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cyberManor Wins Microsoft Media Center Install Contest

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Remember Microsoft's Ultimate Installer contest? This is a competition for custom installers to show off their best Windows Media Center based installations and there were some amazing installs submitted. CE Pro have details of the winning entry announced at CEDIA, the winner is Gordon Van Zuiden from cyberManor for the installations in the home of Mike Keardon.

Winning the Ultimate Install Contest is a testament to the phenomenal efforts of the cyberManor employees who worked so diligently to make this installation one of the greatest integration projects in our company’s history.”
Windows Media Center controls numerous aspects of the family's digital lifestyle, including 12 zones of Russound distributed audio.

The home also features Lifeware for whole-home control of thermostats, lighting, audio distribution, surveillance cameras and IP-based door strike at the front gate.
The Media Center ecosystem in cyberManor's installation includes:

Niveus Media's n9 media server with four CableCARD tuners

Multiple Niveus Edge and Xbox360 extenders to distribute digital HD content

A Niveus Ice Vault to store the family's DVD movie collection

The family’s music library and digital photos are also integrated into the entertainment solution.

Have a look at the gallery on CE Pro, it looks a fantastic install

Hall and Rack Closet HP Touchsmart

Posted Sep 07 2008, 08:07 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, CEDIA

Comments

Marty wrote re: cyberManor Wins Microsoft Media Center Install Contest

on 09-07-2008 11:31 PM

Very nice install, with lots of tech components.

However, it would be interesting to get more details about just how integrated this system is and how all the components actually work together, esp. the Media Center elements. For instance:

- There is a Touchsmart computer shown running Media Center. However, as far as I know, the Touchsmart computer can't work as a Media Center extender, so it would not have access to any of the TV (live or recorded) from the "Niveus Media's n9 media server with four CableCARD tuners". So, the Touchsmart computer would effectively be an "island" in this system. The only way to watch TV (live or recorded) on the Touchsmart computer would be to connect additional CableCARD tuners directly to it, if it is even possible to connect CableCARD tuners to a Touchsmart computer (but in any case, it would still be an "island" component in the system).

- The diagram shows several XBox 360s running as Media Center extenders. However, as far as I know, there is no way to stream DVD movies via Media Center to a Media Center extender, so it is not clear how "A Niveus Ice Vault to store the family's DVD movie collection" would allow the family members to watch this centralized DVD collection on the Media Center extenders using Microsoft Media Center.

So, on the surface, this looks like a great system, with lots of integrated components running Microsoft Media Center and Media Center extenders, but it leaves one wondering about the details of just how Media Center is actually used in this system, esp. since this is a "Microsoft Media Center Install Contest" winner. How many Media Center "islands" are actually present in this system? Is Microsoft Media Center really the "center" of this "Media Center Install Contest" system, or is Media Center just a "part" of the system, where there are lots of other products that actually provide functions like the DVD streaming, TV watching, etc.

Just curious...

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