get MCE working first time

[VanShania]

No need for reformatting every time mce doesn't work. For a proper fresh
install, take all pci boards out, Load XP MCE, download all updates(don't
use update disk at all), load motherboard drivers, Direct X 9c, install each
pci board and load its drivers seperately, vidcard drivers, then your
multimedia PVR software, ( I reinstalled Direct X 9C at this point also)
Nero Express or equivalent, newer version of a dvd player software(powerdvd
ver. 5 or 6, this maybe unnecessary if using All-in-Wonder Vidcards. Haven't
had time to test). Make a restore point. Do not run MCE yet. Now you have to
initialize your dvd decoders and such by running your pvr software, playing
a dvd, and I also record a segment from tv and play it on nero's video
editing "make dvd" software. Restart your computer and then setup MCE.
Should have no problems. If you do, use sytem restore and do it again. Make
sure you do all your restarts as requested.

I use an All-in-Wonder 9800 pro which only works with the 6.8 drivers and
the 9.15 multimedia centre software. Excellent picture quality. I also have
a MSI ATI Theatre 550 pro which I setup the same way. I don't have them both
in my computer yet, but I hope to soon to record 2 shows at once. The
quality of picture using the MSI tuner is slightly inferior to the AIW which
is why I went back to ATI products. I don't use ati's software except for
their file player as that software is very poor. But MCE records a fine
picture without problems.


--
A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4

 

[Wes Newell]

No need for reformatting every time mce doesn't work. For a proper fresh
install, take all pci boards out, Load XP MCE, download all updates(don't
use update disk at all), load motherboard drivers, Direct X 9c, install each
pci board and load its drivers seperately, vidcard drivers, then your
multimedia PVR software, ( I reinstalled Direct X 9C at this point also)
Nero Express or equivalent, newer version of a dvd player software(powerdvd
ver. 5 or 6, this maybe unnecessary if using All-in-Wonder Vidcards. Haven't
had time to test). Make a restore point. Do not run MCE yet. Now you have to
initialize your dvd decoders and such by running your pvr software, playing
a dvd, and I also record a segment from tv and play it on nero's video
editing "make dvd" software. Restart your computer and then setup MCE.
Should have no problems. If you do, use sytem restore and do it again. Make
sure you do all your restarts as requested.

And people say Linux is hard.

I use an All-in-Wonder 9800 pro which only works with the 6.8 drivers
and the 9.15 multimedia centre software. Excellent picture quality. I
also have a MSI ATI Theatre 550 pro which I setup the same way. I don't
have them both in my computer yet, but I hope to soon to record 2 shows
at once. The quality of picture using the MSI tuner is slightly inferior
to the AIW which is why I went back to ATI products. I don't use ati's
software except for their file player as that software is very poor. But
MCE records a fine picture without problems.

I use HDTV (ATSC) tuner cards. I've got 4 in this box now. All 4 cost $100
($25 each). I record up to 4 HDTV shows at once while watching a
previously recorded show. And people thoughout the house at other TV's can
be watching the same recording as me or any of the previously recorded
shows stored on this machine. And all this software cost me exactly $0.
Should I switch to MCE. I don't think so. Oh, and while all that is
going on, this box is also running all the other servers, web, ftp, etc.
And I may be going through the newsgroups like I am now, or playing a
game, or whatever. And the cost of all that software? $0. OS? $0. Virus
software? Oh wait, I don't have to run virus sofware. There aren't any
vrus threats to Linux. if there were also win boxes here I could run virus
software to remove win viruses, but guess what? I don't have any machines
that run Windows.

 

[VanShania]

Looks pretty good Wes. I bought MCE 2005 after seeing a setup at my local
computer parts dealer. It was definately a pain in the ass to setup.How many
hard drives do you use?Any problems with copy protection? Hows the quality
of your tuner recordings? Haven't seen that brand here in Winnipeg(mostly
Haupauge, MSI, ATI,Leadtek).Do you use HDTV compliant TVs/moniters?Tell me
more/everything about your setup. I've been hoping to see how you've done
it/ set it up etc. I've also been wanting to learn more about HDTVand
setting that up but have no idea where to start. Is Myth TV and all the
related software you have in your signature for Linux(notice I spelled it
right today?) systems only? What games do you play? C'mon Wes, spill the
beans!!!!


