Deal of the Day – Seagate 1TB $100 free shipping

Newegg (affiliate) has the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive for $100 after $10 discount using coupon code EMCBCCGAE (expires 01/01/09) w/ free shipping.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 1TB Internal Hard Drive features:

• Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
• Capacity 1TB
• RPM 7200 RPM
• Cache 32MB
• Average Latency 4.16ms.

 

For more deals check out the GeekTonicDeals Blog

Christmas Aftermath - What Gadgets Did you Get or Give?

Well by now most of us have survived Christmas and many have some new gadgets they received (or gave) as gifts.  Tell us in the comments what you got!

Photo by Sentience – CC License

My guesses are the majority of gadget gifts included these types of things:

• Blu Ray Player
• Movies – Blu Ray or otherwise
• MP3 player
• iPhone or other mobile phone
• HDTV, HD200, new PC, monitor, wireless router
• PS3, XBox360 or Wii
• Video Games
• More Storage (Hard Drives)
• HTPC Extender like the SageTV HD200 Extender/Player
• Media Player like the Popcorn Hour or HD200
• Digital Camera/Camcorder
• Computer/Laptop
• Home Theater Components

 

A few of my geekier toys I received:

• Bluetooth earpiece for my blackberry phone
• iPod Touch (I’ve loaded up on free apps already, but will be watching Dave at ZNF for new app suggestions)

• 46” LCD TV Sharp 46SB54U (family gift we found a deal of less then $900).  This is by no means the best HDTV we could have gotten and probably not up to Ben D’s high standards but it fit the bill (and budget) for us and I’m very happy with it.  Currently testing the new SageTV HD200

 

I gave (or recommended) a few techie gadgets too:

• Tiny WD External drive for my teacher wife for her PowerPoint and video clips
• Wii Fit – a bit better than I expected.  Don’t know if it will help us much, but it’s actually kind of fun
• LG Shine Mobile phone for the kid
• Cheap, but working DVD Player for the college kid (less than $40 at Walmart)
• EyeFi for my Dad (I really like this one - now I’m hoping he’ll actually offload photos when he takes pictures…)

I’m still holding off on the Blu-Ray Player purchase.  No particular reason why other than the fact I don’t care at all about the extras that come with Blu-Ray players and I can’t yet integrate Blu-Ray with my HTPC setup.  Even still, I’ll probably will bite on that sometime in 2009.

 

Okay, it’s your turn – tell everyone what you got this year in the way of gadgets.

Try Out Windows 7 Beta Now – Leaked Windows 7 Beta ISO Torrent

The Windows 7 beta won’t be out until January 2009, but DownloadSquad pointed out that a leaked copy of the Windows 7 beta ISO can be obtained via torrent.  Looks like the ISO includes Windows 7 M1 build 7000.  Lots of new features are in the beta and of course the newer version of Windows Media Center is in there.

                            Screen-shot of Music Page via Charlie Owen

 

Personally, I’d rather not risk messing up my system with a leaked version (you never know who’s messed with this ISO) and just let others play with the beta version at this point so if you’re like me and want to watch from the outside for a little longer, check out Paul Thurott’s review of Windows 7 from last week.

I did some searching and found a little more info on the ISO:

ITWire goes into more detail about the ISO DVD image, which they say includes the following Windows 7 versions: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.

Neowin has a little more including screen-shots

via DownloadSquad

Stay up-to-date on all Media Center and HTPC News and Information by subscribing to GeekTonic

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

 

photo by krisdecurtis - Creative Commons License

 

 

I wish all readers of GeekTonic.com a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I hope you all enjoy time with your family and friends and possibly even get a few cool gadgets as a bonus.  Stay tuned to GeekTonic for more gadget and Media Computer talk before 2008 is over.

Boxee Beta Opens to all Mac & Ubuntu Users

If you've had your head buried in the sand (it's gotten a lot of good press), you might not have heard about Boxee.  Boxee is a project based on the xbmc (XBox Media Center) open-source project.  Boxee was developed to be a “social” media center program that plays media from your home network and the internet and also allows you to stream or download movies, tv shows, music and photos. 

Starting January 8, 2009, Boxee will move from alpha to beta meaning all Mac and Ubuntu users that want to try out the Boxee Beta will get their chance (it was limited to a smaller group of alpha users in the past).  If you haven't signed up already, head over to Boxee and do it now.

