Brian Roepke

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Gadgets & Technology

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I love my current home! It's wired exactly as I would like it.  Of course you can always be better, always do more but I feel that I have all the essentials of a good connected home.  Here are a few details.

Infrastructure

  • Gigabit Ethernet wired in every room with at least two ports per outlet that are live.
  • Linksys WRT350N- Provides Gigabit connectivity throughout the house as well as Wireless "N" for any other non-hardwired device

Hardware

  • Dell XPS420 - Fully Loaded running Windows 7 Media Center and acting as my home media sever and that's all.
  • Dell XPS13 - 13" Laptop fully loaded with Windows 7, 6GB RAM and everything you would really need for a primary laptop.  This thing is smokin' fast!
  • Dell Inspiron Mini 10 - Fully loaded running Windows XP SP3.  It's tiny size The perfect travel companion or coffee shop surfing machine.
  • HDHomeRun - To get unencrypted QAM HD signals to my Media Center.  Working perfectly.  Centralized recording of network HD shows.
  • Samsung HT-BD3252 - Home Theater in a Box (HTIB).  This is a fantastic unit!  Has Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and more built in plus it's a Blu-Ray player.  Another key feature is that it has Bluetooth wireless rear speakers.  A must for a small condo where you can't wire things full.
  • XBOX 360 - Gaming, movies and connected to the PC as a Windows Media Center Extender.
  • Linksys DMA2100 - Media Center Extender to stream to the bedroom
  • Roku Nexflix Player - Streaming Movies from Netflix.  Awesome On-Demand.