Planning A Media Centre / Local Server
Oct 2, 2012
So, time to take a couple steps back and slow things down a bit here... I'm currently in the planning stages of a low-budget media centre / network storage setup and I'm hoping to glean some knowledge from some of you more experienced overclockers before I go wasting money on things I don't need.The reason I decided to post here and not in the general or media sub-forums is because of how I want to go about this. Part of my plan involves taking a decent spec system and underclock the **** out of it.... Or, at least just underclock it enough for a fanless setup. Firstly, the media centre itself is a low-cost project... So the obvious OS choice here is Linux. But, which one...? It doesn't need to have any fancy GUI or "user friendly" features. At boot, the OS itself will go straight into whichever media centre software I settle on (XBMC, MythBuntu, etc. etc.), with other services starting up silently in the background (nginx / Apache, MySQL, Samba, Webmin, etc. etc.).Everybody in my household are avid Android users (yay), so the box will most likely be controlled directly from our phones or tablets. I mean, seriously, can you name one true computer geek that wouldn't grin from ear to ear while they tell their friends how their TV remote is actually a 7" multitouch, dual-core, Android tablet...?
What sort of hardware would I need for this setup? Here's the first idea that comes to mind:1.4 to 1.8GHz dual core 1 to 2GB DDR2-PC6400 40 to 80GB OS drive Multiple 1 or 2TB 'green' drives Low profile GPU (s-video for now, HDMI can come later) Either completely fanless, or mostly fanless with a single 200mm fan at low speed for good airflow I may possibly build my own case from the ground up.I'm hoping to get this all running from the start with nothing larger than a 300w to 350w PSU if possible, perhaps even one of those funny L-shaped midget PSUs from an old Dell desktop? I'm sure many of you here are old enough to know which ones I'm talking about.. Heck, those things came with nothing more than a 40mm or 50mm fan if I remember correctly.What hardware would you guys use for a system like this? Fire away, I like constructive criticism.
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Mar 20, 2011
Having recorded a TV programme last night on my computer running Windows 7 using Media Centre, I want to burn this prog to DVD to keep it. Why does Media Centre tell me the there is not enough room on the DVD (4,7 gig) to record a programme which is only 2 gig in size? It offers to do it at reduced quality and warns it may take several hours - anyone know why this is and if there is better sodtware out there to do this job.
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Sep 23, 2011
message says media centre stopped working
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Nov 9, 2011
my problem is that Windows media centre will not allow me to open any programmes it seems to have taken over as my default, I have tried going in to control panel, programmes, to turn off windows features but as soon as i do up pops windows media centre, I have tried removing windows media centre but cant find it on un-install programmes, most of my desk top programmes have the windows media centre icon on them like it must be that which opens them.
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Sep 22, 2011
I have with Windows Media Centre while watching TV on my Computer. I have an inboard Gigabyte GA-PTV-TAF-RH Hybrid TV card and am running it in my 64bit Windows 7 Pro. WMC picks up all the TV channels and works well until I click the pause button. I then lose all picture and when I unpause there is only sound until I pause/unpause again, then I lose sound as well and WMC crashes with the error message "WMC has stopped working". When I restart all is fine until I pause again, and then I have the same problem.Windows tells me all my Drivers are up to date and working so I don't know what is causing this problem.
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Feb 7, 2012
Windows Media Centre keeps opening up all the time, every few minutes or so. But it's always if I'm doing something. Just closed a program? Windows Media Centre opens. Just saved something? Windows Media Centre opens. Minimizing Firefox to get ready to open something else? You guessed it.But if the computer is idle it won't happen. There is also nothing else apparently wrong with the computer.I never use Windows Media Centre so I wouldn't even mind getting rid of it but I don't know if Windows Media Player relies on it which I do use for certain video formats from time to time. So unless someone says otherwise, I'd rather just disable it as opposed to removing it.
