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July 04, 2005

Audio Visual Problems

I am currently listening to Missile Lock from the album “The Incredibles” by Michael Giacchino

Those of you who know me, know that I love auto racing. Specifically Formula 1 and NASCAR. On Formula 1 weekends, I look forward to my Sunday morning ritual of making coffee, and sitting down in front of the TV, firing up the TIVO and start watching a the race. For those of you who don't know, Formula 1 for the most part starts around 7:30 AM EST, so I am usually 30 to 45 minutes behind, by the time I get up. On Sunday afternoons (I love what I call the double - F1 in the morning, NASCAR in the afternoon), I sit down and start watching the NASCAR race which can go off any time between 12 pm and 3 pm, depending on where they are racing.

So, by now you are asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with Audio Visual Problems (see title). Well, imagine this, it is a beautiful summer Sunday, and what am I doing? I am sitting in the living room watching TV. Hell, I spend 5 full days a week sitting inside, I should be outside enjoying the fresh air and pollen like everyone else. I mean, after all, what a waste of a nice day. So how do I get a signal from inside to outside, and what do I watch it on? That my friends is the problem.

Lets start with the signal, that should after all be the easiest problem to solve. “Pete”, you say with a look that says boy are you dumb, “just run a cable to the backyard”. Well, okay; do I run a satellite cable, or a (shudder) Cablevision cable (yes I have both)? “Uhmmm....satellite?”, you hesitantly exclaim, knowing that satellite provides the superior picture. Okay, so then I will need to bring a receiver outside every time I want to watch TV. “Cable, I meant to say cable!” you shout, before I can finish. Okay, but I am going to drop cable as soon as Directv gets all the HDTV channels up and running. After all, the only reason I got cable, was to provide HDTV. But, you are right cable could be a good temporary fix. So, I need a splitter, and about 100 feet of cable, a shovel, and a free weekend to bury a cable line from the side of the house around the back to near the cement patio, I will need to create a patch cable that I can bring back and forth outside, to plug into the newly buried cable, I better get some kind of box to protect the end of the cable, less the landscaper weed whacks that. I hope this new line doesn't degrade my HDTV signal, or worse, my cable modem. So, lets say I do all of that (not likely), there is still one BIG problem. I am not getting my TIVO signal, I am only getting the “live” cable feed. I need my TIVO - remember what I said earlier about the F1 start times. So, the real problem is not getting a satellite or cable feed, it is getting the feed from my Satellite TIVO box, besides I still want to pause, rewind and fast forward, and I can't do any of that with either the live satellite or cable feeds, and no, I am not dragging a TIVO box with me.

Well, I think I may have found the solution. Belkin, the maker of all those great IPOD accessories has come out with a wireless audio/video extender that transmits A/V signals. I read a review for it in the July/August issue of Sound and Vision Magazine and they were very impressed. Here, is the cool part, not only does it transmit the audio and video, it extends the IR remote, so I can still use my TIVO remote outside, to control the TIVO box in the living room (I am such a nerd). The price point is high, $499 from Belkin direct, I found it for $449 from Amazon. I am looking forward to reading some additional reviews about it.

So, issue 1 solved. Lets say, I get the Belkin extender, I still need something to watch the signal on. I have considered the following solutions:

  1. Buy a small TV for outside - I don't love this idea since it would only serve one purpose
  2. Buy an LCD computer screen that accepts A/V signals - PC Magazine did a review on these, and liked the Sony and Samsung models. This is an okay solution, but I don't really need a 17“ or 19” computer monitor, and I already have 17“ and 15” Powerbooks with great screens, so again this solution, while cooler then #1 is still more or less a single sided solution
  3. Some sort of A/V box that I could plug into my Powerbook, and use to import all those old Sony 8mm camcorder movies I have

Number 3, seems to be what I need. A breakout box of some type, that I can plug into my Powerbook, that will accept multiple A/V input sources. I can watch TV using my Belkin extender, or directly from cable or the satellite box if I am inside, and will take a feed from my old 8mm camcorder and perform hardware compression on the fly, so I can edit the films, and put them on DVD's. It would seem to be the cheapest solution, and will provide multiple uses.

And the solution is... I don't know. I am hoping one of you will provide the answer. I have found several products that I believe will work, but I have zero experience with this side of technology, and so I am still looking for answers.

Posted by pmadsen at July 4, 2005 10:28 AM

Comments

Pete, I think you are trying to solve a problem that doesn't need to be solved. On any given gorgeous summer day, you've got about 8-12 hours of daylight to enjoy, depending on your waking schedule. If you blow 2 hours of that in the morning and 2 in the afternoon on racing, that's still 4-8 hours of outside time. In my head, life is a balance.

Then again, I've been known to bring my laptop out back and work, but that's only because it's that or I'm inside for the entire day!

Posted by: Nick Codignotto at July 9, 2005 04:34 PM