New Media Center Server Build Advice

[Beradon]

Hey all, I want to start off by apologizing for the length of this post, but as the topic states I'm beginning my foray into the world of Media Center servers. I wasnt sure where to post this since there is no general questions forum or beginners section.

Also, if any of this post doesnt make sense, please ask. I work third shift weekends and I've been up since about 9pm CST last night.

A little personal background first. I've been building PCs for quite a long time (going on nearly 20 years now) and have experience and education in multiple operating systems and particularly in enterprise network environments, so when it comes to discussing this stuff please feel free to be as technical as you feel you need to be to get a point across, I'm quite sure I'll understand, and if I dont, I'll 'google it' or ask.

Now a little bit of HTPC background. For quite a number of years I've had a PC of some form hooked up to the various TVs I've had for running media of various sorts, but only in the last few years has it been anything resembling something that was designed specifically to be an HTPC. A little more than 2 years ago I located and hollowed out my old 8-bit NES and converted it into an HTPC. Here's the post on the Zotac forums from my initial build:
http://www.zotacusa.com/forum/topic/140 ... #entry3706

Recently I inherited quite a lot of computer hardware, among which was an A6-3650 so I figured now would be a good time to update the Nintendo to something a bit more powerful than the Pentium Dual Core e7400 that was in it.

As I've completed that update (now consists of the A6, 8 gig of ram, 320 gig 2.5" hard drive, Asus F1A75-I deluxe motherboard), I ran across the information about the Ceton InfiniTV 4 card going on sale permanently at $199 so I got to thinking, and I've basically let my mind run away with me. Unfortunately the Nintendo is too small for the Ceton card to fit inside, and I have no desire to have the USB version sitting next to it, it would just add clutter. So that brings me to now.

I've got the hardware and the capability to build a Media Center Server but as I've been researching this its become basically information overload, so I need some insight and information if you all are willing to share.

Here's what I have:

In addition to the Nintendo PC, I also have an XBox 360 to use as a media center extender. I understand the limitations of using the Nintendo to stream live TV from the Ceton, including the fact that if I DVR things on the Nintendo it will stay on the Nintendo rather than being on the server where I want it. I have Time Warner cable in Southeast Wisconsin, and I dont know what channels if any they allow copy freely on. I've read in some locations that all Time Warner broadcasts no matter the channel are copy once.

I also have a technet subscription so I have access to full licenses of all Windows desktop operating systems and server operating systems including Windows Home Server 2011.

I have a number of motherboards and processors (all 2x Phenom II X4s and a Phenom II X6, various models, I'd have to go look again), a number of 1TB hard drives of various manufacturers, and plenty of RAM, so hardware wont be an issue. The only thing I should have to purchase outright is the Ceton InfiniTV 4.

The house is not wired for ethernet, and the coax in the various rooms seems to be in the absolute worst possible positions, so I may eventually have to either rewire, or, as a stopgap, do some Powerline networking (the 500mb Belkin powerline adapters look promising and have excellent reviews, even over the popular netgear versions)

Here's what I want:

I would like to build a server to of course stream Live TV to any media center pcs or extenders I eventually setup including the current XBox 360 Slim, and my Nintendo PC. In addition, I would like the vast majority (if not all) of the DVR recording to be done ON the server. I would like for the usage to be as intuitive as possible (turn on, TV just 'works') because if I cant 'sell' this to the girlfriend then she wont be approving my little (read: big) project. The primary goal of this is to toss the Time Warner DVR box and save the money on that specific service.

Questions/Opinions:

Server OS: As I mentioned I have access to all major desktop and server operating systems, I'd like opinions on which would be best.
Tuner: I'm leaning towards the Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe version for number of tuners since I will have at least 1 (if not 2) machines specifically tied to tuners, however I'm open to suggestion about the USB version or the HDHomerun Prime
Hardware: I do have hardware available, but any specific suggestions that would make life easier just in case I dont have it.
Streaming: I frequently stream video to work and it works just fine currently with downloaded DIVX video and such through Windows Media Player. Will I be able to stream the recorded TV shows in the same way using Windows Media Player and Windows Live?

Any other gotchas, caveats and/or other suggestions, please mention them. I do expect to learn while doing this, but I'd also like for it not to be an ultra headache.