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Aug 15, 2009
I am currently using Windows 7 X64. My wife recently purchased me an Xbox 360 Elite for my birthday, but I am having some problems setting it up as a media extender. (to put it mildly)When I go into Windows Media Centre I can immediately see the Xbox with an option to configure, so I jump through the hoops and enter the number from the Xbox into Windows media Centre. I then get the message:Configuration ErrorAn error was encountered while configuring your computer for use with this extenderI have followed the steps at
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Oct 31, 2011
I have suddenly found that media centre when opening live tv i have the sound but no vision. It displays the progress bar OK and you can can even display the active thumbnail when you left click progress tracker,but just black full screen,i have all latest drivers for sound and graphics.I have reloaded direct x and codec drivers ,tried retuning ,tried resetting monitor,all to no avail.My system OS is w7 x64 ,CPU 6600 O/C 2.4 GHz, GPU NV GTX460.4MB Ram.
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Dec 2, 2009
Can anyone explain what I need to do with this error message in order to be able to use Media Centre for live TV.
"Files needed to display video are not installed or are not working correctly. Restart windows media centre or restart the computer".
I have an analog cable plugged into my new TV card (Its an older PC, Dell Dimension 3100) and I can see the TV channels using Win TV 7 that came with the card.
Windows Media wont even play its own sample video without giving me the above error message.
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Oct 31, 2009
I've got two nice little 1680 x 1050 20.1" Dell S-IPS monitors, which are de-facto 16:10 units, mounted on an Ergotron stand, with the intention of using one for television and the other for computing purp's.My Graphics card is a capable Palit HD4850 Sonic with dual DVI outputs. It's also got an S-Video output which isn't in use.What I would like to do is run WMC maximised on one monitor, with TV there as and when I wish to view anything, and naturally I wish to use this screen maximised (the only issue in WMC is that there is a limitation of either choosing 4:3 or 16:9 ratio output, and not 16:10).However when I connect both monitors vai DVI output Windows7 locks my cursor in the maximised TV screen and I then cannot control the primary PC monitor whatsoever - which is somewhat of a complete farce, and is an extremely dissappointing result!Accordingly I have to drag the WMC display to get the 16:9 output to 'almost' fill the 16:10 monitor, and then face the annoyance of the cursor drifting to that screen from my PC monitor from time to time (I can happily live with a band to allow for the 16:9 ~ 16:10 hardware differential... but not this ridiculous loss of cursor control!)Question is this... why does my cursor focus get restricted to one screen if the Windows Media Centre is maximised? The whole point of having dual-monitors is being able to use both of them at once of course.I've tried with the ATi driver alone, and with the Catalyst suite loaded, with no differences to the issue.My monitors also have an S-Video input, but I've not got an S-Video cable to hand right now - however... if I were to use S-Video for one monitor would I avoid the 'locked in cursor' problem?
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May 12, 2012
In the old place my PC was upstairs but had an ethernet connection to the router downstairs.In the new place I have to run it on the wireless. I have got a 2/3 bar connection to the router, and can stream to the Xbox without a problem, for the most part.The problem occurs (and it's becoming more regular) when I turn both bits of kit on and the PC (in the media centre menu) says the Xbox is connected but the Xbox says no connection can be found.It then lists the normal helpful suggestions, and what I have to eventually do is unlink them and re build the connection.When that is back, it works fine, but turn them off and have to start all over again.
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Nov 9, 2009
is there any way to increase the buffer size i don't know whether this should be done on the computer or on the xbox i think it is the xbox as they seem to play ok on the computer.
when i play the avi's it seems as if only about 5 - 10 seconds is buffered then it plays then stutters then plays and so on .
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Dec 1, 2011
I've just upgraded my Media Centre from Vista x64 to Windows 7 x64.Previously when watching recorded TV I could use the skip fwd/back buttons on my remote &/or keyboard to skip fwd 30 secs, or back 7 seconds; however this no longer works. They do however work perfectly when watching/listening to Movies/Music.The on screen skip buttons still perform the same task (fwd 30s, back 7s).Reading other forum posts I gather this is because the skip buttons are looking for the next track and by its nature recorded TV doesn't have any tracks.Is there a way of editing the registry to reprogram the buttons to skip fwd a specified time frame when watching recorded TV? I'm using a logitech dinovo edge keyboard for which I've installed the latest drivers. I also use my iPhone with JumiMouse as a Remote and a Hauppage TV Tuner Remote, all the above have the same problem.
