Troubleshooting Questions - Vista Media Center

[Kaido]

Just built a basic Vista Media Center box:

Intel E4500 (2.2ghz dual-core)
2gb DDR2-800
200gb 7200rpm (PATA)
DVD burner (SATA)
320mb 8800GTS
Dual Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600 SD/HD tuners

Here's my current problems:

1. Terrible streaming performance
2. Frequent freezing
3. System lockups

I'm running a basic Vista 32-bit install with the latest updates, along with current drivers for all the hardware and the K-Lite Codec Mega Pack. That's it for software. As far as Vista itself goes, everything is fine (surprisingly). My first major problem lies in streaming, which I'll preface by saying that my Xbox Media Center does without a hitch. Only Vista Media Center is having problems with streaming (multiple movie types from my SMB-shared NAS over Gigabit). Files play fine locally, but not across the network; however, they play fine streaming to XBMC. Since I have all of my previously-recorded/ripped multimedia on my NAS, this is pretty annoying.

The second problem has to do with freezing and lockups. When changing channels using the channel +/- buttons on the remote, it frequently causes small lockups. If I use the mini guide (lower-left), then it's fine. Sometimes it also causes longer lockups, which will freeze the system until I press the green 'media home' button repeatedly. This is pretty annoying. I've had a few times where it's locked up altogether and I've had to either kill Media Center or restart the computer. It's not just limited to using the TV function, either. As far as Vista goes, the system works fine; it just acts a little funny with Media Center. I'm trying to replace both my Tivo and my modded Xbox with this machine, so I'd really like to get these small yet annoying issues ironed out.

Also, is there ANY way to stream ISOs without having to mount them? I've got all my DVDs stored in ISO format on my NAS and I'd hate to have to convert them to video_ts folders, but it's looking like I'll have to.

 

[Kaido]

Okay, I got the majority of the lag problems fixed - all I needed was the official Microsoft Media Center remote:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16880100851

The Keyspan RF Remote for Vista is either junk or the particular model I got was junk because sometimes you'd have to mash down the button to get it to work and other times it'd respond by pressing the buttons 4 times. It had a better layout than the MS remote imo and it also had RF so you didn't need line of sight like IR.

The guys over at AVSforum suggested putting in a second hard drive to act as the DVR drive; by separating it from the boot/OS drive it should increase performance. I'll be trying that tomorrow to see if it speeds things up. I'm also switching out the existing 200gb PATA with 250gb and 320gb SATA drives.

The only problem that leaves is terrible streaming performance off my NAS - it's completely useless. The folks at AVSforum recommended installing SP1, so I'll download that and give it a shot. I really hope that makes it usable!