RE: For MS - my experience building a Mediacenter PC

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Vic,

Did you ever solve your IR Blaster issue?(this is also my last problem, I
think)
I got the IR Blaster from Snapstream since all my reasearch has said that I
have to use an IR Blaster to controll my DishNetwork Satellite reciever.

Media Center works great on cable but I really prefer the picture quality of
my Sat.
when going through the TV setup in MCE it finds the svideo input fine but
fails to see the IR Blaster that is connected and installed.

what snapstream didnt tell me when I bought the IR Blaster$63 (shipping
included )was that I had to buy a 3rd party app called Girder and download
the plugin. (another $20)

there is lots of post about the subject but not much help in resolving the
issue.

I also have the Linksys Extender and also discovered you cant play DVD's. I
think that might be what the USB Ports should be used for when they enable
them that way you could at least plug an external DVD player into it. or an
External HD.

interestingly enough the Extender remote has a DVD button on it, of course
it does nothing.

I also got the Xbox Extender, and this plays DVD's as well, but then it
always did even before the extender add on. it doesnt seem to play music very
well. plays recorded programs well.

if I cant get this mess to work the way it should soon I think I am going to
sell it all and go with a Hardware Media solution like Pinnacle Media center
or Dlink

Also, Media Center will play the DivX AVI format but it wont play through
the Extenders. this isnt stated but it doesnt work. I have resorted to MPG
and WMV encoding of my video collection.

My ultimate goal is to encode my entire VHS and DVD Video collection as an
Electronic Library so that I dont have to look for Tapes or DVD's.
Yes I know, Huge Hard Drives are in order. I have even considered building a
Media Server with RAID 5 and over a TB in Capacity but I can probably get the
same amount of space using External USB2 Hard Drives. 5x 300GB 1500GB? of
course a software RAID 5 would drop it to 1300. that will be my next project
I think.

thanks
--
KC


"Vic in Oregon City" wrote:

