From: newsletter-bounces@thepcgurus.com on behalf of Kevin-PC Gurus
[microdome@seidata.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:59 PM
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Cc: PC Gurus Newsletter
Subject: GuruNews, Volume 8 Number 4, 1-31-08
Attachments: ATT00069.txt
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Vol. 8, No. 4
1-31-08
1 This year’s project
2 Dude, it’s easy
3 Analog TV death, Dell at Wal-Mart, covert ops?, Apple TV goes all Microsoft with delays
4 Pic tape measure
5 FSB speed
For the last several years I’ve done a tech project around the first of January just to get things started on the right foot. Last year I finally goaded my lazy posterior to finish the DVR project that I’d been working on for months. Prior to that I built a file server and set up a NAS backup system (Network Attached Storage). I didn’t write about the latter two but several readers emailed me about the DVR project.
This year I cobbled together a jukebox and hooked it into my stereo system. I only bought one component and some wiring, but that was after the thing was actually built. Basically I just built a box, dumped every MP3 file I had on every other system to it and hooked it up to play through my AV system. I’m rather pleased with the results.
I used an MSI 7207G motherboard with an Athlon 64 3200+ processor and 1 GB RAM. I added a DVD-RW and a 200 GB hard drive, disabled the onboard audio and installed a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 and stuck with Windows XP as the OS.
After the OS was loaded I took the normal security route and loaded Panda AV 2008 and the free spyware tools Ad-Aware, Spybot and Spyware Blaster. I don’t really use it to surf the web but it’s on my network and connected to DSL so it pays to take precautions.
After configuring the network access and sharing the appropriate folders I copied every audio file I had over to it. I’m sure there are a ton of duplicates and it will take me months to sort and organize it, but it has music.
To hook it to the receiver I used a 1/8” stereo male to two RCA female Y adapter cable and then a standard 6’ RCA M/M stereo cable. Going from the speaker out jack to the Tape In jack on the receiver yielded the best results and playing an MP3 with Windows Media Player worked immediately, but that’s when I ran into my only problem.
There was a loud hum in the audio that was fairly obvious, especially between songs. I at first thought I had an impedance problem between the sound card and receiver but after a little research I tracked it down to a ground loop between components.
This can occur when audio components are drawing power from different power outlets and the voltage potential between grounds differs. Luckily there are such things as ground loop isolators but I had to order one online. I called several stores in Madison, including one that specializes in AV equipment, and literally nobody knew what I was talking about.
I didn’t want to drive to Louisville to find one so I just ordered online. I got one made by Xitel for $39 and it made an astonishing difference. I just wired it inline between the sound card and the receiver and now the signal is dead quiet, even at higher volume, until I start the music. I was highly impressed.
At this point I’m trying to decide between WiMP, iTunes and Musicmatch Jukebox to build and manage the music library and playlists, but any of them will work.
You can do this yourself and use your existing PC. You can play your DRM’d iTunes through it or any other proprietary format and shouldn’t take any more of a performance hit than you do when you play music through your computer speakers. I just built one specifically for it because I have so much stuff available and I’m a geek ;)
Just a couple of cheap cables and an isolator if you encounter the hum and you’ll be up and running. You can use the same cables to hook older components like cassette decks or turntables (I wouldn’t try this with boom boxes) up to your PC, and then use software like Roxio Easy Audio Capture to record it and convert to MP3
Now rock out!
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
Are you one of those people
who, like me, hang onto a television until it dies of old age? If so, you
may be wondering what the "death" of broadcast analog TV next year is
going to mean to you. Here are a few answers you may find interesting:
http://www.news.com/FAQ-What-the-digital-TV-switch-actually-means/2100-1026_3-6228433.html?tag=nefd.lede
Dell is set to close their remaining mall kiosks
in the United States, but have no fear: they still have a presence,
seemingly, in every retail store chain except Home Depot and Walgreen's:
http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206100535
We've all heard the oft-repeated bromides about
the robustness of the internet. Then, one day, ships' anchors become
involved:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=disaster_recovery&articleId=9060339&taxonomyId=151&intsrc=kc_top
Those of you eagerly awaiting a time when you
can rent movies through your Apple TV device will have to go one more round
with NetFlix:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8120285
Copy us on the good stuff!
Matthew Dattilo
www.mattstodayinhistory.com
Download of the Week
I don't know who might need
this gadget, but I've never run across it before and thought it could be
useful. Ever wonder how big that family
photo is? Or how big it might be if you cropped out Auntie Jane? No mystery in
that when you download JR Screen Ruler from JR Free Tools. There’s nothing to
install, just unzip and launch this tiny program to see a resizable ruler you
can use to measure anything on screen. You can adjust the size of the ruler
itself, rotate it 90 degrees, and set it to display pixels, inches, picas, or
centimeters. JR Screen Ruler is a handy gadget for Web designers, product
developers, and more. It's free here:
http://www.spadixbd.com/freetools/
Art Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: Pc World magazine was talking about computer spped being in the bus rather than memory & that when buying one, you want to look for a fast bus. What is the bus & how do I know if I have 1 & how fast it is? What should I look for & can it be increased?
A: In a personal computer, the frontside bus is the data path and physical interface between the processor and the main memory (RAM).
Replacing the motherboard and processor is the only way to get a faster FSB (frontside bus). You can use the Belarc Advisor to get a detailed profile of your PC, including it FSB speed. Download it here:
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Adding memory remains the best way to improving performance to an existing computer.
Good Luck,
Art Maley
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