There was about a month or two where I was offline due to a various reasons: First I was in the process of moving, and then I was waiting for Comcast to perform their installation, and lastly I have been putting in a good bit of time to keep up with my work commitments.

All of that being said, I have to admit that another huge reason for my recent silence was that I bought an Xbox 360 and now have a super-sweet HD home theater system to play it on!

I finally have my home system the way I want it. Media Center system is actually in another room - I only have the XBox as a video source in here (using XBMCE). I had all of the surround speakers installed into the walls and ceiling - thats the white panels on the wall. I still need to take the grills down and paint them to match the wall color, which will make them blend in much better.

I also took the opportunity to run a 6 source / 6 zone structural audio system. Thats just a weird way to say that I can play any one of 6 audio sources (including the media center) to any one of 6 rooms in the house. Each room has it's own volume control and source selection keypad, and a pair of stereo speakers flush mounted in the ceiling, as well as a pair of outdoor speakers for the courtyard. I know it sounds excessive, but it wasnt terribly expensive to do while the house was still being framed, and it's a fantastic upgrade for resale value if we decide to move again in a few more years. Not only that, but it's super cool to have.