W7 64 bit as HTPC

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Wed, 11/02/2011 - 7:56am

rocks911

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Joined: 2 Nov 2011

W7 64 bit as HTPC

Howdy all, new to the forum and new to HTPC. I migrated over from hardforum.com, lots of help there, but as I believe in total immersion when learning I thought I'd pick ya'lls brains also.

Initially I became interested in HTPC because I wanted to get out of the disk business. I have a lot of content on HDD and just purchased a new W7 64 bit machine so I thought, well this should be a snap. Not so much.

I know a few things. My new machine is quite capable in every department, processor, RAM, and storage. W7 64 bit doesnt seem to get along with very many programs/apps. I love XBMC and would like to use it. I need an RF remote that works and plays well in this environment.

I ordered a Snapstream Firefly remote. That was a mistake, it's not really supported by the manufacturer. It arrived with severely corroded batteries and an installation CD with a date of 2006. I cant even get it to load on my new machine. Probably have to eat that.

I'm learning the nomenclature as I go and that may well be the hardest part. I'm no network guy, I'm a friggin fireman who loves tech, so I stay pretty frustrated.

I have a 2 story house with a mancave upstairs. The cave is where the PC is and an A/V center with an Emotiva pre/pro, a Sunfire amp and 5.1 speakers. I also have a 58" Panny plasma. Downstairs in the family room I have an LCD. The PC has HDMI out of the video card and thats what I want to share with the TV's runnign XBMC. I also have 2 PS3's and a WD TV.

Verizon Fios provides my cable and internet connection and it has plenty of bandwidth.

How do I get all this to work? Nothing seems to like the W7 64 bit OS, the remote I got is dead in the water, the PS3's doesnt play many file types (which got me on this road and also got me interested in the WD TV which plays just about everything) I dont care for the Windows Media Center or the Windows Media Player as they are not flexible enough.

Didnt mean to ramble though it seems I have. Anybody have W7 64 bit working as their HTPC and whats an RF remote that will work for me, I suppose are my immediate questions.

Wed, 11/02/2011 - 8:53am

George Schmauch

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Joined: 21 Dec 2006

I run SageTV in a server/client setup. My client PC is running Windows 7 64-bit and it works great. I use a USB-UIRT and a Harmony 890 remote without any issues. Besides the remote, what hasn't worked with the 64-bit OS?

Also, I did a quick search for 64 bit drivers for the Firefly remote and found this. Not sure if you tried that.

Server: WHS, SuperMicro dual Xeon X7DWE, 1 x Xeon L5410, Thermalright HR-01, 4GB Crucial ECC, 8 port PCI-X SATA, 4 port RocketRAID 2300, 5x1 PortMultiplier, Corsair HX1000W PSU, Lian-Li PC343B case [blog]
Storage: 2 x Addonics 5-in-3 bays, 13TB
Client: SageTV 7, Windows 7 64-bit, Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H, Core2Duo E6600, Zalman CNPS7500, 2GB Corsair, 320GB, HIS ATI 4650, Antec Fusion [blog]
Tuners: 2 x HD-PVR (serial control), 2 x HDHR, USB-UIRT

Wed, 11/02/2011 - 11:09am

(Reply to #2) #3

rocks911

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Joined: 2 Nov 2011

Thanks. For whatever reason, maybe fatigue and vodka I tried that link last night and it wouldnt work for me. Today I've got it up and running. Now for the tweaking. The XBMC-Firefly-Eventghost configuration has me flummoxed.

Here is a thread at XBMC

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=41889

and at Eventghost

http://www.eventghost.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2933

That details how to configure my Firefly to work with Eventghost to control XBMC but it's a tad over my head. I'll pray I can find another kind soul to point the way for me. If it werent for the kindnesses of people like you I would still be scribbling on a Big Chief tablet with a Big Chief pencil.

Wed, 11/02/2011 - 12:39pm

Aaron Ledger

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Joined: 6 Aug 2010

x64 Windows shouldn't really present you any issues in general. I'm not well-versed in the FireFly remote. Do any drivers exist that work in x64 Windows 7?

Edit: NM, I see you are past that point. You may need to make a query with the EventGhost author or in that thread if the info is not clear.

