Please llow me to introduce myself, I'm a bit of a moron of late! (1 Viewer)

[NumberSix]

First off, so far so good!

I've been cut down with some health issues, and since they have given me some free time, I decided to cobble together the HTPC I've been wanting (used primarily to watch Downloaded shows and HD stuff fom online as well as internet radio... DirecTV HD isnt really an option for me yet, and thats OK.

Of course, as my bride pointed out, now that I'm becoming more absent minded and stupid, it's a PERFECT time for me to try to figure this stuff out!

So to start off, I'm sorry if I ask already answered questions, I promise I've searched, but my google/search foo is not as powerful as it once was and I apologies in advance and beg your forgiveness.

Anyway, my system specs are enclosed (I think) and I decided to base it on XP because it's easy and seems to be a less resource hog than Vista ultimate for my hardware. (and I own a spare copy already)

Anyway, my first goal is to make a HTPC that can play most video codecs, regular things in .avi up to HD conent in .mkv

I got my start from wanting to watch Doctor Who and Torchwood, which is mostly in .avi content, everything else grew from that.

I'm also interested in internet radio/video, specifically Pandora, podcasts, and watching stickam for my beloved TWiT.

As well as eventually sharing my audio library so i can easily listen to my own music which i have a feeling will be easiest if I set up a media server.

However, did I mention that my medications and other things have made me especially stupid, and this is perhaps the dumbest project for me to start on. But it's something I've wanted, and is keeping me sane in a difficult time.

Anyway, if anyone would, be kind enough to look over my ssystem specs, and give any hints, tips, or links to easy to understand walkthroughs I would be most appreciative. I admit, I've been looking thorough the site, searching, and I just wind up being confused or not finding informatin for my needs (not recording TV etc)


anyway, thanks for any help, and I apologize for being a idiot newb at this point, at some point, they say my brain will come back, but it cant be soon enough for me!
:sorry:

Um, one more thing, I filled out all y system specs and such when I joined, is that easily visible to everyone?

 

[charli181]

everything looks fine based on your system specs. You may have problems with FFDshow as your video codec (I get audio through but a black screen) but others seem to be fine with it. I use PowerDVD 8 (you can download the trial version to get the included codecs required) and the XVid codecs for those special formats. Other than that, good luck with your build and don't be afraid to ask questions, evreyone here in the forums was a beginner once.

 

[NumberSix]

Thanks so much!

I notice when playing some things I get a slight stutter, so i know there is tweaking to be done.

As for the PowerDVD, do you use the program, or just use it to get the best codecs?

I have CoreAVC, but cant seem to figuire out how to configure it within the Media Portal setup.

And especially thanks for your kind words, I'm actually OK with being somewhat ignorant as I learn, but I'm actually quite good at Google/Search-Fu, and the loss of that ability is frustrating me to no end!

Once I have the basics down in playback, I figure I'll start on a media server for ease of use. Any way to integrate Pandora into MediaPortal without bumping out into Windows?

 

[charli181]

The only reason to install PDVD is to obtain the codecs. the exe file is never called upon.

I found with CoreAVC, to get the correct settings in MediaPortal, I had to use a program called Graphedit (free on the internet), and build a graph using the CoreAVC codec to play a file. From there you can tweak the settings which are stored in the registry. Once you have it the way you like, copy those settings into MediaPortal folder within the Regisrty. I think it is something like HKLM/Current User/Software/CoreAVC/Graphedit. It appears each program that uses CoreAVC will have it's own settings but with a bit of copy and pasting, you should be right.

Others may have found a better solution for CoreAVC though.

 

[NumberSix]

Yhanks for the info, sems llike your way might be easier to configure, and at this point, I'm all about ease of configuration!

On a HTPC plus side, played the Doctor Who Online Graske game tonight with my wife on the TV, wasnt full screen, but she enjoyed it, so score one for Spouse Acceptance Factor!
Tomorrow, I'll delete all the pld codecs and start your way from scratch, hopefully that will smooth things out.
A question, since your rig seems similar to mine, does iTunes work well for you as a plugin, or is Winamp better? (I find that as much as I try and free myself from iTunes, the ease of finding podcasts makes me keep on coming back for more.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your feedback!

 

[charli181]

I refuse to use ITunes for the simple fact all my stuff is mp3 and refuse to use an overated format (thats another thread though). I use the internal BASS player for music and the LastFM plugin (free streaming music thats good quality). I cannot comment on the other plugins and would suggest looking in the Plugin part of the forum for comments from users that do.

Sadly, the video codec thing is the biggest hurdle to overcome within Mediaportal and each user has different results. What worked for me is not always your solution but I can only offer suggestions as to what I did like so many others. There are so many software solutions out there, each have their own benifits. I am currently using PDVD8 for all my video codecs as I only have MPEG2 encoding in my area. I did play around with the coreAVC stuff with a sample 264 file just to get it right but it has not been fully load tested for the above reason stated.

One day I will get around to writing a guide for common Codec problems.

 

[revs]

I refuse to use ITunes for the simple fact all my stuff is mp3...

iTunes playss MP3, always has However iTunes on the PC is rather sucky, and I would just use the built in BASS player or whatever MP defaults to!

 

[NumberSix]

I agree that iTunes is a bit of a resuce hog and mired in suck when used with windows (seems to be fine for Macs, but thats a whole other issue)

It does use mP3's and the lossless compression has made it a reasonable.. well.. OK... its made me want to shoot myself in the head a little less every time I use it!)

That said, I'll play around with the built in music player, perhaps keepig iTunes on another server computer and just accessing the MP3's Bass and see how that wors, as long as I can easily use it, I'll be happy!

Thanks so much again!

 

[charli181]

the reason for Itunes denial for me is that, when purchased music from their store, I must use the player and cannot convert to a MP3 format.....which means I must by on extremly overated IPOD......my phone does more for less...bloody yuppies set the tone for the rest of us tech heads....


Sorry :sorry:, hijacking thread here....you are all getting me started.....

 

[NumberSix]

Heh! No worries!
I'll admit that I like my iPod classic fine, but since I need at least 80 gigs, (use it for video podcasts as well as a portable HDD, my needs are a tad different than most.

Plus, I won it, else I wouldnt have it myself!

Anyway, thanks a heap, I'm gonna try some of these codecs, and then troll the rest of the forums to see what I can get to work within MediaPortal and what I have to evert to the windows desktop for.

(I admit, Shoutcast is awesome, but I've really fallen in love with Pandora for my streaming music, I'm a celtic music fan and it's a great way to discover new stuff at random, and it chooses music similar to the Bose uMusic system, but better.)

Just my opinion, I could be wrong, your mileage may vary!