[AccessD] OT: Merry Christmas

Hi John,
Not too sure what I am  doing.  Sortta plug things in and they offer me
options and then I click through them and then it just work....nice !

I have my 50" plasma Samsung.  Into that I have an Aerial onto my roof
aerial and my Satellite connector to my satellite dish both delivering TV
channels. I also have a DVD  player (which is probably redundant as I can
play these through my Xbox360 now).

I have a PC connected through Broadband for my Internet.  The PC also
connects to my 50" Samsung via an HDMI cable about 10 feet long (Ribbon) so
I can use the TV as a second monitor.  The PC also connects to my TV aerial
to pick up television programs and this operates via Windows Media Centre (I
never installed it, it was just there and sprung to live when I connected
stuff).

I then connected the Xbox360 via HDMI to the 2nd port on the 50" Samsung (it
has 3 HDMI connectors, so I still have a spare).  I signed up for Xbox Live
which gives me tons of free (but I paid £36 year subs) stuff, including my
music - no adverts, talk-overs, etc,  just pure music of my choice.  Of
course I also have my games on it.  So far I have installed Avatar game (I
am going to see the 3D movie at the local cinema over Xmas), also Fonza
Formula 1 racing cars - that is so hard.  I have 4/5 more games which I
haven’t installed yet (Soccer, Batman, Indiana Jones, etc - Educational
stuff - Not!).  

On top of that there is tons of downloadable games and stuff.  I haven’t
even scratched the surface yet...  The F1 motor racing made me laugh when I
asked if I wanted to go LIVE and race against other people on the web - ha!
I cannot even get round the circuit yet without at  least 10 crashed....I
SAID NOOO....  I have two remotes so I can play against the wife (note to
self...remember to lose occasionally.)

All great stuff.  Remember though, this is for Grown Ups.  Your wife if
right - keep the kids away.  This is serious stuff.  My wife will be
watching one of the TV Soaps later (which I abhor) - I can now watch another
TV channel on my large TV monitor - both have wireless earphones.

I have the Win 7 but haven’t yet installed it - keep procrastinating 'cos
Vista is so good (at the moment).

Have a great Xmas..

Max



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: 23 December 2009 14:07
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Merry Christmas

Must be nice to have an XBox!  We have kids and my wife is adamant that
there will be no game console.

So what exactly are you doing?  A TV Tuner card in your PC?  Connected
THROUGH the XBox?

I have built a dedicated WMC HTPC which sits under the TV.  It was running
Vista on a "low power" 
AMD x2 (2 ghz) and 4 gigs ram, and running MyMovies.  I had sooooo many
problems with that 
configuration, and it was decidedly not fast!  Vista would completely hang,
requiring me to log off, 
go to sleep mode or occasionally even a complete reboot.  Just a ROYAL PITA!

One day Vista abruptly decided to not understand the TV video (tuner or
already recorded files). 
Given the constant complaints from the family about the speed (it really was
a dog!) and facing a 
reinstall anyway, I decided to do a clean install of Windows 7.  I also
decided to do a hardware 
upgrade as well, dropped a quad core in and used a flash drive for the boot
drive.  I also went with 
Media Browser for the archived movies player.

What a different experience.  The machine boots in seconds, Media Browser
displays the movies in 
seconds, navigates between movies in seconds.  The PC no longer hangs.  Just
a blazing fast machine 
now.  Windows 7 even knows about clear QAM (unencrypted) digital TV, so I
went to the trouble of 
mapping the available QAM channels, which includes a ton of music channels.

The family is happy, I am happy.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Max Wanadoo wrote:
> Thank you Gustav and the very best to you and yours as well.
> 
> I will have a look at the video but at the moment I have just connected my
> PC to TV Turner via my Xbox360 Elite and Xbox-live with great "stuff"
> including all the 60's music which I am playing now with my  TV being
output
> to my PC. HDMI connectors to the console and PC from the 50" plasma -  TV
> operating via  Windows Media Centre.
> 
> Oooohh, I am pure excited....just waiting for the wee fat man in the red
> suit to call..
> 
> 
> Max

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