I'm trying to spruce up my home theater system a little. I'll expand on these later, but at the moment I'm looking into getting new cables for pretty much everything (3 dollar radio shack cables have to be real great for quality ). I'm also looking for a good surge protector. I also need a new connection method for Tivo. Lastly, I need a component cabinet.

1) Cables: I was planning on just going with the bottom of the line Monster stuff. I don't want to spend too much money, but this will be miles beyond the crap I have now. I'm mostly looking for a bunch of 3-pronged RCA, a couple single RCA cables, a coax cable, and about 25 feet of speaker cable, possibly 100 if I decide to replace the cabling in the walls to the rears. If there's another brand that's more cost effective for the same quality, I'd be open to suggestions. It's just that I have one 3-RCA Monster cable and it's really nice.

2) I really have no idea what kind of surge protector to get. I'd just like to get everything off the wall and off the cheapo (again, Radio Shack) surge protectors. I mainly need enough outlets for the TV, receiver, Tivo, DVD player, and maybe one or two other devices. I don't really care about having game systems and the like on the strip. Also, depending on what connection I use for Tivo (more later), would it be reasonable to get a telephone protector in it as well??

3) Tivo connection. I have no phone jacks near my TV. I don't want to open the Tivo up and add anything. This makes it difficult to connect for guide info. I bought a wireless phone jack system, but sometimes Tivo would go for weeks without being able to connect with it. I hooked a regular phone up to it once and the static was horrible! I could barely hear the dial tone. Are there any other options?

4) Finally, I need a system cabinet. I don't understand why nobody sells basic ones! I've been to home improvement stores and countless web sites, and the only thing anyone sells is stuff like complete cabinets that hold a TV and 50 other things as well. I just want something that will hold the components like the receiver and Tivo and DVD player. My dad's is great because the shelves are held up by arms in the back, and that allows the two glass doors in front to open up and slide back out of the way. That would be ideal, but if it's not available or way too expensive, I'd settle for a simple deep, backless bookcase for crying out loud!

Can anyone help me with these items? Sorry for such a long cry for help, but I've been researching this for a month or two and haven't gotten anywhere!

3) Tivo connection. I have no phone jacks near my TV. I don't want to open the Tivo up and add anything. This makes it difficult to connect for guide info. I bought a wireless phone jack system, but sometimes Tivo would go for weeks without being able to connect with it. I hooked a regular phone up to it once and the static was horrible! I could barely hear the dial tone. Are there any other options?

Do you not want to add an ethernet card because you doubt your ability, or because you don't want to break your warranty? Physically installing the TurboNet is easy. The software is also easy as long as you know basic unix commands.

I would recommend going with an ethernet TiVo. There is so much you can do with it aside from making the daily call over the internet.

I will be driving through DC Friday the 19th. If you can get the TurboNet by then, I would be happy to stop by and install it.

Haha, thanks a lot for the offer. My Tivo is now in Williamsburg, though.

I am a bit cautious due to the warranty. What else can I do with the ethernet connection? I also lost the page that I was linked to with the turbonet, what is it?

TurboNet Link

You can install TivoWeb to scedule a recording with your web browser. And, if you have a stand alone (not DrecTivo), it is reasonably easy to extract video from it.

Cables: you can spend infinite money on your cables. On a budget, my recommendation is 12ga speaker wire from Home Depot and "gold" RCA cables from Radio Shack. The Home Depot speaker wire is something like $0.30/foot, so you get a lot of cable for your money, and it's heavy-enough gauge that it will have more than enough current-carrying capacity for your needs. I'm also using generic Home Depot crimps on the end, although you may prefer fancier audiophile crimps. For RCA cables, the Radio Shack "gold" series, according to an audiphile friend of mine, is "pretty good." You're getting cables that appear to be reasonably well built, and you're not paying nearly as much as you would pay for Monster Cable.

FYI, in my new stereo system, all the audio runs are done with Toslink (optical) interconnects, so I get "perfect" digital quality. This turns out to work for everything except HBO Dolby 5.1 signals, which has pops not unlike a bad MP3 rip. To solve the HBO problem, I have a separate run of RCA cable from the DirecTiVo to my receiver. Heaven only knows what's weird about HBO vs. every other channel. (Dolby 5.1 on Showtime, for example, works fine.) FWIW, I'm using Radio Shack Toslink cables and my receiver is a fairly new Onkyo TX-DS797.

Surge protectors: I have a Monster surge protector that came with a "if it gets zapped, we pay for it" guarantee. The Monster also has surge protection for 75ohm coax cable TV and RJ-11 telephone jacks. I'm not so sure how good any of these things are. If your power really sucks, then you need a UPS, and that's a whole different ballgame.

TiVo (telephone) connection: I just have a really long run of regular phone wire. But, if you read the TivoCommunity site, it seems that noisy phone jacks have a habit of frying the modem inside the TiVo. Maybe you need a better wireless thing?

Cabinets: High-end audio shops sell all manner of cabinetry, for evil, ugly prices. You might look at finding a local furniture / cabinet builder and getting something made custom. You might even get an old 19" computer rack and ditch whatever obsolete computer happens to be occupying it. I did a quick Google search and found HIFIforLess.com sells some reasonably priced racks that look nice. Of course, I have no idea if they're a reputable dealer, etc, etc.

Thanks a ton for the pointers!

Cables: you can spend infinite money on your cables. On a budget, my recommendation is 12ga speaker wire from Home Depot and "gold" RCA cables from Radio Shack.

