Advice for new setup (1 Viewer)

[clanmackenzi]

First off – sorry for the length of this posting but I wanted to give as much detail as possible to prevent playing post tag to bring people up to speed. I’m on the verge of setting up a MP network at home and am looking for some last minute advice or recommendations.

My current setup is as follows – main lounge I have MCE (Vista home premium) running on an HTPC (AMD64x2 4400+, 3G RAM, ATI X1900XT, 2x250Gb SATA II HDD, 1x750Gb SATA II HDD (with about 100 ripped DVDs), 2x FloppyDTV satellite tuners) connected to a Panasonic 42” Plasma and Denon 7.1 surround sound system. Down in the games room (come son number ones’ bedroom) I have a 52” rear projection HDTV connected to an Xbox 360 that is hardwired via a network switch to the lounge HTPC and the internet router. With a lot of frigging, special utilities and registry hacks I have a stable system with all my Sky subscription channels in MCE and extended to the Xbox 360. Now, I’ve decided to treat myself and upgrade the 42” Panny to a 50” in the main lounge, meaning that son number two is going to inherit the 42” for his room (jammy bugger I know – it took me a long time to earn on of these!!)

Hereby lies my dilemma. Originally I was going to get another Xbox 360 and add it as a second extender to MCE on the main HTPC. However with only two tuners feeding 3 TVs, lack of space in HTPC and no more Sat feeds into the lounge I decided to re-evaluate my options. I was already aware of MP and acknowledge major benefits over MCE: HD channels, resource sharing throughout PC network and channel allocation to specific cards (most useful in my setup as I have one tuner with my subscription card and another with FTA). Son number two also has a decent spec’d gaming PC in his room, a dedicated LNB feed from the Sat dish and I have a spare Technotrend S3200 from a previously failed MCE setup nightmare. So a MP network setup sounds just the ticket, on paper at least – main HTPC as TV server (with dual FloppyDTVs), son #2 PC as a slave TV server (with TT S2 tuner), son #1 Xbox as a client TV and my study PC also as a client TV just for the hell of it….

Checking out the website and these forum postings I feel confident that the MP configuration described above is feasible, in fact tailor made but I am having difficulty nailing down the precise detail of how to install the overall system. Below is my planned setup, current understanding and some questions, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated:

Main HTPC: (main server)
• 50” plasma
• Windows Vista Home premium – is this OK for media portal TV server? I may be upgrading to 64Bit operating system – will this work
• Microsoft SQL Server Express or MySQL 5 – which is recommended and where can I download it from?
• Media Portal TV server
• Dual FloppyDTV S2 cards and Cam modules (1 with Sky subscription and second with Sky FTA)
• Hardwire connection to local Ethernet switch and wireless connection to internet router.

Boys room 1: (slave server)
• 42” Plasma
• Windows Vista home basic – is this ok for MP TV server?
• Microsoft SQL Server Express or MySQL 5 – which is recommended and where can I download it from?
• Media Portal TV server
• Single Technotrend S3200 and Cam module with a Sky FTA card
• Hardwire connection to local Ethernet switch and wireless connection to internet router.

Games room:
• 52” rear projection HDTV
• Xbox 360 premium – how do I load media portal onto this? I’ve seen reference to it but cannot find any detail. Hard wire Ethernet connection to local switch and internet router.



Study: (client HTPC)
• 22” LCD
• Vista home premium 64bit
• Media Portal
• MP client plugin
• Hardwire Ethernet connection to local switch and internet router

 

[milhouse]

I am afraid I can't help much with your setup - you Europeans are lucky that you can get Sat cards, CAMs and everything it takes to get good reception on your computers. The best we can do is to use the settop boxes and analog connections.

If I was in your shoes, I'd take the drives out of your main HTPC, throw them in a new box in the basement along with the satellite feeds and enough TV cards to do the job. Not sure that I'd mess with the Slaved Tv Servers. I seem to recall reading a post in the last week or two that that feature has been broken awhile.

But one thing did catch my eye in your post. Media Portal does NOT run on XBox. I think you had intended to use an XBox as a MP extender. Here's a short but clearly-worded "no" I found searching the forum to verify: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/offtopic-57/xbox-33855/

 

[clanmackenzi]

Thanks Milhouse... Yes, I moved from the US to Paris not so long ago and was delighted with the digital Sat options available here. I have (after a lot of trial and error) got a fantastic setup with direct Satellite feed into the PC with near perfect picture quality - hence my caution before jumping to Media Portal.

Pity about the Xbox - I had heard that there is an Xbox extender plugin!! it's a good solution to get high end gaming and live/recorded TV without tying-up a PC. To be honest I may be better off buying another Xbox for the boys room and beef up the HTPC, maybe going to 64bit and ramping the RAM up to 8 or 16GB and adding another external firewire tuner and cam. I do like the sound of MP but I just don't think its mature enough yet for my type of setup requirements.