Hulu blocked Boxee a few months ago. Now they are blocking PS3 users and windows Mobile users. Why would Hulu block users at the same time they are showing commercial trying to get new users to try the service? The answer is a single word …money.

Hulu has become too successful and is scaring executives, especially the ones at the cable companies. The cable companies subsidize the cost of shows and don’t want to see their investments go for free on the web. People (a small amount) are starting to drop their cable service and purely use the internet to watch video. The result is pressure on Hulu to reduce the quality of their service with shows staying for shorter periods of time. Additionally, they are blocking support for devices like Boxee and PS3.

I don’t believe it’s the Hulu team who wants to block access. They are just feeling the pressure from executives at top. The executives aren’t smart enough to realize it doesn’t matter if people watch their ads on cable or on the internet. It’s all revenue and the revenue is going to disappear if they keep blocking access and disappointing users.

Since I just saw Star Trek over the weekend for Fathers Day, I thought I would post pictures of a Star Trek home theater. I think they went a little too far if you ask me.

Images are from Electronic House Magazine.

http://www.optimization-world.com HDMI Cables are the same as “expensive”, or if there is notable difference in quality. There is one noticeable difference, and that is price. While premium DHHsdjkd;ajfdiweocables can cost upwards of $100, you can get the same length generic cable for around $13.

But what about quality? I think to understand, it helps to know what HDMI cables are. HDMI cables transmit a digital signal (both audio and video) between a HD source such as a cable box and your TV. Digital signals transmit to TV’s using a simple code of 1’s and 0’s, the TV then determines the 1 or 0 and broadcasts the signal. There really is no gray area, they either transmit the signal or they do not, and honestly speaking, your $13 cable will carry that signal just as effective as your $100.

All HDMI cables are certified by the same standard testing at the HDMI Authorized Testing Center. That means that the generic cables receive the same HDMI certification from the same testing as the premium cables.

The reality is there is absolutely no difference in quality. I have seen both side by side, and have not been able to tell any difference. I recommend as well doing some research of the specs, you will see that most discount cables have the same specs as the expensive HDMI cables. It is just like buying a generic brand of cereal, same ingredients, different packaging, and a lot cheaper price.

Some people do wonder how companies are able to sell cables for such a cheaper price. As I can not speak for all, I can tell you how we save the consumer money, and still offer an excellent cable. Our cables come in a plastic sleeve, in a bubble wrapped envelope. There is no fancy packaging, or expensive branding to place our logo on the cable. We simply put a stamp on the envelope and it is out the warehouse door. We have no expensive marketing campaigns; we simply try and keep our overhead costs as low as we can so we can pass the savings on to the consumer.

Buying a discount cable may leave you without bragging rights, but it will also leave you with a lot of extra cash in your pocket and a clear signal to your HDTV. A good site that I have found is

I think this site convinced me to build a HTPC. I mostly want one to watch Netflix, Hulu and Youtube on my HDTV. I think I might get a blu-ray ROM too since they are cheaper than blu-ray players.

• Intel Core 2 Duo E7400
• Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L motherboard
• Radeon HD 4850 video card
• 4 GB Ram
• 500GB hard drive
• ThermalTake Bach Media Lab Black Home Theater PC

Any suggestions?

There aren’t many options for HTPC owners if they want lossless 7.1 surround sound from DTS-HD MA or Dolby HD.  The problem is the lossless audio codecs like DTS-HD and Dolby HD require HDMI connections, and most video cards having DVI connections. Even video cards with HDMI need drivers capable of PAP decryption.  There are some motherboards with HDMI, but the reviews weren’t that good so I decided to go with Asus’s Xonar HDAV1.3. The card is pricey, but it comes with Total Media Theater Blu-ray software which is around $70 anyway.

The TMT software sold me and I purchased the card. Install was simple with a PCIe slot needed. HDMI signals need video to work so there is a cable that comes with the card to bring the DVI signal from my video card into the Xonar HDMI input. I then connected the HDMI out of the Xonar to my Denon receiver.