--
A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4

 

[VanShania]

oh, and do you use splitters to feed all your tuners?

--
A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4

 

[Wes Newell]

oh, and do you use splitters to feed all your tuners?

Yes a 1 to 4 splitter.

 

[Wes Newell]

How many hard drives do you use?

700GB in the main server. But I started iwth just 160GB for video.

Any problems with copy protection?
No.

Hows the quality of your tuner recordings?

A heck of lot better than the Tivo and other DVR's/vcr's I had.

Haven't seen that brand here in Winnipeg.

And you won't. they are cloeout. On ebay only afaik.

Do you use HDTV compliant TVs/moniters?

No. I use computer monitors on 2 systems and an old 32in analog tv on
another. When I can get 1600x1200 resolution from a $69 19" crt why would
I want to spend $700 for an LCD that's limited to 1366x768?

Tell me more/everything about your setup.

Main server with the tuner cards in it runs the backend server and
frontend client. The other locations are just bare PC's hooked up via
network running frontend clients.
Just upgraded this machine (backend server) from a S754 A64 3000+ to an
AM2 with an X2 3800+. The other machines are all S754 Semprons with a
small HDD to boot from, ram and FX5200 video card. That's all.

Is Myth TV and all the related software you have in your signature for
Linux(notice I spelled it right today?) systems only?

Yes. Linux is all I run. It, and all the sfotware is free.

What games do you play?

The ones that come with Linux. All free too. There was about 50 that came
with the distro.

 

[VanShania]

Do you not need a HDTV compliant monitor or tv to enjoy what HDTV has to
offer? Whats up with that?

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, SP:WAW

 

[Wes Newell]

Do you not need a HDTV compliant monitor or tv to enjoy what HDTV has to
offer? Whats up with that?

I'm not sure what you mean by HDTV compliant monitor. To be called HDTV,
the display must be a minimum of 1280x720 non-interlaced. So any computer
monitor you use that will support that resolution at a minimum is
considered capable of displaying HDTV. Most HDTV's you see sold
these days have a native res of 1366x768. These "HDTV's" only support
1280x720 HDTV, more comonly called 720p. Any 1080i content they receive is
downconverted to fit the res they support, just like the 1080i content I
display on my old analog TV is downconerted to 480i (720x480 interlaced).
So for the old Tv I guess one would have to say they are watching HDTV
content but not an HDTV display. even though I can get the same widescreen
as a real HDTV widescreen on the old Tv.

 

[Wes Newell]

And you won't. they are cloeout. On ebay only afaik.

This was just an assumption. The cards I use are closeout models from
Technisat of Germany. They also have a newer rev. that is widely available
but a lot more expensive compared to ones on ebay.

 

[VanShania]

Thanks Wes, just saved me some money.

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, SP:WAW

 

[Wes Newell]

Thanks Wes, just saved me some money.

I just picked up another Air2PC card for $18.94.
Weird. Got out bit on the preveious 2 with a top bid of $25.
Might get another, but put a top bid of $21 on it.

 

[VanShania]

what motherboard do you use?

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
All-in-Wonder 9800Pro 128mb AGP, MSI Theater 550 Pro
X-Fi Extreme Music,Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+
BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, SP:WAW

 

[Wes Newell]

what motherboard do you use?

Was using a Jetway S755MAX, 754 A64 3000+. Just recently changed to a
Gigabyte M55Plus-S3G, AM2 X2 3800+. Both are overkill though. I use 754
semprons on the other frontends. While one can get by with less, I'd use
754 Sempron 2800+'s at a minimum for a standalone with 4 HDTV tuner cards.