I've spent a lot of time lately attempting to find the best solution for keeping leaves and plant material out of our gutters.  We currently have *no* gutters on the house due to the renovation.  I don't simply want to install open gutters and leave it at that, because the house is so tall now that I have no way to reach the gutters for cleaning.

So I've been investigating solutions.  There are TONS of them.  Everyone seems to either love or hate any one particular solution.  And most people agree that none of them work perfectly... and some don't work at all.  Here are a few that I have looked at.

Leaf Guard
Gutter Maxx
Leaf Filter
Gutter Filter
Gutter Stuff
Gutter Brush
Alcoa Leaf Relief
DIY options

We had Gutter Maxx come out and give us an estimate.  GutterMaxx is like the next generation of LeafGuard.  It looks like a quality product, but the price is ridiculous.  For the ~100 feet of gutters (with all the pipes, downspouts, etc.) and the GutterMaxx topper, they wanted $4500.  We talked them down to $3600, but that is still way more than our original open-gutter-only complete quote of $1200.

Today I had the local representative for Alcoa Leaf Relief come out to give an estimate.  I wasn't please by his unprofessional appearance and the fact that he seemed to work out of a station wagon packed with work stuff.  I think that the Alcoa product is exactly what we need, but I'm wary about working with this particular guy.

No estimate back yet, but he indicated that Leaf Relief "isn't the cheapest solution on the market."  Great.  According to many other sources, this product *should* cost about $5-7 per linear foot, bringing us to $700 for installation on top of $1200 for the gutters themselves... for a total of $1900.  Let's see what he comes back with.  I predict that it will be in the $3000 range.  If so, I will laugh in his face.

Oh, and I did some research regarding the Alcoa 10-year No-Clog guarantee.  It's basically useless because it only kicks in if the INTERIOR of the gutters clog.  If you've seen the product, it will be obvious that this isn't  its weak point.  I have no doubt that the interiors will stay clear.  The potential failure point of Leaf Relief is debris piling up on top of the perforation such that water runs off the top of the gutters.  Sure they aren't clogged, but they aren't working either!  There is NO guarantee that this won't happen.


 

This is happening at my house right now.  Gas hookup = heat.







And for those who like the express version...

My initial attempt at Media networking is a big success!  The world of the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is now open to me.  Here is the formula you need to know:

TV Tuner Card (Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150) + Hauppauge MediaMVP + GB-PVR + Zap2It + Hard Drive + Network = WOW

Assuming you already have the Hard Drive and the Network, and GB-PVR and Zap2It are free, the total cost of the above system is around $160.  And $80 for each additional TV in your house, as you will need a MediaMVP unit for each TV you want to enable.

Um, what are you talking about?  What does this do?

This setup gives you Tivo-like functionality over your home network without any membership fees or other reoccurring costs.  I can now use a remote control to pull up an interactive TV Guide on my television, select to record shows in the future, recall pre-recorded shows, watch Live TV with pause and rewind features.  I can also pull up other videos on my network, as well as photos and MP3s.  I can also browse YouTube and play videos directly on my TV... though it's feels kind of strange to do that.  Then there's also access to Net Radio stations and even things like Google Calendar if you want.  Heck, I can even connect to my PVR over the web to schedule show recording remotely.  Technology rules.

I still don't get it.  Really.  I'm a little lost.

I'll step through it following the path of the television signal.



1) Your incoming cable/satellite service comes into your house and plugs into your TV Tuner card, which is in your computer.

2) You download and install GB-PVR, which is software that provides Personal Video Recorder functionality.  GB-PVR connects to the free Zap2It service which provides your interactive TV Listings.

At this point, you can launch GB-PVR on your computer and browse TV Listings.  You can schedule shows to record just by clicking your mouse.  You can watch Live TV on your computer monitor if you want.  Recorded shows are stored as MPG files on your hard drive.  On the default setting of "medium" quality, a half-hour show takes 1Gig of space.

This is all great as long as you are willing to only ever use this functionality at your computer monitor.  If you want to experience all of this through a TV, though, you need a MediaMVP unit.

3) Connect your MediaMVP to your television using normal audio/video RCA jacks.  Connect your MediaMVP to your network by plugging it into your router.  Turn it on.  It will find GB-PVR on your network and link up to it.  You will see the GB-PVR interface on your TV screen!

4) Point the included remote control at your MediaMVP and control the on-screen interface.  Have fun.

5) Add additional MediaMVPs to each TV in your house and now you can pull recorded shows and other content from your network onto any of those TVs.

