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Bought it day 1 of the release. So far I am actually really liking it. “If”/”when” Media Center finally dies Fire TV could easily replace Media Center for me.

I’ve been playing around with Plex a lot lately and the more and more I use plex the more and more I really like it.

The other thing I really am liking about the Fire TV is the ability to side load other apps like HBO Go.

-Josh

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getting out of automation or just doing something different? Anything you’d do differently after getting into it?

 

-Josh

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I am using the HDMI detective to solve this issue.

-Josh

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[quote=shadz]My question is, is this a too powerful set up?[/quote]

I’d say not powerful enough. Any reason why you’re choosing AMD over Intel? For a bare bones HTPC i’d recommend an Intel setup with the Sandy Bridge setup at minimum. The on-board video and CPU combo will yield you better results in the long run.

[quote]Could I save money on ram by only getting 4gb to start instead of 6? [/quote] Never run odd numbers, always run even (2gigs 2x1gig, 4gigs 2x2gigs, 8 gigs 2x4gig or 4x2gig, ect…) 4 is minimum, most now recommend 8.

[quote] Also, the OS will be Windows 7 Home Edition. [/quote] Home premium I am assuming? if so that should be fine. if you don’t need remote desktop capabilities into the pc.

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As said before MoCA is another viable option. Will support 1080p HD streaming and all that and uses the same cable tv coax already in your home.

Here’s a review I did a while back: http://www.missingremote.com/review/actiontec-ethernet-over-coax-moca-network-adapter

-Josh

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Just like you said, YAMMM stores .xml files that stores the meta data for the files. All YAMMM and My Movies does is store the meta data into the folder of the movie. 

If the only issue you are having is the meta data not showing up on another pc, it could be the database could be corrupted on the pc. 

Delete and rapair the media database: http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/windowsxp/articles/117/1/Delete%7B47%7DRepair-the-Windows-Media-Player-Library

try that and see if that works first.

-Josh

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Andy covered most of it but wanted to address this.

[quote=Chroner] I wasn’t sure what you meant by share the guide but not the tuner (what good is a guide if you cant tune anything).[/quote]

PC2 in MCE world is like a dumb extender you can run MCE UI, access non-copy protected content, but say you wanted to set a new recording on PC2 instead of getting up to access PC1. You can share the guide data, set recordings, and mange recordings from PC2 with plugins. 

 -Josh

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A Quote from the OP:

[quote]I haven’t had much time to think about hardware but I’d likely be grabbing some middle of the road components because the machine is really only used for viewing/recording TV an occasional DvD and light web browsing.  [/quote]

Based on this statement in his last paragraph I read it as he was more focused on the TV/DVR aspect than he was of other features.

-Josh

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[quote=babgvant]If TV, music and photos are the only use cases requiring consideration then this is true, otherwise there are huge functional gaps b/w SageTV and 7MC. The most glaring is proper support for non-TV content; for e.g. 7MC extenders don’t support DVDs, HBR audio, BD quality video and the even the PCs are difficult to configure for BD-Lite, M2TS and MP4 playback.

[/quote]

My #1 thing for my HTPC is DVRing, that is it. Because PC’s suck at getting high quality video out properly for movies and such I still use a dedicated BD player, in my case the Oppo BDP-93.

 

However extenders will infact play back M2TS, I “backup” all my kids movies to mkv, then convert them to M2TS for native playback on extenders. 360’s also support DVD playback and doesn’t detract from Extender mode, pop in a dvd, starts playing dvd, stop, goes back to extender mode, you never see the dashboard. While this solution doesn’t work for everyone, it does for my family.

While there are constraints you have to work within, I still find it a better solution in the end. And has me spending less time supporting the systems vs. actually using the system.

-Josh

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[quote=Chroner]if i do not go with a cablecard tuner, are IR blasters the only option for controlling an external STB with WMC or is there a firewire type solution similar to what I have working in SageTV?[/quote]

There hasn’t been Firewire support for Media Center since version MCE 2005 http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm

So essentially with 7MC the answer is no.

 

[quote]Does WMC allow other PC’s to act as extenders?[/quote]

Again No. This has been one of the reasons many went to SageTV and elsewhere, but extenders are honestly just as good.

 

[quote]If I want to access media files on the recording PC from another PC on my network does WMC act as the GUI or do I have to use a typical file manager (like windows explorer) to access the content?[/quote]

You can share your recorded tv folder and load it up on another PC, using the Media Center UI, you just can’t share tuners, and the guide data from the “main” Media Center PC. There are apps out there that will share your guide data but they still will not share your tuners.

 

[quote]Does WMC allow for integration with streamed content, like netflix?[/quote]

Media Center has a built in Netflix app, but that’s it. Everything else is separate IE outseid of Media Center UI. 

[quote]Is there a way that I can check if my recordings would be flagged copy-once without actually getting everything up and running?  Would there be evidence of that flag in the STB diagnostics menus[/quote]

Only way to know is after it has been recorded. 

