Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mediacenter

I Need to Pause the Movie and Look Something Up...

rokusan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:40:31 -0800

Which is the best method for adding codec, playing video from remote shares, and most of all usable web browsing to an AppleTV? Okay, so I picked up a $99 refurb AppleTV on a whim, with the hope of hacking it into being a fuller-featured couch computer. It's still virgin in the box at the moment.

My four main requirements are:
1. Play video from remote fileshares, not through iTunes.
2. Handle a typical wide variety of codecs, not just the Apple-endorsed handful.
3. A decent web browser, preferably Safari or Firefox
4. Use a remote keyboard and mouse (don't care what type)

I know there are many, many, many partial solutions to this, up to and including the nuclear option of installing a full version of MacOSX, which of course would achieve all of the above and much more. I'm comfortable doing that if necessary. I'm a pretty "power" Mac user and can handle Unix hackery if needed. I see there are lots of other, lesser/specialized mods out there, and I'd like to know if anyone has experience or advice for any of them:

XBMC or Boxee? Classic choices, and both include web browser plug-in apps I think, but I can't find info on keyboards/mice.

NitoTV talks a lot about USB support.

aTV Flash looks awfully sweet and is getting a lot of nice buzz lately, but the site seems to contradict itself on whether there's a web browser or not (it's listed both as a feature and as a "coming soon".) I don't think there's a demo of aTV Flash, just a paid version, so I can't test it easily, either.

Patchstick seems to be a bundle that adds most (all?) of what I want to the existing AppleTV OS, or at least makes things like codecs and Safari web browsing installable.

Or do I just bite the bullet and install full OS X on the cute little thing?

Other suggestions very welcome. I'm playing quick catchup on all this.

Help me find a laptop to match my TV.

markblasco — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:05:22 -0800

Help me find a laptop to match with my TV. More inside. We are looking to run a laptop along with our TV as a sort of media center. It would need to have component (RGB) output, not HDMI. We have a tuner it would plug into, which would route the sound and video to our TV. When not in use with the TV, we would use it while sitting around the living room, so a desktop media center PC is not an option.

We do NOT need to record video on it, since we don't have a cable subscription. What we are looking to do with it is to watch hulu and other online shows, as well as do some web surfing. We would also watch HD videos from the computer, so the computer needs to be able to support HD output, which the currently available netbooks don't seem to do (and they also don't have component output connections).

Can someone help me find a solution?

Got a wireless input solution for a couch-and-Hulu lovin' soul?

tihleigh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:48:51 -0800

Help me in my quest to never have to get up from the couch: What kind of wireless keyboard/mouse, keyboard/trackball, or keyboard/something-I-haven't-heard-of combo would you suggest for a media savvy couch potato who doesn't want to have to get up to navigate Hulu? Considerations:
I am looking for something that is lefty-friendly. One would think that many mice (mouses??) are...they look symmetrical but trust me, they aren't.

From my research, I know that infra-red solutions aren't really solutions as much as a failing hassle that will torment me into making that short trip towards the tv.

The point is to sit back & hulu-surf which makes me veer away from wii-mote-ing or gyrating.

Oh--and due to the nature of kicking back and relaxing, I won't always have a flat surface, per se.

Anything else I should take into consideration?

Seeking the ultimate media center PC.

reductiondesign — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:27:07 -0800

Looking to build/buy a (maybe) Linux-based media center. Requirements: HDMI, YPbPr, and (bonus) standard RCA output (not all at once), region-free DVD/Blu-ray playing (physical drive[s?]), some sort of remote control, automatic boot into media center interface, small size (not a tower), and (of course) lots and lots of codecs: Blu-ray rips, H.264 .avi, VIDEO_TS folders, the works. Need to know: cost, upkeep, storage options. Short version: What's my best standalone media center PC option?

