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vanilla slimfast posted:You might consider doing software RAID instead of trying to deal with a RAID controller. There will be a minor performance hit, but for your purposes it will probably work fine. I'm not really a linux person, and I've actually decided that I'd be happy with mirroring. It's been a few years since I've bought a hard drive and didn't realize 1.5TB is only a $130 purchase. 1.5TB would double my available space now, so buying two for $260 and mirroring is actually a great solution that should last a long time. Buying three 750GB for raid 5 is needlessly complicated for my purposes. If I thought I'd be adding to my raid a lot I'd do raid5, but realistically I'd add maybe once every few years, so buying two at a time isn't bad considering drives keep getting bigger/cheaper. Mirroring can't be done in XP though. Damnit. Anybody know a cheap Raid1 solution for XP?
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Apr 24, 2009 22:32
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Has anyone bought one of the super-cheap USB IR remotes on eBay? I don't need the remote so it seems silly to spend $25-30 at newegg just to throw away half of the package. For instance: http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-Wireless-Rem...%3A1%7C294%3A50 But of course there are no real reviews on eBay, so who knows whether this stuff will work. Edit: Well, I just ended up buying one of the $25-30 ones, because it's part of a combo on NewEgg so it's $10 off. smackfu fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Apr 26, 2009 |
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Apr 26, 2009 05:55
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smackfu posted:Edit: Well, I just ended up buying one of the $25-30 ones, because it's part of a combo on NewEgg so it's $10 off. Good, because those cheap eBay ones are garbage. Programming it for use in XBMC was a nightmare and never properly worked. I ended up using an original Xbox receiver and a Harmony.
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Apr 26, 2009 17:53
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TheDingo posted:Good, because those cheap eBay ones are garbage. Programming it for use in XBMC was a nightmare and never properly worked. I ended up using an original Xbox receiver and a Harmony.
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Apr 26, 2009 18:45
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smackfu posted:Oh, you can use an original Xbox receiver? I have a couple of those. Is there a converter to make it standard USB? They sell Xbox->USB converters or you can harvest a USB cable and solder it yourself.
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Apr 26, 2009 19:38
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TheDingo posted:They sell Xbox->USB converters or you can harvest a USB cable and solder it yourself. I tried doing this and just gave up.. it wasn't as pretty as I wanted it to be so I just bought this remote (it was on sale for ~$25 CAD) and it works perfectly in XBMC using EventGuide or whatever that remote software is called. Comes with a nice USB receiver and the remote is surprisingly decent as well.
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Apr 27, 2009 07:07
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Rickets posted:I tried doing this and just gave up... Yeah, it depends on how you want to mount it. I just soldered and sealed the wires, connected it to a spare USB header on my motherboard, drilled a hole in the external 3.5" cover of my case, and hot glued the whole board to it with just the IR sensor exposed. Took about 30 minutes total and it was free thanks to having the spare parts around. It's a good way to go because the Harmony (and most universal remotes) have support for the Xbox remote and someone posted an simple installer on the XBMC forums that sets everything up for EventGuide automatically. Worked on the first try and I have not had to do any setup or tweaking.
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Apr 27, 2009 07:18
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ynotony posted:Mirroring can't be done in XP though. Damnit. Anybody know a cheap Raid1 solution for XP? If you are brave, there is a way to modify some system files in XP to turn on RAID support (the same support that is built into the Windows Server line). I had a desktop PC running like this for a while and it seemed to work fine
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Apr 27, 2009 16:17
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TheDingo posted:I think a better question would be if there is any DVD playback software out on hte PC that doesn't upscale anymore. Just pick up a retail package BD drive. If for some crazy reason the included player doesn't support DVD upscaling, you can use one of the many free programs out there that will. Hell, I think Vista's built in DVD player does. You're being a bit unfair because no one means "stretching the picture to fit your screen" when they say upscaling (I know you're just being technical). He's referring to the fact that most programs do a lovely job of it. For example, a cheap Apex DVD player that upscales DVD to 1080 will not do as good of a job as a PS3. I'm not too sure what the PC equivalent of a PS3 would be (probably some FFDShow sharpness settings or something) but I'm sure that's what he meant. Jensen posted:I have the green and no, it isn't as fast as a "normal" hard drive but it's plenty fast to stream 1080p content without stuttering. I've been reading lots of bad things about the green drives though, something to do with the heads constantly starting and stopping. Might be paranoia but I wouldn't trust 1.5TB of data to any questionable drive. I'll probably get a small SSD for the OS and 2 1.5TB hard drives as soon as a company other than Seagate makes the drat things in non-green models.
