Geoffrey Morrison Blog

In the middle of October, we suffered a bit of a catastrophe here at the Studio. Apparently someone from the building behind ours left their sprinklers on all weekend (or maybe more). The ground got saturated, and with no where else to go, it seeped through the foundation (or something) and flooded the back of our Studio. Conveniently, this is where my office/our test lab, our listening room, and our storage room all are. If any of you have experienced flooding, you know that water is an evil, evil thing. It gets everywhere, and brings with it everyone's favorite fungi: mold.

I’ve heard it from two sources now, and apparently the “never to be seen again” original versions of the Star Wars Trilogy, will be coming out on DVD. Looks they may be out as soon as September. How cool is that? Finally, the real versions of these classic movies. Too bad George ruined them forever with the crap he’s put out since. Bring on Yub Nub!

One other thing that I want to talk about in this space is HD TV shows. While I won't force anyone to watch some of the movies I watch, I do however know good TV. One of the most distressing aspects of television watching is falling in love with a show, only to have it cancelled by an incompetent network (Firefly) or lack of viewers (tons of shows). So occasionally I'm going to put up a few shows that you should check out, if you haven't already. With few exceptions, they'll be HD, or at least widescreen. Trust me, if I'm watching them, they're worth watching.

HES2006 is over, but here are a bunch of shots from the show. I met a bunch of great people, and despite the labor Contributor John Higgins and I put into the show (with the HTGamer Gaming Pavilion), I can’t wait for next year. Check out the shots in our Galleries.

I like to think of myself as a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I'd like to think of myself this way, but, in reality, this is not the case. I don't change my own oil (you want me to go under where?), I'm on a first-name basis with my mechanic (honestly, what Ford owner isn't?), and I call my landlord when the kitchen sink leaks (hey, that's why I pay rent). The two things I do myself are haircuts (thank you, King C. Gillette) and computers (sorry, no funny joke). I've been fascinated with computers since my parents bought me an Apple IIc in the mid-1980s. Since then, I've been modifying and building my own. A few months ago, some part of my brain came up with the idea to build a home theater PC from scratch—and make it silent. Keep in mind that this was the same part of my brain that thought it would be a tremendous idea to build a 13-foot-long subwoofer. Thanks to the deluge of e-mails I received after that piece (one—thanks, Mom) and the difficulty in finding a company that makes an HTPC (last count at CES, there were only 13,002 or so), I figured I'd design and build Home Theater's HTPC, the ugliest and quietest ever.

Part IV: Impressing the neighbors.

Well, all the parts are in, and it's time to build the beast. If you missed it, check out last month's GearWorks for all the doodahs and pieces for this all-new HTPC. If you're using this as a guide on how to build your own HTPC, let me give a few tips to start.