MCE 2005

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: singh

Originally posted by: werk
Also, if you want to wait, Philips is coming out with a new MCE remote that looks really cool. It has a small LCD on it that will display your music, video, etc titles for easy selection.

That sounds pretty neat... any details/time frame for this remote?

Press Release. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything since this...and all they have are mockup pics.

I've since upgraded to a Logitech Harmony 680 remote...it's great and also added to the GFAF (Girlfriend Acceptance Factor ) of the MCE box.

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
pics of the box?

Coming shortly...

 

[loup garou]

Updated OP with pics.

 

[ND40oz]

Just saw this thread. You do have to activate MCE2005 with the MSDN subscription.

 

[dheffer]

I didn't activate w/ MSDN, just a key.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: gordita
...I only want to use the mce2005 for mp3's and jpeg's.
none of the tv stuff.

Strange, then why pay for MCE05 at all then? There's certainly freeware alternatives that would do those things perfectly well.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: sparkyclarky

Originally posted by: Linflas
I bought a Hauppauge WinTV PVR500 this weekend and installed it in an old machine I have with an XP 2000+ processor, SB Live soundcard, and a GForce 3 TI-500 running XP Pro. Do you think I could I install Windows Media Center 2005 on this box?

No DX9 video card = no go on WMCE05

The Media Center GUI will work fine on a non-DX9 card. I use it on a GF4 Ti4600. It doesn't use VRM9 rendering, but it works, and the IQ is excellent, despite s-video to an SDTV.

I am having some odd audio/video problems and I don't know if they're related to using a non-dx9 card, but I want to step up to a 6600GT in my main rig, and put my 9700Pro into my HTPC.

 

[dheffer]

Give it a shot, it probably has something to do with your video card... I know I've seen other people with "strange problems" related to their video cards / drivers

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: sparkyclarky

Originally posted by: Linflas
I bought a Hauppauge WinTV PVR500 this weekend and installed it in an old machine I have with an XP 2000+ processor, SB Live soundcard, and a GForce 3 TI-500 running XP Pro. Do you think I could I install Windows Media Center 2005 on this box?

No DX9 video card = no go on WMCE05

The Media Center GUI will work fine on a non-DX9 card. I use it on a GF4 Ti4600. It doesn't use VRM9 rendering, but it works, and the IQ is excellent, despite s-video to an SDTV.

I am having some odd audio/video problems and I don't know if they're related to using a non-dx9 card, but I want to step up to a 6600GT in my main rig, and put my 9700Pro into my HTPC.

Hmmm, that's interesting to hear. Microsoft only has DX9 cards listed on their hardware compatibility database, but if DX8 is working for you, that's great news for those of us with older hardware (my soltek SFF has built in NF2 (DX7) level gfx that hold promise then).

 

[Raduque]

SparkyClarky, your NF2/DX7-level onboard is what, GF4MX equivilent(sp)? If so, it'll work,but the menus and GUI of MCE itself might be sluggish, but video playback should be fine. I tried it myself with a GF4MX440 vidcard, and the menus were sluggish to respond and draw. Good luck!

Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T run the 71.8x drivers! I learned the hard way they aren't happy with MCE05, I run 66.9x drivers, I think.

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: Raduque
SparkyClarky, your NF2/DX7-level onboard is what, GF4MX equivilent(sp)? If so, it'll work,but the menus and GUI of MCE itself might be sluggish, but video playback should be fine. I tried it myself with a GF4MX440 vidcard, and the menus were sluggish to respond and draw. Good luck!

Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T run the 71.8x drivers! I learned the hard way they aren't happy with MCE05, I run 66.9x drivers, I think.

Thanks for the info. It's useful in case I would ever decide to try out MCE. As it stands I use a very functional and stable Sage TV install for my HTPC needs.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: sparkyclarky

Originally posted by: Raduque
SparkyClarky, your NF2/DX7-level onboard is what, GF4MX equivilent(sp)? If so, it'll work,but the menus and GUI of MCE itself might be sluggish, but video playback should be fine. I tried it myself with a GF4MX440 vidcard, and the menus were sluggish to respond and draw. Good luck!

Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T run the 71.8x drivers! I learned the hard way they aren't happy with MCE05, I run 66.9x drivers, I think.