---

Long version: I'm thinking I'd run XBMC on this beauty, but I'm open to other suggestions. A main selling point for me would be how nice the UI looks (MediaStream looks gorgeous, but can I choose the posters/fan art that it displays?), but I'd also like minimal lag when going in and out of menus. Not sure if XBMC runs best on Windows or Linux, but I'm more keen on Linux since it's, well, free.

The computer I use for this should ideally be small—I have very little knowledge of the current desktop PC scene since I've only owned a laptop for years and years. What's out there, case/size-wise, nowadays? What sort of processing power would I need to play HD video? Blu-ray?

Storage is also a concern of mine. I currently have a little under 1 TB of TV shows and movies in .avi and .mp4 format, along with ~500 DVDs that I'd like to get copied onto a HDD of some sort. Should I go for internal drives or external drives? How often should I replace the drives in order to avoid failure?

If I could have this on my wireless network, that would be nice as well. Live TV would be nice, of course, but I'd be using it with rabbit ears of some sort if this were the case. Could I record live TV with this? Bonus: Could I integrate the rabbit ears into the case itself, or is this impractical?

This would need to have a remote control; what are my options there?

Thanks so much, and sorry for the length.

Zero to HTPC in 700?

itesser — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:59:47 -0800

Going crazy trying to figure out my HTPC/media server options from scratch. Yes, I've been reading other threads but I'm a unique snowflake so there's My husband and I are a couple of nomads with a handful of computers (desktops and laptops, 3 Win and 1 Mac) who will be getting our first real TV/stereo/etc when we move into a new apartment late next month.

I want to...
- Stream Netflix to our TV
- Watch other internet video on the TV (and stream Pandora?)
- Play locally stored video / music on the TV/stereo
- Have all our music (~200 gigs) in one place, plus long-term expandability
- Keep important files in one location for frequent backing up to/from multiple computers
- I don't care to watch network or cable tv

My budget is somewhat flexible, but I'm aiming for solutions around $700 for the media-serving part of the set up.

After several hours considering my options (though I admit I'm not experienced at this, plus it's way past my bedtime), I think my current best bet is: xbox360 + XBMC on an XP system* + (Free)NAS. Would 3 machines be overkill?

* I like the iphone remote! and for a few other reasons

Or ditch the NAS and put a bunch of HDs in the XBMC system?
Or ditch the XBMC and stream directly from NAS to 360?
Or replace the XBMC with a MacMini+Plex?

How do I add media to an XBMC PC

midwestguy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:50:56 -0800

How do I add content to the hard drive running XBMC live on my new media center PC? I recently scored an older HP media center PC for free. The hard drive was wiped, so I installed live XBMC (the version that can boot from a CD, or be installed to the drive). It runs great--recognizes and plays thumb drives, portable hard drives, and DVDs. BUT...I can't for the life of me figure out how to add more stuff onto the hard drive that is inside the machine. Its not huge--200 GB, but that is enough room for all my music files and pictures, and I'd love to get them in there so that I wouldn't have to use the external drives all the time. How do I add music, pictures, or DVD rips onto the drive? Can it be done within this software?

XBOX 360 on a wireless bridge

billtron — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:36:52 -0800

How do I connect my xbox 360 to computers on the same wireless network if the xbox 360 is connected to a wireless bridge? I think the fact that there is a wireless bridge separating my xbox 360 from the rest of my network, including the computer that has media files, is keeping the xbox from connecting to anything. I'm interested in options like PlayOn and TVersity, but I need help getting the network in shape so that I can use them.

I'd like either to figure out how to connect the xbox 360 to the computer with files that's connected via LAN port to the main router, which is running DD-WRT 23sp2, or connect the xbox to another computer that is connected via LAN port to the wireless bridge, which is running DD-wrt 24.

