HTPC Software and Best Configurations

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coolVariable

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
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76
While I would love to find an alternative to the WMC7, I have had a hard time going through the XBMC POC attempts without having to dig through tons of threads on one issue or another for XBMC. If anyone who prefers the XBMC way would direct us to a posting that does a start to finish configuration for that to get it working I think it would be helpful. In similar threads like this I often find lots of detail from the WMC supporters on how to get things going ( use WMC, then get media browswer, then get hulu plugin etc) while WMC opponents usually say "just get XBMC" and leave it at that.I would like to see some more detail, especially since it does sound like it has some nice advantages if you know what youre doing ( Graphic accel on older hardware, Linux builds etc. )

I think it would help if the OP ( and those of us still looking for the most stable HTPC ) had some details of both of the leading options out there ( WMC and XBMC ) .

My recommendation would be something that plays netflix, hulu and maybe some other online streaming.
Supposedly the new apple TV and google TV STBs will do that in a $100 (or less) box. That's all you need.

For DVR (if you really need that besides netflix and hulu) just get your cable/sat co. box - at least your live and recorded TV will work with that.
 

sivart

Golden Member
Oct 20, 2000
1,786
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1) do you have a receiver for the remote?

2) You can use the mouse / keyboard to configure media center...no remote is necessary to use it.
 

midrigs

Member
Aug 20, 2010
33
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The cable quality can be a lot of things. What does the output look like ? Snowy , interference , dark ?

What remote are you using ?
A standard MCE remote should work out of the box with win7 with no configuration necessary. You should be able to point it at the pc right now and press one of the up/down arrows and have the browser screen scroll.

The picture of the cable within MC does not fit to the resolution on my HDTV or even remotely close to it, there is a black box lining the hole picture all the way around. And the picture quality looks a little snowy/interference. I didn't check ALL of my channels but I checked through like 10-15 of them and they were all similar.

The remote I got working(just screwed up in the install process) It works good, just wish I could configure the buttons a little easier(IE setting blue button to media browser, yellow to internet tv, green to live tv, red to recorded tv....)
 
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midrigs

Member
Aug 20, 2010
33
0
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My recommendation would be something that plays netflix, hulu and maybe some other online streaming.
Supposedly the new apple TV and google TV STBs will do that in a $100 (or less) box. That's all you need.

For DVR (if you really need that besides netflix and hulu) just get your cable/sat co. box - at least your live and recorded TV will work with that.

Well first my intention of building this HTPC was to save on tim/money and convienience in the long run and not paying for DVR/hooking up laptop via HTMI, and just having a 1 box shop for blu ray, Ripped Media, Hulu, Netflix, DVR, and Live TV...

MCE has add ins for Netflix/Hulu and its own internet TV option... which is very appealing.

For DVR with my cable company I would pay an extra 10-30$ a month and I am tryin to save here.

so if there is a fix for my live TV problem I am happy with MCE other than that, everything else seems to be coming along smoothly and I like the outcome of what I have seen so far and I am excited to dive into it more once I get it set up.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
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The picture of the cable within MC does not fit to the resolution on my HDTV or even remotely close to it, there is a black box lining the hole picture all the way around. And the picture quality looks a little snowy/interference. I didn't check ALL of my channels but I checked through like 10-15 of them and they were all similar.

Snow is cable related. Not much you can do on the software side. Either the tuner or the cable is at fault.

The resolution sounds like windows is not scaling the picture to the correct size. Right click the window and it should bring up the menu at the bottom and under one of those is zoom options.


The remote I got working(just screwed up in the install process) It works good, just wish I could configure the buttons a little easier(IE setting blue button to media browser, yellow to internet tv, green to live tv, red to recorded tv....)

The remote functions you can customize with the program eventghost. It takes some reading to learn how to use it but once you do there is nothing you cannot control on the pc from the remote.
http://www.eventghost.org/
 

midrigs

Member
Aug 20, 2010
33
0
0
OK, something interesting to add when it comes to the fuzzy picture I am experiencing, I went into device manager after everyting was installed.... and my TV Tuner card still has the exclamation point next to it as if it was not installed correctly... Which makes me believe that this is the cause of my fuzzy picture.
Here is my Card: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html
Here is my Cards Support page: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_hvr2250.html
When I install the drivers i tell it to show the details and it is saying on everything It tries to install - no matching hardware found(which i think has to do with hauppauge using 1 disk for all their drivers/utilities) OR Windows Operating system not compatable when in fact it says on their website windows 7 64bit compatable.
Basically I think that there is a problem somewhere along the line which is resulting in it not recieving the signal correctly. Let me know what you think...

I am using Windows7 64-bit, Q6600 Processor(should not be a problem), DG33TL Intel MB(not sure if causing any problems), and PNY NVIDIA 240 GT Video Card(which I heard can sometime use the same memory address's as TV tuner cards)
 

midrigs

Member
Aug 20, 2010
33
0
0
I think I will just try and get it working through my cables set top box....this can at least get me going for the time being... and get the rest of my media center where I want it... Then once I want to divulge into just the cable part of it, I could maybe get another set top box to enable the extra tuner(so i can record/watchtv at the same time). Also then i can actually make use of my free HD Movie channel's and ON-DEMAND movies.

I want to work on the other parts of the media center(plug-in's, Remote control, Music organization, commercial skipping, and other plug-in's that I have yet to discover) and then once I get EVERYTHING where I want it fine tune the little things that bother me i.e. not being able to record/watch at same time.