Thanks for the info. It's useful in case I would ever decide to try out MCE. As it stands I use a very functional and stable Sage TV install for my HTPC needs.

No problem, happy to help.

Hey, if you've got a functional setup, I don't think I would reccomend switching to something else. MCE takes a bit to setup and run correctly, and I haven't even delved into the TV parts yet (no PVR card yet).

MCE was my first entry into the whole HTPC scene.. I saw it at a friends house and fell in love with it. I don't think I could switch front ends, especially as I've already purchased a license to MCE05

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: sparkyclarky

Originally posted by: Raduque
SparkyClarky, your NF2/DX7-level onboard is what, GF4MX equivilent(sp)? If so, it'll work,but the menus and GUI of MCE itself might be sluggish, but video playback should be fine. I tried it myself with a GF4MX440 vidcard, and the menus were sluggish to respond and draw. Good luck!

Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T run the 71.8x drivers! I learned the hard way they aren't happy with MCE05, I run 66.9x drivers, I think.

Thanks for the info. It's useful in case I would ever decide to try out MCE. As it stands I use a very functional and stable Sage TV install for my HTPC needs.

No problem, happy to help.

Hey, if you've got a functional setup, I don't think I would reccomend switching to something else. MCE takes a bit to setup and run correctly, and I haven't even delved into the TV parts yet (no PVR card yet).

MCE was my first entry into the whole HTPC scene.. I saw it at a friends house and fell in love with it. I don't think I could switch front ends, especially as I've already purchased a license to MCE05

Oh, it definitely has a nice front end. My folks have an HP MCE box, and it is well done (plus the integration with the media center extender is swank). Sage works fine for my needs generally, so I'm not going to be changing it anytime soon.

 

[Linflas]

Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Linflas
Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

It has everything Pro does except for official support of joining a domain (which you can work around, but will lose extender functionality).

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Linflas
Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

It has everything Pro does except for official support of joining a domain (which you can work around, but will lose extender functionality).

No Domain is fine but I don't want to lose access to the Users and Groups snapins etc. After reading all this I am real tempted to stick this on my A7N8X NForce2 box as it has a WinTV PVR 350 and a Radeon 9700 Pro in it already. I would move the 350 to another machine and stick the 500 MCE card in that machine. Do you have any idea if there is any support for DirecTV in MCE anywhere? With my current setup I can make the satellite box change channels through the serial port and Snapstream has support for that as well.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Linflas
Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

It has everything Pro does except for official support of joining a domain (which you can work around, but will lose extender functionality).

No Domain is fine but I don't want to lose access to the Users and Groups snapins etc. After reading all this I am real tempted to stick this on my A7N8X NForce2 box as it has a WinTV PVR 350 and a Radeon 9700 Pro in it already. I would move the 350 to another machine and stick the 500 MCE card in that machine. Do you have any idea if there is any support for DirecTV in MCE anywhere? With my current setup I can make the satellite box change channels through the serial port and Snapstream has support for that as well.

Just IR blasters for control AFAIK. There may be a hack for serial control in thegreenbutton forums, let me check. Actually, someone wrote up a hack to change digirtal cable channels over firewire the other day, I thought that was really cool.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Linflas
Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

It has everything Pro does except for official support of joining a domain (which you can work around, but will lose extender functionality).

No Domain is fine but I don't want to lose access to the Users and Groups snapins etc. After reading all this I am real tempted to stick this on my A7N8X NForce2 box as it has a WinTV PVR 350 and a Radeon 9700 Pro in it already. I would move the 350 to another machine and stick the 500 MCE card in that machine. Do you have any idea if there is any support for DirecTV in MCE anywhere? With my current setup I can make the satellite box change channels through the serial port and Snapstream has support for that as well.

Serial control instructions and plugin.

BTW, if you've thought of a question or idea, it's probably been asked or answered at TGB forums.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Linflas
Maybe a dumb question but is the MCE 2005 based on XP Pro or XP Home? I son't want to lose all the features that MS disabled in the Home version of the OS.

It has everything Pro does except for official support of joining a domain (which you can work around, but will lose extender functionality).

