I'm going to start writing about all the computer stuff I do just to share it with people. I find endless fascination in using my computers and other hardware to build the perfect home theatre. The focus will be on using my various computers, Macs and PCs, to watch movies, tv shows, etc. I use a combination of hardware and software.

The list of stuff I have is :

1 HP XW8000 Workstation running WinXP xp2. dual 3.06 Xeon processors, 4 gigs RAM, tons of hard drive space. This thing is a beast and I use it as the primary workhorse.

2 Mac Mini G4 1.25 with 512megs RAM and small hard drive. This is a little toy compared with the other machine, but I find it useful to run OSX frequently. I'd like to move this up to a better machine at some point, but can't afford to currently.

3 Xbox with XBMC software. This thing is amazing. I bought it from eBay for $190. More info can be found by google searching XBMC, but in a nutshell it is the perfect media bridge between all the media on the computer and being able to enjoy watching your movies and tv shows, listen to your music, etc. in the living room. It's like what Apple's iTV will be, but much more versatile.

4. Lots of software, but the important ones are DVD Decrypter, AutoGK, DVArchive, VLC Media Player, iTunes, Bits on Wheels (Mac), and the website, 'thepiratebay.org'.

5. A not too sophisticated home network based on a D Link wireless router, a couple wireless bridges (dlink also), plenty of Cat5.

6. A couple ReplayTV 5040s with the commercial advance features. Mine are just the 40 gig versions (although I'm thinking about upgrading them to more space), and one is connected via ethernet and the other one is dial up. These are awesome.