I reminded Viv that the Grammys were on in an ill advised fit of Valentine’s Day spirit.

Viv tells me she gwine download the roses. I became concerned that they might digitally vanish, so I have documented them.

The ancient 1st gen Mini has just been reallocated to media center duty, once again, this time in the basement, where it will drive an even-more ancient video projector, one I dumpstered many years ago.

XBMC finally arrived for PPC systems sometime in the past couple of years. While it is far from as polished a product as Boxee, it was able to browse to and add nearly all my LAN media sources. The exception being the recently-added eyetv, which sends and shares happily to the iPads but not via UPnP/DNLA.

It looks as though I need to pop for a bigger screen than the 64″ model we scored at a salvage place for five bucks, as well as a ceiling mount for the projector. I am still mulling options for audio. The Mini will never be able to install Lion, with its broad support of AirPlay options, but might be able to support an Airfoil-based audio redirect. The question, then, is “Can Airfoil support multi-channel surround?”

AirPlay appears to and Airfoil claims to support all AirPlay enabled devices, so one would think the answer is yes. I need to test this somehow.

Further equipment gathering is needed as well; I have a pre HDMI 5.1 receiver currently in use only as a stereo output device, and I do not have an additional set of surround speakers. Therefore an additional stereo-only receiver and some set of speakers is suggested. Out if curiosity I looked for wireless surround systems but that appears to remain a pipe dream.

Given the recycled nature of this project, I think Craigslist would be the place to go for the speakers and receiver.

UPDATE: scored a nice compact 5-way Samsung set. No sub, but I’m sure that will, er, surface in time.

In rooting through my antiquarian cables and such, I realized that with the exception of books, I have more tools and electrical stuff (extension cords, what not) than my family did when I was a kid.