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Apr 27, 2009 17:33
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Milky_Sauce posted:You're being a bit unfair because no one means "stretching the picture to fit your screen" when they say upscaling (I know you're just being technical). He's referring to the fact that most programs do a lovely job of it. For example, a cheap Apex DVD player that upscales DVD to 1080 will not do as good of a job as a PS3. I'm not too sure what the PC equivalent of a PS3 would be (probably some FFDShow sharpness settings or something) but I'm sure that's what he meant. I'm well aware of the difference between scaling and upscaling, I'm just saying that you are hard pressed to find a program anymore that doesn't feature any form of a "smoothing" algorithm. Any HTPC front end I've used has good settings. When I was still using it, the upscaling on XBMC on the massively underpowered Xbox was actually better than the upscaling on my Samsung BD player. A quick Google search shows that Vista's DVD player as well as MCE does not upscale, but pretty much any of the major third party software players support it as well as the FFDShow filter set.
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Apr 27, 2009 17:57
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vanilla slimfast posted:If you are brave, there is a way to modify some system files in XP to turn on RAID support (the same support that is built into the Windows Server line). I had a desktop PC running like this for a while and it seemed to work fine I'm a pussy. I guess I might eventually want 4 drives and I'm limited with my hardware, so a card is the only solution. For simple mirroring, would I be fine with a cheap $100 thing?
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Apr 28, 2009 05:06
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CloFan posted:Edit- also is this tuner card/remote any good? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100014 It suites my needs (especially low profile), and doesn't seem to have many bad reviews. For anyone that cares, I'm returning this, and getting a Hauppauge 2250. The reason is because I can't record and watch another show at the same time with this card- I didn't do enough research to begin with. Also, I can't seem to tune any clear QAM stations, which is also important. Edit- After reading a bunch more I just don't know. I want a card that is low profile, will let me tune clear QAM HD stations (I've only got the locals available to me, so just those), and record something while watching something else, so I guess that means dual tuner? CloFan fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Apr 28, 2009 |
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Apr 28, 2009 06:19
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CloFan posted:For anyone that cares, I'm returning this, and getting a Hauppauge 2250. The reason is because I can't record and watch another show at the same time with this card- I didn't do enough research to begin with. Also, I can't seem to tune any clear QAM stations, which is also important. Yes, in order to watch something and record something else, you'll need two tuners. Some cards have two tuners, or you could run two tuner cards.
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Apr 28, 2009 15:12
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I've got a PVR-150 card and am just curious if that's the problem why any TV(cable, not running thru a set-top box) I view is 4:3 and cutoff on the networks that I know are broadcasting in widescreen Usual player is Vista media center but its the same in any other applications
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Apr 28, 2009 16:40
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Cuddly Coach posted:I've got a PVR-150 card and am just curious if that's the problem why any TV(cable, not running thru a set-top box) I view is 4:3 and cutoff on the networks that I know are broadcasting in widescreen Analog cable (NTSC) only broadcasts in 480i, and does not support anamorphic display. You would need to get a digital tuner (something that can handle QAM) in order to get the digital HD widescreen versions of those same channels.
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Apr 28, 2009 19:38
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ynotony posted:I'm a pussy. I guess I might eventually want 4 drives and I'm limited with my hardware, so a card is the only solution. For simple mirroring, would I be fine with a cheap $100 thing? Probably. I would just check reviews/ratings around the net for the models you are looking at, and make sure it has good compatibility with your OS choice. Also, a hardware RAID solution will always perform better than a software solution.