What's the best way to turn PS3 into music player (with visualizations)?

idyllhands — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:42:45 -0800

Best way to turn PS3 into music player (with visualizations)? I want to set my PS3 up to play music files (FLAC and MP3), because I'm not happy with the built in Media Player. Are there any guides out there for installing Linux on a PS3 to get it to act as a media center? I don't care about watching tv on it, which most of the guides I've found seem to center on. Basically, I just need a nice GUI to be able to browse through albums by tags and a nice visual player would be great too. The Visual Players included with the PS3 got old quick, and unfortunately you can't add more...

Ripping dvds automaticy

brent_h — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:04:43 -0800

Auto ripping dvds on OSX? I am looking for a way to automate ripping of dvds, similar to the option in itunes where you can set it to automatically rip cds that are inserted and then eject the disk. I have been using handbrake and it works well but I have alot of dvds so I am looking to save some time.

I am looking to be able to set the settings I am looking for, then set handbrake (or whatever else will work) to encode the movie ( only the main movie, not extras) off the disc and then eject the disk, so I can Insert the next.

The ultimate single box AV setup?

blahblahblah — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:44:28 -0800

Help me set up an geeky A/V solution in my new house! Ideally, I am looking for the One Box in my house that would record cable television (preferably in HD), show live TV, and act as media server for all of my televisions and computers. Is that possible? Right now, we have 2 televisions, one of which is a computer monitor attached to a machine running Media Center, and the other has an Xbox that can act as a Media Center extender. Its okay for now, but the problem is a lack of HD television, and that Media Center is often slow and low quality. We'll be moving to a house with a couple more screens, and I want to try to do this right, and not necessary attach a box and cable to every television. Are there any good, not insanely pricey, solutions for setting up a universal system for Live TV/PVR/Music/Movies?

New HDTV Owner, Hookup with my Mac Mini?

gramcracker — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:47:33 -0800

Just bought a Sharp Aquos LC37D43U and am planning to use my G4 Mac Mini for at least a DVD player--but can I have it do more? And how would the setup work? I'm a computer techie, but all this TV stuff is new to me. Still trying to decide if I want the huge monthly cost of cable.

1) I'm assuming there's no way to hook up my cable (or just antennae) to the TV, and then have the Mac Mini pull the TV signal from the TV back to the Mac Mini, for DVR functions, right? (ie: use the TV as an output.) Also, are there DVR options for a Mac/Mac Mini, or should I just chip in and get a TiVO or DVR from my cable company, RCN?

2) Re: #1, so if I wanted to do any of that, I'd need a TV Tuner for my Mac Mini, right? And for most people they use EyeTV, hook up their cable to the EyeTV, and then run the output thru their Mac into their TV?

3) To use Boxee or Plex, I just have to have my Mini connected to the internet and then connect the Mini to the TV, right?

So I guess in summary, my question boils down to:
* Are there DVR options for the Mini, and how do they work (or should I just get a TiVO) and
* How do I use my Mac Mini as a media server/Boxee/Plex with my new TV?

A question about the storage/backup RAID setup I should use for a media center

schindyguy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:17:56 -0800

I am creating a media center out of a high end Dell XPS Studio. I am using Dell hybrids as the extenders, but have a question about the storage/backup RAID setup I should use. I have already purchased ten 1TB consumer Green Caviar WD drives and two SansDigital 5 Bay eSATA enclosures. My initial plan was to use one as storage and one as backup, but I dont know what RAID to set each one up so I get good performance out of the storage one and good reliability out of the backup one.

My thought was to setup the storage as either RAID 0 or JBOD and have the backup RAID 5. Does this sound like the best idea? Would you use RAID 0 or JBOD for speed/performance of media?

My concerns:

The storage needs high performance and speed to serve the media content (high definition, mkv, divx, mp3, photos) to the media center extenders.

The backup needs to be reliable but using RAID 5 will lower the possible backup from 5TB to 4TB (which I am ok with).

