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Wow, that looks like a sweet setup! Your hardware is far beyond what you will need, so you should have a very smooth MP experience. I don't use a set top box or do much gaming, but I can offer a few bits of advice.

First, expect to spend quite a bit of time getting things right. It sounds like you are used to that, but you won't likely get everything right in the first day, week, or maybe even month. I've been using MP for a couple of years now and I'm still figuring some things out.

Following that, you are well advised to do a simple install without any plugins or skins and test everything before moving on. That way you can keep track of what has been changed. It is an unfortunate reality that some plugins don't play nice together and can have negative effects on unexpected parts of the system. I always start with a clean install, then add the plugins in order of importance to be sure any problems can be isolated and eliminated quickly.

Here are a few points from your post:
TV Server - you will need TV Server if you want to stream live TV to clients. It is included by default in the final release of MP 1.0.0.0 so no need to hunt down something special. After you have done the install, you should configure MP through the MPconfig.exe utility, then don't forget to also configure TVServer, which has its own utility. For QAM tuning, this will take quite a while. After that, install MP on your clients and just configure MP. No need for fiddling with the TV server config on a machine that doesn't have tuner cards. Also, not that in the US with Comcast, you need to choose the correct kind of QAM to scan for. I use "QAM Standard" as the default choice finds nothing on my Comcast cable.

You may want to assign the timeshifting and tv recording folders to a separate HDD from your system disk. Your machine is probably fast enough, but I experienced I/O problems and stuttering when I had all of that assigned to folders on C:.

Be sure you've got all the necessary codecs. If you search codecs in the wiki and forum, you'll find some nice lists of what works/doesn't work in MP.

As for useful plugins, here is a list of absolute must-haves:
MPTVSeries: It will group all of your TV shows into a single database regardless of their physical location, no need to search through different directories like you were talking about. If your series are well-named, this will make a very nice graphical interface with banners, screenshots, episode info, etc. This is by far the most-used plugin in my house.

Moving Pictures: This one does a very similar thing for your movies. It compiles them into a single database with posters, fanart, imdb info, etc. Depending on how your movie files are named, you may have to spend a little time ironing this one out, but it is *well* worth the trouble.

Music: There is a very nice option in the music configuration to scan your shares and create a single database, again so you can browse music without worrying about physical location. But it does take a long time. I have around 32,000 audio files and it takes a good 30-40 minutes to do a fresh scan on my whole library.
Audioscrobbler/Last.fm: You may or may not be interested in last.fm support, but one of these plugins (I think the last.fm one) has a coverart download utility. If you run it after scanning your music lib, it will pull down artist and album art for all of your music, making your music browsing a graphical experience. Very nice indeed.

Multishortcut: It sounds like you will want the multishortcut extension. This allows you to place buttons in the home menu (or plugins menu) to handle any external applications. So if you wanted to launch a game, external viewer, calculator, etc from within MP, this allows you to do that.

There will be much much more to figure out as you go, but based on what you describe here, this should get you started. Good luck and keep us posted!

