Media Centre PCs

[imback]

Thanks I'll check out the site now.

I had considerd the xbox option, but I want something a little more stylish to be 100% honest.

[SOSAGES]

yep - my plan is just to hide the bugger also the remotye control works with the media player so thats pretty niffty ..

only other issue is "sound" as the fan in the xbox may get on ur nerves, but its easy enough to replace with a super quiet one. i think it just uses 60mm fans so any will do not sure will open up me box when i get it monday.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Neil

That is correct.

Huh?

How to Buy a Media Center PC

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is a new Windows XP operating system available only on Media Center personal computers. Because of its special hardware feature requirements, Media Center PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 are available only from Microsoft PC manufacturer partners. For more information about the available Media Center PC configurations, view the Media Center PC Hardware Showcase. To learn more about Media Center PC hardware, see What Are Media Center PCs?

Media Center PCs are now available from the retailers listed below. You can also shop and order directly from the manufacturers listed.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...uy/default.asp

[imback]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Huh?

How to Buy a Media Center PC

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is a new Windows XP operating system available only on Media Center personal computers. Because of its special hardware feature requirements, Media Center PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 are available only from Microsoft PC manufacturer partners. For more information about the available Media Center PC configurations, view the Media Center PC Hardware Showcase. To learn more about Media Center PC hardware, see What Are Media Center PCs?

Media Center PCs are now available from the retailers listed below. You can also shop and order directly from the manufacturers listed.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...uy/default.asp

But the difference in software (between this and XP) is only very slight to be honest, and you would loose very little functionality.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by imback

But the difference in software (between this and XP) is only very slight to be honest, and you would loose very little functionality.

It's in the menus - MCE can be run in traditional XP mode.

How do you find out what the bandwidth of your router is? Seems a little crazy that it cannot even keep up with the 10 of the 10/100 bandwidth.

Why declare 10/100 if the throughput is only 2Mb?

[altis]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

How do you find out what the bandwidth of your router is?

RTFM - well that's what I did in my case Failing that you could try emailing the manufacturer but I doubt you'll get a reply.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Why declare 10/100 if the throughput is only 2Mb?

I think it's called marketing!

For this application you may well be better off with a hub instead of a switch. These work at wire speeds. If you need to, then you can also plug the 'up' port of the hub into the router.

Alternatively, buy a commercial switch (much more expensive) where the throughput is specified or wait around for a bit. I'm sure it won't be long before AV-enabled domestic switch/routers appear. They'll probably handle multicast packets efficiently too.

Edit There's some here:
http://www.redspan.com/acatalog/Onli...gabit_177.html

[SOSAGES]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Huh?

How to Buy a Media Center PC

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 is a new Windows XP operating system available only on Media Center personal computers. Because of its special hardware feature requirements, Media Center PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 are available only from Microsoft PC manufacturer partners. For more information about the available Media Center PC configurations, view the Media Center PC Hardware Showcase. To learn more about Media Center PC hardware, see What Are Media Center PCs?

Media Center PCs are now available from the retailers listed below. You can also shop and order directly from the manufacturers listed.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...uy/default.asp

Huh?

thats what Neil said or maybe i missed your point

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

Huh?

thats what Neil said or maybe i missed your point

He said that is correct - I had to look as I was not sure whether they had changed the rules, or what you said was correct. So yes that is what Neil said I was merely clarifying.

Originally Posted by altis

RTFM - well that's what I did in my case Failing that you could try emailing the manufacturer but I doubt you'll get a reply.

I think it's called marketing!

I did - Appendix G Specifications - really does not help.
ftp://ftp.linksys.com/international/...v1.1_uk_ug.pdf
but at least I know I can use it in 40deg heat and 85% humidity this summer.

Originally Posted by altis

For this application you may well be better off with a hub instead of a switch. These work at wire speeds. If you need to, then you can also plug the 'up' port of the hub into the router.

Alternatively, buy a commercial switch (much more expensive) where the throughput is specified or wait around for a bit. I'm sure it won't be long before AV-enabled domestic switch/routers appear. They'll probably handle multicast packets efficiently too.

Edit There's some here:
http://www.redspan.com/acatalog/Onli...gabit_177.html

Not a bad price for the Linksys one.

