Home networks?

[Feanor]

... I personally think BD live is a waste. I wonder how many people would be interested and of those how many would have networks in their home. I guess networks may not be so scarce with all the laptops. ...

I agree that BD-Live isn't very enticing. Home networks, on the other hand, I'm sure are quite prevalent nowadays.

How many people have more than one computer at home? Of those, how many don't have networks?

We have six computers here, connected by a router which is connected to a DSL modem thence the Internet.

• My daughter has two XP computers in her room, one a laptop, connected wirelessly to the router.
• My wife has an XP computer connected via Cat5e.
• I have two computers connected to router and each other through a switching hub via Cat5e:
  • One is the Vista machine I'm using at the moment;
  • The other is a dedicated music server located close to my main, stereo system. Since it runs XP Pro, I usually control it through Windows Remote Destop Connection. My classical and jazz collection in ALAC or FLAC format resides on a USB external drive attached to this.
• [Edit: opps! forgot the 6th] I have a Windows Home Server machine that automatically backs up all the other computers overnight. Also, our folk and rock collection, mostly MP3, resides here in a public share folder.

[kexodusc]

We have 3 compys.
My linux box desktop
My wife's Vista laptop
My Macbook - though it's property of my employer.

We also have the Xbox 360 connected to the network, and I just put Linux on the PS3 this week...it's connected too. Guess that's 4 compys and 1 Xbox 360?

We do networking all the time - my wife subscribes to some weird Japanese animation comic books, video clubs, and magazines and gets tons of free downloads...we stream music, and swap various files.

[Mr Peabody]

That's quite the set up you guys have. I've got my computer which I share with my wife and younger daughter, then I have a computer in my other daughter's room which she uses to store music, do some games and access some learning websites. I have one of those networks that goes through the AC lines because I gave up on trying to get a wireless system to work. The AC thing works alright but it's slow on my daughter's computer. It would probably work better if the computers were on the same level in the house. So you can see I'm lagging in the computer technology front.

[filecat13]

I'm surprised at all the wireless networks I see around my home. It appears most of my neighbors have them. Plus, two of my four offices are located in public buildings in residential areas, and even poorer neighborhoods in LA seem to sport lots of wi-fi. (We keep ours locked down, obviously.)

At home we have three laptops (MacBook Pro, MacBook, PowerBook G4) that all connect wirelessly, and an old PowerMac running Classic that's connected via Ethernet. The Powerbook is used in the music room to stream music from iTunes. It also connects to the Citation 5.0 to provide calibration and control, and we use it to load and play accompaniment CDs when we're playing our instruments (trumpet, clarinet, flute, etc.).

We've also got an Airport Express that we use for streaming media in the main floor 5.1 surround system.

Still no plans for Bluray at this time. I've still got my eye on HD streaming, and with the current economic nightmare, I can afford to wait.

[Rich-n-Texas]

IWe have six computers here, connected by a router which is connected to a DSL modem thence the Internet.

II have twelve computers, which is twice as many as you, connected by two routers and a MoCa router too!

pwned!

[Feanor]

II have twelve computers, which is twice as many as you, connected by two routers and a MoCa router too!

pwned!

2 x 6 = 12: I get it. But what's a MoCa router?

[Rich-n-Texas]

Short explanation: Multimedia over Coax Alliance.

More later...

[Auricauricle]

We have two: a Dell home computer and an HP laptop: no frills, no bells, just DSL so I can attend courses and a minidisc program....

I do wonder, though, if my Dell has moods. I heard somebody intoning, "Dave. Dave..." the other night, and it wasn't my wife...

[Feanor]

Short explanation: Multimedia over Coax Alliance.

More later...

Hadn't heard of it. Checked it out at http://www.mocalliance.org/en/index.asp

[L.J.]

I stream music(FLAC) from my Dell PC to my PS3 & internet radio to my 2700. The PS3 has cat5 running to it and I'm using one of those Netgear powerline things for 2700. My HP laptop died recently and will eventually get replaced. The laptop was connected wirelessly. I also have a PC I built awhile back that's sitting in a closet. I plan to put that in my kids room but I need to get a flat panel monitor and new video card for it.

I'm using a Linksys router and I like it. It's one of the newer flat ones that has the antennas built into it. I used a variety of Netgear routers before that and would always have problems here & there.

[Rich-n-Texas]

The MoCA router that came with my FIOS install splits off the Interactive Program guide for distribution throughout the house. It also carries VOD & PPV programming, IIRC. When I moved my main computer and router out into the living room, I didn't bother to run a coax cable out to it from the wall jack in my computer room, thinking that it wouldn't be necessary, but a week later I realized I no longer had a program guide, so now I've got a piece of coax running down the hall and out to the router which I put behind the TV.

My home network consists of my main rig, a laptop from work and my PS3. I'm running the Tversity music server so I don't have to depend on WMP.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Gosh! That jill_spammer post just disappeared into thin air!

[E-Stat]

We have six computers here, connected by a router which is connected to a DSL modem thence the Internet.

Nice collection. Mine is more modest with 5 including the wife's and my company laptops. In the office, there is a router and wi-fi access point. I connect the main Dell desktop to the router via CAT5. All other computers connect through 80211.G wireless. Other computers include another Dell desktop in one of the guest bedrooms and an old laptop that is used primarily for Internet access out in the garage. I have a second access point that serves to extend the coverage in whatever direction I need.

I've just begun the music server route with only about half my collection ripped. At first, I experimented with MP3 encoding, but now record them in WAV format. Given the current cost of storage, I see no reason to bother compressing. The former owner installed speakers in many rooms and out on the back patio. An older Kenwood receiver drives that system. Recently, I wired the sound card from the office desktop to the in-house system and have effectively retired the "computer speakers".

rw

[Feanor]

...

I've just begun the music server route with only about half my collection ripped. At first, I experimented with MP3 encoding, but now record them in WAV format. Given the current cost of storage, I see no reason to bother compressing...

rw

It's hard to argue against uncompressed with DASD prices dropping continuously. Nevertheless it's a consideration for me bearing in mind that you need to double the space to make a backup. One good thing about lossless is that you can recreate the original, i.e. a bit-perfect WAV or CD, if you want to: this isn't the case for any lossy format.

As you know, I'm deaf as a post. But I can't hear the difference between ALAC or FLAC and WAV. The biggest problem I've had is dropouts, but with the right tuning of my Foobar2000 program I've manage to get rid of them virtually 100%. The secret here was to set the input file buffer to high number, say >200,000 kb.

Here's an interesting thing: using the ASIO driver for my sound card, an M-Audio Revolution 7.1, the HDCD indicator lights on my DAC given an HDCD recording. This implies bit-perfect transmission to the DAC, (or something very, very close). This isn't the case with using the standard WinXP protocols. Note that this isn't necessarily a compressed vs. uncompressed source issue but to do with transmission of the reconstructed bit stream.

[E-Stat]

One good thing about lossless is that you can recreate the original,

I'm thinking more about the hassle factor to doctor them in and out as necessary.

This implies bit-perfect transmission to the DAC, (or something very, very close).

My concern is more about the amount of radiated RFI computers generate. I've yet to hear a music server source an uber system.

rw