Thanks all

[Tracer]

Okay here's my suggestions;

Build a Windows Home Server to store all your recordings on and hide it some where out of the way.

Install the Cetton InfiTV in the Windows Home Server, then share out the tuner on the network.

Since you can access the InfiTV on any Windows 7 PC on your network. Connect your Nintendo PC to the InfiTV then connect your Xbox 360 to the Nintendo as an extender.

For your networking I would go a head and wire the house with cat6 or 5e. If wiring the house with cat6 or5e is out of the question look at MoCA using the existing coax. I really can't say much about going with powerline ethernet as I have never tried it, nor have I tried MoCA but, I heard good things about it while powerline ethernet I heard mixed reviews.

For the Nintendo PC make sure it can pass the digital cable advisor it passes there shouldn't be any issue in using it as with any Digital Cable Tuner.

Now how it would work, the recordings will be done on the Nintendo PC, not on the Windows Home Server. But, that is okay because you can have WHS easily store the recordings. There won't be any issues with DRM when it comes to watching them on the Nintendo PC since that is the PC that actually recorded it on. Nor will the Xbox have any issues playing them back in extender mode.

Now comes the bad news or more tricky part streaming to other PCs, on the network or to your PC at work. All Media Center recordings are stored as WTV and you will probably need to re-encode them to another format in order to stream over the internet. Also, if they are DRM protected then you can not change them into another format. Depending on how much work and time you want to put in re-encoding the recordings you may just want continue downloading and streaming to your work PC like you have been doing. Others here might beable to help answer questions on automated methods of re-encoding WTV.

When it comes to other PCs in your home accessing the WTV recordings as long as they are not DRM protected you should be able to access from the WHS. However, I found when it comes to ease of use and not having to worry about DRM content it is best to just use extenders like the Xbox 360 on the other TVs in the house. Since the extenders all access the centralized Windows Media Center PC they can share the guide, recordings, media and tuners.

[adam1991]

7MC was designed to record things to a location, then play them back either through the original recording computer or through Media Center extenders. Current extender choice is XBox. Extenders are just that--they extend the Media Center experience of the HTPC out to different physical locations. Extenders take care of all the DRM for you, invisibly.

How about you start with that? One step at a time. And trust me, with that setup you very much have an appliance DVR/cable box. Set the HTPC and the XBoxen to boot into Media Center, and that's that. You will gain high WAF points (or in your case, GAF), and you can dump the Time Warner boxes.

And once she sees how absolutely good the 7MC user interface is, she'll never want to go back. That will give you some wiggle room when it comes to tweaking on stages 2, 3, and beyond.

You will have to wire your house for networking. You can try powerline; it may very well work. Wireless is a crap shoot, likely won't do what you need.

What's great about all of this is that anything other than Win7 Starter will work. Don't burn a higher end license if you don't have to. (BTW, did you get the notice that Technet licenses are down to 3 per product now?)

You'll need an RC6 IR receiver, as well as a Media Center remote of some kind.

With regard to streaming to outside of your house, take a close look at Remote Potato.

Leave room for a second Ceton in that HTPC. Once you've seen it work, you'll want four more streams. Yeah, you *think* you'll want to put that in a different computer; probably not. That just puts you back to the cableco conundrum of "which machine did I record that on?" with respect to DRM shows at the very least. And just your luck, you'll probably find out that T-W marks everything copy-once.

Regardless, GAF goes down when you step outside the MS-standard "recording tank plus extenders" model.

This is way, way easier than you think. Bolt the box together, install the OS, add the tuner, and go and play. The absolute *hardest* part of this is plugging in the cableCARD and getting it authorized. If your coax is as bad as you say, be prepared for it not to work--that happened to me, and I required a truck roll and some new coax before the card would authorize.

And those of us who come from ReplayTV would tell you, add commercial skip software.

[STC]

My mini advice, should you choose to accept it, is not to rely on streaming any IP TV over power line if at all possible

[Beradon]

Okay here's my suggestions;

Build a Windows Home Server to store all your recordings on and hide it some where out of the way.

Install the Cetton InfiTV in the Windows Home Server, then share out the tuner on the network.