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Apr 28, 2009 19:39
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It's been a while since I homebuilt a PC, and I kind of forgot how painful it can be. Here's the stuff I bought: DVD BURN SAMSUNG|SH-S223Q LS % - OEM $25.99 MEM 1Gx2|OCZ DII800 OCZ2VU8002GK - Retail $25.99 CPU INTEL|PDC E5200 2.5G 2M R - Retail $69.99 MB GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H 9400 RT - Retail $129.99 HTPC CASE COMPUCASE|7K09 RT - Retail $48.99 DIGI REMOTE EDATA TECH DEC-200B R - Retail $29.99 Problems so far: 1) Wow, this is a small case. You have to take out the power supply entirely to swap out the hard drive. And the DVD drive sits very tight above the motherboard -- right above where the power cables plug in. The only place to route the cables is across the path of the front fan, which can't be great. (Funny thing is that it's not really that small a case, it's just very short.) 2) The video card driver inexplicably doesn't work in Vista. Works fine in XP, which really makes me wonder. This was the bane of my existence last night. May try to install Win 7 to see if it magically works. 3) The remote doesn't work in XP. No drivers for the sensor. Works fine in Vista, of course. Now I'm not sure it was supposed to work in XP, but it doesn't, and this is a problem due to (2) above. 4) Pretty dumb for them to put English labels for power and reset on the front of the case, that are sideways if you use it oriented horizontally. OTOH, getting the optical SPDIF sound to work was completely painless, and DTS, etc are getting passed through to the receiver with no issues. If I can work out the remote issue, it will definitely be usable.
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Apr 29, 2009 14:43
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smackfu posted:2) The video card driver inexplicably doesn't work in Vista. Works fine in XP, which really makes me wonder. This was the bane of my existence last night. May try to install Win 7 to see if it magically works. That's because there's separate drivers for XP and Vista.
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Apr 29, 2009 14:50
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Thermopyle posted:That's because there's separate drivers for XP and Vista.
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Apr 29, 2009 15:07
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smackfu posted:I wish it was that simple. I'm installing the drivers off the CD, it all seems to work fine, but then Vista disables the video card driver (code 43 error I believe) after I reboot and uses the VGA fallback one. I tried using the latest from nVidia and no joy there either. Did you try the ones I linked to?
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Apr 29, 2009 18:37
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No, I had to wipeout the Vista install for now. Will give a shot in a bit. On the plus side, I did get the remote working. So Vista is much lower priority.
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Apr 29, 2009 18:42
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Here is a pretty in depth thread about the Zotac miniITX I found. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1111996 it sounds almost perfect. Jump to page 5(I think) for hands on reviews. The only thing Im not liking from it is the lack of wake from USB support :/ edit - looks like they found a workaround: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999191&Tpk=Antec%20Mult-Station%20Basic I mean, its not really a big deal to me, but I could see how being able to turn it on via remote is appealing to couch potatoes. rugbert fucked around with this message at 19:50 on May 3, 2009 |
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May 3, 2009 19:46
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What skins for MythTV are not total rear end? A great deal of them are.
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May 4, 2009 20:56
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Share Bear posted:What skins for MythTV are not total rear end? A great deal of them are. Only one I've found worth a drat is MePo http://home.comcast.net/~zdzisekg/ Another dude made a much better matching OSD to go with it (compared to the OSD that comes with the MePo theme itself) http://www.ronfrazier.net/mythtv/
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May 5, 2009 04:15
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Anyone have a good recommendation for a (preferably free) backend-only server with EPG/scheduling support for XP? I want to record shows from ATSC, trancode to MP4, and copy them to my network drive for viewing on my xbox 360. I have a Hauppage 950Q and Pinnacle PC HDTV PCI for tuning, though I'm only using the PC HDTV right now since I'm testing on an older system with no USB 2.0. Web interface would be preferable, tho I could remote in if needed, would just prefer not to. Ones I'm aware of are: Mediaportal (TV-server install only) GB-PVR Freevo?
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May 10, 2009 13:45
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Does anyone know if the Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H supports two monitors?
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May 10, 2009 17:00
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It does, but it has to be VGA+DVI or VGA+HDMI, can't do HDMI+DVI Also, seconding the backend request by clockworx Dobermaniac fucked around with this message at 18:30 on May 10, 2009 |
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May 10, 2009 18:27
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I have an old Series2 TiVo unit.. is there anything I can do with it to turn it into a kickass HTPC?
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May 11, 2009 22:17
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trilljester posted:I have an old Series2 TiVo unit.. is there anything I can do with it to turn it into a kickass HTPC? There are some S2 hacks you can do to it (e.g. modifying the linux kernel that tivo runs on), which add things like a webserver, etc. But as far as putting something cool like XBMC on it, nope. You'd be better off gutting the HDD(s) out of it and rolling your own
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May 11, 2009 23:11
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The processors in a Tivo are random junk that can run Linux: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirecTiVo#Series2_Standalone The RAM is also crazy low. The only reason they can handle video is that they use a dedicated encoder/decoder chip. The original XBox is a much more powerful system. Although again, very RAM limited.
