SageTV HD Media Extender

[hemicuda]

I get my replacements from Batteries+. usually about 1/2 the branded cost and sometimes a higher 'Ahr' capacity. the only UPS's that i've had "die" in the last 8yrs were from ebay and weren't used in a controlled environment.

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

All UPS's die after about a year...such a waste of money...and replacement batteries are not cheap

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I get about 3 years out of mine (APC branded batteries), but no, they're not cheap. With the HD extender, that will be one less UPS I have to maintain...That means in 12 years or so, it'll pay for itself .

I guess it depends on what your power strategy is; if you're looking to keep a mid-size PC running for 10 minutes or more, then yeah, a good UPS can be expensive. If you just have occasional power blips, a cheap 200-watt UPS is about $30. I have several, and I get about 3-5 years out of them.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/455...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Also, if you're in a high-growth area (like North Georgia was a few years ago), you may want to invest in whole-house protection from your power company (I pay 5 bucks a month). It won't stop a major surge from going through, but it will help with brown-outs.

Stu

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

All UPS's die after about a year...such a waste of money...and replacement batteries are not cheap

I've got a 10 year old model still working fine.

[geogecko]

Here's one that looks like the one for me. I need a small one, only to power an external HDD enclosure with 4 drives in it.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/455...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[lovingHDTV]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

I get my replacements from Batteries+. usually about 1/2 the branded cost and sometimes a higher 'Ahr' capacity. the only UPS's that i've had "die" in the last 8yrs were from ebay and weren't used in a controlled environment.

I have many (6-7) APC UPS for my house and get my batteries from here:

http://www.batterywholesale.com/apc-...batteries.html

I'm lucky enough to live close by so I can just drive up there to get them and save on shipping, but they are great to work with and the cheapest source I've found for batteries.

You do need to replace the batteries as they do wear out, but the good brand UPS allow for this.

[Taddeusz]

One of the nice things about buying APC branded batteries is that disposal of your old battery is included in the price.

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

One of the nice things about buying APC branded batteries is that disposal of your old battery is included in the price.

Can you not drop these off at battery recycling centers, like they have at Lowe's or Radio Shack for free?

[mohanman]

Oh boy! I am soooo excited! HD extender! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Almost mid - November!!!! I can finally go to sleep!

Mo!

[Rogier21]

I am still thinking about the remote boosters.

I have 1 central media/TV server, with several mini PC's acting as extenders. But in the living room I connected one of these USB UIRTS to it, so I only have to use 1 remote, and the PC will switch the TV on for me, but how do you solve this with the new extender? Or you just use 2 remotes?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Rogier21

I am still thinking about the remote boosters.

I have 1 central media/TV server, with several mini PC's acting as extenders. But in the living room I connected one of these USB UIRTS to it, so I only have to use 1 remote, and the PC will switch the TV on for me, but how do you solve this with the new extender? Or you just use 2 remotes?

I'm in the same boat as you as my Sage box controls my reciever and TV with IR transmitters. With the HDextender, we may have to look into moving those functions into a programable remote. Shouldn't be too painful.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by Rogier21

I am still thinking about the remote boosters.

I have 1 central media/TV server, with several mini PC's acting as extenders. But in the living room I connected one of these USB UIRTS to it, so I only have to use 1 remote, and the PC will switch the TV on for me, but how do you solve this with the new extender? Or you just use 2 remotes?

Probably will have to use a universal remote. We'll know more once we know what kind of remote comes with the HD Extender.

7 days and counting - to the middle of November!

[KarylFStein]

I've been thinking about picking up a Harmony 890, but they seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth. I mean, I still see them on some sites and eBay, but a couple weeks ago a Pricegrabber search had a number of retailers with them and now there are none. Is this remote being discontinued? It's the same deal with the Harmony 1000. I use a Firefly RF with Girder right now, but that's not going to work with the Extender. I can't see using an IR remote anymore, but I don't want to sink money into a product on its way out.

[mohanman]

If you are good at programming, I highly recommend the URC remotes. MX3000, MX950 etc. They are expensive, but man..they are sweet! I never went back to a logitech remote. The Mx3000 is an lcd screen type remote. I programmed it so that for example, you could press "play xbox 360", and this would switch everything, and on the screen I customized it to show an animated 360 logo... was pretty slick. BUt I hated the way lcd screens felt with no buttons.. kind of slow too, so I switched to the 950.
Nice remote!
Mo!

[sainswor99]

I used to use this product with my Harmony 650; worked great, except for the fact that the transmitter was a replacement for the battery. I used it for about a year until my wife decided to change the batteries. Guess what she did with the "dead" battery? It also didn't work with my scientific atlanta set-top box; I had to buy an IR eye for it, since all of my equipment is hidden inside a cabinet.

I'm now using the Hot Link Pro with my Harmony. Works very well.

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I use a Firefly RF with Girder right now, but that's not going to work with the Extender. I can't see using an IR remote anymore, but I don't want to sink money into a product on its way out.

It works fine with my MVP don't know why it wouldn't with the HD extender. Well I use a generic x10 remote (NV), the Firefly is much better. Just install the web interface and change your actions to have wget hit the web interface.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<EventGhost Version="908">
    <Macro Name="Master-MVP-Play">
        <Event Name="X10-M.Play">
        </Event>
        <Action>
            System.Execute(u'C:\\AutomationApps\\GnuWin32\\bin\\wget.exe', u'--delete-after http://USER:PASS@192.168.1.3/sage/SageCommand?context=CLIENTMACADDRESS&amp;command=Play', 3, False, 2, u'')
        </Action>
    </Macro>
</EventGhost>

[KarylFStein]

I don't follow. What do you plug your RF receiver in to? I won't have a computer anywhere near the entertainment center after retiring the current client...

[CollinR]

The server, my Firefly works almost if not everywhere in my house.

You'll still have to have a server to feed the HD Extender.

[KarylFStein]

Oh, you mean the HD extender isn't a thin server? Guess I'll have to read this thread again.

OK, I don't think that will work for me--my server is too far away. But I think I might have found a solution in the URC RF30 + RF base station. First I want to get the HD extender in here. Looks like it's been delayed a couple weeks according to a post in the Beta forum...

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by mohanman

Oh boy! I am soooo excited! HD extender! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Almost mid - November!!!! I can finally go to sleep!

Mo!

+1

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

Oh, you mean the HD extender isn't a thin server? Guess I'll have to read this thread again.

OK, I don't think that will work for me--my server is too far away. But I think I might have found a solution in the URC RF30 + RF base station. First I want to get the HD extender in here. Looks like it's been delayed a couple weeks according to a post in the Beta forum...

As long as you can get a network connection between the extender and your server it'll work.