Mortgageable Electronics

Here is a collection of articles, photos, videos and calculators from HGTV's pro site which is geared to home builders. Interesting quote from the article on Mortgageable Electronics...

You can't simply go down to the electronics store and send the bill to your bank. "In order for a home theater to qualify, it has to be a dedicated room," he says. "The components have to be integrated, so that they'll still be a part of the house when you're ready to sell it."

While I am not sure that adding the cost of the electronics to a 30 year mortgage would be a good idea, I do agree that for a dedicated room built for home theater with specialize construction techniques, acoustical treatments, and high grade finish in terms of moulding and built-ins, it might make sense. You can't take it with you and it does increase the value of the home so adding it into the mortgage might make sense if the lender will allow it. The same could be said for structured wiring that is installed at the time of construction.

HGTVPro.com: Mortgageable Electronics

Home Network Diagram

Thought I would take a stab at a diagram of our home network layout. My Visio skills are not that great (as you can see), but should give you some idea of what's going on...

Motorola HD Box DVI Setup Guide

Here is a nice step-by-step guide from Motorola for installing on of their HD set top boxes to use the DVI output. I happended on this in our local Atlanta HDTV Yahoo group....

Motorola DVI Install Guide (PDF)

DIY PVR with TV On Demand

With the speed of broadband increasing (we are up to 6Mbps down and 768Kbbs down on Comcast here in Atlanta), the idea of getting your TV on demand by downloading is becoming very real. I'm not a big fan of Bit Torrent, but the thought of RSS and Bit Torrent as a feed to a PVR is interesting...

Torrentocracy = RSS + Bit Torrent + Your TV :: Build Your Own PVR :: Why Tivo When you can Freevo?

Smaller, Intimate Home Theaters

Here is an interesting post from the Home Theater Blog with some good advice to follow. At the start of the home theater I thought about how many people would be using it reguarly. 90% of the time is it just my wife and me. We could have finished a larger space in the basement, but decided to reuse an existing office instead. It is a really small space at about 170 sq ft, but when the lights go down you don't know if you are in a small or large room (or at the local multiplex for that matter)...

Home Theater Blog: Smaller, intimate home theaters

Take Windows Media Center On The Road

Here is a link to a MSDN Channel 9 Video that does a good job of explaining the possibilites, options, and challenges with the Car PC. I'm not sure if this is legal in GA but we'll find out soon enough...

J.P. Stewart - A new hobby: putting Windows XP in your car

DIY Digital Frame Projects

Nice $500 Kiosk PC project done by Pat James with a good writeup of his work. More than a digital pictures frame, here is a fully functioning PC...

PJ's Pad II - Kiosk PC

Here is another take on the same type of project. This one comes from Mavromatic and include a touchscreen and some outstanding integration with the home network and professional looking in wall installation...

DIY: Inwall 15" LCD touchscreen

Xbox 360 will be a Media Center Extender

I am looking forward to getting a better look at the Media Center Extender capabilites in Xbox 360. For now, I am pretty satisfied using a modded Xbox running the latest version of Xbox Media Center (XBMC)....

The Xbox 360 : Kotaku