TEA London News & Views

Tea London’s Elton gives some thoughts on the future of home automation, and how the humble PC can play an important role in changing your TV viewing habits.

From a young age I have always been surprised how ideas and concepts imagined by the fertile minds of Science Fiction authors and scriptwriters became to be realised as significant technical accomplishments later on. I have come to understand that pretty much anything is possible if we have the vision to imagine it and the willpower to accomplish it.

Nowadays home automation presents home owners with the level of automation and integration so advanced that it is not so much what it automate for you, but more a case of how much you can invest in it. With the advent of affordable home control system products such as the hardware based Control4 systems to software driven systems like Stardraw Control, the notion of installing a home automation system no longer exclusively applies to the incredibly wealthy. It now puts it within reach of those consumers who can comfortably afford to buy, say, a Mac notebook computer.

In addition to installing home automation control systems, I still see the PC as the essential piece of ‘kit’ as the centre of any home AV system, and will likely will win out over more complicated and specialised home control systems as time goes on. It already provides a compelling array of Media storage and delivery services. Windows Media Centre, which is a ‘built-in’ feature of most versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, provides you with a media-centric, intuitive user interface that is designed to be displayed and comforttably on flatscreen TV’s.

We are looking forward to the next release in Windows 8, which is currently in test or ‘preview’ stages of development. The first version of the new Media Centre Metro application included in the latest preview release.

Some reasons why Windows Media Centre is good for you:

•  Simplified file sharing. File sharing is not a big deal, it can be achieved with most computers or even with NAS drives, however something like recorded TV is not something that is typically shared. Using Media Centre to record TV, means that recorded TV is stored as a video file, that can be opened by any other system capable of running Media Centre. If you imagine how, for example, SKY+ operates, where recordings are only accessible on the box that recorded a programme, you may being to understand how this subtle difference can bring about significant advantages to you.
• Windows Media Centre typicall supports 4 tuners of any type or combination. So it is possible for you to have ‘PVR’ that is capable of receiving and recording both terrestrial and Satellite TV. Normally a PVR is restricted to only receiving signals from either source.
• With satellite tunes, Windows Media Centre supports DISEqC switching. This allows you to connect either a motorised satellite dish or an array of fixed position satellite dishes to one tuner.  Again this does may not sound like a big deal, but it is possible for you to have up to 4 ‘positions’ configured per satellite tuner, each position relating to a dish that is aimed at a different broadcast satellite. This greatly increases the number of TV channels you can view. Windows makes the selection of this various satellite dishes transparent, these positions are selected simply by you changing channel. Usually TV content is limited to ‘unscrambled’ channels only, but it is possible to get some PayTV or scubscription based TV services working on this system, if the encryption system used by the broadcaster is more ‘open’. Sadly SKY is not one of them – we suspect that even if people wanted to pay a premium to watch their services on a system on this, they will never allow it to happen. Using a simple 2 dish configuration with a TV antenna, comprising of FreeSAT (ASTRA2) and a dish aimed at European TV Services (Astra1), you will have in excess of 1000 free-to-air TV channels at your disposal. A surprising number of them are broadcast in HD, with more and more broadcasters launched HD services on a regular basis.
• Although Media Centre can’t natively decode scrambled services like SKY and Virgin, it is still possible for you to connect our set-top box to a Media Centre PC. The Media Centre PC will provide you with full TV listings in its programme guide, and can change channels on the set-top box automatically. The only real weakness in this ability is that it deliver video in full HD quality. You certainly can view and record HD channels, but the viewing experience will always be in standard definition. The ability to connect HD devices for the purposes of recording still remains a sensitive issue for the likes of Hollywood, so this is more political/business restriction, rather than a technological one.
• The killer feature of Media Centre is its fully interactive TV programme schedule guide. It will provide you with one, fully consolidated programme guide of all of your TV channels – regardless of whether it is a foreign satellite service or FreeView/FreeSAT services. It provides you with a 2 week guide that you can look browse not only in chronological order by category, genre, actor, director and using text searching. You can for example, browse for all films that will be broadcast across all of your available TV channels for the next two weeks. By selecting to record any of the films that suit your tastes, you can rapidly build up a movie library at no cost and perfectly legally. Remember the rest of the home can share and access these recordings too. The guide fundamentally works the same as any other interactive guide, however its two week time line and its flexibility in how you can browse the guide makes it by far the best interactive programme guide we have ever used.
• I don’t think I need to remind people how easy it is to rip music CD’s and built-up a music library. You can also rip DVD’s and Blu-Ray content, but this is a more complicated area which also has copyright implications.
• As Windows Media Centre is a PC. This means it can playback all mainstream media file and disc formats. It is a truly universal media player, wiping out the need for you to adopt one video or audio standard or install additional equipment for the purposes of playing specific media (it makes installing a separate Blu-Ray player, DVD Player, CD Player, AppleTV, or media streamer redundant). It can play proprietary content such as Windows Media or Apple iTunes content as well as all other open video and audio file formats. Of course it can also access web based services, giving you access to a vast array of online, on-demand video and audio sources.

