guggle Posted August 17, 2013 Posted August 17, 2013 Hi folks, I'm building a new home and She Who Must Be Obeyed has said that all bets are open with regards to a new home theatre set up. I used Windows Media Center when it first came out in XP but found it a bit clunky and unreliable. Has it improved at all? The main entertainment room measures about 5m x 4m and my preferences are evenly split between audio and video. I'd like to zone the music as well to at least another two areas. Currently I use a PS3 to view downloaded video and play games, but have a separate PVR to record tv. Having those two and live tv means multiple remotes and it can get a bit awkward at times hence the thought behind the WMC PC. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Michael.
RockandorRoll Posted August 18, 2013 Posted August 18, 2013 I use WMC as my main media hub on a Dell Zino its a PITA if im honest. The amount of codec packs ive tried has clogged the computer up no end. Ive also go it running Media Browser with MCM running in the background, so its a bit of a resource hog. Also have Audio Renderer installed which switches the output device as i boot it up. That way i can output HDMI audio when Media Centre is open, then it automatically reverts to my USB output when i want Foobar open. I've tried running ASIO through WMP to get WMC to do the same, unfortunately it works for music, then i get no sound from movies or TV I will say this though, the TV tuner is still the best in class. I tried JRiver which did everything else, but the TV tuner was such a hack add on that it really didnt work at all. Daily downloading of FTA guides via an external program is no way to go - shame JRiver. I have no idea how you will go about multi room installation. I currently use it to record everyone in the houses favourite tv shows. Then they are transferred to the NAS and stream over the house through everyones X360. 1
Satanica Posted August 20, 2013 Posted August 20, 2013 I use a combination of JRiver MC, Arcsoft TMT and Windows MC on my HTPC. JRiver MC for music and movies. Arcsoft TMT for blu-ray menus. DVDFab Passkey for DVD and Blu-ray decrypting. Windows MC for TV viewing and recording. 1
Gordon Macfarlane Posted August 20, 2013 Posted August 20, 2013 Been using WMC for years. If you decide to go ahead with the htpc the best advice I can give is to use Win7 ( stable and well documented) and not win 8(NOT) It is imo almost impossible to optimise the pc for both music and all the rest. I ended up with one pc as a music server and another for movies ,tv ,downolads etc. I use Jriver for music replay on one pc and WMC on the other pc for all other duties. Very steep learning curve which ever way you go if you are not used to fiddling with media centre software. My advice would be to use one of the many streaming media solutions from Linn , Naim , Cambridge Audio for music and a htpc for the rest. Use a Harmony remote to give seamless control and you should be able to end up with something that is easy to use and of good quality. 2
Satanica Posted August 20, 2013 Posted August 20, 2013 If you decide to go ahead with the htpc the best advice I can give is to use Win7 ( stable and well documented) and not win 8(NOT) Why? I'm using Windows 8 on my HTPC without any problems and would not like to go back to 7 as there are a few features I would miss.