For the Windows users, the windows version is still in alpha so it's still closed to a smaller group, but the CEO commented in the Boxee post that the Windows alpha program will begin in "early 2009" with plenty of invites to go out each week.

 

via Boxee Blog

 

One more thing - if you are interested in joining the limited number of early-access users for the pre-release boxee versions, head over to Boxee and complete this form to see if you can get on the list. via Boxee Blog

SageTV Beta 6.5.5 and HD Extender/Player Updates

SageTV released another beta update with a few more features and bug fixes.  This is a "release candidate" which means we'll be seeing SageTV 6.5 escape from beta very, very soon.

This is mostly a clean-up update, but there are a few feature additions that might be of interest including support for multi-audio track switching of MKV and similar video files.  A few of the more significant SageTV updates include:

• Added windows support for the HVR-1250 analog tuner
• Several bug fixes and improvements to the SageTV Core
• HD Extender can now handle audio track switching for MKV, ASF, MOV and AVI files (requires firmware update on HD100 and/or HD200)
• Improved interface support for RC5 protocol remotes (setting is now in the detaled settings page of the UI instead of requiring a change to a properties file)
• Several other UI improvements

Read the full change list for the SageTV 6.5.5 update

 

HD100 and HD200 firmware Updates include:

• Fix for some cases of audio track selection on HD100 and HD200
• Several changes to the HD200 standalone mode on the HD200

Read the full change list for the firmware updates

MediaPortal Leaves Beta - 1.0 Arrives

                      Image from team-mediaportal.com

After many years (five to be exact) in beta development, the MediaPortal team has released the 1.0 version (read: non-beta) of their popular HTPC software.  What started as a port from XBMC and eventually grew into a near-complete redesign of the software is now a fully-featured, opens-source, windows-based media center software.

Congratulations to all of the Media Portal Team!

Download, Installation Notes and More Information on MediaPortal 1.0

 

Media Portal 2.0 In the Works:

Not ones to just sit back and enjoy their accomplishments, the MediaPortal team is now shifting their attention towards MediaPortal 2.0 (and of course any needed bug fixes for 1.0).  Check out this link for a preview of MediaPortal 2.0

Add Christmas Cheer to your HTPC with Holiday Themes

Want to add a little special Christmas spirit to your Home Theater PC (HTPC) this season?  If you use SageTV, MediaPortal and BeyondTV you are in luck as each of these HTPC programs have Christmas themes you can install and use on your own HTPC.

 

SageTV

I've been working on several themes for the SageTV addon "SageMC" recently and decided to experiment with a few different Christmas themes to begin learning how to make my own themes for SageTV.  I'm fairly happy with the ones I've made so far.  The Christmas themes for SageMC include:

Holiday Sleigh Theme for SageMC

 Installation Instructions and Download for the Holiday Sleigh Theme

 

Next I made a Holiday Snowman Theme for SageMC:

 

Installation Instructions and Download for the Holiday Snowman Theme

 

And finally the Holiday Christmas Tree Theme for SageMC:

Installation Instructions and Download for the Holiday Christmas Tree Theme

 

I created the icons in each of these themes by modifying the icons from the BlueTwo theme with a little santa hat.  The background images were found at PS3-themes.com.  The SageTV Christmas theme discussion thread has more information as well.

 

 

Media Portal

Media Portal seems to have a new Christmas theme each year and 2008 is no exception.  This year we have two Christmas Themes:

First up is the Blue3 Christmas Theme staring the MeePo characters:

Info and Download for the Blue3 Christmas Add-on at Media Portal

 

The second MediaPortal theme this holiday is the 2008 Christmas Theme by forum user "spragleknas." :

For more information and the download, head over to the Christmas Skin 2008 MediaPortal Forum Thread

Download

 

Snapstream BeyondTV

Finally we have a Christmas Theme for Snapstream BeyondTV.  This one was created three years ago but still looks very nice:

BTV Christmas House Theme installation instructions and the download

 

Hope these add a little Christmas spirit to those of you who enjoy the holidays.  I was going to make a bah humbug theme as well, but haven't had the time to get it finished.  If you know of any other HTPC Holiday themes including those for other holidays let me know in the comments.  Merry Christmas from GeekTonic!

