mikinho

[mikinho]

Real world usage I think I saw 5W-10W difference between a Core i3-2100T and Core i5-2400S in a DH61AG.

Btw, I would go with the Intel Core i5-2405S, I had forgotten about that SKU 🙂

In terms of recording directly to your WHS.  No, I don’t recommend it.  You can setup your Recorded TV path in the registry to use UNC paths and grant the appropriate services rights but SBE was not designed to use over a LAN.  Any packet loss or latency will result in video glitches, MPEG corruption and possibly truncated recordings.

[mikinho]

For a primary HTPC I would recommend going with a Core i5 myself.  Though you may want to look at the Core i5-2400S as the Core i5-2390T isn’t available retail AFAIK.

I’m a big fan of the DH61AG and use it for my primary system but do you plan to have an optical drive?  If so, you may consider a different board or replacing your SSD w/ a mSATA SSD.  The DH61AG only has two SATA ports.  You’ll want one for a dedicated data drive.  If you use the other for your SSD then you are limited to USB optical drives.  If you use an Intel mSATA SSD then you free up one of the SATA ports.  Just some other things to think about.

Note: Mentioning the data driver being a requirement since you mentioned a CableCARD tuner.  You do NOT want to record to your SSD, even if a few people do it, it is not recommended.

[mikinho]

I made a post with the script I use as well http://www.missingremote.com/forums/show-analyzer-nightly-task

[mikinho]

I was using XenServer.  I believe 5.x.  XenServer 6.0 may have better results.  I briefly tested with ESXi but at the time VT-d wasn’t working properly.

[mikinho]

[quote=nickp1]

Michael,

I was going to try to add a dedicated pcie passthrough video card to the VM and output only to that card.

Do you know if there is any success in trying that?

Thanks

Nick

[/quote]

I tried that and was able to get it to work but very inconsistently.  It resulted in intermittent drop outs and I couldn’t go more than 5-10 minutes without a HDCP error.

I didn’t play with it long though and that was over a year ago so it may have improved.

[mikinho]

You can record both and watch Copy-Freely on any system connected to your network; however, Copy-Once will not be viewable with the exception of a RemoteFx RDP session.

[mikinho]

Hi Jon,

Do you have tuning adapters?  You can see this error with tuning adapters (generally Cisco’s)  take too long to tune request a channel.  If so, what happens is:

1- Media Center attempts to record on Tuner X.

2- The tuning adapter takes too long to respond

3- Media Center does not see a signal on Tuner X soon enough so it reports failure

4- Media Center attempts to record on Tuner Y

5- The channel was already allocated in step #2 so the tune request responds quickly

6- Everything records properly but has the failed message from Tuner X

Note: Lots of steps left out (i.e. oversimplified)

[mikinho]

Btw…This is one of my tips from another article I have pending but if this is a HTPC then turn off Error Reporting and error dialogs.  That will make Media Center restart w/o any notification.  While it is nice to know when something is wrong so you can fix it…I also would never want my wife to know see it.  Depending on where the crash happens, the error dialog can also prevent new RPC connections (i.e. Media Center Extenders).

I’ll update w/ the registry keys later today…not on a Windows system right now

[mikinho]

Make sure you don’t have anything like Windows Live Display Driver, Mesh Remote Desktop Driver, Logmein, etc running that creates a virtual mirror display.  Those can commonly crash Media Center.

Let us know your Intel HD Graphics driver version when possible and can go from there.

[mikinho]

Do you have Clarkdale or Sandy Bridge base Core i3?  What CPU in particular.

Sadly no one has gotten it just right.  ATI, NVIDIA and Intel all have different HDMIHDCPEDID issues.  NVIDIA and ATI can lead to a black screen.  

Intel most commonly results in a smaller screen resolution but is generally easy to fix.  Let us know your specific CPU and what driver version you are using.

[mikinho]

For 24p playback, you no longer need to disable UAC.  See 24p Works on Intel Sandy Bridge With UAC Enabled.  Make sure you apply the BIOS properly.

Did you change the MP4 decoder?

[mikinho]

Per specifications the InfiniTV will work as expected up to 65 C

[mikinho]

I’m sure there are other crappy Intel NICs but the majority are good.  Below is my preference:

Below is the list of Intel network cards I recommend in ascending price order

PCIe – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033

PCIe – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106011

Dual PCIe – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106071

[mikinho]

In what way do you see a slowdown?  The NIC only comes into play if you are using Network Tuner usage.  With just about any NIC other than an Intel (and not the Intel PRO/1000 GT) then it is possible that it slows it down some due to crappy drivers.

[mikinho]

[quote=jeam]

Is it possible to do the same thing, somehow, in Windows 7 Media Center? She’s liking 7MC, especially for the immense storage space, but finds it slightly aggravating that after you exit a recorded program the software goes back to the Recorded TV option instead of live TV. More remote clicks are needed this way.

[/quote]

The easiest thing to do here is to press the Live TV button instead.  You could also setup a background add-in that whenever you hit stop it would check if you were watching Recorded TV and if so launch Live TV.  But I think that would get irritating myself as sometimes you could want to watch multiple recordings in a row.  Learning to use the Live TV button may be a better idea.

[quote=jeam]

I understand that there’s a way to modify 7MC so that it goes straight to live TV when you first open it. Would this take care of her issue, or would it take a different tweak (assuming that what she wants can even be done)?

[/quote]

That wouldn’t do it.  That just launches Live TV at startup.

[Author]

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