Mickp10 Posted August 24, 2013 Posted August 24, 2013 (edited) I have used Windows Media Center XP , 2005 and now Windows 7 WMC for the past 3+ years. I have learnt the following. Only a HTPC - don't use it as a PC, as this is when issues occur. Screens x 2 - I have a 15 meter HDMI cable from the PC to a second LCD screen on a LCD arm that enables me to do any trouble shooting or installing of programs. Remote - A remote is easier to use to access TV, media etc Keyboard - I use the Shintaro for maintenance that has a mouse built in, and mouse buttons on the front edge make it nice and easy to use http://www.shintaro.com.au/products/06_keyboards_mice/keyboards/SH-KEYRF/ Big case - to enable you to put a larger fan in to reduce noise. CPU with graphics - I use the second version of the i5 that has 3D onboard to not have to use a graphic card to reduce noise. Blu-ray Drive - Bluray RW with Cyberlink that integrates into WMC7 (adds an incon in the WMC7 start screen). I also use it to watch DTS-HD movies due to the quality of codecs Tuners - use 4 as recording 1 show while watching another can take 3 tuners if you say your kids are watching ABC 4 kids, recording the news then another program straight after due to the recording overlap. Hard Drives - 2TB+ for main drive for install and recordings, and second for archiving of TV shows (see below) and some movies. This also enables a quick re install. NAS - to minimise noise from hard drive use a Network Area Storage device i.e we just use storage on the PC in the office. LEDs - unplug all LEDs from the motherboard, as the brightness and flashing of these are annoying. Leave it on - This stops you having to wait for it to wake up or boot up. Ethernet not wifi - I find wfi has to much lag so you are always waiting for it to go to next page, folder or play a movie on the NAS. You will need to re install - It is a PC, so I find after a couple of years you need to refresh the system by re installing to make it "snappy" again. MCEBuddy - a program that "picks-up" your recording, removes ads, can compress the recording and "dump-it" to another location eg second HD http://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com/ Keep it simple - the more programs you install the buggy generally system becomes which affects the end user experience eg more reboots. There are a lot add- on's to show jacket etc - are they just "pretty" or do they really assist the user experience. I have gone from the below to a HTPC. TV Zensonic Z500 http://www.cnet.com.au/zensonic-z500-240054980.htm AVR Topfield set top box Blu ray player My wife and 5 year old can use it everday, as this hooked up to an AVR and projector are our main lounge room TV. Hope that helps. Edited August 24, 2013 by Mickp10 3
gdr Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 I personally use OpenELEC - Runs on much lower spec'd hardware then WMC and, quite frankly, leaves it for dead on stability, features, price (can't beat $0) and ongoing development. 1
Satanica Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 I personally use OpenELEC - Runs on much lower spec'd hardware then WMC and, quite frankly, leaves it for dead on stability, features, price (can't beat $0) and ongoing development. Do you actually watch and record free to air TV with it?
A J Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 We've been using it for 4 years now, using it primarily for live & recorded TV, DVD/BluRay etc - music via SBT, all into a 2Ch setup. Prior to this we used GBPVR for about 4 years. Everything ties up with a unifying remote, family love it. I have the ads stripped out automatically, you can choose to manually skip, not skip, or auto skip (commskip). I agree with previous comments, keep it simple, use HTPC for video/TV only and it makes things much simpler. I found the 2010 Mac Mini a stunner as it was small quiet sexy and had massive family acceptance factor.
gdr Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 Do you actually watch and record free to air TV with it? I had a very nice setup - I had a file server in the study with a Quad DVB tuner card and a massive RAID array. All my music and most of my DVD's were lossless rips onto that server. The server also recorded up to four FTA channels (or record three, watch one). In the lounge room, I simply had an OpenELEC box (with a DVD drive so I could play one-off DVDs and CDs). This box was passively cooled with a SSD, so zero moving parts in the lounge room. You can watch live TV directly on the OpenELEC box by plugging in a USB tuner dongle
Satanica Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 I had a very nice setup - I had a file server in the study with a Quad DVB tuner card and a massive RAID array. All my music and most of my DVD's were lossless rips onto that server. The server also recorded up to four FTA channels (or record three, watch one). In the lounge room, I simply had an OpenELEC box (with a DVD drive so I could play one-off DVDs and CDs). This box was passively cooled with a SSD, so zero moving parts in the lounge room. You can watch live TV directly on the OpenELEC box by plugging in a USB tuner dongle Hi, thanks for your response. I can do all of that with my one single HTPC running WMC in the lounge room. A few more questions if you don't mind. Can you view the over the air EPG guide? Can you pause/rewind live TV? Can you watch a program that is currently being recorded? Can you watch a recorded program at 1.5x speed with sound?