Since you can access the InfiTV on any Windows 7 PC on your network. Connect your Nintendo PC to the InfiTV then connect your Xbox 360 to the Nintendo as an extender.

Thanks for the suggestion, I had considered this but it would mean leaving the Nintendo AND my Server on all the time, or at least requiring them both to boot basically any time someone wanted to watch TV, not only adding to the time it took to start watching PC but requiring 2 machines on.

For your networking I would go a head and wire the house with cat6 or 5e. If wiring the house with cat6 or5e is out of the question look at MoCA using the existing coax. I really can't say much about going with powerline ethernet as I have never tried it, nor have I tried MoCA but, I heard good things about it while powerline ethernet I heard mixed reviews.

I may eventually wire the house with cat5e/6 but right now that's an expense I'm not wanting to undertake, it might be easier at a later time when we plan on ripping up the floor to put down hardwood, but that's also out of budget right now. I could do it myself, but I'm a first time homeowner within the last year and a little bit wary and unsure of myself when it comes to that kind of DIY stuff. MoCA is an option, but as I mentioned, most rooms I find have the coax run to the worst locations possible, why anyone would want a TV on the walls that have the coax is beyond me. However the one room that it is most important in I can actually re-run or split the coax in the basement beneath it and come up through a different wall. The reason its an issue running wiring in the other rooms is that the PCs all exist on the second floor and I dont know how to go about running wire to the basement from up there. I will keep your suggestions for this in mind however.

For the Nintendo PC make sure it can pass the digital cable advisor it passes there shouldn't be any issue in using it as with any Digital Cable Tuner.

Now how it would work, the recordings will be done on the Nintendo PC, not on the Windows Home Server. But, that is okay because you can have WHS easily store the recordings. There won't be any issues with DRM when it comes to watching them on the Nintendo PC since that is the PC that actually recorded it on. Nor will the Xbox have any issues playing them back in extender mode.

Refer to above

Now comes the bad news or more tricky part streaming to other PCs, on the network or to your PC at work. All Media Center recordings are stored as WTV and you will probably need to re-encode them to another format in order to stream over the internet. Also, if they are DRM protected then you can not change them into another format. Depending on how much work and time you want to put in re-encoding the recordings you may just want continue downloading and streaming to your work PC like you have been doing. Others here might beable to help answer questions on automated methods of re-encoding WTV.

I actually just ran across a post on the windows experts forum saying that what I've been doing with Windows Media streaming and Windows live will work with WTV, so this question is answered. I do understand that streaming will cause a loss of video quality, but my upload speed is not wonderful anyways, and I've been using it for some time and it doesnt bother me. The only time I ever use it is at work to pass some time when it is quiet.
http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 24567.aspx

However you are right, the DRM issue is one I'm concerned with, I dont know if streaming through WMP/Windows Live is affected by WTV DRM or not, and unfortunately I have no way to test it currently. This is actually quite a concern because this is one of the big reasons I want to set this up.

When it comes to other PCs in your home accessing the WTV recordings as long as they are not DRM protected you should be able to access from the WHS. However, I found when it comes to ease of use and not having to worry about DRM content it is best to just use extenders like the Xbox 360 on the other TVs in the house. Since the extenders all access the centralized Windows Media Center PC they can share the guide, recordings, media and tuners.

It's really quite an annoyance that PCs cant be used as extenders. Almost to the point that I'm wondering when I go to this design, why I would have my Nintendo PC anymore if I cant use it in the way I'd like. In building up this technology you'd figure that would have been the first thing to come when designing the software.

[Beradon]

7MC was designed to record things to a location, then play them back either through the original recording computer or through Media Center extenders. Current extender choice is XBox. Extenders are just that--they extend the Media Center experience of the HTPC out to different physical locations. Extenders take care of all the DRM for you, invisibly.

How about you start with that? One step at a time. And trust me, with that setup you very much have an appliance DVR/cable box. Set the HTPC and the XBoxen to boot into Media Center, and that's that. You will gain high WAF points (or in your case, GAF), and you can dump the Time Warner boxes.

And once she sees how absolutely good the 7MC user interface is, she'll never want to go back. That will give you some wiggle room when it comes to tweaking on stages 2, 3, and beyond.