That's a suprise to me, but a good one! Yeah, RS's gold stuff seemed pretty good. I simply have the $4, incredibly thin crap stuff. I'm sure it's terrible. I've also only got the bottom end RS speaker cable, so I'll try that Home Depot stuff. I'll also try them about the cabinets.

Surge protectors: I have a Monster surge protector that came with a "if it gets zapped, we pay for it" guarantee.

Cool. I was definitely looking at the Monster surge protectors. Those prices are real tough, though. Ouch!

TiVo (telephone) connection: I just have a really long run of regular phone wire. But, if you read the TivoCommunity site, it seems that noisy phone jacks have a habit of frying the modem inside the TiVo. Maybe you need a better wireless thing?

I might need a better wireless phone jack, but I got the one they specified. One thought, though. I usually have an RF video sender hooked up to my computer an TV, sending information the same direction, almost in the same locations. Could they be interfering? I can't be quite sure, but I seem to recall changing the frequency on the video sender around the time that the Tivo connection crapped out, but I can't remember.

Simply a long phone cord won't do. The nearest phone jack is in another room on the furthest wall from the Tivo. I would be able to snake a 100' cord to it, but it would be painfully obvious, unless thre were some good solution to hiding cords that are snaked along a basboard, around door moldings, and over doorways.

Cabinets: ....

Thanks for the link! Those look pretty good, and I'll consider them. Custom or building myself is looking really good right now, as nobody seems to have anything that I'm looking for. I'll look in Home Depot, but I might end up buying some stuff there to build it instead of buy it.

Thanks for the pointers, I really appreciated it. You saved me some serious dough in some places (although it looks like it's rising in others )

For all you audio and video-philes out there, look at this: www.audiolinesource.com
It really is an incredible little powerblock. In actuality all it is is a HUGE inductor wired in parallel with the power line. Any spikes are culled into the magnetic field, as are temporary dips in power filled by power remaining in the same field. I did some work for one of the owners of the company, and he showed me what a difference it could make. If I had the cash, I'd have one. Alas, I don't.

There's someplace out there that sells flat phone cord that's supposed to be able to be taped to a wall and painted over... I'm not sure how well it works, but for slow modem connections it would probably work fine... I don't know how your house is set up, but if you've got an attic or a crawl space underneath, would it be possible to run wires through there? Home depot has wiremold (or some other name for it) that's plastic conduit that you can hide wires in on their way up/down/around if you want to... Spend fifteen minutes looking at your house and try and find a way to get from one to the other, or back to the box. Wiring phones isn't hard, if that's what's slowing you down...

Matthew

A good place for inexpensive quality cables is Parts Express. Don't be suckered into the whole Monster Cable thing - unless you enjoy paying much more for the exact same thing (as many people apparently do).

I'd highly recommend adding a TurboNet, or if you don't feel like running cable, an AirNET with a cheap 802.11b card.

The sad thing is, cabling for ethernet wouldn't be a problem. There's a network outlet right behind the TV. I just really don't want to open up my Tivo. Plus, I know absolutely nothing about Unix.

If that network outlet is twisted pair / RJ45, can you patch in the phone cord at the end?

/Michael

You really don't need to know anything if your TiVo has upgraded to v3.0, everything you need is in it (for it to use ethernet for daily calls, anyway).

Okay, I heard about that. Is that a case of the hardware taking advantage of the new software? I can't imagine Tivo implemented code to take advantage of the TurboNET...

Oh, and how hard do you guys think it would be to make my own component cabinet

The drivers are there. It fires right up (gets an IP via DHCP) and will use the card for daily calls (just enter ",#401" as the dialing prefix). For ftp and other ways of accessing the TiVo over the network you still need to do modifications, but they are pretty simple.

So I just plug the thing in, hook it up and change the prefix? And I wouldn't change the number I dial at the moment, just the prefix?

It should be noted that ,#401 only works on Tivo 3.0. If you have a DirecTivo (currently 2.5.2), it is not that easy.

Yes, that prefix is an "unsupported" method of making the daily call over internet in 3.0.

Those TurboNet cards sound interesting. Can you do video extraction with one of those?

According to robricc, as he just told me, you can with a program called TivoApp. If you find a page on it, let me know

TivoApp

Please excuse me while I extract my head from my ass. I totally missed that.

Haha, no, he just told me on AIM, not here

Yeah, I forgot to mention again that it is only if your TiVo has upgraded to v3.0. Still though, it's really not THAT hard to get it to work, just takes a little time and patience.

I keep reading that, but why is that a big deal? Shouldn't it do that automatically? hasn't it been out for quite a while?

You must've lost me. Do what automatically?

Download new software...

All stand alones (series 1 & 2) should have 3.0 by now.

OH! I guess I must've worded that wrong. Yes, it does upgrade automatically. I was speaking about getting the TurboNet to work on a machine that has yet to upgrade to v3.0, but as Rob just mentioned, most, if not all, stand alone TiVo's have upgraded by now. Mine has only been at 3.0 for about 2 weeks, I'm probably near the end of the upgrade run. The upgrades started in April, and everyone I know got their update by the end of May.

Quick question though, if my Tivo has been disconnected pretty much since early May, will it get updated when I hook up in August? If so, I'm kinda sad that I will, because I currently don't have the star ads

If that network outlet is twisted pair / RJ45, can you patch in the phone cord at the end?

Funny, I did more or less just this (stole a spare pair for the TiVo's phone)

Of course all the wiring in my house was cat5 and I have magic cables to "bridge" some cable runs into the phone system.

If I had to do it again I'd get a TiVoNet (which I have in my "spare tivo"), and I may yet free up that one and put a turbonet or airnet in my "spare".