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Dec 22, 2011
I am sure that there is an answer to this, but am lost... I have about 28,000 songs which are stored on my Windows 7 Enterprise Media Centre PC. All the ID3 tags are correct (I think), but I cant get the music library working properly on the PC or Extender.The problem I have is with my Various Artists albums... the ID3 tags show song title, artist and album artist. on a various artist album the Album Artist field is set to "Various Artists". I am using an Xbox360 media extended in my living room and whilst its slow, thats a seperate issue, there are some unexpected results when searching for songs...If you search for an artist, if they have produced albums where they are the only artist, then they are listed - the ID3 tags on their personal albums have the Album Artist field set as the Artist field and all works. However when listing by Artist, there is an artist listed called "Various Artists" and every song (12,000+) which is on a compilation album is listed as being by "Various Artists" as MC seems to get the artist name from the "Album Artist" field rather than from the "Artist" field.
I thought I'd found a workaround by changing the Album Artist field to be the same as the Artist - indeed this did work, but the unexpected side effect is that when you search by album, because each track on an album shows a different Album Artist set in the ID3 tag, it lists the album seperately for every song... so you may have "Now Thats What I Call Music xx" listed 20 times - once per song!Is there any way to get media centre to catalogue songs using the "Artist" field rather than the "Album Artist" field - but also to take into account that even though songs are by different artists, should the Album Artist all be the same - then to treat as a single album??I have only just started researching this and have read a bit about Media Centre using the catalogue created by WMP - but to be honest I have never used WMP and wouldnt know where to start.
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Dec 26, 2009
I have a big problem, I was using NetDrive to map my FTP Server to my computer for some time now. I was using Windows Vista 32-Bit, I just installed Windows 7 64-Bit. Now to a surprise I found out that NetDrive doesn't support 64-Bit Operating Systems as of this time. I have been searching no-stop for about 2 hours and haven't found much.
I found some posts that recommended another FREE program to use that is like NetDrive but they still doesn't support 64-Bit. I don't want to buy a $50.00 program like WebDrive for example. I have also tried to use windows explorer to connect to the FTP Server and doesn't seem to work well (mostly not at all). I don't know why?
So at this point I am asking everyone if someone knows of a FREE program or method that I can use to connect my FTP Server to a local drive on my computer?
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Mar 25, 2012
I have few computers at home and i created one computer as home theater pc and second pc as file sharing and nas
PC 1: Home theater pc
PC 2: Home files and NAS server and more
PC 1:
AMD 3 Tri core 4GB ram Graphic card , TV Tuner with remote and ssd drive
PC 2: AMD Atlon Quad Core AM3 , 16 GB ram , Gforce 210 graphic card , ausu sat 3.0 control and all AM 3+ features 970 chip set and 1 160 GB Hard drive for OS windows 7 enterprise and 5 ( 2TB Hard drives ) and 1 1TB Hard drive all between 32 MB and 64 MB ... NO SSD
Network:
Asus Routor 1GB all across
CAT 6 and CAT 7 eithernet cables
1GB Switch
1GB nics on all computers
Docs 3.0 Cable Modem
Issue: when i try to stream media files ... WMV , DVI , DVIX , MKV H264 , and other format files all in HD 1080p and 720P and HD Sound ... i get hicups or latency in playback or windows media player will not respond ... i have k-lit codecs 32bit and 64bit installed and supporting Blu-ray i have power dvd and win DVD 11 and Windows media center properly setup with tv tuner and remote control all pc are wired connected , firewall off on all pc , windows files and printer shirring is on and Home Network is setup so i am able to see all my pc and devices and able to transfer files between computers with no problems sometime i am able to transfer files at 85 MB/s to 120 MB/s but still media streaming is not working properly ... i tried for test to use media player classic and other software like VLC same results I have tried this setup before but it failed because i did not have proper setup but now i have all networking gears , Hardware , and software and nice home setup Meida streaming on the routor is on ... and firewall is off on the routor for local connection GUP Power need to be in Media center pc has been fix with brad new DDr5 1GB 775 chip graphic card with HDMI connections and sound is via HDMI to Samsung 120 hrz HDTV LCD and for extra gpu i added gforce 210 on files server but results are all negitive on Media streaming and watching movies from one center place like my PC 2 which has 11TB + 160 GB 32MB Hard drive ..Both computer are supper fast and have Windows 7 ultmate and enterprise and my other pc are file server and second media center pc which i am building for my bed room?
