Kustom Kid

Pro Logic II converts a 2.1 signal to 5.1. So, not true surround, but better than nothing. Pro Logic converts 2.0 to 4.0 I believe.

The Starz media will end in February. As far as price hikes, in the email sent out this morning, he stated they were done with price hikes for the time being. I really like Netflix, and so far the last two announcements haven't changed how much I pay, or how I feel about the service I receive. I'm their model customer. I give them $8/mo and stream to my 4 devices and call it good. There is enough content available where I'm not wanting for anything. It's way better than cable for my family at the moment. That being said, once February rolls around, and the Starz content disappears we might have to switch to Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, or another service.

So, I downloaded and played Track Mania for the better part of 3 hours last night. It's pretty fun and pointless, which was exactly what the dr. ordered after a rough few weeks of work. Good find, Draco.

I use the free version. I didn't feel the paid one was necessary. Han, I use Media Center Master (metadata), Media Center Studio(theme/skin the UI), Radiotime (streaming radio), My Channel Logos (Channel Logos in the guide), and Remote Potato (Set recordings and stream video and music from you phone or remote computer). I've had a bunch of different add-ons, but those are the only ones I always have installed.

+1 for Avast. I switched a few months ago after using AVG for ages. Too many false positives caused me to switch. I still get false positives from time to time, but they're mostly from, probably dodgy looking, add-ons for Windows Media Center.

On the plus side, GM can claim those as cars sold. Seriously, that really sucks, and I also hope no one was hurt.

Congratulations! Now you can start to plan your mancave and how to get your entire house wired up properly. That's the best part if you ask me.

Yeah, dude. Your "crap" is very good. Like Draco said that looks better than a lot of other ones I've seen. A LOT better. Good work.

So I bought a Roku XD yesterday and noticed couldn't stream local content easily. Roksbox was the only solution i could find and aside from costing another $15 it didn't look that easy to get going. That's kind of a deal breaker. I think that's the only thing keeping it from being the best of the bunch in my eyes. I ended up getting a Sony Media Player (SMP-N100) for the same price. I can stream local content, but there are no where near as many "channels". I have the big ones though, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon, so I'm good with that. Strangely enough PS3 Media Server doesn't work that well with it. I needed to switch to Serviio in order to get it to play AVIs. It still doesn't play MKVs, but I'm sure there's a workaround for that.

It's almost like what I did in reverse. I bought a referb 360 Slim 4GB and a standard 2 1/2" drive. Flashed the drive and viola, 250 GB Xbox 360 for under $200.

It's a standard 2 1/2" hard drive inside. You should be able to use standard SATA connections, but that defeats the whole purpose. I'm pretty sure you can disconnect the cable running from the outside connection on the case to the HD and use that though.

http://www.playon.tv/devices/roku I guess Roku pulled the plug on PlayOn. There is a workaround on that page I linked to.

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2011-07/roku-2-review/ First review of the Roku 2 for you celly and anyone else interested.

Nice. I'm debating on getting a Roku box for the bedroom or another Xbox to use as a Media Center extender. Let us know how you like it please.

PlayOn does work on Roku devices. Did you get the $100 one with the Wii looking controller and everything?

Fixed

Ok, so I'm in the process of wiring my house and I've come across a few things. I've Googled these questions, but I respect, and want, your opinions as well. First, I'm using gigabit switches and wondered if there really was a major performance difference between cat5e and cat6. I have enough cat5e to do the job, but cat6 would cost me at least another $60 for the cable and other items. Since I can do the entire job for $40 using cat5e would there be a huge benefit to upgrading and dropping 120% more than I had planned? Second, I plan on using a 12 port patch panel just to make everything more organized. Can I run two 8-port switches into the patch panel? I plan on setting it up like this. Ports 1-5 on the first switch going to the patch panel, port 6 going to cable modem, port 7 going to wireless router, and port 8 going to 2nd switch. Ports 1-7 on the second switch going to the patch panel, and port 8 going to the 1st switch. I know using 2 switches wastes ports, but it's cheaper than getting a 16 port gigabit switch as I already have the items. In the future I do plan on upgrading, but I'm trying to do it as right as possible while keeping it on the cheap. Thanks.

+1 for forum support! I also like the ease of setup and versatility offered by GameEx.

I think for the money Silverstone cases are better. I've never messed with either, but I did a ton of research on them and the Silverstone cases offered a lot of nice features for the same money as the Antec cases. I ended up going the cheap route and getting a CoolerMaster 360 Elite as my 2 year old likes to destroy everything he gets his hands on.

I'm in the process of getting everything together to wire my house. I only need to run cat6 to 5 rooms along with RG6. I have it laid out so everything comes into my house at one spot and is distributed from that location. I just need to get a few more components and to have a day where my day off and my brother's day off of work coincide. We're also going the HTPC route. It's so much easier now that it was even 5 years ago. Glad to read about your success, simb. adultery, don't regret running the wire. It's a lot cleaner to have it in wall than having wall warts, and it's infinitely better than the old duct tape and throw rug technique.

I'm not super big into pinball either, but i fondly remember playing The Simpsons, Tales from the Crypt, and The Addams Family a lot in the early 90's. There were a bunch of other ones, but those are the ones that stand out.

I just wanted to be the joker who made the 100th thread in this sub-forum. That is all. Carry on.

They did a good job reworking the Wiimote controls for Prime and Echoes as well. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close.

I knew you had good taste, mesk. FFVI is the best of the bunch. I picked up Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii a month or so ago. I hope to beat all 3 by the end of the summer. Right now I'm about half way through the first one.

Oh man. The commercials are going to be awesome. I still vividly remember the Legend of Zelda commercial and the "Genesis does what Nintendon't" commercials from my youth. Sweet.