ME BIGGD01
02-15-2005, 05:07 AM
I am not sure if I am going to stick with this design. I have been messing with the idea of running some sort of media center in the house and converted the old parts of my old system to be my main unit for this task using Microsoft's Media Center.
System-
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ w/1MBL2
GA-K8NPRO AMD Socket-754 nForce3 150
1 gig pc3200 ram 2 dimms
ATI 9800XT 256 ram VGA card
Haupauge WintTV-PVR150 tv tuner (supports media center)
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
Rackmount Case
Pioneer A04 DVD burner (old but editing will be done on sli-system anyway)
80 gig western digital hard drive with 8MB cache as os drive
2x250 gig maxtor drives with 16MB cache in raid 0 configuration (will plan for over a terabyte within few months).
Ok system is already put together and OS is installed. Since I have been totaly sick the past week and still feel like crap, I have not been able to get into working on the system that much. I have this system setup in the back room where i do most of my work and have a television (old Magnovax but picture looks great).
Now the problem here is that in order to get the media center to the other TV's in the house I need to purchase additional boxes such as the Linksys Media Center extendor or an XBOX with a Media Center extendor. I actually like the Linksys unit but it goes for 300 bucks. I do not have cat6 wire ran through the house (yet:rolleyes: ) and will be having the data streamed wirless which is fine. I am debating this whole thing at this point now because 1st I am not happy with all the protection and spyware in the OS and 2nd the price of the other items that will most likely be out of date any time. I do like the options that MSMC has and the quality looks great. I have not run into any problems yet but I have used all parts that are certified for the setup. I just think I may be wasting my time with this since I want every television in the house to be able to get any media I want without spending so much.
Now there are other option here that I am considering. Haupauge has another device that cost's 100 bucks called the MVP which is a small device that connects to the television and a lan (not wireless which puts a dent in this idea for at the moment) and runs a small MC program with the use of MSMC. Looking at this device, it appears to using a linux os or program that does something similiar to what MSMC is doing. I am really not sure what it looks like but may just buy one to see how it works. Gigabyte also has a device which is 200 bucks and is lan and wireless capable. I like this unit but have not seen it in action because no one has it on display. This is it's own MC that will stream media like the others without the need of MSMC. The cost is pretty low and overall may be worth it buying a few of these devices and putting them at all tv's. I would also not need the MSMC OS which seems to really want to tell microsoft what you are doing at all times. The DRM crap really pisses me off with Microsoft since I like to backup all of my dvd's;) and music.
Ok, so what's the point of this thread? I am asking anyone for advice or suggestions from people who are running some sort media center. If I did not explain what I am trying to design for the home, please ask me so I can clear it up better.
System-
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ w/1MBL2
GA-K8NPRO AMD Socket-754 nForce3 150
1 gig pc3200 ram 2 dimms
ATI 9800XT 256 ram VGA card
Haupauge WintTV-PVR150 tv tuner (supports media center)
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
Rackmount Case
Pioneer A04 DVD burner (old but editing will be done on sli-system anyway)
80 gig western digital hard drive with 8MB cache as os drive
2x250 gig maxtor drives with 16MB cache in raid 0 configuration (will plan for over a terabyte within few months).
Ok system is already put together and OS is installed. Since I have been totaly sick the past week and still feel like crap, I have not been able to get into working on the system that much. I have this system setup in the back room where i do most of my work and have a television (old Magnovax but picture looks great).
Now the problem here is that in order to get the media center to the other TV's in the house I need to purchase additional boxes such as the Linksys Media Center extendor or an XBOX with a Media Center extendor. I actually like the Linksys unit but it goes for 300 bucks. I do not have cat6 wire ran through the house (yet:rolleyes: ) and will be having the data streamed wirless which is fine. I am debating this whole thing at this point now because 1st I am not happy with all the protection and spyware in the OS and 2nd the price of the other items that will most likely be out of date any time. I do like the options that MSMC has and the quality looks great. I have not run into any problems yet but I have used all parts that are certified for the setup. I just think I may be wasting my time with this since I want every television in the house to be able to get any media I want without spending so much.
Now there are other option here that I am considering. Haupauge has another device that cost's 100 bucks called the MVP which is a small device that connects to the television and a lan (not wireless which puts a dent in this idea for at the moment) and runs a small MC program with the use of MSMC. Looking at this device, it appears to using a linux os or program that does something similiar to what MSMC is doing. I am really not sure what it looks like but may just buy one to see how it works. Gigabyte also has a device which is 200 bucks and is lan and wireless capable. I like this unit but have not seen it in action because no one has it on display. This is it's own MC that will stream media like the others without the need of MSMC. The cost is pretty low and overall may be worth it buying a few of these devices and putting them at all tv's. I would also not need the MSMC OS which seems to really want to tell microsoft what you are doing at all times. The DRM crap really pisses me off with Microsoft since I like to backup all of my dvd's;) and music.
Ok, so what's the point of this thread? I am asking anyone for advice or suggestions from people who are running some sort media center. If I did not explain what I am trying to design for the home, please ask me so I can clear it up better.