Senior Editor | @swoon_

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:34am

(Reply to #4) #5

SJMaye

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Joined: 10 Sep 2010

Win 7 x64 has been pretty solid for me

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 9:20am

Josh Shenkle

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Joined: 25 Jul 2007

rocks911 wrote:

That is one issue you have right there. The snapstream remote is and was only made for beyond TV. So out of the box it will only work with the Beyond TV application. What you want to do is find a remote that will work out of the box for whatever "front end gui" you are using, in your case it appears XBMC.

here's a good list of reviews for remotes for XBMC: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Remote_Control_Reviews

Quote:

Next question is are you trying to share the video out from this one PC to both TV's?

If you are, and you are hell bent on using XBMC maybe check out http://www.xbmc4ps3.org/ this will get the XBMC interface running on the PS3's.

Quote:

How do I get all this to work?

Maybe some more details on exactly what you are trying to do here.

Quote:

Nothing seems to like the W7 64 bit OS, the remote I got is dead in the water, the PS3's doesnt play many file types (which got me on this road and also got me interested in the WD TV which plays just about everything) I dont care for the Windows Media Center or the Windows Media Player as they are not flexible enough.

Blasphemy.... how can you NOT like Media Center its arguably the best all around, easy to setup, user friendly, high on the WAF scale, setup out there and guest what, you buy a Windows Media Center Remote, plug it in, and it just works, no tweaks or tricks or setup needed, it works out of the box.

So really the issue you have is that you purchased a remote that doesn't work out of the box for XBMC in the first place. You should never have to run things like Event Ghost (which is an in-between app) to get commands to work for what you need. Too much of a hassle and not needed at all.

-Josh

Senior Editor | Twitter: @UMDivX |

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:47pm

(Reply to #6) #7

George Schmauch

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Joined: 21 Dec 2006

umdivx wrote:

Blasphemy.... how can you NOT like Media Center

Simple... he has good taste. He CLEARLY would have chosen SageTV if it were still available.

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 12:54pm

(Reply to #7) #8

Josh Shenkle

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Joined: 25 Jul 2007

skirge01 wrote:

umdivx wrote:

Blasphemy.... how can you NOT like Media Center

Simple... he has good taste. He CLEARLY would have chosen SageTV if it were still available.

you can take that java based crayon drawn UI and keep it.

-Josh

Senior Editor | Twitter: @UMDivX |

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:03am

(Reply to #8) #9

rocks911

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Joined: 2 Nov 2011

Thanks for the replies, please dont go to fussing on my account. I was a little quick to post my frustrations, so for that In apologize. I think exhaustion and vodka had me just a tad edgy.

I like XBMC because to me it is quite elegant and provides a good user experience particularly for my wife (and it's all important to get her buy-in) because there is tremendous support for the app and it's not geared towards selling you something. I've just grown tired of Microsoft and Apple developing apps that loop you around to a store with every mouse click. I know thats what corporations do but I dont have to like it.

I've got the remote working now and while it's a work in progress I feel like it's not as restrictive as some remotes could have been.

Thanks for the links to the PS3 workarounds. Theres another manufacturer whos products are awfully restrictive, PS3 dont like Microsoft, Microsoft dont like Apple, Apple dont like anybody and I'm tired of the restraints they put on technology.

Thanks again for the replies, I'll post later how it all went.

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:30am

(Reply to #9) #10

George Schmauch

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Joined: 21 Dec 2006

rocks911 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, please dont go to fussing on my account. I was a little quick to post my frustrations, so for that In apologize. I think exhaustion and vodka had me just a tad edgy.

Not at all. Josh and I are both staff members here on Missing Remote and were having a little fun with innocent jabs. Absolutely no ill will was there whatsoever. We're a very easy going bunch and I think you'll find that we have just about the friendliest forums around.

I'm also a fan of XBMC and have messed with it on a number of occasions, including integrating my SageTV recordings in it. The elegance of XBMC is the draw, but the learning curve can be quite steep. While I may have felt similarly with SageTV when I first installed it, I found it much easier to get up and running initially.

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 8:49am

(Reply to #9) #11

Josh Shenkle

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Joined: 25 Jul 2007

rocks911 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, please dont go to fussing on my account. I was a little quick to post my frustrations, so for that In apologize. I think exhaustion and vodka had me just a tad edgy.

