MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
 ·Cox HSI
| [rant] I give up on Mac OS X for a HTPC.
Well, I did a lot of research. EyeTV seemed like a good solution to make my Intel mini a home theater PC.
I really wanted to believe Mac could provide the kind of solution I needed. Unfortunately, the Mac as a DVR/TV interface is a freaking nightmare.
Let's start with EyeTV. First of all, they don't make it very easy at all to use an EyeTV 200 (analog) and 500 (digital HDTV) on the same computer. This means that I have to have a seperate device tuning SD channels, and the mini tuning HD. What a pain to keep switching sources, etc.
But that's not the worst of it.
Let's say I'm watching a program delayed because I had to pause it for any given reason. If there is another program scheduled to record right after the one I'm watching delayed...it will STOP playback of the show I'm watching delayed and go to the show that just started recording. Then, I have to go back to my replay list, select the show I was watching delayed, FIND THE SPOT I LEFT OFF AT, and resume watching. This is frustrating, as you might imagine.
Not to mention there is only a single tuner so recording one thing while watching another is out of the question. So, I decided to do the unspeakable.
I bought all the components to build a Windows XP Media Center box.
Specs:
-Asus N4L-VM DH micro atx motherboard (for intel core duo)
-Hauppage dual analog tuner PCI card
-Dvico Fusion HDTV tuner (PCI)
-2GB RAM
-1.86 Intel Core Duo
-16x DVD-R
all this is thrown into a pizza box like asus case, designed for home theater applications.
It's whisper quiet. My CPU temps at idle are around 28c. Full load, around 35c.
Now the kicker. Windows XP MCE 2005 is incredible. The interface is beautiful, intuitive and useful. It's not buggy like EyeTV (which gave me a beach ball during HD playback at least 2x daily.) It handles all three of my tuners FLAWLESSLY. I can record two shows and watch one all at the same time. The XP MCE remote is very nice too, and provides all the functions I need. With EyeTV, the remote was a real piece of junk. I used the keyboard a LOT more than the remote.
In conclusion, a properly configured Windows XP MCE box is AWESOME for an HTPC. The Mac, on the other hand, is unfortunately not mature in this area. I really hope that changes at some point.
This is an HTPC the wife can use and not get frustrated with. For ease of use, this is the one area where windows wins.
Anyway, that's my rant for now. Pics to follow later. For now, it's bed time.
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-Put this in your profile if you know someone who is fighting, has survived, or died from ninja attacks. |
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DrewCapu
Giant Diehard
join:2001-12-19
California
clubs:
| said by MarkyD  :For now, it's bed time. Pics to follow later.  |
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eXodus
Premium
join:2005-08-04
Rockaway, NJ
| reply to MarkyD
I use my Intel Mac Mini as a HTPC minus the TV. So I have frontrow do my movies and music. I use a regular DVR STB for TV.
Thats my solution to the Mini HTPC.
I'm glad your happy with your MCE HTPC.
Looking foward to pics!
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-eXodus |
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rugby
I think I know it all.
VIP
join:2000-09-26
Camby, IN
·Comcast
 ·Callcentric
| reply to MarkyD
I use BeyondTV 4 on my office PC as a tv and it is pretty good as well. I have an ATI HD PCI card and tried MCE but it wouldn't recognize it on install and I didn't feel like hacking it together to work.
I'm thinking of getting some more licenses of BeyondTV for our other TV's just to share the content.
The Mac really doesn't have good media center options unfortunately.
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Bob, David, Eric, and Shane get back to work before I report you. |
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tommy3rd
I Am Nuckin Futs
Premium
join:2000-03-10
Clifton, NJ
| reply to MarkyD
you're trying to make a mini, which is really not designed to be a full blown home theatre PC, into a HTPC. MS Windows Media Center Edition was built for stuff like that. Just wait for apple to come up with the hardware designed to work with Front Row. I think they just threw in front row in the mini as a novelty since you know using an integrated graphics card for media stuff does not perform as well as a dedicated video card. |
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hyperjoe
Premium
join:2000-11-03
Gates Mills, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to MarkyD
Since I have Adelphia HD, I get a DVR box which is great. For me, a Media Center is more than just DVR, its about MEDIA. I have mine set up even more integrated now which I can go from TV to MEDIA in 3 Seconds and back. I also have the Lacie Mini companion which I have over 120 movies ripped on it. Mark, DVR is part of the HTPC.