I appreciate the insight, and yep, I'm aware of what an extender is and what it isnt, and yes the easiest way for me to start would be just the server backend and the XBox front end. You are right, I will probably end up going this route first to appease the woman, but being as I dont have all of the pieces just yet I'm trying to lay myself a roadmap, even if it takes a little while for me to accomplish it all.

You will have to wire your house for networking. You can try powerline; it may very well work. Wireless is a crap shoot, likely won't do what you need.

I've heard surprisingly good things about running live tv over powerline, but I'm prepared to approach from other angles if it doesnt work out the way I hope.

What's great about all of this is that anything other than Win7 Starter will work. Don't burn a higher end license if you don't have to. (BTW, did you get the notice that Technet licenses are down to 3 per product now?)

I'd have to look through my email again, however I just went to the license site today and I know for a fact that I claimed as many as 5 previously unclaimed licenses on both windows server 2008 and Windows 7 Home Premium. The rest of them I'm already sitting at 5 that previously allowed it.

You'll need an RC6 IR receiver, as well as a Media Center remote of some kind.

Thanks, I knew I'd need a remote and IR receiver of some form but forgot to mention it in the earlier post. I'm planning on getting one of the XBox 360 media remotes, probably the white one as the black one seems to have more limited functionality.

With regard to streaming to outside of your house, take a close look at Remote Potato.

Refer to the earlier response, I ran across mention that what I already do "should" continue to work.

Leave room for a second Ceton in that HTPC. Once you've seen it work, you'll want four more streams. Yeah, you *think* you'll want to put that in a different computer; probably not. That just puts you back to the cableco conundrum of "which machine did I record that on?" with respect to DRM shows at the very least. And just your luck, you'll probably find out that T-W marks everything copy-once.

Regardless, GAF goes down when you step outside the MS-standard "recording tank plus extenders" model.

Aye, I had already considered that, and fortunately this shouldnt be an issue.

This is way, way easier than you think. Bolt the box together, install the OS, add the tuner, and go and play. The absolute *hardest* part of this is plugging in the cableCARD and getting it authorized. If your coax is as bad as you say, be prepared for it not to work--that happened to me, and I required a truck roll and some new coax before the card would authorize.

And those of us who come from ReplayTV would tell you, add commercial skip software.

Fortunately the ceton will be plugging into the wall where the timewarner box is currently plugged in so I actually expect it to work.

While I definitely appreciate the suggestions I've received already, what's your suggestion for server os? I'm aware that WHS 2011 and Windows server 2008 can have the Ceton installed in them, however can they be WMC backends or does that still required a separate HTPC for WMC to function?

Thanks again everyone

[Tracer]

While I definitely appreciate the suggestions I've received already, what's your suggestion for server os? I'm aware that WHS 2011 and Windows server 2008 can have the Ceton installed in them, however can they be WMC backends or does that still required a separate HTPC for WMC to function?

Thanks again everyone

It depends do you plan on having a TV connected to the "Server". If so then WHS or Server 2008 really won't do anything for you. When you install a Ceton tuner in the server all you are really doing is making the tuner accessable via the network to other PCs running Media Center.

This is because Media Center is not included with any of the Server OS. That's why I suggested placing the tuner in the Server and sharing it out to your Nintendo HTPC. Also, because your original post stated "Unfortunately the Nintendo is too small for the Ceton card to fit inside, and I have no desire to have the USB version sitting next to it, it would just add clutter."

If you plan on having the TV connected you to the server then you need to go with Windows 7 Home Prem. If not then I would go with Windows Home Server (for now). Windows Home Server has some built in features like backing up the other PCs in your home network and automatic TV archiving. So for systems like your Nintendo PC with a small drive, once the recording has finished it will archive (move) to the WHS box. Of course there are third party applications that will do backups and automated copying of recordings to a server.

PCs not being an extender, that is probably one of the number one complaints about Media Center. If you didn't want to go with the extender model you could share out your tuners to multiple PCs on the network from the server/PC the Centon is installed in. However, once you share out a tuner to one PC that tuner is no longer available to the other PCs. Plus any DRM recordings done by that PC are only playable by that PC.