We have started a Master List showing Providers, locations, and copy protection, but it is still pretty small but might help you if you can find your area and provider. 

-Josh

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My Movies has its own database online. The free features of My Movies gets you most of the meta data. YAMMM (which was written by an editor here btw) pulls data from IMDB and TMDB (the movie database) which is a little different than what My Movies does.

My Movies is kind of “social” type app where end users like you and I add movie meta data and then is stored online at the My Movies servers and then is shared to end users who are using it.

the only down side to My Movies vs. YAMMM is that my movies runs an SQL database on at least one PC, that is then shared to other PC’s.

So in your case you would install the My Movies “server” and “client” both on at least one PC, then all the rest of the PC’s in your house you would only install the “client” and the clients would then connect to the PC running the “server” to access the data base with all the meta data.

-Josh

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[quote=Chroner]

How is functionality in windows media center comparable to SageTV?[/quote]

IMHO Media Center is easier to use, easier to setup, and better looking, but again that is my opinion. 

Functionally it is the same, its a UI that does media content and DVRing.

[quote]

 My primary concern is with external control of STB’s.  My SageTV setup does channel switching on the STB’s via firewire.  Is this possible in win7 media center?  Are there drivers available for the STB’s that will work in win7?  I have heard there are issues with 64 bit.[/quote]

If you are doing cable tv, why not ditch the cable STB’s and go for a cable card tuner? Media Center w/ cable card will get your more tuners including HD channels, and all you’d need is a cable card from your cable company. 

You can still do STB’s with Media Center but only with IR blaster and Svideo input, which honestly looks like garbage and shouldn’t be ever done any more. 

Cable card is honestly the way to go if you have Cable TV and thinking about going to Media Center.

[quote]

On the hardware side, my tuners are pretty ancient (nvidia dualTV tuner) and could use an update as well.  I’ve seen alot of talk about the ceton cable card tuners, but I am hestitant to go cablecard because of all the potential DRM issues.[/quote]

Why do you need to worry about DRM? the only reason to worry about DRM is if you plan on offloading the content elsewhere, if you only watch it on your HTPC (and extenders) then you’ll never have an issue. I can honestly tell you though (I have comcast in Minneapolis) that I have yet to record anything with DRM copy once flag. It is only things like HBO that has the copy once flag.

 [quote]If I went cable card, would i able to grab recorded files off of my HTPC and watch them on another machine? [/quote]

IF and only if the copy once flag is set, then no. Otherwise yes you can. But again get a few 360’s (or the new Ceton Echo extender when it comes out) around your house, ditch a full blown PC, and you’ll never have that issue.

[quote]We tend to grab a bunch of recorded TV and throw it on a netbook when we travel[/quote]

Should have read all of your post before starting, but as already stated as long as you don’t have the copy once flag set (which is easily identifiable on the recording) you will never have an issue copying off recorded content.

[quote]What are some options other than the ceton cablecard tuners? [/quote]

Ceton Infinitv4 PCI-e and USB

Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime (3 tuners, Network based)

Hauppage WinTV HR-2650 (2 tuners USB based)

[quote]

I haven’t had much time to think about hardware but I’d likely be grabbing some middle of the road components because the machine is really only used for viewing/recording TV an occasional DvD and light web browsing.  My current setup is using a DVI connection to get video to the TV but I’ve been considering adding bluray capability so I’d have to switch over to HDMI and verify HDCP compatibility.  Any suggestions on graphics?  Are onboard graphics to the point where i wouldnt have to worry about a discrete card?[/quote]

Cheap Intel Core I3 or core I5 running the Sandy Bridge chipset. The Intel Onboard video card will support full HD 1080p playback, even bluray. 

4 Gigs of ram min, I always recommend 8gigs ($40 for 8gigs these days). 

Then whatever the fastest hard drive you can find for recording storage and OS. 

The one thing if you go with Media Center is it is not like SageTV where you can add HDD’s to a recording “pool”. Media Center you can only dedicate a single drive at a time for recording to, you can’t increase that “pool” to multiple drives at the same time. 

I have a 2TB drive and then offload recordings to my Windows Home Sever box and I never run out of storage space for TV recordings. 

Hope this helps you,

Josh

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Go into Recorded TV > Click on View Scheduled at the top > Click on Series menu on the upper left > Click on series in question > click on Series settings upper left > Scroll to the bottom and you’ll see Stop: section, adjust when you want it to stop there.

 

-Josh

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David,

  When you setup Media Center and go through the display options did you set it up as an flat screen with HDMI? If so go through the Media Center setup again for the display but this time choose CRT/Tube TV with Component and see if that changes anything.

-Josh

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Rolling back to the 11.4 drivers as you recommended before has greatly improved and gotten rid of all my previous issues.

-Josh

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