What I really wish I could do is just build both of them as RAID 5 for reliability and hot swapping AND use some type of online backup solution (but I have heard this would be impossible as it takes too long to upload on something like mozy). Someone else was mentioning that there are services that you can snail mail them your hard drives to be uploaded to their online servers, but I havent found any companies like that. I would literally be able to have 8TB of storage if it would work that way :(

Please let me know your recommendations

Sanity check my Mac media center.

swift — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:50:09 -0800

Please sanity check a possible Mac Mini HTPC/media center setup. Before I start spending money on additional components, maybe the community can review my plans for a Mac-Mini-based media center and HTPC. I've done lots of reading online, and based on some other AskMe threads, I'm not alone in being a little confused about the best setup for my needs, until someone invents a box that does it all.

I have:
- an HDTV with resolution up to 1080i
- an Intel Mac Mini with OS/X 10.4, but no remote
- a home theater receiver with speakers and lots of input options
- a NAS with tons of music, and some movies
- an Xbox 360
- a VCR
- a Netflix account, which I use to stream movies to the Xbox
- at the moment, cable
- a laptop

I want to:
- ditch cable and get HD programming over the air
- watch whatever programming I can get via the Internet
- watch streaming Netflix movies
- transfer VHS tapes to the NAS
- browse and play music and movies from the NAS
- use Tivo-like capabilities like pausing, recording, and browsing on-screen listings
- control as much as possible with a single remote
- play games

Right now I'm planning to go down a route similar to mr. obsession, using a HDHomeRun tuner, some kind of antenna, and EyeTV software for the TV end, and Plex for the media center end (which would require upgrading the Mac to Leopard).

Has anyone used a similar combination of these pieces? Do you think there's a better way to do it?

Also (and this is really my "original" question), since I've lost the little white Mac remote, is there a universal remote that works with the Mac? Controlling the Mac via the laptop (or getting a wireless keyboard) is certainly possible, but it's not ideal if I just want to flip channels and browse media.

Thanks in advance!

Boxee, meet old man Samsung.

miniminimarket — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:47:28 -0800

How can I make Boxee on my Macbook look grand on my TV? I'm using Boxee on my Macbook as a half-way step to getting a cheap linux box and canceling cable (another question there for sure). I just can't get Boxee to look right on my TV.

I'm using Boxee on a Macbook, mini-DVI to RCA, old pathetic TV. None of the resolutions under "display settings" seem to work, and using Boxee's video settings doesn't fix it either. It's so easy with VLC and iTunes! For those who got it to look right, let me know what you did. Thanks in advance.

HTPC + DVD ISO + automounting = WIN: Show your work

Ritchie — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:36:44 -0800

Looking for a media center solution (not necessarily a Media Center solution), that will automount DVD images (ISO files) for playback. I stayed with my brother over the holidays, where he showed me a media centre he'd built running Vista and Media Center. I in turn showed him how to rip his DVD collection to his hdd so he could put his DVDs into storage. While we were tinkering, I wondered aloud if it would be possible to get Media Center to mount ISO files and play them as if it were a regular DVD.

Short answer: theoretically it's possible, but I couldn't get it to happen.

Supposedly, Webguide + Daemon Tools is one way of making this happen. I Installed both, but some piece of the puzzle was missing, and despite configuring and reconfiguring until I was blue in the face, there was no joy. My brother didn't care - he was overjoyed to find that Webguide would stream music and video over his network.

Anyway. I'm home now and looking to set up my own media center thingy. And I'd really like to be able to automagically mount DVD images just by selecting a movie from a menu - not for every disc, but definitely some of them. But I need to know if there's anyone out there who has actually succeeded at this. There are plenty of people who say on various forums, for example 'oh yeah, XBMC does this' but I'd like to hear from somebody who has really done it. Describe how you set it up.

Whats the best Media Center setup for a lot of data?

schindyguy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:14:17 -0800

Whats the best Media Center setup for a lot of data? I have music (mp3, wav); videos (divx, wmv, mp4, mkv, etc); photos that I would like to aggregate into one place: a vista media center. A major chunk of data will be in the form of unedited hd videos downloaded from a sony hdr camera. I have a home theatre with components and networking stored in a closet. I have a couple other locations (on my network) that I possibly would like to serve the content to around my house (which could be done using extenders like xboxs or dlink/netgear extenders).

