Finished Media Center

[alferret]

Finally built our media center yesterday out of stuff I had hanging about and a couple of new components.

Asus P5B (old)
C2D E6750 (old)
2gb DDR2 800 (old)
Liteon DVD (old)
500gb SATA II (new)
Media Center case (new)
Sapphire 2400pro with HDMI out (old)
Wireless logitech KB + M (new)

Running vista ultimate hooked up to a 37" 1080p Sharp.

Pretty pleased with the results

I'll pop up a pic or 2 later when I get the chance.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by alferret

Finally built our media center yesterday out of stuff I had hanging about and a couple of new components.

Asus P5B (old)
C2D E6750 (old)
2gb DDR2 800 (old)
Liteon DVD (old)
500gb SATA II (new)
Media Center case (new)
Sapphire 2400pro with HDMI out (old)
Wireless logitech KB + M (new)

Running vista ultimate hooked up to a 37" 1080p Sharp.

Pretty pleased with the results

I'll pop up a pic or 2 later when I get the chance.

Are you using Windows Media Centre to play your media etc?

[alferret]

media center for DVD content K-Lite for HD\MKV etc.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by alferret

media center for DVD content K-Lite for HD\MKV etc.

Have you tried media portal or XBMC? Both very good and although the built in mce looks slightly better than media portal it does'nt come close to the functionality of it. XBMC beats the built in mce for both style and performance in my opinion but it is let down by the difficult config.

Just something maybe worth considering

media centre software imo is only needed if you are recording tv or need a tuner if you are just playing media files its not needed at all

[alferret]

Yup agree with that Zing, a HD sat TV card is in the offing within a few weeks.

Seen XBMC on modded Xbox's funnily enough, hadnt heard of media portal though and I didnt realise XMBC was availiable on Win.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

media centre software imo is only needed if you are recording tv or need a tuner if you are just playing media files its not needed at all

That really depends on who is using the system and how computer savvy they are. I think another factor is your control method, since most people who aren't computer savvy wouldn't feel comfortable controlling the media centre with a keyboard and/or mouse that really only leaves you with a remote control. Many people find the remote more comfortable and familiar since so many other devices use them plus abviously it is a fraction of the size of a keyboard mouse combo which makes it much more fitting for a living room.
For example my mum has a media centre system I first built for her around 8 years ago, obviously back when it was first built there was no MCE software that I knew of and we had to use things like windows explorer to do our navigation using a wireless mouse. She never really got the hang of it and after four years I found I still had to load movies up for her. At this point windows MCE had been released so I switched her to that and bought a remote control to see how she managed and she pretty much mastered the control of that within a week or so. Obviously windows xp mce is pretty poor (not much better in vista) and has so many issues that it wasn't long before I looked into an alternative which was when I discovered Media portal, by default it looks similar to the original windows mce but is much easier to control when configured and has so many more features. At first I thought it may have been a bit much for my mum but she transitioned between MCE to Portal in less than a week which I was pretty pleased with.
There are also lots of nice little bonuses to having media centre software like having a nice interface, the ability to resume playback on every type of media file which I have never seen on any other media player aside from when resuming dvd playback.
There is also the fact that the system can be used as normal without any extra configuration when the software is closed as system fonts don't have to be messed with to make the explorer text readable on the tv.

[altis]

Many years ago I saw ShowShifter in action. It was impressive then.