Another option is to start out simple, and go with a single HTPC running Windows Media Center with enough internal storage to meet your recording needs and Digital Cable Tuner (Ceton or SiliconDust). And have the one Xbox 360 connected to this.

You can always add the WHS at a later date, the nice thing about Windows Home Server it is pretty much a box that you setup and forget about. Leaving it to do all the tasks you have configured backups, TV archiving and so on.

[Beradon]

That's good to know Tracer.

I got to thinking about your suggestion of having the Nintendo run as the WMC 'server' and the xbox as an extender for it, while running WHS 2011 on the other box with the Ceton in it, that's probably the best option really as I think about it, since I wont have to be as concerned with the DRM issues. And it will basically give me access to 2 'cable boxes' (for lack of a better generic word) off the bat.

So WHS does automatic TV archiving? I wasnt aware of that feature, I was under the impression that I would have to map the drive or save to the network path in order to save off of the Nintendo box. But if WHS automatically moves it to its own storage then that's pretty sweet.

The 2.5" hard drive in the Nintendo isnt excessively quick, its only 5400 RPM, will that be quick enough for saving multiple streams from DVRs without stutter or do I need to consider and upgrade anyways?

Also, while I do have gigabit lan run to the Nintendo and it will also be gigabit from the Nintendo to the WHS 2011 box, will there be any performance issues to be concerned with while the TV archiving is occurring?

Now to determine if I have enough hard drives of any one make to go with an array. I know I have 2x 1TB Seagates, 1x 1.5TB Seagate (not sure of any of the seagate model numbers off hand, I would have to look), 1x 1TB WD Caviar Black, 1x 1TB Caviar Blue and 1x 1TB Caviar Green (go figure).

I'm not relishing the idea of cross-brand hard drive raid even if a lot of controllers support it, I prefer to keep my spindles as synchronized as possible for a non-enterprise environment... just better reliability and performance that way. So I'll probably either RAID 0 or RAID 1 the seagates... just have to determine if I care enough about whatever is on that server to lose it if one of the drives goes.

Currently the Nintendo has W7 Home Premium on it. Is there any benefit to changing it to W7 Ultimate or does that gain me nothing in the WMC realm?

Another point of note is that the A6-3650 in the Nintendo is undervolted and underclocked to 2.0GHz to help with heat since its such an enclosed space with no room for fans. Its still a quad core of course, with the 6530D on die, but will it be enough to stream and/or record multiple streams?

[barnabas1969]

Another option is to skip the whole "server" concept all together. Build a PC that will handle the load and have plenty of disc space in it. Put the Ceton in that machine, and connect it directly to your primary TV. Set it to sleep (S3) when not in use. Also set it to wake on LAN. The XBox will wake it when you start Media Center on the XBox. The Media Center remote will wake the PC when you want to watch the primary TV. The PC will automatically wake for recordings and go back to sleep. That solves the problem of having an always-on PC... and it doesn't take very long for the PC to be up and ready to go.

Take a look at the link in my signature line. That's my PC. It handles 8 tuners, four extenders, the primary TV, and commercial skipping... with 4TB of storage space. My WAF is very high. She would never go back to the old cable company DVR.

[Beradon]

While it is definitely an option, it would be quite the bummer to have my Nintendo PC be completely useless after all the time and effort I put in to it. Not to mention it looks just like an old 8-bit Nintendo, with functional power LED, power and reset buttons, and functional front game ports for emulation with the original Nintendo remotes.

[barnabas1969]

While it is definitely an option, it would be quite the bummer to have my Nintendo PC be completely useless after all the time and effort I put in to it. Not to mention it looks just like an old 8-bit Nintendo, with functional power LED, power and reset buttons, and functional front game ports for emulation with the original Nintendo remotes.

Understood. Well, from what you've posted, it looks like your Nintendo PC can handle the load... except that I don't know if the integrated GPU in that CPU works well with the "29/59 bug"... others can probably post opinions about that... or you can search around. There are posts here and on Windows Experts about the 29/59 bug.

Since your main problems with the Nintendo PC seem to be:
1) Storage Space
2) Room for a tuner

I see your problem with storage space. You could use an external HDD, or you could map a drive to another machine. But... the other machine equals additional cost (power and hardware). I suppose you could mitigate the power usage by making your Nintendo send a WOL packet to the other machine when the Nintendo wakes up. I think I would probably opt to hide an external HDD behind your other equipment.

