My Mystic HTPC

[geov]

Originally Posted by ThaClown

Good looking setup you got there...
I like te overall look of it and it seems you got all the functions you want, nice job!

Thanks...I'm very proud of it

Cheers
GeoV

[geov]

Ok fellow MP freaks, I have now added some nice speakers to my sound system....have a look.

[Topher5000]

Nice looking speakers. How do they sound? I can't read who makes them. Is there a website?

[geeps]

Nice looking setup fellow South African!

I need to now find a decent case for my HTPC too!

[geov]

Originally Posted by Topher5000

Nice looking speakers. How do they sound? I can't read who makes them. Is there a website?

Hi Topher5000

These are local made speakers, and unfortunately don’t have a web-site to refer you to. Each speaker is rated at 200W RMS with a frequency response of 33 Hz — 20 kHz. They suffer a little bit under heavy bass, but I already have an active subwoofer which handles that so it’s not a problem. In addition I also have two surround speakers rated at 160W RMS each and then also the centre speaker that adds some watts, which brings my total sound output to about 1000W RMS.

Last night we tried them out, and my ears were singing this morning....so in total they sound quite good.

Cheers
Geo

Originally Posted by geeps

Nice looking setup fellow South African!

I need to now find a decent case for my HTPC too!

This looks like a nice case....I like the big ones rather than the slim ones...

http://www.computersonly.co.za/produ...tegoryId=44401

[Slicky]

I am probably moving back to SA after a long time in the US.

I am thinking of doing a XBMC with an original XBox.

Would you recommend:

(1) That I wait and get an xbox in SA since they are NTSC here?
(2) Do you just have your dstv decoder feeding into your xbox?
(3) Do you have to change channels with your dstv remote or can you handle it through the xbox?
(4) Secondarily I am pondering getting a LCD TV to bring with me but I might have PAL issues unless I get one that handles PAL or use another type of input.

Thanks for any responses

[geov]

Sorry, your questions confuse me a bit...I know nothing about the Xbox as I don’t own one. As far as I know the Xbox can’t run MediaPortal, but I would not know as I don’t like the Xbox. As far as a LCD TV, they are available in South Africa so you can buy one here. Also remember South Africa is also switching over to HDTV in 2 years for the Soccer world-cup so make sure that if you bring a LCD TV with you that it must be HDTV ready. As far as DSTV goes the answer is YES you can switch it using your MediaPortal HTPC as long as you have a MCE Remote and Receiver that uses remote-blasters.

[Gamester17]

@Slicky, I think you want http:// www.xboxmediacenter.com and/or http://www.xbox-scene.com

[Slicky]

Yep I guess I was thinking too freely. Sorry for being off topic.

I am just thinking through different scenarios - not sure how I ended up spouting xbmc stuff.

As far as MP goes:

(1) Is the tv guide just the dstv guide on whatever channel the guide is on?
(2) Can you schedule programs to record and if so do you manually look at the guide to work out when?
(3) It sounds like you must hook an IR blaster to the IR on the front of the dstv decoder - correct?

Thanks

[geov]

Hi Slicky

(1) The TV guide is a big problem in South Africa, not many people have been able to get DVB-S TV-cards to work here because of DSTV's continued anti-piracy tactics of disabling any decoder other than theirs. This means you cant capture the TV guide off the air, which means you have to get the TV-Guide somewhere else. There are two sites that produce the guides in XMLTV format that you can import every two weeks. Unfortunately this XMLTV file is produced by capturing the guide detail off the DSTV web site, which is not always updated correctly. Furthermore not all the channels are extracted, because they are not available on the web site.

(2) Yes you can schedule recordings by using the TV-guide that is loaded by means of the XMLTV file. It’s an automated process, so you don’t have to specify any times.

(3) That is correct....