Home entertainment system

Ashala

One of Freddy's beloved
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
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771
hey there

i was looking into getting a barebone computer with some kind of home cinema entertainment system on like microsofts version...

so what i wanted to know is if, someone knows how it actually works on a computer and how its setup on a computer....can it be controlled from a remote or something

any info is good info :)

thanks in advance
 

KevinUK

Can't get enough of FH
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Dec 22, 2003
Messages
649
The Windows Media PC Edition is just normal XP but with an application that you load that can then be controlled via their remote control.

So you can control it with a mouse/KB or purely by remote if you make it autoload that application on boot up (or both!).

I think you can buy the remote control for £20 and the OS for £80 or something (I looked it up a while ago). I dont know about the sensor that you point the remote control at though.

Then if you want to record TV you will need a suitable TV card and I think you need 2 if you want to watch one channel and record another (not sure, might be model dependent).

Go into a local Dixons to play about with the Windows Media PC operating system.
 

Ashala

One of Freddy's beloved
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Messages
771
what im looking for is basicly just a base for all my movies i can watch on TV / projector with a link to my main computer where i can transfer the movies from so it just have to be able to show movies (.img files if poss) in an easy way via a remote (cba fooling around with a keyboard and mouse in the bed / at the couch :)
 

Whipped

Part of the furniture
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Dec 22, 2003
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2,155
In that case, all you really need is a graphics card that does TV-Out and a peice of software to control it via the remote. This could possibly be Windows Media Edition, but I'm sure someone can point you at a nice free one.

Hwever, I'd say your best idea for what you want is to buy a chipped xbox off ebay and install Xbox Media Center on it. That's how I watch all my movies. You've got the added bonus of RGB scart and 5.1 digital out built in if you get the right cable with it. Plus it can stream movies, music and pictures from your main PC without having to copy them across.

Streaming works fine and there is no slowdown or lag on an internal network.

Something like this.
 

Panda On Smack

Can't get enough of FH
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Dec 22, 2003
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I 2nd Whipped's suggestion!

I came in here intending to say basically what he did. I have XBMC and its great. Got my Xbox running component out into my AV amp which then feeds my TV and Projector.

As whipped said you dont need to copy stuff onto your Xbox, just share a dir on your PC amd stream it all.
 

Yaka

Part of the furniture
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Dec 22, 2003
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4,421
fuck mce its a bag of shit.


id say get a cheap 2nd xbox with chip and a spare hdd and install xbmc or

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ its preety good, when compred to mce and is made by the bods behind XBMC
 

Whipped

Part of the furniture
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Dec 22, 2003
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Those Kiss boxes look nice, but I'm always worried about support for newer codecs and the timeframe it would take for new firmware to be release.

Media Portal looks nice Yaka. Giving it a go now.
 

Yaka

Part of the furniture
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Dec 22, 2003
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4,421
its worth a try and the help you get on the forums for it is great, much like the offical xbmc forums.
 

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