No Domain is fine but I don't want to lose access to the Users and Groups snapins etc. After reading all this I am real tempted to stick this on my A7N8X NForce2 box as it has a WinTV PVR 350 and a Radeon 9700 Pro in it already. I would move the 350 to another machine and stick the 500 MCE card in that machine. Do you have any idea if there is any support for DirecTV in MCE anywhere? With my current setup I can make the satellite box change channels through the serial port and Snapstream has support for that as well.

Serial control instructions and plugin.

BTW, if you've thought of a question or idea, it's probably been asked or answered at TGB forums.

Cool that first link is a program I currently use with my current WinTV 350 setup when I am watching TV with it. I guess it is time to head over to Newegg, thanks for all the info. :beer:

 

[Linflas]

Ok so I now have a preliminary version up and running and I have to say this is actually quite nice. My current configuration is:

KR7A-RAID MB with an Athlon XP 2000+
1GB RAM
Hauppauge WinTV PVR 500 MCE
Radeon 9700 Pro
SB Live 5.1 sound card
OEM MS IR controller

My only complaint so far is that I cannot hook up my Satellite to 1 input and cable to the other input. The system wants them both to be the same signal. Now all I need to figure out is what case to stick all this on so it can go into my family room with the TV.

 

[gbrux]

I've been running my WMCE 2005 box since last December.

I posted a thread here on how to install the ATI HDTV Wonder in a WMCE 2005. A lot of folks have been complaining about how dificult it is to install the HDTV Wonder.

ATI HDTV Wonder Step By Step Install WMCE

There are some other tips within that thread, also.

I'm going to edit that thread tomorrow to report on how to install two HDTV tuners in WMCE.

Right now, I have the ATI HDTV Wonder and the Avermedia AverTVHD MCE A180 tuners working. I can record two HD programs simultaneously, or record one and watch live a different HD program.

In addition, I still have the standard definition TV tuner running.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Linflas
Ok so I now have a preliminary version up and running and I have to say this is actually quite nice. My current configuration is:

KR7A-RAID MB with an Athlon XP 2000+
1GB RAM
Hauppauge WinTV PVR 500 MCE
Radeon 9700 Pro
SB Live 5.1 sound card
OEM MS IR controller

My only complaint so far is that I cannot hook up my Satellite to 1 input and cable to the other input. The system wants them both to be the same signal. Now all I need to figure out is what case to stick all this on so it can go into my family room with the TV.

Yeah, it's annoying that you can't use 2 different sources for your SD tuners. I think there were some hacks over on TGB, poke around a bit. I don't know of any good atx cases, I'm strictly SFF now.

 

[gbrux]

You can put a regular ATX form factor motherboard in quite a number of model and brand cases. Check out models from Ahanix.

Go to Newegg and do an advanced Cases search for "ATX desktop". Avoid the cheaper boxes that the search will come up with.

Essentially, the Cases for ATX motherboards are about the same size as a mid-tower case, except that the tower case is on its side with appropriate modifications for slots and such.

The smaller cases are almost exclusively for microATX motherboards.

These special cases are specifically designed for media center type uses. And, they look quited nice next to other home electronics AV equipment.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: gbrux
There are some other tips within that thread, also.

I'm going to edit that thread tomorrow to report on how to install two HDTV tuners in WMCE.

Right now, I have the ATI HDTV Wonder and the Avermedia AverTVHD MCE A180 tuners working. I can record two HD programs simultaneously, or record one and watch live a different HD program.

In addition, I still have the standard definition TV tuner running.

RE: HDTV Wonder & setup in MCE2005:

Download the latest driver; explode it. Put it somewhere. When XP MCE2005's hardware detection comes up, point it to where you exploded the drivers.

Worked for me...

I don't use any ATI software for other stuff - just the MCE2005 GUI and such. HDTV tuning is pretty bad (I get 3 channels, perhaps) but I wanted to try it before the July 1, 2005 restrictions go into place.

 

[batmang]

this makes me want to get an xbox, just for media purposes.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: batmang
this makes me want to get an xbox, just for media purposes.

Wait for 360, Billy boy was recently touting its MediaCenter-like interface. I'm seriously interested in what it'll bring to the table as more than just a game console.

Scant info