But how well does it really work?

"Surprisingly well" is the best way to describe it.  I would say that LiveTV via the MediaMVP is probably 90-95% broadcast quality.  And most likely that has to do with settings that frankly I don't know much about... like which MPG encoder/decoder I have elected to use, etc.  I just chose the defaults and it seems to work well enough for me.

What are the benefits?

1) Watch TV when you want.  I have already set up my system to record all episodes of "The Office", as that is really the only show I want to watch, but I don't want to remember to watch it on the day that it airs.

2) Watch TV that interests you.  We are remodeling our home, so I've set the system to record all episodes of "This Old House" because I find that show to provide lots of relevant information and ideas... but I have no idea when it airs.

3) Stockpile shows.  My kids like Arthur, Curious George, and Fetch... but we don't always catch them at the right time.  So the system is set to record all of the upcoming episodes of each.  So we will be able to deliver when the kids ask to watch Arthur.

No monthly costs.

Yesterday I received my new Home Media Network toys to try out.  So I go to power on my computer and... um... nothing.  The power supply is dead.  Ugh!  Half an hour later I've ordered a new power supply, but now I have to wait a week to try this stuff out.

In the mean time, since I was ordering computer stuff and whatnot, I also ordered a Linksys 24-port switch and a small UPS to plug all of my routers, modems, and switch into.

After some additional research, I've decided to conduct a (relatively) cheap experiment.  I've purchased the following:

1. Hauppauge PVR-150 TV Tuner card
2. Hauppauge MediaMVP

I'm going to install the card in my current PC, install GB-PVR, hook up the MediaMVP to my current television and take a leap into the "modern world".

I'll let you know what happens.

We just did our first walk-through with the electrician the other day.  Our new addition is essentially all sealed up with new windows and such, but the walls are still just framed and wide-open.  So now we begin to think about lighting, electrics, and networking.

I have been convinced that since the walls are open, I might as well run CAT5 networking cable all over the place.  I've indicated one or more jacks to be available in almost every regular (not bathrooms) room in the house.  Now I'm beginning to think about how future media options might affect my networking choices.  I need to quickly make some decisions.

We are not big TV people.  We don't have anything but basic broadcast cable.  No, I don't even get the Discovery Channel.  But that all could change over the next 10 years.  I want to be prepared.  Here is what I envision from a media network.  These are the things I desire:

1. Cable service comes into a central computer.  Video is recorded on a massive hard drive.
2. I can control the recording of future TV shows from (in order of preference):
1. Any TV in the house.
2. The single main TV in the house.
3. Any computer in the house.
4. The Internet (though I could do that easily via LogMeIn anyway)
3. I can request video from the central hard drive from any TV in the house.

In satisfying these requirements, I wasn't sure whether or not I needed to run Coaxial cable to all of the potential TV locations in my house.  As I've discovered, I don't think I need to do this.  However, it would still be beneficial to have Coaxial jacks located in places where I might situate the Home Media PC, if it becomes a stand alone unit.

As of this writing :), I think I have a potential solution for my desires.  Here is what I need to make it happen:

1. A relatively modern PC.  (I probably already have this)
2. A massive hard drive.
3. A TV tuner card. (I already have a Hauppauge Win-PVR card)
4. A network of CAT5 cable installed to potential TV locations.  (will have this shortly)
5. A Hauppauge MediaMVP unit at each TV.  ($99 each)
6. SageTV software running on the modern PC. ($80)
7. A SageTV client license for each Hauppauge unit ($30)

This should allow me to use my PC to record TV shows in standard PVR fashion and call that recorded content from any TV with the MediaMVP device connected to my network.

Comments?  Questions?

Note: Apparently BeyondTV might also be a good option.

To give you an example of what's going on inside our house.  Here is a picture of our dining room.  We were living in it a week ago.

Click for big pic.

Random images of Christmas Eve, so far.  Some images are computer assisted.

The house.



More house.




The daughter.




The son.

Should I bother installing CAT5 cabling throughout our new house addition?  What would you do?

I could spend the money, and mostly the effort, to install CAT5 cabling throughout our new addition... but is it really worth it?  We currently run a wireless networking and it is great.  We are using G, but with the potential of products like this Linksys-N router, wireless continues to look awesome.  And if you still need to use G, you can buy range extenders (repeaters) that you simply plug into an outlet to have your network reach any room in your house.

I just don't know if it's worth the trouble to install the wires.