Crim

[Crim]

Media Center in 8 is just the same as 7MC, MS hasn’t made any changes or updates. At this point I personally think of it more as dead but I will continue to use it until I find a good replacement.

I kind of wish Media Browser would just go for it and develop it as a frontend media center of it’s own instead of tying it into Media Center.

[Crim]

Man, I need some extra cash to pick up five of these…..

[Crim]

I’m not entirely sure why you picked out such outdated hardware, do you have them already?

If not I’d suggest something based on these:

CPUs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103955

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116399

 

Motherboards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157261

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131797

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131716

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121506

 

[Crim]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/7

If you already have hardware and just need some kind of input box this seems decent enough.

[Crim]

I’ve never understood posts like these. Maybe I’m weird but I see my HTPC like any other media device, like my PS3 or something. Just because it’s roots are a PC doesn’t mean you have to have a keyboard and mouse connected to it. You don’t have to install Word or anything not media related on it. I don’t get what’s so hard about it…?

 

You find which frontend you like best, install it and what other apps you would like to use (like for 7MC installing Media Browser, etc). Put it all together and then [i]maybe[/i] spend the weekend setting it all up to perfection (like turning off auto updates) before deploying it. Plan on spending a day each month installing updates to anything you need, tweaking anything that might need to be (I update everything every three months).

 

It’s really not that hard/painful. Am I just not getting something here? Everyone in my house treats it like a dedicated device. No one is clamoring to use it for homework, checking web sites, etc.

It’s a lot more pain free then my PS3. I swear to god, every time I turn it on I have to wait an hour or two before I can play a game because it forces me to update it before I can do anything. You want to talk about annoying….

 

So really, am I “missing out” on why people think an HTPC is so “high maintenance?”

[Crim]

If it’s not an Ion board then it’s not worth using. You’ll have nothing but headaches.

[Crim]

I looked at it but too expensive for me right now. Either way, if you want reliable streaming to an HTPC you’ll want a wired connection every time if you can do it.

[Crim]

It would sure make a great addition to GoogleTV, Android.

[Crim]

From what I read, there was a corrupted DRM certificate on Netflix’s server which created the 7MC failure.

 

I got the little pop up last night about needing to verify again, clicked through it but never tested it. I just now tried it but had to delete the “playready” DRM file for it to work.Yet another reason why DRM is a waste of time and a PITA for paying customers….

It works great now. 🙂

 

[Crim]

I’m glad I’m not the only one with this issue again. Everything was working fine until some time Thursday, loaded it up in the afternoon and nothing would happen. I was starting to get a little worried about it (I tried all the fixes and nothing did it).

[Crim]

Oh, also, the 7050 series is completely awful. They’re single channel memory chipsets which means performance is worst by 10-20% then normal; I’ve had three of them (actually, one was a 7100 that was clocked hgher) and they all could just barely playback the variety of media I have without taxing the CPU. A slight stutter here and there was normal with them using local media.

 

I would highly suggest getting a new motherboard or dropping in a 5450 to help out. I would not suggest at all using a 7000 series board.

[Crim]

1.) I have the same issues on all my PCs and the Netflix plug in. Doesn’t matter if it’s a Quad with 4 gigs of memory and an SSD or not. It’s not just you.

2.) It’s an awsome card, I have a 5450 sitting in my HTPC.

 

[Crim]

[quote=Mike Garcen]

Your keyboard shortcuts gave me an idea. Can’t you run a script with Girder that will issue the exact commands you need with delays (Boxee’s order doesn’t change, right?). I haven’t used it in years…

[/quote]

Autohotkey should be able to do the same thing. There’s a program for game controllers that would do it too if you want to use something like a 360 controller. My reote supports moues functions so I tend to forget that not all remotes do. My bad.

 

[Crim]

… I really don’t understand the point of launching Boxee just so it can launch Pandora. On my HTPC I have a tile in WMC for Pandora that launches Firefox fullscreened on the Pandora site. I don’t see why you need all the confusion just to open Pandora.

[Crim]

20″ for $3000? Uh, yeah. No thank you, that’s just bat shit crazy for a product that is essentially a niche product. Also, considering the very small selection of 3D movies out there and the fact that a chunk, but a lot of the good movies, are limited to company’s as promotional items to sell their 3D junk then it makes perfect sense that these things aren’t taking off.

 

[Author]

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