Windows 8 Pro HTPC Server with extenders

[seneca]

I will be building a whole home Windows 8 media center dvr solution based on a central Windows 8 Pro HTPC serving 4-5 xbox 360s extenders.

I´m aiming at a setup that will be running stable and be easy to use for the kids and wife.

The server will have a few TV tuners, dvb-s2 (Freesat UK and Canal Digital Denmark) and dvb-t2 (local OTA Freeview), and the system will primarely be used for LIVE TV and DVR. The server will be placed in the loft of the house.

I will run Cat 6 cable to all locations, so all connections will be gigabit to my gigabit 24 port switch.

Then to the questions:

1) Would you recommend that I use an Intel Xeon processor (ivy bridge), ECC Ram (16 GB) and a motherboard with dual nic (Intel server board) in the server or will an intel i5 2500K processor with an Intel media series motherboard be sufficient to run the setup in a stable and efficient manner ?

2) Would you recommend to use Logitech Harmony remotes for the xbox 360s extenders or would the xbox media remote (latest black edition) be a better choice ?

3) Would it be advisable to run the living room TV directly from the HTPC server or would it be better to use an xbox 360s extender also in the living room (if so, then the other xbox 360s extenders will be 4 in total).

Would very much appreciate your suggestions on this setup.

Best regards
seneca

[Mike Garcen]

I’ll take questions 1 & 3 first, and hopefully someone else will chime in on #2.

So i’ll say this as far as testing and needs. In my previous job with Niveus Media, I tested and confirmed functional with Intel’s Core i7 processor, and 16gb of RAM, 8 extenders. So with that being said, I don’t think Xeon is necessary nor even the best way to go. So that being said, your Core i5 selection would probably do the trick.

Question for you–what percentage of the time will you have all 5 extenders running at the same time? And with what content–HD television only?

For question #3, it really depends on your needs. I’ve always run my living room television with my HTPC directly and used Extenders for the bedroom, but that was due to file limitations as well as the occasional desire to browse the web from the big screen (or to go to a streaming site). But, it is frustrating the few times i do have to force a restart because MCE has hung. SOOOOO….i’d say if the Extender can handle your playback needs 100%, it’s probably the most stable way to go and then totally removes any need for a keyboard.

[Chasseur]

I tried the xbox media remote (latest black edition) with the xbox: I like the feel and responsivess. However, it was not built for media center because it miss some buttons: 

– No Green button: we can’t go back to main menu!

– No stop button: The main reason I don’t use the remote! You cannot stop the tv show you are watching. This is really annoying. 

[seneca]

Thank you for your comments Mike.

To your question: We are a family of 6, and I believe that we usually will run about 3 extenders at the same time (if we also use an extender for the main living room), and the content will likely be mixed SD and HD at the moment, but I would like the setup to be able to handle several extenders running HD at the same time without lag.

Could you recommend a suitable i5 cpu, motherboard and RAM for this setup which is balanced on our needs ? 

As I mentioned, the HTPC server will most likely be placed in the loft of our house, so the size of the motherboard can be whatever size you recommend – maybe a full ATX motherboard would be the right choice ?

I´m grateful for any suggestions.

 

[seneca]

Thanks Chasseur.

Yes, I have read about those issues with the black xbox media remote.

Which remote are you currently using and would you recommend a specific remote to control the xbox´s, where most of the time will be spent on windows media center ?

[Chasseur]

Currently, I’m using an old Media center remote that is no more available for purchase.

I tried the Harmony 200 remote with the xbox extender. It was working well except it’s missing the skip/replay buttons. The Harmony 300 do have the missing buttons, so I would go with the 300 instead.

[osburnfamily]

I too am a family of 6 and I currently have a headless MediaCenter with 3 Xboxes (two newer slims and an older jasper arcade model) running concurrenlty almost all day (except for when the kids are actually in school).

I’m running it on an older Gigabyte GA-H57-USB3 motherboard, 4GB DDR3, Intel Core i3-540, Win7-64bit.  It runs MyMovies to push out my bluray rips (ripped to WMVHD at 15mb bitrate with 5.1 audio), and also dishes out two CETON pci cards (8 HD CableCARD Tuners) plus two OTA-ATSC USB Tuners (just in case the cable ever goes out–these are my backups).

It does all this any quite honestly, my MediaCenter never breaks a sweat.

Lastly, I tried MANY different remotes and settles on the Harmony 300 as others have mentioned.  It’s everything you need for an Xbox MediaCenter remote– I even mapped the “Menu” button to TheGreenButton and some other mapping to our liking.  Very good remote without forking over a ton of money.

 

[osburnfamily]

One more thing– regarding the OPs #3.

I ran my HTPC on my main HD TV for years…  What I found was happening was that I couldn’t help but constantly play with settings and was always breaking something– which would p!$$ the wife of something fierce.

With NetFlix, HBOGo, Amazon Prime, & Vudu apps all being native, and with the PlayOn software also installed on my HTPC (sorry, forgot to mention it was doing that and RemotePotato too).. I came to the realization that I really didn’t NEED the HTPC on my main TV and brought it down stairs in place of another Xbox.

Since then (before last Christmas), I’ve only reloaded my MediaCenter once and nothing ever breaks anymore!  LOL

…just food for thought…

[Mike Garcen]

as I see Osborn’s reply, it occurs to me that there was most likely a significant RAM usage difference between the 8 x individual ATI tuners versus what the SiliconDust Prime or Ceton InfinitiTV would use. That’s pretty impressive with just 4GB of RAM, definitely a surprise (pleasant)!

[osburnfamily]

Yeah, I thought so too– I was always under the “2GB per Extender” mindset until I slapped that 3rd box in and fired them all up for this first time.  I’ll be adding two more at Christmas (hopefully one of the new XBox8s).  I’m alreadying assuming I’ll need to upgrade memory to do it though.

[seneca]

I will be going with the Intel Core i5-3570K cpu for my HTPC server.

Would the Intel DZ77BH-55K ATX motherboard be a good choice for a headless server running as a Windows Media Center server with lots of harddrives ?

 

[babgvant]

[quote=seneca]

I will be going with the Intel Core i5-3570K cpu for my HTPC server.

Would the Intel DZ77BH-55K ATX motherboard be a good choice for a headless server running as a Windows Media Center server with lots of harddrives ?

[/quote]

How many hard drives? Will you overclock/underclock the CPU? The DH77KC is $70 less, but you give up 2x 6Gbps SATA ports and fireware.

[babgvant]

[quote=osburnfamily]

Yeah, I thought so too– I was always under the “2GB per Extender” mindset until I slapped that 3rd box in and fired them all up for this first time.  I’ll be adding two more at Christmas (hopefully one of the new XBox8s).  I’m alreadying assuming I’ll need to upgrade memory to do it though.

[/quote]

I think the guidence is 512MB/extender, but my recollection could be fuzzy 🙂

[seneca]

Well haven´t decided on how many HHD (depends on the size of HDD), and I would probably not overclock the cpu, as I am looking for a stable solution for the long run.

Firewire is not important, as I will run this HTPC as a headless server in the loft of my house.

The DH77KC looks also interesting, could you possible recommend suitable RAM for this motherboard Andrew ?

[babgvant]

[quote=seneca]

The DH77KC looks also interesting, could you possible recommend suitable RAM for this motherboard Andrew ?

[/quote]

I’ve had pretty good results with G.SKILL RAM. The 8GB pair I tested with the DZ77GA-70K board also work well with a H77 board that shares the same BIOS as the KC.

[Author]

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