Internet TV and other on-demand service clearly will become more popular with consumers than traditional off-air TV viewing (broadcast TV).  All mid-ranged or better flatscreen TV’s have networking capabilities. They have buildin-in ‘apps’ that will give you access to online services like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and Skype, even access to LoveFilm’s online content. This to some extend negates the need for a media PC to be attached directly to the TV. You could access media stored on the PC using DLNA. Flatscreen TV’s are becoming ‘smarter’, and they are progressively becoming purpose built ‘appliance computers’. Soon plugging your laptop into the TV will become a thing of the past.

The manner in which TV and PC’s are merging it would make sense to only install one or the other in any room – why have both?

Tablet PC’s  will ultimately become your remote control that can handle almost all control of your home automation system. From TV remote control to the light switch. You can view your CCTV cameras, or answer your door phone from the same device. Perhaps you might want it to open the window for you and automatically turn off your air con at the same time.

The automated stuff we used to watch in Sci-Fi movies is becoming reality. Things that seem far fetched today will more than likely be accomplished sooner than you think.

Media Streamers: choices, choices, choices

Relationship status: It’s complicated.

Yes, it is complicated. Gone are the good old days when being faithful and true to one is enough. Now, you have options. You can pick and choose, if you can afford to, whatever you like as along as we’re ‘compatible’. And while you are at it, why stop at two partners? Multiple partners are definitely the game. But will this open relationship work? Well, apparently it does and from the little I had experienced, I think I quite like it.

And for those who haven’t got a clue what I am going on about; I am talking about you Apple, Linn, Logitech, Western Digital, Zyxel, iMerge, Microsoft, Sony, Kaleidescape, Sonos, etc., etc,

When I thought about what my next superficial view was, I was going to just write about my favourite multi-room digital music streaming system, the Sonos. Yes, records/vinyl is cool but I have to admit no one likes having to run to the record player every 15 minutes to flip the record over.

For ultimate music control convenience this is where Sonos comes in, a nifty little gadget that allows you to stream music continuously from your library or the internet. We use a few and they’re brilliant!

Well, that’s what I first thought until their touch screen controller started giving me grief. Note to Sonos; guys, fix your

touch screens – too many have failed for it to be ‘just a bit of bad luck’

But having said that, it really doesn’t matter any more (please read on…)

Linn Klimax DS

I was recently introduced to another range of multi-room digital music streaming devices – the Linn DS.  and I have to say, it’s mighty mighty impressive. Like Sonos, the Linn-DS is a digital streamer. So, you ask: why the Linn-DS when Sonos is a fraction of the price. Well, ladies and gentleman, this is like asking why a Rolls Royce when a Renault Clio would do the trick. It’s like comparing Chanel to Topshop, Fortnum & Mason to your local Tesco (nobody should shop in Tesco anyway). It’s all about quality, from design, materials and actual audio quality. Linn-DS delivers amazing sound (through a suitable, high quality speaker and amplifiers combination of course – no point in hooking your iPod docking station up to this). Linn are capable of converting Studio Master quality audio files from the highest quality music formats.

They say see it to believe it, with the Linn DS, I say hear it to believe it! If you are a proper audiophile, or just totally uncompromising in quality standards, the Linn-DS series is the one you are after.

But hey, most of us live in the real world. So, unless you are Wayne Rooney, to actually have a Linn-DS in every room of the house is a little bit errr… ‘expensive’. The solution is to have a Linn-DS in the room or rooms that matter (e.g. the lounge, listening room) and the rest of the rooms (bathroom, kid’s room) can have a Sonos. It’s kinda like mixing your designer goods with your high street labels, works every time without breaking the bank.

Back to the controller. One word, iPad(or is that two words?).

It looks fabulous and it’s response time is fantastic when using Control4 with a suitable Extra Vegetables driver. And we all know there’s so much more an iPad can do so, it’s a win-win situation. But seriously, I wouldn’t recommend using it as a book on the tube ‘cos it looks naff. Besides, books are great. Trees die happy if they know they are gonna become a book. But somehow, I got a feeling that in a few years time, many of us will be walking around with an iPad or a derivative of it. I hope I am wrong…

The view of Bunny Ears does not necessary represent the view of Tea London