http://showshifter.showshiftergroup.com/

Originally Posted by ZrByte

That really depends on who is using the system and how computer savvy they are. I think another factor is your control method, since most people who aren't computer savvy wouldn't feel comfortable controlling the media centre with a keyboard and/or mouse that really only leaves you with a remote control. Many people find the remote more comfortable and familiar since so many other devices use them plus abviously it is a fraction of the size of a keyboard mouse combo which makes it much more fitting for a living room.
For example my mum has a media centre system I first built for her around 8 years ago, obviously back when it was first built there was no MCE software that I knew of and we had to use things like windows explorer to do our navigation using a wireless mouse. She never really got the hang of it and after four years I found I still had to load movies up for her. At this point windows MCE had been released so I switched her to that and bought a remote control to see how she managed and she pretty much mastered the control of that within a week or so. Obviously windows xp mce is pretty poor (not much better in vista) and has so many issues that it wasn't long before I looked into an alternative which was when I discovered Media portal, by default it looks similar to the original windows mce but is much easier to control when configured and has so many more features. At first I thought it may have been a bit much for my mum but she transitioned between MCE to Portal in less than a week which I was pretty pleased with.
There are also lots of nice little bonuses to having media centre software like having a nice interface, the ability to resume playback on every type of media file which I have never seen on any other media player aside from when resuming dvd playback.
There is also the fact that the system can be used as normal without any extra configuration when the software is closed as system fonts don't have to be messed with to make the explorer text readable on the tv.

I tried XBMC and it did not like multi screen set ups in the slightest . It did not play audio from mkv extended files (although there most likely is a plug in) you would have to set it up for the same none savvy person as the interface beyond the play screen is awful so everytime the none savvy consumer wants more media you would have to set it up. To work by default it needs directories to put the media in so new media has to be put in said directory so if the user can do that the user can open a window and click a file I think windows media player libaries all the same files in a much simpler way and all you lose is playback from where you last watched which is easy to navigate back to anyway.

And the system can be used as normal without doing anything

[punky]

Boxee is the in thing these days. It is free and also extendable by plugings which is good

what media centre case did you get?

Ive just purchased a Sony 40" 1080p 24p tv and I was gonna build a media centre for it but seeing as my pc is in the same room I think it would be an unnessarcary expence lol . I must say though I have just got it set up via composite tv out as the dvi ports are both in use by the projector and the monitor ,I get 1024:768 max res through composite but the picture it gives is awesome. I am going to set it up over componant. One thing is for sure I will not be installing anything extra to play my media and I will be navigating via a cordless mouse with 2 buttons and a scroll wheel tell me whats easier than that

---------- Post added at 10:04 ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 ----------

Originally Posted by punky

Boxee is the in thing these days. It is free and also extendable by plugings which is good

what media centre case did you get?

Mac and Nix only?
Does it play everything out the box lol

[punky]

I thought it was PC as well, but doesn't suppose it matter if it gives you a live CD. They have a different ethos to Ubuntu so i'm sure it will come with all reasonable codecs

[alferret]

Originally Posted by punky

what media centre case did you get?

Wasnt a good looking one £30'ish from a local retailer.
Trendsonic Opera.
http://www.mplex.com/category-38/1714.html
Didnt pay their price tho.
Changed the GC for an Asus 4350.

Originally Posted by punky

I thought it was PC as well, but doesn't suppose it matter if it gives you a live CD. They have a different ethos to Ubuntu so i'm sure it will come with all reasonable codecs

That would only be any good if it boots to ram . I have not looked but it will be way to slow if it doesnt and if it does how much does it use does it leave enough for decoding heavy files

Its in developement for windows btw

Can not find any info of a live cd? its a stand alone app isnt it not a full operating system?

[The Hitman]

[QUOTE=zinglebarb;34778574]Ive just purchased a Sony 40" 1080p 24p tv and I was gonna build a media centre for it but seeing as my pc is in the same room I think it would be an unnessarcary expence lol . I must say though I have just got it set up via composite tv out as the dvi ports are both in use by the projector and the monitor ,I get 1024:768 max res through composite but the picture it gives is awesome. I am going to set it up over componant. One thing is for sure I will not be installing anything extra to play my media and I will be navigating via a cordless mouse with 2 buttons and a scroll wheel tell me whats easier than that

Ahh so it was you yesterday I saw at the skip. In yer 4x4 with a big cardboard box that said sony on it