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May 11, 2009 23:51
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Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link, I guess I'm better off selling this thing or setting up a webserver or what not.
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May 12, 2009 00:48
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Sell it. Depending on the unit, its a PowerPC or MIPS processor, and the only one with a little bit of backbone is the series 3 (barely) Really not worth the time.
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May 13, 2009 18:18
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I just now found this thread, wish I had read it earlier. I put this together yesterday: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10697292 Works like a charm so far, both with video and some games. I could've shaved the price down a bit more but that case is really, really nice. The whole set up is really quiet with just two fans. If anybody's looking for a build in the $400ish range, I'd recommend this one.
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May 16, 2009 20:29
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Crossposting from the mediaportal forums: Right now I've got the following: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-73PVM-S2H (with onboard Nvidia 7100, HDMI out) Processor: Intel E5200 RAM: 2gb Kingston DDR2 800 Network: Belkin Wireless G PCI adapter And I need a case, and TV Tuners. I had a case, but it's low profile and that severely limits the cards I can use and will work with Media Portal. I need to be able to tune regular analog cable, and my local HD channels (Clear QAM? I don't know, but my television can do it no problem). I'd like to be able to record something while watching something else, be it any combination of HD/analog. So I suppose two hybrid tuners would be a good choice for me. I don't need a remote, but I do need an IR receiver for my Harmony remote.
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May 16, 2009 20:40
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So what exactly are you asking for, what tuner you should use? I do not know about its support in mediaportal, but I would suggest an Hauppauge HVR-2250. Supports two streams, analog or digital and is half height. Its 1x PCI Express however.
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May 18, 2009 02:02
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Ryokurin posted:So what exactly are you asking for, what tuner you should use? I do not know about its support in mediaportal, but I would suggest an Hauppauge HVR-2250. Supports two streams, analog or digital and is half height. Its 1x PCI Express however. I'm actually looking pretty heavily at that one, as I missed it doing some research. It's a hardware encoding dual tuner, so it should do what I want I'm pretty sure. And I wouldn't have to get a new case, either.
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May 18, 2009 05:43
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CloFan posted:I'm actually looking pretty heavily at that one, as I missed it doing some research. It's a hardware encoding dual tuner, so it should do what I want I'm pretty sure. And I wouldn't have to get a new case, either. Hardware encoding only applies to analog capture, QAM is essentially just stream capture to disk. Be sure to check the silicon dust channel lineup page to see what other clear digital channels might be available on your local cable provider. Some people have reported getting their entire "basic" channel lineup via clear QAM, which would render analog capture unnecessary http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/channels
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May 18, 2009 18:18
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I have the ASROCK AOD790GX paired with an X2 4850e So far it's working great, the best part is that I'm hardly using any power and the system is basically silent. Using CoreAVC I can playback 1080P without any issues. My initial plan was to upgrade the onboard video card if it wasn't up to the task but so far it works great and uses very little energy. The best part is that I didn't have to upgrade my power supply which saved me a lot of cash. If you're like me and upgrading an old system I highly recommend this route. Only issue encountered so far: The sound using the HDMI adapter didn't seem to want to work. I had to install the generic catalyst drivers to get them going. If you do this make sure you run the ATI uninstall program because otherwise it will corrupt your catalyst control center to hell- I made that mistake and only got it working by rolling back the system.
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May 22, 2009 20:04
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I've been looking at the Sonata Designer that's on sale right now for an HTPC. What do you guys think? It's suppose to be very silent, and I imagine I can just place it on its side; I don't plan to use the dvd player all that much.
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May 23, 2009 18:53
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Femur posted:I've been looking at the Sonata Designer that's on sale right now for an HTPC. What do you guys think? It's suppose to be very silent, and I imagine I can just place it on its side; I don't plan to use the dvd player all that much. Same case as the P150 or SOLO, so check out reviews for that. It is very quiet with the HDD suspension. However, I prefer mATX and the "desktop" (sideways) form for HTPCs. I bought the 2480 for my HTPC and the SOLO for my desktop.
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May 24, 2009 07:12
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