As George said it's all in good fun here.

Quote:

Not sure what you mean about Microsoft trying to "sell" you something, that is the farthest from it when it comes to Media Center, it is soooooo far disconnected from anything else that MS does.

Quote:

What restraints are you talking about? Seems like mindless ranting really.

Senior Editor | Twitter: @UMDivX |

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 7:07pm

(Reply to #11) #12

rocks911

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Joined: 2 Nov 2011

I apologize for ranting.

other than that, nevermind. You can erase my post

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 12:59am

(Reply to #6) #13

jennyfur

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Joined: 5 Oct 2006

umdivx wrote:

The snapstream remote is and was only made for beyond TV. So out of the box it will only work with the Beyond TV application.

That's slightly misleading. The Firefly remote works out of the box with many 3rd party applications (http://www.snapstream.com/Products/firefly/supportedapps.asp). And that includes Media Center, which I've used it for periodically since Win7 came out (and I've had 64bit the entire time). I moved a year ago though and now only use 7MC exclusively through my extender so I don't have the Firefly installed anymore, but it did work just fine when I did. No special configuration needed. Can't speak for XBMC though.

I do wonder what "isn't flexible" enough about Media Center though, over the years so much has come out that modifies it (themes, menus, media players, you name it) that I'm wondering if it's just due to the fact that you're unaware of these apps. I've gone through countless HTPC frontends over the years (SageTV, BeyondTV, Meedio and more) but lately I tend to like 7MC since like Josh said, it's easy to set up and very user friendly. I got tired of constantly configuring and tweaking my installs of other software. Media Center just works, with little fuss. Plus now I've got a cablecard tuner, which is a pretty big bonus over other apps.

7MC - Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 - Avermedia M780 - Dvico Fusion HDTV7 - Terk HDTVa - Xbox 360 S - Logitech Harmony 650 - Panasonic V10 - Onkyo HT-RC160

Mon, 11/07/2011 - 11:13am

(Reply to #12) #14

Josh Shenkle

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Joined: 25 Jul 2007

rocks911 wrote:

I apologize for ranting.

other than that, nevermind. You can erase my post

Why would we delete the post? We're here to help, I tend to make side remarks about things because I don't want to get a post on a one way biased track. Other people read these posts and want to make sure everyone gets a valid stake in the game (IE Media Center).

We are here to help, the biggest issue that people have, which is what I assume you are having is that you jumped in and purchased the first thing possible, research is your friend when it comes to HTPC's and getting them setup correctly.

-Josh

Senior Editor | Twitter: @UMDivX |

Mon, 11/07/2011 - 4:39pm

#15

DravenGSX

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Joined: 7 Nov 2011

What you are trying to do is tough. I also prefer XBMC, though because of it's lacking (immature) DVR support, I run a combination of Windows Media Center and XBMC on a pair of X64 W7 HTPCs. Yes, a pair of them. You do have other options.. sort of.

The PS3 bit above is a bit excessive and will result in your account in PSN being banned permanently. I do not recommend it if you wish to use your PS3 for things that the PS3 was intended to be used for.

The XBMC team is making great progress with the iOS builds, so an AppleTV 2 is the absolute cheapest way to get into XBMC at $99. Of course, at that price there is a catch. The little hockey puck does not have enough power to stream HD video that is not encoded in h.264. It uses hardware acceleration to decode h.264 though, so if your library is encoded this way then you are in great shape. Almost all of the add-ons work pretty well and all of the skinning options are there. You can access your media through smb, so it can connect to your W7 machine or some other storage array if you have it. You cannot play blu-ray quality media through this setup. The ATV2 is restricted to 720p due to the processor, so keep that in mind.

For remotes - you're wasting your time and money with anything other than a Harmony. You can find some good deals out there if you look for them. I grabbed my Harmony 700 for 59.99 during a sale at Best Buy of all places and snagged a 650 online for $35. You can configure these using the Harmony software to interact with Windows Media Center, your AVR, your TV and XBMC without event ghost and it works very well. I tried a combination of many other remotes and each one of them was a waste of money. Don't make my mistake, just go get a Harmony.

W7 64 bit as HTPC

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