Shola's Home Gadgets

Over the next few days or weeks, I will be putting things in place so the family can experience digital media in our main lounge.

The plan is to get a new HD Ready flat screen display, use a XBOX 360 as a Media Center Extender to allow us access to our music, photos and videos in full HD glory. The XBOX 360 will also replace my DVD and CD player, so the lounge should look tidier with all CDs, DVDs and fewer electronic gadgets around.

I have started the process this weekend by buying a Toshiba 320GB external USB hard drive. This external USB hard drive will have all my CD's ripped to it in MP3 format, hold the few DVD movies we have, I will be using a DVDShrink to copy just the main movie, eliminating all un necessary extras. The hard drive will also hold the family photos.

I'm half way through ripping the CDs, I used Windows Media Player, though there are other options available. I'm not too fussed about quality, so I used maximum compression during ripping.

I've bought the XBOX 360, but am waiting for a few extras, so haven't bothered opening the box yet. The order of the HD LCD TV will be made in the week.

I will also have to install windows media center 2005 on my study PC, so there is a far bit of work to be done.

I will keep a diary of how things go, and will do a few write ups when finished.