Ultimate Guide - the Winter 2009 TV Season

Christmas time is almost here and many of you will be searching for those last-minute presents, drinking eggnog and watching Christmas specials, but its also a good time to see what's coming in the TV world in the new year.  All of our favorite shows are either in hibernation or just winding down for 2008.  But very soon, we'll again be bombarded with even more Television including many anticipated series premieres.  I've gathered as much about the Winter 2009 TV Schedule as I can and there are several premieres included.
Wanting to know when that show from the Fall season is returning?  Or maybe you're curious about what new shows are starting January - March?  The Winter 2009 season will soon be upon us so I have compiled the complete Guide to the Winter 2009 TV season for you.  I've included the premieres for Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, SciFi, CW and more.

 Photo of the cast of Dollhouse - a highly anticipated Scifi Drama by Joss Whedon
 
The chart below guides you through the entire Winter 2009 TV Season by date.  Season/series premieres will have their season number in the "season premiere" column as well as being marked in bold text.  All start times are U.S. Eastern time.  There are some shows that may have a special premiere date and then follow later that week in their normal time slot day - in these cases I only show the first premiere.  GeekTonic will have a weekly preview of new Winter 2009 airings each Sunday and noting those that will air in HD as well as more information about each series/season premiere in those posts as well.
New Premieres include:  Dollhouse, Kings, Castle, The Unusuals, Lie to Me, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, The United States of Tara, East Bound and Down, The Beast, Lie to Me, Trust Me and Harpers Island.
New Reality/game-shows include: Howie Do It, Confessions of a Teen Idol, Superstars of Dance, True Beauty, Homeland Security, 13: Fear is Real, Tool Academy, RelicQuest, The Exterminators and more.
Returning Reality shows include: The Bachelor, The Real World, The Apprentice, American Idol, Amazing Race, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Superstars of Dance and more.
Returning Drama and Comedy includes:  Lost, 24, Scrubs, Damages, Medium, Psych, Monk, Kyle XY, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Reaper and more.
It's quite obvious that the networks are moving towards fewer quality dramas and more cheap, reality-type programming.  I'll have to do some stats on the shows from the Winter 2009 listing to see what percent are non-scripted shows - I'm betting it's pretty high unfortunately.   New and returning TV shows on the most anticipated list include:  Lost, 24, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Kings, Reaper, Damages and unfortunately (in my opinion) American Idol.
 
Free Printable PDF Guides for the Winter 2009 TV Season:

• Winter 2009 TV Premiere Guide - by Premiere/Airing Date (updated 1/9/2009)
• Winter 2009 TV Premiere Guide - by Show Title (new 1/9/2009)
  

NOTE:  The PDF Downloads (see above) are up-to-date and comprehensive including some changes and additions not reflected below.

