649 6th: clear signals

It seems on this blog we spend the bulk of time discussing elements of traditional construction; electrical, plumbing, carpentry, demolition, etc., etc.

In a break from that routine (and to finally have something to post about) I wanted to talk a little bit about home entertainment and the convergence of devices.

As many of you know we got rid of our TV when we moved into the the house. We thought it would keep us focused on the task at hand.

The thinking had always been when we got the house to a clean enough place we would begin to create a custom system that suited our needs. First, we weren't getting a new TV. We've pretty much become a netflix and iTunes household. We watch movies and we watch TV. It's just a different model.

To do this we wanted as few components as possible. We ended up with the new dual core Mac mini and a 24" flat panel dell monitor (cause just about any device will plug into it). I have to say quite the killer combo. So much so I think my friend Jeff now has exactly the same set-up.

Now, you might have noticed that I've only mentioned two of the five things pictured at left. The other three are the tag alongs that were needed to make it all work. First up the RCA cable modem provided by Time Warner, next a Linksys wireless router. We had been sucking connectivity off of our neighbor since we moved in. We couldn't keep stability with the apple airport we had, but for some reason Tracy's network was always rock solid.

We had never stopped paying Time Warner. I had read one of the Ethicist articles in the Times that completely legitimized bandwidth theft as long as you were paying in somewhere.

With the new system I was bound and determined to get my own network running. We got rid of the old cable router with a service call from TW. I hooked up the linksys and with the help of Jeff it was up and running perfectly....for about a day. Then it went dead. The tech guys at work claimed it was because i was not running the mac IP spoofing necessary to make it not drop my IP. Thing was, I couldn't use it with my PC either.

I was getting frustrated. We had gone out and essentially got all new hardware to be back in the same place we had been-- Paying for a service we got for free from our neighbor. When Jeff returned from Europe he came over determined to help us out once and for all. He got it all set up and running in moments. Rejoicing was had. We went out to dinner and came back a short bit later, the line was dead. Doh!

That's when we come to our friend in the last panel. The power conditioner. We had been noticing since we installed the ceiling fan on the third floor that whenever you change the speed an audible pop would come out of the speakers attached to the computer. This couldn't be a good thing. Somewhere we have a ground problem. We went down to Office Max and got two APC power supplies, one for downstairs where the router and modem are and one for upstairs for the computer and stereo. We ran the cable through the conditioner as well as the electrical for all the devices.

Results: it works. Signal remains stable to the computer and the popping no longer happens when you change speeds on the fan. With regard to the grounding problem I realize this is some what like taking a pain killer rather than addressing the cause of the pain BUT, it worked. All of the frustration and all of the seemingly in-congruent advice I got for setting up my network came down to this; a cleaner signal.

For one second I want to go back and readdress one thing I thought about when writing this post. We got the new computer and monitor just after returning from vacation in May. Originally we had got rid of the TV to stay focused on the house...just an observation that you may have noticed too, progress is coming at a much slower rate these days. Just a coincidence?

Comments

I love your site, it`s very informative, miscellaneous, practical and easy-to-use for an average Joe. Btw, I didn`t know ceiling fans could do that, interrupt the signal. Good to know. Thanks! Tina, the author of traditional ceiling fans .

Posted by: Tina Kachan | 2010.10.20 at 08:52