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Oct 24, 2012
I no longer can stream media from my PC to my PS3. It used to work a couple of months ago and it still works with my dads computer. Both mine and my dads PC are windows 7. I've compared the settings between the two PC's and could see no difference. I've tried several different media server programs including vuze, ps3 media server and windows media player and none of them work.
I've made sure all the media streaming and advanced sharing settings are correct and the proper services are started and temporarily disabled windows firewall. As far as I can see its an underlining issue and not one on the surface.
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Apr 11, 2010
I am trying to connect PS3 to Media Server. I have already established a wireless connection for PS3 updates etc...but cannot connect to Media Center. The system recognizes my home PC network, I am able to go to all the Playstation sites etc.. but I keep getting the following error message when trying to share files from the PC:"Access to the Media Server is not allowed, it is possible that the system name for this PS3 system,", has not been registered." Check the settings for the Media Server."I have seen such as thing as a Media Center Extender referred to for the XBox 360, but not the PS3. Is there one? Do I have to purchase something else? I am trying to use the PS3 to access my PC for Picture and Music files.
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Jul 11, 2012
So the other day we were trying to find some music on the computer through the ps3 which seems to be hit or miss some times, however the ps3 seems to find the two lap tops with no problem. So I went in to the "choose media streaming options for computers and devices" and removed the unknown devices thinking that like any other wireless or blue tooth, that they would be discoverable again and guess what..... they dont show up. This is extremely frustrating. So is there anyway to have this show up all the time on the ps3. Also we have playon and that doesn't always work either. I think that if I can get a more consistent connection between the two that play on will work as well.
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Apr 19, 2011
My present computer can take 8 GB of RAM and I would like to take advantage of that with Win 7 64-bit. Presently I'm running XP 32-bit with 4GB of RAM.I did some research and found that some of my hardware (particularly my scanner that I need often) won't work under 64-bit - or it will after some "fiddling".My computer hardware does not qualify for virtualization, so running Win 7 in XP mode is not an option.Therefore I would like to create a dual boot with XP 32-bit and Win 64-bit. That would give me time to get Win 7 64-bit running smoothly with all hardware that I need while at the same time I can do all my tasks under XP.Presently Win XP is on my C: drive; for Win 64-bit I'd use my internal D:drive (SATA - 250 GB).
Question 1: It is my understanding that each OS would have its own drivers. Correct?
Question 2: I am aware that Win XP 32-bit can use only 4 GB of RAM. What happens if I install 8 GB RAM - will XP 32-bit crash or anything? Or will it just ignore the additional 4 GB RAM?
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Sep 15, 2009
Having obtained my new 80GB Intel X-25M SSD I will of course be using it as the Windows Partition in my new installation after I receive my release copy on 22nd October.
However, I was wondering on the best way to partition the remainder of my storage to maximise performance, and particularly where I place the swap file, applications and data.
The Maxtor was the original HD that came with the PC and is approaching 4 years old. I obviously don't want to use it for anything that affects performance so the obvious usage is as a backup volume. However, I'm not sure of the wisdom of this given it is the oldest drive!