Premiere Date	Day	Time	Network	Season Premiere	Show Title
1/1/2009	Thu	9pm	A&E	8	The First 48
1/2/2009	Fri	10pm	TLC	2	Countdown to the Crown
1/2/2009	Fri	9pm	SciFi		Stargate Atlantis
1/3/2009	Sat	8pm	FOX		Cops
1/3/2009	Sat	8pm	CBS	1	Game Show In My Head
1/3/2009	Sat	9pm	FOX		America's Most Wanted
1/4/2009	Sun	10pm	ABC		Brothers and Sisters
1/4/2009	Sun	10pm	CBS		The Unit
1/4/2009	Sun	7pm	ABC		America's Funnies Home Videos
1/4/2009	Sun	8pm	VH1	1	Confessions of a Teen Idol
1/4/2009	Sun	8pm	ABC		Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
1/4/2009	Sun	8pm	NBC	1	Superstars of Dance
1/4/2009	Sun	9pm	CBS		Cold Case
1/4/2009	Sun	9pm	ABC		Desperate Housewives
1/4/2009	Sun	9pm	VH1	3	Rock of Love with Bret Michaels
1/5/2009	Mon	10pm	ABC	1	True Beauty
1/5/2009	Mon	8pm	CW		Gossip Girl
1/5/2009	Mon	8pm	ABC FAM		Secret Life of the American Teenager
1/5/2009	Mon	8pm	ABC	13	The Bachelor
1/5/2009	Mon	9pm	CW		One Tree Hill
1/6/2009	Tue	10pm	NBC		Law & Order: SVU
1/6/2009	Tue	10pm	FX	5 (pt 2)	Nip/Tuck
1/6/2009	Tue	10pm	ABC		Primetime
1/6/2009	Tue	10pm	CBS		Without a Trace
1/6/2009	Tue	8pm	CW		90210
1/6/2009	Tue	8pm	ABC		According to Jim
1/6/2009	Tue	8pm	ABC	1	Homeland Security
1/6/2009	Tue	8pm	CBS		NCIS
1/6/2009	Tue	8pm	NBC	8	The Biggest Loser: Couples
1/6/2009	Tue	9pm	CW		Privileged
1/6/2009	Tue	9pm	ABC	8	Scrubs
1/6/2009	Tue	9pm	CBS		The Mentalist
1/7/2009	Wed	10pm	FX	2	Damages
1/7/2009	Wed	10pm	NBC		Law & Order
1/7/2009	Wed	10pm	MTV	21	The Real World
1/7/2009	Wed	10pm	TBS	1	Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
1/7/2009	Wed	8pm	CW	1	13:Fear is Real
1/7/2009	Wed	8pm	NBC		Knight Rider
1/7/2009	Wed	9pm	SciFi		Ghost Hunters International
1/7/2009	Wed	9pm	TBS	3	Tyler Perry's House of Payne
1/8/2009	Thu	10pm	NBC		ER
1/8/2009	Thu	10pm	ABC		Private Practice
1/8/2009	Thu	8:30pm	NBC		Kath & Kim
1/8/2009	Thu	8pm	NBC		My Name is Earl
1/8/2009	Thu	8pm	ABC		Ugly Betty
1/8/2009	Thu	9:30pm	NBC		30 Rock
1/8/2009	Thu	9pm	ABC		Grey's Anatomy
1/8/2009	Thu	9pm	NBC		The Office
1/9/2009	Fri	10pm	CBS		Numb3rs
1/9/2009	Fri	10pm	USA	3 (pt. 2)	Psych
1/9/2009	Fri	8:30pm	CW		The Game
1/9/2009	Fri	8pm	CW		Everybody Hates Chris
1/9/2009	Fri	8pm	CBS		Ghost Whisperer
1/9/2009	Fri	8pm	NBC	1	Howie Do It
1/9/2009	Fri	8pm	ABC		Wife Swap
1/9/2009	Fri	9pm	CBS	2	Flashpoint
1/9/2009	Fri	9pm	USA	7 (pt. 2)	Monk
1/9/2009	Fri	9pm	CMT		My Big Redneck Wedding
1/9/2009	Fri	9pm	ABC		Supernanny
1/11/2009	Sun	8pm	FOX	7	24
1/11/2009	Sun	8pm	NBC		Dateline
1/11/2009	Sun	9pm	NBC	8	The Apprentice
1/11/2009	Sun	9pm	VH1	1	Tool Academy
1/12/2009	Mon	10pm	CBS		CSI: Miami
1/12/2009	Mon	8:30pm	CBS		How I Met Your Mother
1/12/2009	Mon	8pm	FOX		24 (part 2 of premiere)
1/12/2009	Mon	8pm	CBS		Big Bang Theory
1/12/2009	Mon	9:30pm	ABC		Samantha Who?
1/12/2009	Mon	9:30pm	CBS		Worst Week
1/12/2009	Mon	9pm	ABC FAM	3	Kyle XY
1/12/2009	Mon	9pm	CBS		Two and a Half Men
1/13/2009	Tue	8pm	FOX	8	American Idol
1/14/2009	Wed	8:30pm	CBS		Gary Unmarried
1/14/2009	Wed	8pm	ABC		Lost (repeat of last season's finale)
1/14/2009	Wed	8pm	CBS		The New Adventures of Old Christine
