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Weekend Project: Windows Media Center
By Nick Hodge | November 11, 2007
Yes, I know that the correct english spelling of Center is Centre.
Thanks to the generosity of Jeffa, I scored an old Mini-ATX case with power supply. Yeah, being the junior on the team - I get all the hand-me-downs.
Some hundreds of dollars later from AUSPCMarket, and I have my first ever:
- AMD based PC (AMD Athlan64 x2 6000+)
- Gigabyte Motherboard PC (GA-MA69GM-S2H)
- Self-constructed PC (only a screwdriver required)
- Media Center PC (Vista Ultimate)
- Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 8000
Not being a hardware type, the moving of cables, CPUs, fans, more cables and stuff made the physical construction a little longer than an expert. There are still some internal wiring bits to complete: hard disk light at the front and CD audio. Also missed that the our Acer LCD TV has VGA and PC Audio. The cables I purchased were not correct.
The toughest part was installing the power to the SATA DVD/CD drive, and ensuring the CD eject button had enough clearance to work.
The first PATA (this was a surprise!) hard disk was stuffed, so off to plan B with a 500Gb PATA and we're away. The motherboard would not boot up with this hard disk attached; so the old disk is a throw away.
Using the onboard graphics and USB based TV tuner is probably sub-optimal. Need to fix these.
To add/change
- Dual channel PCI DVB-T card
- DivX support (complete at 9:40pm)
- TV Guide so I can record TV successfully.
Oh, and the cats love the extra space. The case and CPU are quiet and relatively cool. The cave aspect of the case make it a perfect hunting spot:
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Topics: amd, technology, vista, windows, windowshomeserver, windowsmediacenter, windowsvista |
November 12th, 2007 at 11:24 am
kitteh sez "thumbdrive is teh nu mouse - easier to munch, and has more crunch" nom nom nom
November 13th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
[...] Weekend Project: Windows Media Center [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 1:13 am
[...] Update from the Weekend Project. [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Did you get a TV Guide? Check out IceTV. Has a remote feature which is pretty cool. If you signup from this recommendation, my username is mollyfud if you take up a subscription (I get a free months use).
TIA
Molly
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I see a XBOX 360 in the background, that would natively stream media off the WHS. So now you effectivley have TWO Media Centre machines
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Jordan
I'm in the midst of moving the media center to somewhere else in the house -- you are correct; the Xbox 360 is a Media Center extender.
SO as long as its somewhere on the same network; all is good
Nick