Media Center questions

[Gregg Hill]

Originally posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.music_pictures_video,
but no response.

Hello!

I don't have Vista installed yet, but I want to set it up with an internal
dual-tuner card, probably this one
http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html, and use it as an ATSC
DVR for OTA shows.

1) Can a Vista Ultimate computer running Media Center as a DVR be set to
automatically wake up from S3 and start recording, then go back to sleep
when it is done? I don't want to leave it running all day when on vacation
just to record shows.

2) My Dell Dimension 4700 is a P4 3.0GHz, 3GB RAM, one 250GB SATA II 3.0Gbps
drive for Vista to be installed and one 500GB SATA II 3.0Gbps for the
recordings, with an eVGA NVidia GeForce 7600GT 256MB video card with dual
LCD displays attached.. I believe that to be a reasonable system. Do you?

3) My network is all Gigabit...or at least it was until I had to pull the
PCIe Gigabit NIC from the Dell to make room for the Hauppauge card. There is
only one PCIe slot available, so that leaves me with the onboard 10/100
unless I get a PCI Gigabit NIC. For streaming an HDTV recording to an
"Extender for Windows Media Center" device for playback onto an HDTV, how
much bandwidth does it gobble?

4) I am looking for recommendations for a quality "Extender for Windows
Media Center" device. Any suggestions? Reading the forums for the devices
suggested by Microsoft is depressing, as no one seems to think any of them
work well.

Thank you for your time and suggestions!

Gregg Hill


--

Apostrophes: when in doubt, leave them out! You will be correct more often
than not.

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Its' = completely incorrect usage. Stop it!

 

[Cameron Snyder]

See responses inline --->

 

[Dennis Aston]

As previously mentioned the best experience you will have with an extender
is the xbox's. The graphics are worlds above the others out there the
performance is much smoother menu to menu, and for some reason the display
is just clearer on it. So you know what I am comparing it to I have a HP
MediaSmart 42 inch 1080p display with built in extender and also a seperate
linksys dma2200 attached to a standard 32inch CRT. Price wise I would go
for the xbox arcade, then the new HP MediaSmart Extender they just started
selling not too long ago. The Linksys model I have is ok but the silk
screened buttons on the front wear off after about 1-2 months of use. They
aren't recessed and the plastic buttons are smooth so they didn't last long.

Sorry I can't help with your other questions, my setup is mostly the same as
yours but I have an ATI/AMD setup. Works well but I haven't switched my
analog PVR150 out for any other ATSC cards yet. Look forward to it though.

 

[Gregg Hill]

Cameron,

Thank you for the information!

Gregg

See responses inline --->

 

[Gregg Hill]

Dennis,

Thank you for the information!

Gregg

As previously mentioned the best experience you will have with an extender
is the xbox's. The graphics are worlds above the others out there the
performance is much smoother menu to menu, and for some reason the display
is just clearer on it. So you know what I am comparing it to I have a HP
MediaSmart 42 inch 1080p display with built in extender and also a
seperate linksys dma2200 attached to a standard 32inch CRT. Price wise I
would go for the xbox arcade, then the new HP MediaSmart Extender they
just started selling not too long ago. The Linksys model I have is ok but
the silk screened buttons on the front wear off after about 1-2 months of
use. They aren't recessed and the plastic buttons are smooth so they
didn't last long.

Sorry I can't help with your other questions, my setup is mostly the same
as yours but I have an ATI/AMD setup. Works well but I haven't switched
my analog PVR150 out for any other ATSC cards yet. Look forward to it
though.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Uh - if you're going to answer inline, how about not putting your answers
after the quotation markers? Those are the ">" marks in column 1...

That is, start your text in column 1 without putting or keeping a ">" in
that column.

Then your answers won't be hidden. Well, "obscured" is a better word.

 

[Gary Mount]

Your computer will wake up even from hibernation to record TV, then sleep or
hibernate again according to how you have set up the sleep function.
I used a P4 2.6GHz 2GB RAM, one 300GB and one 500 GB to record TV for a
couple of years until the nearly 6 year old system failed two weeks ago.
Now I have a i7 system I put together myself.

One problem I have found with my new system is that I can only use 2GB of my
6GB of RAM with my two Hauppauge TV tuners, model PVR-150 when using 64 bit
Windows.

A test of my wireless network with an XBOX extender said that my 55 Mbs was
fast enough for HD video, so 100 Mbs should be plenty for HD video.

 

[Gregg Hill]

Dennis,

Do you know if one card is better than another, or is it just personal
preference?

http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonder650/PCIe/index.html

http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

Gregg

 

[Gregg Hill]

Gary,

Thank you for the extra info. I think I'll start installing Vista and get on
with life. I am going to get a card and start recording/viewing just on the
PC, then worry about an extender later. Maybe more will come on the market
in a few months.

Gregg

 

[Gregg Hill]

Gary, et al,

I installed Vista Ultimate SP1, installed Office 2007, QuickBooks, and a few
other things, did all the service packs, etc, then started reading more
about the TV Pack 2008 and Extenders for Windows Media Center.

I installed a Hauppauge 2250 (#1213, dual ATSC/analog) card with Media
Center kit. All the posts regarding the TV Pack 2008 said to install it
right after doing a complete re-installation of Vista, but I just installed
it in the current setup, right after installing the card and drivers (I
imaged the system prior to install...just in case!). The installation was
flawless, the tuner was recognized as two ATSC digital tuners, and it works
great. Picture clarity is amazing on HD shows and channel numbers are the
same format (2.1, 4.1, 4.2, etc) as on my Channel Master CM-7000 DTV
converter box for the HDTV. It only has 480i output, so I'll probably get an
actual HDTV tuner. Seeing the MASSIVELY BETTER quality of the DTV vs. analog
picture has bitten me hard. I want more!

Gigabit NICs are dirt cheap and I had a spare PCI slot, so I popped one into
the system so that working on the server will still be good.

Now all I have to do is find a media center extender that will play the new
WTV format of the TV Pack 2008 (and Windows 7??) recordings. So many from
which to choose, but none under $200 getting good reviews. I do not want an
Xbox 360 in my living room...too noisy from what I've read.

I thank everyone for their input!

Gregg Hill