We were four childhood friends, students now ready to go to our first year at university. Admittedly, while academic concerns and goals were a part of our thinking, foremost in our plans was independence. Freedom and the chance to prove ourselves as responsible adults. Our first consideration was housing; we wanted our own little house, a place we could share and manage without the usual rules and restrictions of dormitory life. So we spent a good part of the summer scouring the classified advertisements for a reasonably priced house to rent, within walking, or at least biking distance, of the campus.  

Just as we were starting to feel a little desperate, my parents offered a proposal. They would buy a small house near the school, and rent it to us at a minimal rate.  They looked upon it as an investment, which they would continue to rent to future students after our graduation. It sounded almost too good to be true. (But not surprising – as I have really terrific parents!)

In late August, the four of us moved in. Housework, food preparation and budgeting were all rather easy to delineate and agree on. But problems began to fester regarding space, privacy, and sharing of the prized entertainment equipment. With limited space in our bedrooms, we decided that we would have just one TV in the living room.  We would be considerate of each other’s preferences; be magnanimous and democratic …

Well, you guessed it!  Entertainment, in all its shapes and forms, became a major bone of contention.  Even when we all agreed on a TV program, we began to suffer from too much ‘togetherness’ in the small living room.  This is when Patrick, our resident engineering guru, came up with the solution.  Following his advice, we purchased an X10 Video Sender system with integrated cable tuner. It was inexpensive – and simply incredible in meeting our needs and applications!

This device enabled us to transfer  “wirelessly” – without cables – a film from the main TV, located in the living room, to our individual PCs (with Video IN function), located in our bedrooms. We just needed to connect the video transmitter into the TV output, and the receiver into our PC. Moreover, with the Cable Tuner integrated in the Video transmitter, one of us could select and watch a cable channel on his PC, even different from the channel selected on the main TV. This system worked very well, even though there was just one cable setup box for the whole home, located in the living room.    

And it must be told that even with the ease and convenience X10 has made of our entertainment pursuits, we have all managed to keep up our grades. Our families are quite impressed with our ingenuity and ….. a-hem, maturity!