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"He put it to into sleep mode and it died" |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| said by hyperjoe :Since I have Adelphia HD, I get a DVR box which is great. For me, a Media Center is more than just DVR, its about MEDIA. I have mine set up even more integrated now which I can go from TV to MEDIA in 3 Seconds and back. I also have the Lacie Mini companion which I have over 120 movies ripped on it. Mark, DVR is part of the HTPC. I know this man!  The great thing about MCE is that EVERYTHING is all within reach from the remote. Music, movies, DVD, live TV/recorded TV...I don't ever have to pick up the remote. Oh, and my two 750GB Seagate Hard Drives are nice 
I broke out from the cable company's scientific atlanta DVR because it was a POS.
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-Put this in your profile if you know someone who is fighting, has survived, or died from ninja attacks. |
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dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ
·Optimum Online
| said by MarkyD :I know this man! The great thing about MCE is that EVERYTHING is all within reach from the remote. Music, movies, DVD, live TV/recorded TV...I don't ever have to pick up the remote. Oh, and my two 750GB Seagate Hard Drives are nice I broke out from the cable company's scientific atlanta DVR because it was a POS. ... and that's why the cable company is going to have to pry my DirecTiVo's from my cold, dead hands. Especially the HD one! ( 4x SD and 1x HD for me, thanks! |
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shavano
Even in America -- I long for America
join:2003-06-08
Dallas, TX
| reply to MarkyD
I can sympathize. I been trying to find a solution to this for almost a month. I couldn't find an acceptable Mac solution -- primarily because there's no out-of-the-box solution for tuning the external DirecTV STB.
So I bought a PVR-150 and stuck it in an PC that gets almost no use. I tried the trial versions of BeyondTV and also SageTV. Both have their advantages, BeyondTV would sometimes stutter and need a restart to fix. BeyondTV does great commercial flagging; SageTV does not but seems to be better quality.
I'm not willing to buy Windows MCE and don't really want to use Windows at all, so I have wrestled with MythTV for nearly a month. Damn! Linux can be a pain. Turns out, the driver didn't properly recognize and work with my new version PVR-150. Setting the tuner type in modprobe.conf would let the tuner work but never got any S-Video.
I think if Comcast wasn't so proud of their service, the way to go would be to get their HD service and use firewire from the HD box with MythTV. But we watch very little TV anyway, it's hardly worth what I've put into so far.
This, just to record Colbert, Stewart and Olbermann. Sheesh!
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Ah, screw it! ... who wants pie?! |
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login name
Premium
join:2000-08-11
| reply to MarkyD
said by MarkyD :In conclusion, a properly configured Windows XP MCE box is AWESOME for an HTPC. The Mac, on the other hand, is unfortunately not mature in this area. I really hope that changes at some point. This is an HTPC the wife can use and not get frustrated with. For ease of use, this is the one area where windows wins. Anyway, that's my rant for now. Pics to follow later. For now, it's bed time. Applaud!
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Go out and buy an ipod just like 47 million other people.
Thats how you "think different" |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| reply to shavano
said by shavano :I think if Comcast wasn't so proud of their service, the way to go would be to get their HD service and use firewire from the HD box with MythTV. But we watch very little TV anyway, it's hardly worth what I've put into so far. This, just to record Colbert, Stewart and Olbermann. Sheesh! you know, I have been reading a lot about getting a stream via firewire to a computer running SageTV or MCE. Apparently it works with a lot of SA and Motorola STBs. I'm going to give it a shot. That would allow me to record the HD channels on my cable tier that I can't get with an OTA card.
Currently, I just have analog cable since most shows I watch are broadbast over the air in HD on the networks.
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-Put this in your profile if you know someone who is fighting, has survived, or died from ninja attacks. |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| reply to MarkyD
a few... |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| reply to MarkyD
a few more... |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to MarkyD
Looking good, except for the inability of the closed captioning people to get it right. 
I have been looking into this solution for a while now and since I just got a big tv, I think I might have to start really going into it. |
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HiVolt
Premium
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON
clubs: | reply to MarkyD
Looks nice! |
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linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium
join:2002-12-03
United State | reply to MarkyD
I knew you would have a fix! |
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LBadvance
join:2002-04-27 | reply to MarkyD
Its an Antec Case not Asus,
And how much did it cost u altogether? |
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Spine
Premium
join:2002-04-29
Lake Ontario
clubs: | reply to linicx
Now just hook up an Xbox 360 for HD gaming and you're all set |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| reply to LBadvance
said by LBadvance :Its an Antec Case not Asus, And how much did it cost u altogether? ha, you are right. I was reading "ASUS" on the drive and for some reason that transferred to my fingers. Antec is right.
It was around $1k all together, but I already had a few of the parts.
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-Put this in your profile if you know someone who is fighting, has survived, or died from ninja attacks. |
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bobrk
You kids get offa my lawn
Premium
join:2000-02-02
San Jose, CA | reply to MarkyD
Sounds sweet.
I have a 4 year old DirecTiVo. It's about as perfect as I can imagine, and I didn't have to build it. |
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