I am looking for a storage capacity of around 5-8 TB

I have thought about a few setups:

1. Use a frontend computer like a dell studio hybrid (via hdmi) to connect to my main home theatre screen. Storage would come in the form of a RAID WHS (windows home server). I dont know how to configure RAID or the WHS so I would have to be very motivated to take this route (unless there is an out of the box solution). This is probably the cheapest option I think.

2. Use a frontend computer like a dell studio hybrid (via hdmi) to connect to my main home theatre screen. Storage would come in the form of a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+. The largest version they have is $2400 and will only give me 3tb of storage after RAID. I would need 2 of them.

3. Use a top of line XPS studio desktop loaded with a 2 tb without RAID (configured one for $2100) and have storage in the form of Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ (once again though I would be spending $4800 for 6tb of storage capacity).

I would also like backing up the 5-8tb of data to something (I was thinking mozy unlimited at $6/mo but thought it might be slow to transfer all that data). Are there any other options?

Which option 1, 2, 3, or something I havent thought about would be the best option?

Will my PS3 play nice with a networked hard drive?

Ghidorah — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:36:16 -0800

How to use wifi, a PS3, and external hard drives to stream media to the tv? I've got a PS3, and recently set up a wifi connection at home. I'm thinking about getting one a networked hard drive (the kind you connect to your wifi router) so that my wife (using her netbook) and I (using my toshiba laptop) can access photos, music, whathaveyou wirelessly. I'd also like to set it up so that my PS3 can play videos from that hard drive.

I asked a guy at Yodobashi Camera if this was doable with a Buffalo network harddrive like this one (the product name is slightly different in Japan), and he said he didn't think it would work. I'm hesistant to drop about $150 on one of these things if it won't work with the PS3.

I guess, to take this to its natural extension, is the PS3 (with aforementioned HD) a decent stopgap for a media center? Or should I just continue to hook my laptop up to the tv when I want to watch videos?

Pimp My Wireless Network

billtron — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:33:16 -0800

WirelessNeworkFilter: Please help me set up my home wireless network using two routers. Despite all the particulars of my situation, there must be an easy solution. I have a cold and my brain might be a little fuzzy. I have two routers, a WRT54G running DD-WRT v23 and a brand new WRT54GL that I haven't taken out of the box.

Here's my current setup:
In the back room of the apartment are the main computer, the cable modem, and the DD-WRT router, all hardwired.
On the other side of the apartment, in the living room, are a TV, a first generation TIVO, an XBOX that will soon run XBMC, and several wireless devices that are struggling to reach the signal being broadcast by the router in the back room, often failing.
There is an external hard drive housing the media connection. It can be put anywhere on the network.
The cable modem can be kept in the back room or moved to the living room by the TV.

How should I optimally set up my network, minding the following facts:
1. The most important connection in the house is the main computer. This is why it is the one that is hardwired.
2. The TIVO has no ethernet out capability. It's using a USB wireless thingamajig. The TIVO also will only recognize WEP. If possible, I'd like to work around that to increase security for the computers.
3. I have very basic cable, and the tivo isn't really capturing anything that can't be streamed over hulu.com or the basic channel websites.
4. I would like to watch said streamed videos on the TV in the living room.
5. I would like to access the external hard drive from any computer in the house, and watch its movies and listen to its music through the television.

Does anyone have experience with using PlayOn! with an HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server?

anotherpanacea — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:28:47 -0800

Does anyone have experience with using PlayOn! with an HP MediaSmart Server running Windows Home Server? I see how it works with a regular media center PC, but I'm not quite sure how it'd work in a Home Server OS environment.

