About

My name is Rick Drasch and I've been developing commercial software since 1974.  I have a Masters Degree in Computer Science, I've been developing for Windows since day one, and I love Media Center and Windows Home Server.

My System

 

 

me and donna

"a TV set I could program!..."

TIME SHIFT: the way I look at it, it's a matter of time-shifting, i.e., shifting the time that the program is "broadcast"  on MY TV

My System:

Windows Home Server - Home built, Celeron D 3.33 GHz, 1GB Ram, 2 x 300GB HDD.  I built this machine when the first Beta of WHS came out and it's working fine.  It's been running the Recorded TV Manager Add-in continuously since last summer.

Windows Vista Ultimate - Sony Vaio, P4 Duo, 3.2GHz, 1GB Ram, 3 HDD (185GB, 150GB, 250GB), 2 tuners, RADEON dual monitor.

This is my primary Media Center machine where we watch TV and I test everything. It is also the development machine for the Vista Media Center Add-in. The s-video output of monitor 2 feeds Channel 80 (see below).  It was a store-bought Media Center machine from a few years ago.  I added the second tuner and 2 HDD to store recorded TV.  This machine was used for the Vista and Media Center betas and, before the WHS, ran Recorded TV Manager 2.  It also supports a Linksys DMA2100 Media Center Extender for testing purposes.  (The Extender makes a great radio for my office.)

Windows XP Media Center 2005 - Dell Dimension 8200, P4 2.2GHz, 768MB Ram, 2 HDD (80GB, 40GB), 1 tuner, NVIDIA dual monitor.

This is my primary development machine but it still runs Media Center and records stuff in the background.  Recorded TV Manager moves most of it elsewhere because of the small HDD.  It still supports a Linksys extender in the guest room.  Before the Vista Media Center machine, this machine ran Channel 80.

Other computers - Vista Ultimate without a tuner, but stores and watches recorded TV.  Plus three XP machines.

Networking - Ethernet with a Linksys Gigabit switch and cat-6 cabling.  Also a wireless access point for Donna's laptop and the extender in the guest room.

Channel 80

Using hardware from Avcast, I intercept the incoming cable signal, block incoming channel 80, and then lay the s-video (monitor 2) output of the Vista Media Center on channel 80, which is then fed back into the house wiring.  Any television set in the house which is connected to the existing cable line can watch Channel 80 (Media Center).  They can also watch every other channel totally independent of Media Center.

There are Media Center controllers in both the TV room and our bedroom which can control Media Center (Channel 80), which is actually in the office.  In the office I can use monitor 1 of the Media Center machine to do other stuff while running Media Center in full screen mode on monitor 2 (Channel 80).  I can also use Recorded TV Manager Client running on monitor 1 to play any recorded TV from anywhere on the network.  It will play full-screen on Channel 80.

The Media Center folder on the Vista Ultimate machine represents the Recorded TV list on Channel 80.  Recorded TV Manager insures that the next episode of only the series we are watching at this time are in the Recorded TV list, which simplifies day-to-day TV watching ("time shifting").  Everything else is buffered on the Home Server, or one of the other machines.

I really enjoy putting a live sporting event on Channel 80 and then tuning every TV in the house to Channel 80.  Very Max Headroom.

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