gdr Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 (edited) Hi, thanks for your response. I can do all of that with my one single HTPC running WMC in the lounge room. A few more questions if you don't mind. Can you view the over the air EPG guide? Can you pause/rewind live TV? Can you watch a program that is currently being recorded? Can you watch a recorded program at 1.5x speed with sound? I did have it implemented as a single HPTC running in the lounge room, but I got annoyed by all the fan and HDD noise, hence the breakup. * EPG - Yes * Pause, RW, FF live TV - Yes * Watch what is being recorded - Yes * Watch at 1.5x with sound - Not that I recall Another couple of bonuses to my setup: * Watch live and recorded TV on multiple head-end PC (I could have one in the lounge room and one in the bedroom) * Watch live and recorded TV on a regular PC * Watch live and recorded TV on a tablet or phone (Android) * Control the HTPC via my phone (I lose phones less than I lose remotes) * Setup recordings remotely over the internet * Huge range of HTPC themes and add-ons (OpenELEC is basically embedded XMBC with a few additional features) EDIT: And it crashed and locked up WAY less often and when it did, reboot of the front-end was about 10 seconds. Backend recording was 100% rock-solid stable - if the front-end crashed, recording on the back-end was not interupted Edited September 9, 2013 by gdr 1
roh008 Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 +1 JRiver for music and movies. Used to use WMC with Media Browser plugin but have moved away from that. JRiver now supports BluRay menus too so all is good if you add in a Bluray player too. Run it via a N40L NAS with a GPU added in. Small physical size holds 5 HDDs which is plently of storage space. Stability touch wood has been very good.
LogicprObe Posted September 9, 2013 Posted September 9, 2013 I use VLC with an itst bitsy computer and stream content off my main computer.
Satanica Posted September 10, 2013 Posted September 10, 2013 JRiver now supports BluRay menus too so all is good if you add in a Bluray player too. Really? That is certainly news to me, I don't think this is correct.
roh008 Posted September 10, 2013 Posted September 10, 2013 (edited) Really? That is certainly news to me, I don't think this is correct. http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Blu-ray Can even play the .iso file or if you wish you can rip and convert it. Edited September 10, 2013 by roh008
Satanica Posted September 10, 2013 Posted September 10, 2013 http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Blu-ray Can even play the .iso file or if you wish you can rip and convert it. Nope, it cannot do FULL Blu-ray menu's in the way Arcsoft TMT, Cyberlink PowerDVD or a dedicated hardware blu-ray player can. It can do title selection though, from your link: Media Center 17 adds title selection so you can play trailers, extras, and more.
roh008 Posted September 11, 2013 Posted September 11, 2013 Arr ok. I am not sure what extra functionality the Blu ray menus offer. I can certainly do most. Select the commentaries and streams. Am guessing the extras bit is different and would require a separate folder for JRiver. I can confirm it plays .iso as I have done this part at least. Don't really look at the added bits. I did this once with Iron Man 2 and did not like it.
Mickp10 Posted September 15, 2013 Posted September 15, 2013 I personally use OpenELEC - Runs on much lower spec'd hardware then WMC and, quite frankly, leaves it for dead on stability, features, price (can't beat $0) and ongoing development. Wasn't aware of this one, but from looking at it it looks like it will be a perfect solution to replace our Boxee Box in our bedroom when it dies to run on a Raspberry Pi. The hardest thing I have found is finding a Media Center that supports TV viewing and recording at the front end without the need for a backend server.
gdr Posted September 15, 2013 Posted September 15, 2013 Wasn't aware of this one, but from looking at it it looks like it will be a perfect solution to replace our Boxee Box in our bedroom when it dies to run on a Raspberry Pi. The hardest thing I have found is finding a Media Center that supports TV viewing and recording at the front end without the need for a backend server. There are a number of options for watching and recording live TV in OpenELEC - many people configure it as a stand-alone media centre. I never did as I was trying to move as much noise and heat away from the living room
Satanica Posted September 15, 2013 Posted September 15, 2013 The hardest thing I have found is finding a Media Center that supports TV viewing and recording at the front end without the need for a backend server. I've yet to experience anything better than Windows Media Center for just this purpose.
LogicprObe Posted September 16, 2013 Posted September 16, 2013 I've yet to experience anything better than Windows Media Center for just this purpose. Yes, it does work OK. Some of the software that comes with the TV cards is a bit better though. I particualy liked the Compro software as you could grab it anywhere on the screen to drag it around, rather than using the top bar that Windows likes. Sadly, their software is a bit dodgy these days in Win 7 64 bit..............even though it's Media Centre Certified.
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