I didn’t get any sound at first and my desktop size was all messed up when I first started the computer (I was using component signal before). After resizing the desktop to 720p I went and installed Xonar’s latest driver off their website. Still no sound after a restart, but I now was able to use the Xonar configuration program to update the settings. After a little while, I figures out I needed the settings set to HDMI and 7.1 surround sound speakers. I also set the PCM to 192 kHz. The important setting I forgot in the beginning was going to the control panel and changing Window’s speaker setting to 7.1 surround sound. I did manage to get sound after that.

I installed the TMT blu-ray player software and changed the audio setting to ‘HDMI’ which allows HDMI pass-through. This is important because I wanted bit streaming from my HTPC to the receiver so the Denon receiver could do the audio decoding. Sure enough, I got the “DTS-HD MA” display on my receiver when I played a blu-ray movie. At last, 7.1 surround sound from my HTPC.

However, there are a couple issues I’m still trying to figure out. One is I can’t play any regular DVDs with the TMT software. My TV immediately turns to snow if I play one and I have to restart the computer. The second problem is more significant as I’m getting HDMI sync issues. If I switch from my HTPC to my PS3 and back to my HTPC …then I get a black screen. There was a period where I couldn’t get the black screen to go away even with multiple reboots. I finally switched DVI inputs on my card and I got video. The HDMI sync issues could be a deal breaker if it keeps continuing. I’ll see as time goes on.

If you didn’t catch my sarcasm in the title, then let me be clear: Don’t buy a Microsoft game for your HTPC.

I purchased Gears of War for my HTPC. Big mistake as it took me 3 hours before I could get it to work. Here is the ridiculous process Microsoft has put me through:

1. Install game (approximately an hour)
2. Went to start game, but got a xlive.dll file missing error. Had to search Google to find a patch.
3. Had to download patch and install
4. Had to download Games for Windows - Live.
5. Windows Live required .Net version 3 so had to download that.
6. Restart computer.
7. Went to start game, and got “cannot run game with modified executable code. Please reinstall game error.” After searching Google once again, found a ‘hotfix’ required by Microsoft to download.
8. Downloaded Microsoft ‘hotfix’ and installed.
9. Restart computer.
10. Had to create a ‘live’ account. This forced me to get a @live or @hotmail email. Why can’t I use my gmail address is beyond me …oh yeah, it’s Microsoft and they want to force you to use their products.
11. Had to create Windows Live for games profile
12. Still received “please reinstall game error”. Relented and uninstalled Gears of War.
13. Reinstalled Gears of War (another hour).
14. Still got the “cannot run game with modified executable code. Please reinstall game error” message after install. Did more searching on Google and found that Microsoft has some server issue which requires a GearsPC_TU3_Microsoft.exe file to be installed.
15. Aftre patch installed, game finally worked!

A total of 15 steps is 14 too many to instal a simple game. Microsoft obviously wants people to buy an Xbox. After all of this, I’m never buying a Microsoft game again. I’m sticking with Valve’s Steam service. Never had a problem with Steam. I never had to restart my computer multiple times or download .Net patches to simply install a game. Steam lets me downloaded and purchase straight through the internet and doens’t require any annual fees. Theire in-game service is very comperable to Xbox Live.

Take my advice and don’t bother with Microsoft PC gaming. It’s not worth it.

I have a Samsung LN32A450 LCD HDTV, a Sony DVD player, and a Onkyo 8255 receiver.

We’re glad to say our brand new home theater network forum is up at HTNforum.com. We tried the “blog post and comments” approach for asking questions and discussing topics at YourHTN.com, but I think the forum approach will make things easier. YourHTN will still be available to members so they can post their HTNs and HTN related news stories. HTNforum will now be part of YourHTN and where members can talk about HTN hardware, setup, and connection details.

Please let us know what you think about HTNforum and how we can improve it. Thanks and enjoy!