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Chris Lanier's Blog

Short Bits: HDMI Switch, Plug-ins, More

I just finished hooking up an HDMI switch because of a growing number of HDMI devices.  If anyone is looking for an inexpensive HDMI switch the place to look is at Monoprice.com (also for inexpensive cables).  I got the 4x1 HDMI Switch (1.3b Certified HDMI, Equalizer and IR Remote, REV.3.0) for just $40 and it works great.

It also works perfectly with a Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player (with latest firmware).  This was a problem as there are reports all over the web of the Monoprice switches not working with the A3.  This switch works perfectly for all you Googlers, as do Harmony remotes which has the IR commands already in the database.

On the Media Center side, Missing Remote has some great articles including tips on playing game ROMS in Media Center/SageTV and a review of MiraWorldTV for Vista Media Center.

Ian Dixon has The Media Center Show #142 featuring his final CES interviews and his first impressions of the Linksys DMA2100/DMA2200 Extenders.

Niall launched bigscreenglobal.com, the homepage for his Big Screen products like Big Screen Photos v2 and Big Screen Weather v2.  You can also now download 30 day trials of the products!  Of course these are MCML plug-ins that look incredible in Vista Media Center.

Cross Posted from Chris Lanier's Blog at http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/
Published Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:05 PM by Chris - Moderator
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Comments

 

HT Slider said:

What?  Using a Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player instead of your Media Center HTPC to play HD-DVDs?....

I actually almost picked up one of those too, but instead opted for the LG GGC-H20L combination HD-DVD/Blue-ray/DVD burner/CD burner drive.  It comes with PowerDVD Ultra and does a very good job playing our HD-DVDs and Blue-ray DVDs (except for the clunky/non-existent integration with Media Center - functional, but not up to VMC standards by far).
January 31, 2008 3:26 PM
 

Chris - Moderator said:

IMHO PC software just is not up to the task of good BD/HD playback at this point (plus, I don't want a PC in the living room).  :)  Extenders are where it is at.

Plus, the main reason for the A3 was the pre-holiday sales.  Given the downfall of HD DVD I'm not sure how long it will last.  I still wanted it to work though, so I needed to make sure the HDMI would work (plus, now I've got two extra HDMI ports I didn't have before!)
January 31, 2008 4:12 PM
 

HT Slider said:

Personally I'll never consider an extender that doesn't support .vob streaming combined with full codec support.

What's the point of an extender if it can't do that?

Since we almost never watch Live TV, I'd much rather use a PC.  Not only will a PC play .vob's, stream DVDs, support absolutely all codecs, and play back all Recorded TV, but it will also play back both HD-DVD and Blue-ray DVDs, burn Recorded TV to DVD, etc. - not to mention surf the web, run software, etc.

Maybe MS will bring it all together with the next release of Media Center...

BTW, what is wrong with a nice looking HTPC in the living room?  They fit right in with the rest of the audio/video equipment and when you consider they combine your HD-PVR, DVD player, HD-DVD player, Blue-ray player, DVD recorder, CD changer, Gaming station, and even STBs they don't exactly take up excessive space.   Ours has a machined, black anodized aluminum faceplate, a VFD and is silent (except for muffled hard drive "ticks").  It looks like a slightly over-sized, high end DVD player and is right at home with the remaining A/V equipment.  Ours also has 2 USB ports on the front and we use our XBox game controllers for video gaming (we don't own an XBox at all).
February 1, 2008 5:40 PM
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