One of the commenters on the Engadget HD Podcast recently asked me to do this so here goes. It’s been over two years since I did a post like this and I have to say I’m amazed at how much of my equipment is the same and at the same time, how much is different.
My equipment list
- Pioneer PDP-6010FD (Kuro)
- Saphire towers and center
- Speakercraft surrounds
- XPS 420 running Vista Media Center
- LG BD300 Blu-ray player
- HDHomeRun
- Xbox 360
- Pioneer Elite VSX-91TX AV receiver
- 32″ Sharp Aquas — Linksys DMA2100
- 19″ Sharp Aquas — Linksys DMA2100
- OrigenAE rc197 Remotes in each room
- Elk M1-Gold alarm
- Global Cache GC-100
- MSI Wind PC running WHS
- Insteon Dimmers (about 14)
- ISY-99 Insteon Controller
- HAI thermostat
- MacBook Air
- Latitude D430
- 20″ cinema Display
- Actiontec MI424-WR FiOS WiFi router
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[…] Ben Drawbaugh added an interesting post today on My electronics in picturesHere’s a small readingOne of the commenters on the Engadget HD Podcast recently asked me to do this so here goes. It’s been over two years since I did a post like this and I have to say I’m amazed at how much of my equipment is the same and at the same time, how much is different. My equipment list Pioneer PDP-6010FD (Kuro) Saphire towers and center Speakercraft surrounds XPS 420 running Vista Media Center LG BD300 Blu-ray player HDHomeRun Xbox 360 Pioneer Elite VSX-91TX AV receiver 32″ Sharp A […]
Thanks for posting this Ben. I am sure I will have additional questions but to start off, would you change anything if you had to do it over?
I would’ve have run component or HDMI cables from a closet to each room, extenders just work better. I also would’ve have used MainLobby for control, but no idea what I would’ve used instead.
I think you mean you wouldn’t have used mainLobby. sorry I got you into it… I’m right there with you. It used to be a great platform, in some ways it still is, but has definitely become a love/hate relationship. I honestly don’t know what I would have gone with either if I could do it all over. The graphics are great, but like you, it seems I have given up more and more touchscreens and use remotes almost exclusively. Its also hard to believe that over all the expensive universal remotes out there, the original media center remote still works great.
So from previous posts and comments I take it that mControl is not an alternative to MainLobby but works with it? BTW Ben where is the Apple TV?
I wouldn’t consider mControl a replacement for MainLobby. Its a great product if you want to control lights/tstats/security, but it doesn’t handle dvd organization, multi zone audio, like mainlobby will. Also, the mpanel, while pretty cool, has a pretty disappointing interface as fars as I am concerned.
Mcontrol doesn’t really work “with” mainlobby, rather it can work beside mainlobby. They are two independant systems, and as of today, there is not a way to intergrate them. I believe you can get the sdk from mControl, so you possibly may be able to right a custom plugin, but it would probably be a lot of work.
What Utah said!
I use mControl as a media center HA UI and not for any real automation. I tried, but like Utah said it is missing lots of features. For me, to duplicate what I use ML for would’ve been very difficult since mControl doesn’t have any variables and states.
The Apple TV is in the furniture behind all the Blu-ray discs. It has an IR blaster from the GC-100 connected and is controlled from the HA controller.
Ben I have been meaning to ask you for several months. Why have you never considered using CQC? It seems to be affordable in regards to Home Automation. I heard your several rants on the podcast of how expensive alot of these Home Automation products are and I agree. I have been looking at CQC for over a year now and appears to be very flexible. My only regret is, I have a similar setup as yours, which is very Media Center friendly and CQC have not develop much of an interface that integrates with Media Center UI. I am leaning towards MControl but do not see a good means of Multiroom Audio in MControl. I love Autonomic Control server software but when I heard you comment on the price I was blown away.
Curtis,
Honestly I hate that phrase in the HA industry “affordable in regards to.”
The fact is at $800 CQC is way too expensive, but even if I was willing to spend that must on a software solution — I would on hardware — the UI is hideous.
If I’m going to pay that kind of money, it needs to be perfect.
Also, you can use VMCController to build a CQC plug-in to control media center.
Ben is right, CQC is very expensive and the UI isn’t nearly as attractive as mainLobby. Some users have made some pretty slick front ends for CQC, but out of the box I haven’t been impressed with the front end. However, the server side is pretty awesome. Very easy to add new components as they support so many devices natively. I also like that they have a subscription model, and by paying a yearly fee, you get all the upgrades. The problem with MainLobby is it starts cheap (about 200 for server and front end) but then you get nickel and dimed for everything else. They say it is so you only have to buy what you actually use, which is true, but I find that with the essentials that most people use, you get up to about 600 very quickly. The other thing I don’t like about ML anymore, is that they have free lanced most of their plugin development out to users. When that user loses interest, good luck getting updates or bug fixes. Dean and CQC really stays on top of things. So stability goes to CQC, appearence goes to Mainlobby. I have implemented a Mainlobby solution for a few people, and all of them had a lot of support calls. There really isn’t a perfect software based solution. My recommendation is to figure out what you want to do, make a list, and ben and I may be able to point you in the right direction.
By the way, I use autonomic home for MC control and it is awesome, but you can get similar results with the free vmcController. Just don’t move past Vista because from the tv pack on, a lot of features no longer work because they changed a lot of the epg infrastructure.
Ben & Utah,
Thanks for the quick response. Well I plan to use MControl for the most part. What would you suggest for Multiroom audio. I am hoping when Windows 7 come out there will be more options through DLNA. Any suggestions?
I would check out casa tunes (casatools.com) I’m not sure of the prices, but it seems like a great product. Only downside is that it doesn’t match the typical vista mce interface, but it will also work on nokia web tablets which are readily available on ebay. Check them out
Dude, your speakers are now called TSC TST series.
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/Floor-Standing-C8.aspx
Wow, that is less than I paid for them, but they do sound great.
Steve has WAY better speakers than me. In fact I think one of his speakers costs more than my entire HT (sans my 60-inch kuro).
Haha, maybe I’ll add a picture of my clothes to the gallery.
A couple of questions.
1. who have the better HT, you or Steve Kim?
2. where is the pic of your Khaki pants and Polo shirt collection.
CQC is now $333 until version 3.0 ships. Just thought I would throw that out there. Ben, love the podcasts. Keep up the good work. From one geek to another….
Jay
Ben your thoughts on MSC-400 with MX-980?