seriously, a 300-1200% hike in royalties that only internet broadcasters have to pay is just asinine. Who’s pushing for this?! Has to be the Clear Channels of the world… but I digress. Back to the MediaMVP: Video streaming is actually pretty impressive. I don’t have the best signal, but I haven’t had any issues in the few shows that I’ve played. Pause, FF, and FR all work about as you’d expect. There’s a noticeable hesitation, but nothing horrible. This thing would truly shine as a MythTV front end, but I just don’t have that kind of time. I am thinking of giving mvpmc a look when I have a few minutes. It’s a replacement operating system for the MediaMVP that introduces a few new features and functions. If you’re geeky and going to go that far with it, I’d suggest picking up a router that will handle DD-WRT – it will at least save you from installing a DHCP server on your PC (you need a DHCP server that will hand out a ‘next server’ address, most consumer-grade routers won’t do that.) I’d suggest the Buffalo G54S – I grabbed one at Circuit City for $25 (after $25 rebate) and it completely spanks the Netgear wireless-G router that it replaced. I couldn’t hold a signal in the back of the house with the Netgear, I’ve got a good enough signal to stream video with the Buffalo. I should have taken some screen shots with Netstumbler, it was an impressive jump. Same channel, location, everything… Jon reported a similar increase in range when he replaced his existing (Linksys?) wireless router with a Buffalo G54S.

One of these days I might actually try to put together a well written post that doesn’t wander from subject to subject 😀

Time Warner Cable sucks. More later, but I think I’ll have them do all this work, then I’ll switch to Dish or DirecTV.