We have TIVO setup in the living room and would like to watch it in the bedroom. The wireless devices do not work that well. Too much interference at times. I heard of RF modulators? Could I modulate it on another channel? What is the cost of doing that? What hardware would I need?
Thanks Mike
Hey, Mike --
In one of our houses, we have a Tivo located in a central location, feeding the other TVs. That particular house is not hooked to cable (we have satellite), so we just use the Channel 3 output out of the back of the Tivo. However, a modulator is exactly the right thing for what you want. There are a number available -- just be sure to pick one that modulates to a channel you have free in your cable lineup.
E. Lee Dickinson Entertainmend Design and Technology
"E. Lee Dickinson" wrote in
How's your TV lift coming? I was watching "The New Yankee Workshop" and Norm was building an adjustable height roller feed unit that used a big threaded rod and an interesting set of rollers and guides that gave me some ideas for building a lift of my own. Actually, there are quite a lot of things I'd like to arrange on lifts for my mom and dad who both have trouble bending down to reach things. I'd like to put the dog's water and food on a lift so that mom can raise it up to load it and lower it back down so the dog can reach it. Did you find plans on the 'net or did you start from scratch?
-- Bobby G.
IF you should decide to use a ready-made solution, I can order Auton for you. I don't advertise them on my website. If you want one let me know and I'll pass it along at cost.
I appreciate the offer but I know the cost! That's *why* I want to build my own!!!! My needs aren't necessarily for lifting heavy TV's (perhaps Auton will drop their prices when big CRT TV's become history) but for helping my arthritic parents access things like the dog dishes that are becoming harder and harder for them to do. I think in this case, I can use a pantograph lift system because there's not much weight to a bowl of kibble but for others, I'll probably need a lift screw.
What I'd really like is some system where all the low cabinets had some way of presenting their contents at waist height. Ever see those filing cabinet systems that operate on a carousel? That's sort of the idea.
I've bought all sorts of pickup wands and graspers, but the ideal solution would be a shelf that slides forward and then up in each cabinet. I know it's not immensely practical, but I can't think of any other way to restore access to the whole world of low shelves and cabinets. My folks are determined to stay out of a retirement/nursing home as long as they can so I'm looking for creative ways to make that happen.
-- Bobby G.
Easiest way? Run a coax cable from the Tivo and watch it on channel 3. You may need to add an RF amp, they're cheap from Radio Shack.
Then get an RF remote, Radio Shack used to make them (the 8-in-1). Don't know who's making the best solution today though.
We have this setup and it works great.
-Bill Kearney
The best remote solution is the RF extender which fits inside your existing TiVo remote control.
Hey, Bobby --
I just threw some pics up on my website of my two projects I'm curently working on. Both are "finished," with the exceptions below.
The first is a flush-mounted PC in my kitchen cabinet. 8" Lilliput touchscreen. The computer itself is in the back corner of one of my base cabinets, where it has connection to FM antenna, cable, and ethernet. Machine is running Windows Media Center Edition, which -- through virute of it's "10' interface", makes for a GREAT touchscreen interface. Pull up recipes. Watch TV. Listen to MP3s! All the things one wants to be able to do in the kitchen. Add to that some plugins for pretty weather, movie listings, etc, and it's very, very slick.
The second is the one you asked about, my projector lift. It worked beautifully for a month, before the motor burnt out. Pics of that online too. This was a very, very DIY project. It moutned up in my bedroom ceiling, where I used an X10 appliance module to raise and lower both the home-built lift and the store-bought roll down screen.
As I said, the motor burnt up. Also, I occasionally had to reach up and adjust the projector after it "landed." I'm going to re-build the thing with drawer slides as guides, and an off-the-shelf linear actuator. I believe you mentioned these same two items when you were talking about your dog bowl lift. :)
When building mechanical things, I reference Gordon McComb's "Robot Builder's Bonanza" and Edwin Wise's "Animatronics: A guide to animated holiday displays."
The lift, as I said, worked well for a while. Getting the limit switches adjusted was tough. The real problem I had was, when I cut into my ceiling, discovering my ceiling joists are not straight or parallel. I built the projector lift as a 14.5" square. Had to use my Stanley 18oz Fine Adjustment Tool and repatch some drywall. Measure twice, etc.....
The new version will be put off to this summer, when business is rolling along a little better. But I'll post some more pics then.
Understood. I offered the stuff at cost because it's for assisting elderly. My folks are fortunate to be in relatively good health for 85 years old but my mom is starting to have trouble reaching things in high cabinets. She has a condition that weakens the bones -- not osteoporosis. My father doesn't have good balance so he's afraid to use a ladder. He recently started using a cane after taking a nasty spill out on the lanai last year. I've been contemplating options to make things easier for them too but haven't come up with any viable solutions.
One thing that comes to mind is those systems that restaurants use to store dishes. They're spring loaded (I think) so that as each plate is removed the next one rises to the surface. Perhaps some variation on the method might work.
For dog food there's one other option. Suppose rigged you a small, Lexan chute over the dog's bowl. The top would be at counter height and the bottom several inches above the bowl. Pour contents into the chute and they drop straight into the bowl. If you make it just right there won't be any spillage. You might have to fasten the bowl in place. Not knowing how the location is arranged, it's hard to tell exactly what would work.
I'm facing the same issue only with high cabinets. My mother can reach the low ones fine but the upper shelves in the kitchen pantry cabinets are 8' off the floor. She can't reach them without a step stool and I worry she'll fall off the thing.
Same here. They'll eventually hire a live-in to help them but for now they really enjoy their independence. We're considering bringing one of our home staff back from Brazil while we're there. She can care for my folks while we're around but they need a full time solution.