1/14/2009	Wed	9:30pm	CBS		CSI: New York
1/14/2009	Wed	9pm	CBS		Criminal Minds
1/15/2009	Thu	10pm	CBS		Eleventh Hour
1/15/2009	Thu	10pm	A&E	1	The Beast
1/15/2009	Thu	8pm	FOX		Bones
1/15/2009	Thu	8pm	CW		Smallville
1/15/2009	Thu	9pm	CBS		CSI
1/15/2009	Thu	9pm	FOX		Kitchen Nightmares
1/15/2009	Thu	9pm	CW		Supernatural
1/16/2009	Fri	10pm	SciFi	4 (pt.2)	Battlestar Galactica
1/16/2009	Fri	10pm	NBC	3	Friday Night Lights
1/16/2009	Fri	8pm	FOX		Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader
1/16/2009	Fri	9pm	FOX		Don't Forget the Lyrics!
1/17/2009	Sat	10pm	HBO	2	Flight of the Conchords
1/17/2009	Sat	10pm	SHOW	1	The United States of Tara
1/17/2009	Sat	7pm	FOX		Hole in the Wall
1/17/2009	Sat	8:30pm	FOX		King of the Hill
1/17/2009	Sat	8pm	FOX		The Simpsons
1/17/2009	Sat	9:30pm	FOX		American Dad
1/17/2009	Sat	9pm	FOX		Family Guy
1/17/2009	Sat	9pm	FOX REAL	3	Solitary
1/18/2009	Sun	8pm	HBO		Big Love
1/18/2009	Sun	9pm	SHOW		The L Word
1/18/2009	Sun	10:30pm	SHOW	2	Secret Life of a Call Girl
1/19/2009	Mon	10pm	A&E	3	Paranormal State
1/19/2009	Mon	8pm	FOX		House
1/20/2009	Tue	9pm	FOX		Fringe
1/21/2009	Wed	10pm	ABC		Life on Mars
1/21/2009	Wed	10pm	SciFi	1	RelicQuest
1/21/2009	Wed	8pm	ABC	5	Lost (clips at 8pm 2hr premiere at 9pm)
1/21/2009	Wed	9pm	FOX	1	Lie to Me
1/22/2009	Thu	10pm	USA		Burn Notice
1/24/2009	Sat	8pm	CMT	3	Gone Country
1/26/2009	Mon	0p	TNT	1	Trust Me
1/26/2009	Mon	9pm	VH1	2	I Love Money
1/26/2009	Mon	9pm	TNT	4 (pt. 2)	The Closer
1/29/2009	Thu	9pm	FOX	5	Hell's Kitchen
1/31/2009	Sat	8pm	NBC		Chuck
1/31/2009	Sat	9pm	NBC		Heroes
2/2/2009	Mon	10pm	NBC	5	Medium
2/4/2009	Wed	10:30pm	A&E	1	The Exterminators
2/4/2009	Wed	10pm	A&E	5 (pt 2)	Dog the Bounty Hunter
2/4/2009	Wed	9pm	NBC		Life
2/12/2009	Thu	10pm	BRAVO	2	Millionaire Matchmaker
2/12/2009	Thu	8pm	CBS	18	Survivor
2/13/2009	Fri	8pm	FOX		Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles
2/13/2009	Fri	9pm	FOX	1	Dollhouse
2/15/2009	Sun	7pm	CBS		60 Minutes
2/15/2009	Sun	8pm	HBO	1	East Bound and Down
2/15/2009	Sun	8pm	CBS	14	The Amazing Race
2/18/2009	Wed	10pm	TV LAND	5	High School Reunion
3/9/2009	Mon	10pm	ABC	1	Castle
3/9/2009	Mon	8pm	ABC	8	Dancing With the Stars
3/17/2009	Tue	9pm	CW	2	Reaper
3/19/2009	Thu	10pm	NBC	1	Kings
3/24/2009	Tue	10pm	ABC		Cupid
4/1/2009	Wed	10pm	ABC	1	The Unusuals
4/9/2009	Thu	10pm	CBS	1	Harpers Island
TBA		TBA	ABC	1	Better off Ted
TBA		TBA	FOX	1	The Goode Family
TBA		TBA	NBC	1	The Listener
TBA		TBA	NBC	1	The Philanthropist
TBA		TBA	NBC	1	Zip

Well, that should give you enough TV to watch for a while.  I've done my best to make this guide as accurate and complete as possible, but let me know if you notice a show I missed or if you see anything out of place - it's very difficult to get these right as the networks tend to change things around quite a bit.
Also Let me know in the comments which shows you're most looking forward to.  To get the weekly Winter 2009 premier updates be sure and subscribe to the GeekTonic RSS feed or subscribe to the daily newsletter

Enter Email for daily Newsletter