> OK So I've finally got sound!! The problem was the HSTB which I did not
> really need because I don't have a HD TV. When they installed cable they gave
> me that one and it should have been the standard. Anyway the new one produces
> sound.
>
> Still have a problem getting the IR blaster to work so it's not changing
> channels with the remote. This is my last known problem.
>
> "Badmuts" wrote:
>
> > So i wanted to watch and record TV on my old PIII PC with 320MB RAM, 120 GB
> > HD and Geforce 2 64 MB AGP card w. TV out.
> > I got myself an MS Remote, XP MCE 2005 and Hauppauge Amity2 (=WinTV 150 PVR
> > MCE) TV card and installed it.
> >
> > The remote works at once. Nice look and feel, too, and i like the backlight,
> > though i hope it will not eat too much batteries.
> > I press the Green Button and MCE starts, albeit a bit slow. I scroll through
> > the menus looking for "My TV".
> >
> > No "My TV". Must be a problem with the card or its driver, i figure.
> > Even though half the world seems to buy a Hauppauge card for this purpose
> > (judging from the many sites and forums on the topic) and Hauppauge sells it
> > as "MCE edition", XP MCE doesn't already know the card. Strange. Well, at
> > least i could get the drivers from Hauppauge's web site. Lots of fuss about
> > missing files until i install the regular WinTV 150 drivers and their WinTV
> > 2000 app.
> > WinTV2000 gives me a perfectly fine picture, so the card works. Now, on to
> > getting things to work in Media Center.
> >
> > Still no "My TV" in Media Center, not even greyed out. Until i figure out
> > that you have to configure the TV options first before My TV becomes an
> > option. So i configure, i scan for channels and wait for what seems an
> > eternity for the program guide data to load. And then... finally: "My TV",
> > right there in the menu. I tap the remote and get.... a decoder error.
> >
> > Huh? What decoder? I check Hauppauge's site and find an MPEG2 decoder.
> > Figuring i probably need it to decode the MPEG2 stream coming from the
> > card's hardware encoder (weird concept, if you think about it, decoding
> > something that just got encoded in an earlier stage and it used to be
> > different with my old WinTV PCI from W98 days), i install it. Still a
> > decoder error. Can't figure it out, so i start googling. Just to find many,
> > many people having the same problem. Hardly any answers. But i'm a patient
> > dude and keep searching, to find i HAVE to install an MCE compatible MPEG2
> > decoder (fine, whatever) and that only third parties actually build such a
> > decoder: Nvidia has one, Cyberlink has one as part of their PowerDVD
> > program, and Intervideo has one as part of their WinDVD program. For every
> > single one of these, i have to pay!
> >
> > Well, that just sucks. I already spent money on the remote. I spent a large
> > amount for XP MCE 2005. I spent money buying an MCE2005 compatible TV card
> > because my old WinTV won't work, and now they want to make me spend even
> > more? Hell, i'm tired of spending money!
> > Why doesn't MS include this decoder with XP MCE? I guess everyone using MCE
> > needs it and wants it. I don't want to be forced to buy a third party
> > product just to get what i already have paid for working.
> >
> > Anyway, they all offer trial editions and i don't want to keep staring at
> > the screen and not getting any further, so i decide to get the Nvidia codec
> > trial version and install it. I press "My TV"... no more decoder error....
> > something in the middle of the screen starts spinning.... my heart starts
> > beating faster.... then the spinning thing gets stuck. Well, almost: it
> > keeps flashing the same segment, instead of turning circles. I get
> > intermittent sound, but no picture. Weird, because WinTV2000 worked fine.
> > Meanwhile, the PC doesn't respond to the remote control anymore, nor to the
> > keyboard or the mouse. It only responds to the hardware reset button. A
> > reboot doesn't change things either. Feels weird to an MCSE tech type dude
> > :)
> >
> > Out of boredom, i start fiddling with Mediaportal
> > (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net). It works halfway, after i figure out
> > how to config it. But that was not my goal. And even Mediaportal is somewhat
> > sluggish. Maybe the P3 PC is sub spec, even though Task Manager shows only
> > 40% CPU load in peaks....
> >
> > So there i sit, brand new hardware and software that i paid for still not
> > working. Must be the PC being sub spec, even though it works just fine with
> > WinTV2000.
> > The next day, i get a P4/1.9 that i had reserved for audio editing from my
> > hobby room. I place the hauppauge card, the remote receiver and the gforce
> > II in it and do a fresh install of XP MCE, including a new activation... do
> > the whole Nvidia decoder thing, the config thing, the program guide download
> > again, click on My TV.... just to run into the exact same problem again! Now
> > THAT SUCKS...
> >
> > I upgrade the GForce drivers to the latest. No result. I deinstall the
> > Nvidia decoder and install the trial of the latest PowerDVD by Cyberlink,
> > reboot, same problem. I deinstall it, reboot, and install WinDVD trial. Same
> > problem. I install an ATI Rage 128 Pro, but get an error message that it's
> > not supported in Media Center (even though XP runs just fine on it), so i
> > put the Gforce 2 back in.
> >
> > Can't be the computer. Can't be the codec. What can it be? Is it the Gforce
> > II? Ok, it's a bit older, but not that old, it works just fine for all my
> > other purposes and the NVidia driver supports it. XP even supports it before
> > you download the latest NVidia driver. I guess i'll have to buy a video card
> > that has been "certified"... and wonder if that will be the last thing, oh
> > yeah i still will need to buy a codec when i found one that actually works.
> > And i start wondering what it will take to get the DVD player to work, or my
> > satellite receiver... DVB-S cards don't seem to be supported and there are
> > no smart drivers to circumvent that problem available yet.
> >
> > I feel ripped off by 'the industry'. After spending a couple of 100 bucks
> > and more than 16 hours of tinkering, i give up. At least, for today. Maybe
> > i'll go buy a video card tomorrow and see if that helps. It'll be a cheap
> > one...
> >
> > I still feel this product is not finished. MS should include the codec. Or
> > Hauppauge should make it available, for free, for their cards.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Bm
> >
> >
> >
.

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