Mike Garcen

[Mike Garcen]

good idea, but i literally own about 2 tools in my whole house, i’ll blame it on not having a garage 🙂 Thanks for the tip on the mattress, some scary thought there…would the box spring be safer (obviously the top side, not the wood side)? I’m still planning on surrounding it with blankets…and maybe the cardboard depending on how many boxes i have leftover.

*sigh*

It was literally the last thing on my mind since i knew i had saved the box…frustrating…

[Mike Garcen]

i have moving blankets, and i love the against the mattress idea. i seem to recall somewhere (maybe back in best buy CRT days) that people would put cardboard up against the glass…still necessary?

[Mike Garcen]

well that’s the problem, i don’t have any box it’ll fit…so what do i do?

[Mike Garcen]

Either the Hauppauge Colossus or the HD-PVR will work for all of your needs, with one caveat–they both require the usage and rental of your set top box. But even with the STB, it is the actual COMPUTER that is the DVR in this scenario, so the STB is just a dumb tuner (you use IR blasting to change channels).

If you want to save the cost of the STB altogether then you can go the CETON route, but that would leave you 100% without options for importing your previously DVR’d content and VHS.

So that’s the first thing you need to decide, then from there you can decide on which tuner.

[Mike Garcen]

I reviewed the Intel D525MW atom board, and I wouldn’t even consider it for HTPC usage, it’s just too weak and really not the intended purpose. You’ll be much happier with something else.

[Mike Garcen]

btw, there was recently a media center guide editor which could save you a ton of time assuming you have a convenient keyboard & mouse, assuming you have a lot of changes to make.

[Mike Garcen]

[quote=swoon]

Mike, don’t you read our forums? 

[/quote]

Sonofa….. 😛 DOH!

[Mike Garcen]

Wowsa, just crazy! But again, wonderful for the consumers

[Mike Garcen]

go with 2 x 2gb of RAM if you can, make use of dual channel.

Also, there’s absolutely no reason to not at least get a DVD-Rom, considering one can be had for $20-30. If you might possibly watch blu-rays, you can get one for a modest $60-80

Agree what aaron says, exactly your budget will determine any suggestions–mainly on the CPU & motherboard. Obviously if you could splurge a bit on a Sandy Bridge solution you would be extremely happy, but your wallet might not be

[Mike Garcen]

just crazy to think you could add 12 TERABYTES for just over $400, crazy

[Mike Garcen]

hi santanan, in my experience of selling online, it would really help if you post at least a price range, and pictures.

[Mike Garcen]

[quote=Chasseur]

I have a MCE remote with learning capabilities. However, I cannot find it for sell anymore.

I’m looking for a MCE remote that can control my tv power and volume. 

[/quote]

This one on ebay looks like the one: http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Microsoft-MCE-Media-Center-Remote-Windows-XP-Vista-/160512966432?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255f517f20

[Mike Garcen]

you don’t mention what type of gaming you’re going to be doing, but yeah that system is pretty weak on that side of things.

Also, you mention that all your content will reside on the WHS, so why the 2TB drive at all? Why not save the money, maybe invest in a bigger SSD (40gb is really the bare minimum for a Windows install)

[Mike Garcen]

very cool & i love the idea. BUT….the cost of replacing the fan on a HSF is very cheap. If this metal heatsink stops spinning and needs to be replaced, you probably need to buy a new one. Versus current heatsinks which account for the bulk of the price, but at least they never go defective since there are no moving parts.

price point will be huge here, but i agree very cool

[Mike Garcen]

so to clarify, the Harmony remote control does not come with a USB IR receiver, so if it can’t communicate with your Firefly dongle, then you’ll have to buy one of the old Microsoft eHome IR receivers, usually around $10-20.

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