Why can’t my movies be as convenient as my music?

arniec — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:06:24 -0800

DVDs and Blu Ray discs are such a pain with their ability to be scratched and the need to find where a disc is, is it in the right case, etc. I find myself often drawn to standard definition “on demand” movies on cable (free ones) instead of searching my own high definition or DVD movies. Is there a way to have the convenience of “on demand” and the quality of the original media? We have sold off many of our DVDs with the intent of rebuying the movies on Blu Ray, but we still have about 100 DVDs and maybe 20 Blu Ray discs. What we’re looking for is a way to have those all perhaps ripped to a hard drive that we could then navigate to play the movies. I’m not interested in additional features, deleted scenes, commentaries, just the actual video itself (if I want the others I’ll grab the disc).

I know we can rip the standard def DVDs, but if I bought a Blu Ray drive can those discs be ripped at 1080p quality? If so, how much storage is involved, and what device will play it back at best quality with 7.1 surround sound? Do any media centers do HDMI?

We currently have in our house a 4TB Drobo (2.7TB actual storage space), and I have a Mac Mini that I know many people use as a media center; but if we can get this functionality we would not be opposed to buying Apple TV or some other device. We are a mixed PC/Mac household so software and hardware on either platform will work. Mostly we want easy-to-rip, easy-to-play.

Any suggestions?

What's the best option these days for building a home theater PC (HTPC)?

twiggy — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:09:48 -0800

HD-capable HTPC advice / help? I'm overwhelmed here... XBMC, Boxee, MythTV, Windows Media Center, CableCARDS, Popcorn Hour, Apple TV -- too many options! What should I build to fit my needs within a reasonable cost? I should start by saying I'm plenty tech savvy. I'm not overwhelmed by the terminology. However, I've been putting off building an HTPC for a long time now and the longer I do, the more crazy software/boxes show up that muddy my idea of what I should do!

So, in my ideal world, here's my needs:
- Absolutely HAS to decode 1080p video without dropping frames -- from what I've heard a Mac Mini can't handle 1080p. I'm guessing then that a hacked AppleTV (which I see you can now install XBMC or Boxee on) is also not an option?
- I'd like it to serve as a DVR - I have Comcast Digital Cable, so I may need CableCARDS for this, right? I do have a Comcast DVR, and could live with using that instead, but I can't "copy off" my programming and archive it which sucks.
- I'd like it to also serve as a great media player -- I use XBMC on an original Xbox and I love that...
- Assuming I build something myself - I have no idea what a good video card is that has HDMI output and is reasonably priced. I don't really have much interest in playing games on it, so I don't need the craziest card out there...
- While looks aren't super important (it'll be in a cabinet behind frosted glass), it should at least have a case that will keep it running quietly (unlike Xboxes, which are loud as crap!)
- Future expandability is a big plus, but not 100% necessary as long as it fits today's needs. I love that XBMC is continually updated, has cool plugins, etc, but I'm not 100% married to it.
- I have a Logitech Harmony 890 remote that I love. I've got to at least be able to hack something together to control it with that.

Basically, a machine that runs XBMC and can decode 1080p, combined with a DVR, would be perfect. I just don't know what the ideal way is to build that for a reasonable price.

Then the HTPC world gets more confusing -- there are boxes out there like Popcorn Hour, AppleTV, etc that look like they either do a lot of this, or are hackable to do this stuff.. am I better off going with one of these? I see Popcorn Hour will even act as a NAS and a BitTorrent downloader, which is fantastic, but it doesn't seem to have any recording capabilities.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated - the vast array of options has become too much for even the finest google-fu given my lack of available free time.

How do I set up a dvd player through Media Center?

