I built a HTPC using some spare parts, and have some questions about getting everything to work together the way I want...
1) I am using a Sapphire Radeon X600XT with VIVO connected to a Panasonic 27" television (old type, S-VIDEO input). I will be switching to the Catalyst 6.5 drivers as I occasionally have lockups in MediaPortal when there is a preview video running in a window in the My Videos section with the latest Catalyst 7.2 drivers. The TV display rolls vertically when the PC first boots up and shows the BIOS messages, and does not stabilize until WinXP boots and presumably loads the display drivers. If I turn the TV off during boot up, the PC does not recognize the TV once I turn it on and I am left with no display at all. Will "force TV detection" in the Catalyst control panel fix this? Is there any way to fix the rolling display during boot up? As is, I can't access or change BIOS settings without dragging an old CRT out and connecting it to the HTPC.
2) I recently bought and installed a Microsoft MCE Remote (V2) and it works very nicely in MediaPortal! I would like to be able to navigate the desktop, start, and shut down Windows XP Pro SP2 without having to use a keyboard, and noticed if the focus is on the desktop icons that the arrow keys on the MCE remote will allow me to navigate and start programs. Is there a way to force the focus to stay there so I can use the remote alone? Also, how can I make the remote start/shut down windows? The green button on the remote doesn't seem to do anything under XP Pro SP2. Even better would be if the remote would allow me to navigate the Start menu items.
3) Does anyone know how to get the animated Weather.com satellite image to load in the My Weather\Images area? I found one I could copy from AccuWeather, but I like the Weather.com image better. It seems like they do some sort of JAVA thing to animate the map rather than using an animated GIF like AccuWeather.
4) Is there an IMDB sort of database for TV episodes that can be used with MediaPortal?
MediaPortal rocks!
1) I am using a Sapphire Radeon X600XT with VIVO connected to a Panasonic 27" television (old type, S-VIDEO input). I will be switching to the Catalyst 6.5 drivers as I occasionally have lockups in MediaPortal when there is a preview video running in a window in the My Videos section with the latest Catalyst 7.2 drivers. The TV display rolls vertically when the PC first boots up and shows the BIOS messages, and does not stabilize until WinXP boots and presumably loads the display drivers. If I turn the TV off during boot up, the PC does not recognize the TV once I turn it on and I am left with no display at all. Will "force TV detection" in the Catalyst control panel fix this? Is there any way to fix the rolling display during boot up? As is, I can't access or change BIOS settings without dragging an old CRT out and connecting it to the HTPC.
2) I recently bought and installed a Microsoft MCE Remote (V2) and it works very nicely in MediaPortal! I would like to be able to navigate the desktop, start, and shut down Windows XP Pro SP2 without having to use a keyboard, and noticed if the focus is on the desktop icons that the arrow keys on the MCE remote will allow me to navigate and start programs. Is there a way to force the focus to stay there so I can use the remote alone? Also, how can I make the remote start/shut down windows? The green button on the remote doesn't seem to do anything under XP Pro SP2. Even better would be if the remote would allow me to navigate the Start menu items.
3) Does anyone know how to get the animated Weather.com satellite image to load in the My Weather\Images area? I found one I could copy from AccuWeather, but I like the Weather.com image better. It seems like they do some sort of JAVA thing to animate the map rather than using an animated GIF like AccuWeather.
4) Is there an IMDB sort of database for TV episodes that can be used with MediaPortal?
MediaPortal rocks!