So, my current plan is as follows:Boot & Windows Partition, including application installation: All 74.5GB of the available SSD Swap File: A seperate 10GB partition of the WD drive Data: The remainder of the WD Drive (Can you get Windows 7 to move the location of the User Folders such as 'Documents', 'Downloads' etc. to a partition other than the system drive? If so how?) Backup: The Maxtor Drive Even though I am getting a full version of Win 7 by virtue of the UK Pre-Order offer, I won't be maintaining my Vista install so no need for a partition for that (good riddance!).
It is important that the swap file is not on the SSD I understand to reduce the number of write cycles and maintain its lifespan.
Does this sound like a good plan to maximise performance? Certainly using the seperate swap file seems to work very well in my RC test installation.
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Jun 6, 2011
Im trying to get my Ethernet adapter local area media connection working but i dont no how?here is what the cmd text box for it says,Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :and thats all that box says.
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May 20, 2012
I recently brought a Dlink DNS-320 and have searched the relevant forums for that product but all the solutions for resolving a 'map network drive error' have been unsuccessful.I have tried mapping the drive on this product using the IP address and I can ping the IP address for this device, the device also appears on my network via UPnP but I unfortunately I get a error message when trying to map the network drive the DNs-320 also came with a storage utility to map drives but that doesn't work either.I have gone through previous posts and tested this without my firewall on or changing the TCP/IP settings.
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Sep 25, 2012
I use whs (both 2003 and 2011) to backup my Windows 7 media server, have several cablecard tuners, but if I ever need to restore (from earlier version) or even re-format this computer, recorded programs will not play again (cannot play recordings from another computer is the message). Any way of save/restore the current drm info before I restore from earlier version or even re-format????? Screen capture programs are crap.
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Aug 5, 2011
I had a successful raid 5 array setup. It was assigned to g and while I was installing ps3 media server and then java it lost it's drive assignment. It shows up under disk management but asks me to initialize it. I really don't want to do that because it will format and i will lose the data on the volume. What else can i do to get my array to show up in windows with my data intact?
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Jun 3, 2011
I'm having errors with Windows media Player and Media Center. I get a message that says server execution failed and Windows media player wont open. Media Center will open but wont play audio files.
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Jan 1, 2012
I'm running Win 7 x64 with 32bit WMP12. I have FLAC showing with metadata and can play files locally. I have a Naim NDX Media Streamer and can not get FLAC to play through it via WMP - other files will. I understand that this may be connected to x64 not being compatible, so I have the x32 version running via a short cut to my desktop.WMP shows my streamer but when I try to play a file it just constantly looks for the streamer and never finds it. Any ideas where I might be going wrong?
PS: It works perfectly well with JRiver / My River or n Stream via my ipad. That with FLAC or .wav etc. So it appears to be related directly to WMP.
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Aug 31, 2012
I'm having such a huge problem right now. I don't know what to do... I'm using windows 7 64 bit and when i play my games the game would litterally skip... kind of like having frame skip on the highest then playing a game.. Also, windows media player would either do one of the following:1. video skips and no audio plays2. Server execution failed3. The video will play for like 5 seconds then says it cant play the file..Also when i try to run the windows experience index it will get the video decoding and it will say that it can't complete it for some reason. I've tried reinstalling windows and it just kept happeningI've tried doing everything to repair WMP and then it would work until i reboot again. even when i dont repair it i have to reboot then it would be fine.
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Jan 11, 2012
I have Windows 7 64 bit (brand new) and want to set up a "media server" so that I can securely access files over the internet.
I don't want to access my entire computer, but something like a front end http page that has links to files I link.
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Apr 13, 2011
my windows 7 security center will not start up dose any have a solution
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Apr 4, 2012
My computer has stopped working due to errors. At the moment I have Catalyst control Host application has stopped working message two times and then goes away. I have only recycle bin icon on my desk top and on bottom bar skype, internet, and hp icon. I can work on internet but everything else is empty? My computer is HP Notebook G62 and is 14 months old?
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