[altis]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

...but at least I know I can use it in 40deg heat and 85% humidity this summer.

Don't forget that your 54 mbps wireless is a shared resource. If device A wants to send a packet to device B then A transmits it to the base station (router) and this re-transmits it on to B. Only one station can transmit at a time and, unless it directly involves the router, each packet is transmitted twice. With a wired network you can have 100 mbps in each direction down each cable all at the same time - an enormous increase in bandwidth.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Not a bad price for the Linksys one.

Yes - I was surprised myself!

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by altis

Don't forget that your 54 mbps wireless is a shared resource. If device A wants to send a packet to device B then A transmits it to the base station (router) and this re-transmits it on to B. Only one station can transmit at a time and, unless it directly involves the router, each packet is transmitted twice. With a wired network you can have 100 mbps in each direction down each cable all at the same time - an enormous increase in bandwidth.

I was looking at the wired bit, can I send at 100Mbs from ether port 1 to ether port 4? I got the impression from your post 15 that would not be the case. To increase the bandwidth of the wireless, I suppose you could put two WAPs on the network?

[altis]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

I was looking at the wired bit, can I send at 100Mbs from ether port 1 to ether port 4?

The figure that I quoted above is for the SMC router that I bought perhaps two years ago. I guess that they may well be faster now but, since Linksys are notably quiet about it, I doubt that you will see anything like wire speeds.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

To increase the bandwidth of the wireless, I suppose you could put two WAPs on the network?

I think this is effectively what Atheros have done with their 108Mbps Super G chipset.

[Neil]

Critical update for Windows XP Media Center Edition

Symptoms

This update provides stability and performance enhancements, and resolves the following issues:

If you try to record an episode of a series that has been removed from the schedule, the whole series is deleted. (For example, if you schedule a series to record, cancel the current episode from recording, and then schedule the current episode to record by using Guide or the One Touch Record feature. If you do this, the current episode is recorded but the rest of the series is deleted.)

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=815487

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by altis

RTFM - well that's what I did in my case Failing that you could try emailing the manufacturer but I doubt you'll get a reply.

I think it's called marketing!

For this application you may well be better off with a hub instead of a switch. These work at wire speeds. If you need to, then you can also plug the 'up' port of the hub into the router.

Alternatively, buy a commercial switch (much more expensive) where the throughput is specified or wait around for a bit. I'm sure it won't be long before AV-enabled domestic switch/routers appear. They'll probably handle multicast packets efficiently too.

Edit There's some here:
http://www.redspan.com/acatalog/Onli...gabit_177.html

Altis - shifting some large files around last night (outlook.pst), I have a rough answer on the Linksys boxes. The 200Mb Outlook.pst took 10 mins to move from the laptop to desktop wirelessly at 11Mbs. It took 2 minutes to move from desktop to desktop (wired), thus Linksys routers operate at about 50-60Mbs. Not bad really - reasonable to call it 10/100 I guess.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by imback

So what kind of spec would be needed to make this a usable bit of kit, for streaming movies via a network onto TV etc etc

Well I use a shuttle X-PC for my living room.
AMD Duron 1.1Ghz
Shuttle X-PC SN41G2 (Nforce2 Chipset with integrated IGP)
2X128MB PC2700 RAM from Crucial
An old UDMA2 3.2GB hdd
16X slot loading Pioneer DVD-ROM
D-Link DWL-G520 Wireless G Network card
And an ATi RF Remote Wonder to control it all

If you can scrounge up some second hand parts (hdd, cpu, DVD) like I did, you could build the lot for about £200, if you cant scrounge up these parts that will bring your total upto about £300.

All it takes is a little customisation to windows XP (Font sizes etc) and its very usable on a TV.

EDIT: heres a picture if anybodys interested....

[altis]

200 megabytes = 1600 megabits
10 minutes = 600 seconds
2 minutes = 120 seconds

So, by my calcs:
wireless transfer rate = 1600 / 600 = 2.6 megabits per second
wired transfer rate = 1600 / 120 = 13.3 megabits per second

I think that's the same sort of speeds as I'm seeing - I'll check tomorrow.