The Great Big Mulp — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:13:47 -0800

Is there some way to tell the Windows Media Center software just to use a specific TV tuner card input (rca, s-video, etc) avoiding its incessant search for a cable box or its requirements that I use the remote? I know I did it, once ... So, I'm working on a machine for a client and part of the procedure involved trying to find a way to hook up a dvd player to one of the tv-tuner cards so that it will play through the Windows Media Center software (it's an XP Media Center box, service pack 2). After much frustration and poking through the Media Center menu system, I was, eventually, able to tell the program to use a specific video input, then having to fudge through a series of menus in which I had to give a make and model number of cable box that was supposedly connected to the machine. This worked fine.

So, I called the client, had him come by the shop, and was in the process of showing him what I had done to set up a dvd player for use with the Media Center software, but the menus had changed. It would no longer let me manually enter information about a cable box, but insisted upon auto-detecting one (also insisting that I use the remote).

Now, the only thing I can think of that would have changed would be some Windows updates. However, I haven't any idea which update to roll back. Has anyone out there had any experience with this sort of thing? Is there some easy way to find the correct update, or should I just give it a repair installation and start from scratch?

Help me upgrade my DIY HTPC without it becoming a PITA

genial — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:58:00 -0800

With digital OTA coming in February and the possibility of dipping into HD in the near future, help me give my 2 year old HTPC a facelift. I'm working with a ASUS P4S8X-MX board at 3.0Ghz and 2GB of memory. I have a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 MCE in there and a fairly lowend videocard because a needed a way to get TV-out (I believe it's a Radeon 9250 but don't quote me on it).

Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to have this thing be able to receive OTA after the digital switch. We don't get or want cable or satellite and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Instead of spending my money and government coupons on digital boxes that I then have to route through the computer, can I purchase a card that will do that?

I am also looking at the fact that HD is becoming more popular and a nice TV could be purchased in the next 6-12 months that could take advantage of some of that OTA HD stuff. What does it take to support HD recording?

Last and final question. When we set this up we were on XP MCE 2005. We since upgraded to Vista and while we like the interface, I can't help but drool at some of the other software options out there like Plex, Mediaportal, et. al. Something that is easy for the wife to use is of utmost importance but I'm getting a lot more content online these days and adding it to the box (because of a lack of cable/sat) and the Vista Media Center seems less focused on media other than photos and personal videos. Any good recommendations on the software front?

My computer sucks.

trinkatot — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:33:07 -0800

Just how beefy does my media center PC need to be?! I recently built a media center PC from some spare parts I had laying around... It's got an Athlon X2 3800+, 1GB of RAM, and a Western Digital 10,000 RPM SATA drive, and it's running Windows Vista Ultimate. I know that 1GB of RAM is kind of light these days, and that the AMD 3800+ is nothing compared to the new Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, but it's still a pretty passable rig. I figured it would be fine for its intended purposes.

Except, I have a bunch of high resolution (720p and 1080p) video files in MKV format and apparently this machine is not up to the task of playing these files... Playback usually starts off ok, but if there's any sort of action or "busy" scenes with lots of cuts, things start to stutter and stall and while audio usually continues unimpeded, video ends up cutting out for whole minutes at a time.

I've tried both VLC and Windows Media Player.

Apparently, my system is just not up to snuff, and I'm ok with that. But what kind of horsepower do I need under the hood to make sure this stuff will play? Let's set the bar high - like, 8GB 1080p MKV file high...

Oh dear, its the audio media server question again!

softlord — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:32:48 -0800

So, I have about 1400 CDs and I'd like to be able to listen to them at any time from a server at several locations through out the house. Whats new in the world of media servers? Ideally I'd like a storage box that I can rip CDs to that connects to some kind of base unit that transmits wirelessly to receivers connected to my various stereos. Whether this is a full computer or just a NAS is not a concern (although I'd like to avoid having to have a full machine powered on every time i want to listen to music)

Would be great if it could do DVDs as well, but thats not essential.

Is it still Windows Media Center and Soundbridge/Roku/Squeezebox in terms of solutions? Is there an out-of-the-box way to do this at this point?

The thought of ripping 1400 CDs is painful enough without dealing with any additional thoughts of complicated configuring, spotty wireless, etc.