Concerns over my parents make me feel a bit more tolerant of people like DH who can't get around as easily as the rest of us. :^)
So is that screen to work with?
I meant to ask, how is that screen to work with? How well does the touchscreen function? How's the overall construction?
First, the URL!
I'll HTML up some prettier pages with descriptions, but you all can at least check out the pics.
I'm very pleased with it. It has both an 8 point and a 32 point calibration. The 8 was fine, but I went ahead and did the 32 point anyway. Getting the software installed was a bit tough -- had to dig around on the included CD to find the right drivers. But the driver includes the following great features:
The display looks fine at 1024x768, though be sure to turn on "large fonts" and bump the default font sizes in web browsers and things up a few points. The color and contrast are a little muted, because of the layer of touch membrane. One issue is that the viewing angle when looking down at the screen from above rolls off quite quickly. I wish I had mounted my screen a few inches higher in my cabinet door. Viewing angle from the sides and below are both good.
As for construction, I've found it nicely built. I did crack my first screen when I knocked it off the workbench as I was cutting the hole in my kitchen cabinet. Only the touch membrane broke, and I was able to find the replacement for that online. When I opened the device up, I found all the components were connected through ribbon and header, so it was a snap to repair. The housing is solid, though the included stand stripped out the first time I tried to adjust it. I didn't need it in my install, though.
If anyone wants to copy me, I recomend tracing the unit onto whatever you're mounting it in, then cut inside the line. I then used a sanding block to tweak the fit down to perfection. I beveled the cut slightly toward the inside of the cabinet, so that I could press-fit the screen from behind. I'm considering a bead of black RTV from behind, but so far this has not been necessary.
On screen display is great -- color, contrast, etc. Even has both composite and VGA inputs. The cables are 6' long, which I had to extend in my installation.
Any other questions? :)
:Lee
E. Lee Dickinson Entertainment Design and Technology
Looks nice, how about some pix of inside the cabinet?
Good tip. Trouble is I'm 6'4" and the wife's 5'8". How large is the viewing angle window vertically? I wonder if anyone's made a mount that had some tilt?
Heh, good to know it was easy enough to fix.
Thanks,
-Bill Kearney
I've uploaded a few more:
no. 4 is closer up, watching TV.
no. 5 shows inside the screen cabinet. Note all the spare connectors on the screen for audio, composite video, etc. I'm thinking of cutting those off, though I'm hesitant to destroy the breakout cable. If I were doing this in a pro install, I'd build a wooden conduit box to match the cabinetry. Because of stud locations, I had to dogleg mine over to the right, as you can see.
no. 6 and 7 are the lower cabinets, one with the PC and one with most of the cabling. 6 is a corner cabinet. Took me a while to find a PC case that fit perfectly. My first microATX machine! 7 shows the cables coming in through the adjascent drawer unit.
My system uses CompUSA's cheapest powered speakers. I'm finding I use it an aweful lot for listening to music during dinner, so I'll probably upgrade the speakers in short order.
Speakers and IR reciever (visible in no.2) are simply hot glued to the underside of the cabinet. :)
The viewing angle seems to be better from below than above. I'd recomend mounting the screen 2/3 of the way up between your eye level and your wife's, as long as that doesn't make her feel like she has to reach.
A flush-mount flange with a swivel would be cool. :)
In the pro_lift2 image it appears as though the mounting plate is torqued a bit. Assuming it's not just a distortion in the image, that can happen if the weight of the projector is unevenly distributed. The simple solution is to add a coup-le of small weights to balance the load. We did that when installing a projector for a church one time because the plate wouldn't sit flush with the ceiling tiles when retracted.
You might want to have a look at Proficient Audio speakers. They're surprisingly good for architectural speakers. I used their C800 model in the covered lanai on my previous house and they sounded great.
What're you using, card-wise, to handle the TV watching?
Can you get another one from the vendor? Hack up a spare.
I'd have gone into the cabinet and then right in through the bottom of the shelf. Then run the cabling back to the wall. that way as little as possible is inside the working storage area.
Since it's only 1024x768 I'd put the PC somewhere else. The kitchen never has enough space, and isn't exactly a PC-friendly location anyway. I've run good quality VGA cables upwards of 40 feet. USB as much as 30' but I'd probably situation a hub somewhere along the length if anything more was needed (or an 'extender' cable).
I've already got in-ceiling speakers.
Nicely done overall! Thanks for posting the pix.
-Bill Kearney
Hey Lee,
Will that work on a Directivo? What I have is a Directivo in the living room and a Satellite Receiver in the Bedroom. I guess I would need a AB switch in the bedroom to switch between the satellite receiver and the 2nd coax I would run from the Tivo in the living room to the bedroom.
Thanks MIke
Jack
Will this work with directivo? I also have a seperate satellite receiver in the bedroom so I guess I would need a AB switch since i would have to switch between two feeds.
Thanks Mike
Up until last week we had just that setup. The bedroom had a regular receiver, connected to the TV via composite. The Tivo was connected via coax on RF channel 3. Flipping between them was as simple as the "Input" button on the remote. If you don't have video into the TV then, yeah, you'd need some sort of switchbox. Or you'd need an RF modulator that put the Tivo signal onto some other unused RF channel.
As for coax, you can use a diplexer to put the regular satellite signal AND the RF signal onto the same wire. That way you only need one into the room. You use a diplexer on both sides, one to put the TV and the satellite signal together at the source and the other at the TV to pull 'em back apart. We actually still use that now that we replaced the receiver with a DirecTivo HDVR2. I had to pull a 2nd cable for the 2nd sat tuner.
-Bill Kearney
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