<blockquote data-quote="dcwp" data-source="post: 373028" data-attributes="member: 25562">Wow, that looks like a sweet setup!&nbsp; Your hardware is far beyond what you will need, so you should have a very smooth MP experience.&nbsp; I don't use a set top box or do much gaming, but I can offer a few bits of advice.First, expect to spend quite a bit of time getting things right.&nbsp; It sounds like you are used to that, but you won't likely get everything right in the first day, week, or maybe even month.&nbsp; I've been using MP for a couple of years now and I'm still figuring some things out.Following that, you are well advised to do a simple install without any plugins or skins and test everything before moving on.&nbsp; That way you can keep track of what has been changed.&nbsp; It is an unfortunate reality that some plugins don't play nice together and can have negative effects on unexpected parts of the system.&nbsp; I always start with a clean install, then add the plugins in order of importance to be sure any problems can be isolated and eliminated quickly.Here are a few points from your post:TV Server - you will need TV Server if you want to stream live TV to clients.&nbsp; It is included by default in the final release of MP 1.0.0.0 so no need to hunt down something special.&nbsp; After you have done the install, you should configure MP through the MPconfig.exe utility, then don't forget to also configure TVServer, which has its own utility.&nbsp; For QAM tuning, this will take quite a while.&nbsp; After that, install MP on your clients and just configure MP.&nbsp; No need for fiddling with the TV server config on a machine that doesn't have tuner cards.&nbsp; Also, not that in the US with Comcast, you need to choose the correct kind of QAM to scan for.&nbsp; I use &quot;QAM Standard&quot; as the default choice finds nothing on my Comcast cable.You may want to assign the timeshifting and tv recording folders to a separate HDD from your system disk.&nbsp; Your machine is probably fast enough, but I experienced I/O problems and stuttering when I had all of that assigned to folders on C:.Be sure you've got all the necessary codecs.&nbsp; If you search codecs in the wiki and forum, you'll find some nice lists of what works/doesn't work in MP.As for useful plugins, here is a list of absolute must-haves:MPTVSeries: It will group all of your TV shows into a single database regardless of their physical location, no need to search through different directories like you were talking about.&nbsp; If your series are well-named, this will make a very nice graphical interface with banners, screenshots, episode info, etc.&nbsp; This is by far the most-used plugin in my house.Moving Pictures: This one does a very similar thing for your movies.&nbsp; It compiles them into a single database with posters, fanart, imdb info, etc.&nbsp; Depending on how your movie files are named, you may have to spend a little time ironing this one out, but it is *well* worth the trouble.Music: There is a very nice option in the music configuration to scan your shares and create a single database, again so you can browse music without worrying about physical location.&nbsp; But it does take a long time.&nbsp; I have around 32,000 audio files and it takes a good 30-40 minutes to do a fresh scan on my whole library.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Audioscrobbler/Last.fm: You may or may not be interested in last.fm support, but one of these plugins (I think the last.fm one) has a coverart download utility.&nbsp; If you run it after scanning your music lib, it will pull down artist and album art for all of your music, making your music browsing a graphical experience.&nbsp; Very nice indeed.Multishortcut: It sounds like you will want the multishortcut extension.&nbsp; This allows you to place buttons in the home menu (or plugins menu) to handle any external applications.&nbsp; So if you wanted to launch a game, external viewer, calculator, etc from within MP, this allows you to do that.There will be much much more to figure out as you go, but based on what you describe here, this should get you started.&nbsp; Good luck and keep us posted!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="dcwp, post: 373028, member: 25562"] Wow, that looks like a sweet setup! Your hardware is far beyond what you will need, so you should have a very smooth MP experience. I don't use a set top box or do much gaming, but I can offer a few bits of advice. First, expect to spend quite a bit of time getting things right. It sounds like you are used to that, but you won't likely get everything right in the first day, week, or maybe even month. I've been using MP for a couple of years now and I'm still figuring some things out. Following that, you are well advised to do a simple install without any plugins or skins and test everything before moving on. That way you can keep track of what has been changed. It is an unfortunate reality that some plugins don't play nice together and can have negative effects on unexpected parts of the system. I always start with a clean install, then add the plugins in order of importance to be sure any problems can be isolated and eliminated quickly. Here are a few points from your post: TV Server - you will need TV Server if you want to stream live TV to clients. It is included by default in the final release of MP 1.0.0.0 so no need to hunt down something special. After you have done the install, you should configure MP through the MPconfig.exe utility, then don't forget to also configure TVServer, which has its own utility. For QAM tuning, this will take quite a while. After that, install MP on your clients and just configure MP. No need for fiddling with the TV server config on a machine that doesn't have tuner cards. Also, not that in the US with Comcast, you need to choose the correct kind of QAM to scan for. I use "QAM Standard" as the default choice finds nothing on my Comcast cable. You may want to assign the timeshifting and tv recording folders to a separate HDD from your system disk. Your machine is probably fast enough, but I experienced I/O problems and stuttering when I had all of that assigned to folders on C:. Be sure you've got all the necessary codecs. If you search codecs in the wiki and forum, you'll find some nice lists of what works/doesn't work in MP. As for useful plugins, here is a list of absolute must-haves: MPTVSeries: It will group all of your TV shows into a single database regardless of their physical location, no need to search through different directories like you were talking about. If your series are well-named, this will make a very nice graphical interface with banners, screenshots, episode info, etc. This is by far the most-used plugin in my house. Moving Pictures: This one does a very similar thing for your movies. It compiles them into a single database with posters, fanart, imdb info, etc. Depending on how your movie files are named, you may have to spend a little time ironing this one out, but it is *well* worth the trouble. Music: There is a very nice option in the music configuration to scan your shares and create a single database, again so you can browse music without worrying about physical location. But it does take a long time. I have around 32,000 audio files and it takes a good 30-40 minutes to do a fresh scan on my whole library. Audioscrobbler/Last.fm: You may or may not be interested in last.fm support, but one of these plugins (I think the last.fm one) has a coverart download utility. If you run it after scanning your music lib, it will pull down artist and album art for all of your music, making your music browsing a graphical experience. Very nice indeed. Multishortcut: It sounds like you will want the multishortcut extension. This allows you to place buttons in the home menu (or plugins menu) to handle any external applications. So if you wanted to launch a game, external viewer, calculator, etc from within MP, this allows you to do that. There will be much much more to figure out as you go, but based on what you describe here, this should get you started. Good luck and keep us posted! [/QUOTE]