John Sciacca

Sort By: Post Date | Title | Publish Date

Spring Cleaning: Give Your System Some Spit and Polish

John Sciacca | Apr 16, 2014

A few weeks ago I got an email notification from my Kaleidescape movie server saying temperatures has exceeded safe operating range and the server would be shutting itself down if temps didn’t soon return to normal. “What the hell?!” I wondered. Nothing had changed in my rack, I hadn’t added any new gear or changed anything with the ventilation and the server was exactly where it had always been sitting and working fine for the past few years. Of course, I immediately blamed my 7 year old daughter, accusing her of all manner of destructive behavior, but when she assured me she was (in this case) innocent, I searched further.

CES 2014

Start an Instant Movie Collection with Kaleidescape

John Sciacca | Jan 08, 2014 | Published: Jan 09, 2014

Many people think that a Kaleidescape movie server system is just for people needing to manage a massive movie collection. And while it is certainly great for them, the company feels that its new Cinema One system featuring the company’s award winning interface offers many benefits for even the casual movie collector, and that once someone experiences how easy the system is to use, they will become collectors.

Now, Kaleidescape is giving you a reason to purchase

Continue

its new Limited Edition Cinema One movie server even if you don’t already own a large movie collection. In fact, the company is giving you 50 reasons, in the form of 50 preloaded titles that have been hand-selected by the company!

descape">Continue Reading >

Other Tech

Step by Step: How to Create a Video Distribution System John Sciacca | Sep 05, 2007

"Two hundred channels and nothing to watch!" How many times have you felt that way? Or maybe you've wanted to finish watching a DVD in another room but didn't have a second player. Or wished you could keep an eye on the kids outside without sitting in the sweltering heat. Or wanted to see the video display from your iPod docked in another room.

ion-system">Continue Reading >

Other Tech

Step By Step: How to Install a Music Server John Sciacca | Jul 06, 2006

Step 1: Check file compatibility While computers can accept a variety of music file types, servers have more limited compatibility. If your server isn't "friendly" with your formats, you'll either have to re-rip, download, or buy them all over again, or convert them to a compatible format, which will cause additional compression artifacts.

Reading >

Other Tech

Step By Step: How to Install an IR Repeater John Sciacca | Dec 02, 2006

Many people hide their A/V gear behind cabinet doors or put the system off in a closet somewhere. But how do you control everything when you can't point the remote at any of it? The oh-so-simple solution is to install an infrared (IR) repeating system, which carries signals from your remote to wherever your gear may live.

Reading >

Other Tech

Step By Step: How to Mount a Flat-Panel TV John Sciacca | May 05, 2006

Is getting a flat-panel set out of the box and onto the wall something you can do yourself, or do you need to hire a pro? Assuming you don't want to run any wires inside the wall, mounting a flat-panel is probably a "6" on the difficulty scale. So if you think you're up to the challenge, read on!

Other Tech

Step by Step: How to Position Your Home Theater Speakers

John Sciacca | Feb 08, 2007

Other Tech

Step By Step: How to Program a Universal Remote

John Sciacca | Jun 04, 2006

STEP 1: CHOOSE THE RIGHT REMOTE "You get what you pay for" definitely holds true with universal remotes. Cheap models offer basic features such as channel-changing and play-stop-skip controls but usually can't handle full system control.

Other Tech

Step by Step: How to Run Wire Like a Pro

John Sciacca | Apr 05, 2007

With all the press that wireless technologies like Wi-Fi have been getting, it's easy to forget that hard-wired systems make the A/V world go round. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, adding a component to your system means running at least one wire.

Other Tech

Step By Step: How to Run Wire Through a Wall

John Sciacca | Sep 01, 2006

Jeremy Levee of Houston, Texas, wrote to say that he enjoyed my "Step by Step" column on how to mount a flat-panel TV. But he realized that a TV on the wall is just artwork until you've fed it the proper cabling and asked if I might shed some light on wiring behind walls. Jeremy, your wish is my command!

Search form

John Sciacca

Pages