As for room for a tuner, I'm not sure what your objection is to the Ceton USB. You could hide it behind other equipment as well. Or, you could go with the HDHomeRun Prime... and put it in a closet.

If you have SDV, which I'm guessing you do since you're on TWC... you're going to end up with an extra box (Tuning Adapter) plugged into the Nintendo anyway... so what's another box?

[barnabas1969]

Here's a link to more info about the 29/59 bug:
http://experts.windows.com/w/experts_wi ... ageIndex=1

[Tracer]

The 2.5" hard drive in the Nintendo isnt excessively quick, its only 5400 RPM, will that be quick enough for saving multiple streams from DVRs without stutter or do I need to consider and upgrade anyways?

Technically yes, will it be that hard to say as some 5400 drives perform better than others.

Also, while I do have gigabit lan run to the Nintendo and it will also be gigabit from the Nintendo to the WHS 2011 box, will there be any performance issues to be concerned with while the TV archiving is occurring?

On a gigabit network that shouldn't be an issue. The main suggestion would be not to use an internet router as your main switch for the Media Center network. Keep the WSH, Media Center PC and Xbox extender on a dedicated switch and just connect an internet router to this switch. Just a suggestion as I'm not sure how your network is currently configured.

Now to determine if I have enough hard drives of any one make to go with an array. I know I have 2x 1TB Seagates, 1x 1.5TB Seagate (not sure of any of the seagate model numbers off hand, I would have to look), 1x 1TB WD Caviar Black, 1x 1TB Caviar Blue and 1x 1TB Caviar Green (go figure).

I'm not relishing the idea of cross-brand hard drive raid even if a lot of controllers support it, I prefer to keep my spindles as synchronized as possible for a non-enterprise environment... just better reliability and performance that way. So I'll probably either RAID 0 or RAID 1 the seagates... just have to determine if I care enough about whatever is on that server to lose it if one of the drives goes.

I don't use raid with WHS it's really overkill for a home network, I'm still using WHS v1 which includes drive extender which allows for different drive sizes and types. This was removed in 2011 but, there are third party addons that basically do the same thing. While I still use v1 of WHS I would not suggest you go with that if you plan on installing the Ceton in the WHS as their drivers don't work with WHS v1.

Currently the Nintendo has W7 Home Premium on it. Is there any benefit to changing it to W7 Ultimate or does that gain me nothing in the WMC realm?

No advantage, I wouldn't change to Ultimate (personally).

Another point of note is that the A6-3650 in the Nintendo is undervolted and underclocked to 2.0GHz to help with heat since its such an enclosed space with no room for fans. Its still a quad core of course, with the 6530D on die, but will it be enough to stream and/or record multiple streams?

That might be a little too slow for the Digital Cable spec. I can't remember what the recommended CPU speed is, best to check the Ceton site for recommded hardware requirements.

[Beradon]

While it is definitely an option, it would be quite the bummer to have my Nintendo PC be completely useless after all the time and effort I put in to it. Not to mention it looks just like an old 8-bit Nintendo, with functional power LED, power and reset buttons, and functional front game ports for emulation with the original Nintendo remotes.

Understood. Well, from what you've posted, it looks like your Nintendo PC can handle the load... except that I don't know if the integrated GPU in that CPU works well with the "29/59 bug"... others can probably post opinions about that... or you can search around. There are posts here and on Windows Experts about the 29/59 bug.

Since your main problems with the Nintendo PC seem to be:
1) Storage Space
2) Room for a tuner

I see your problem with storage space. You could use an external HDD, or you could map a drive to another machine. But... the other machine equals additional cost (power and hardware). I suppose you could mitigate the power usage by making your Nintendo send a WOL packet to the other machine when the Nintendo wakes up. I think I would probably opt to hide an external HDD behind your other equipment.

As for room for a tuner, I'm not sure what your objection is to the Ceton USB. You could hide it behind other equipment as well. Or, you could go with the HDHomeRun Prime... and put it in a closet.

If you have SDV, which I'm guessing you do since you're on TWC... you're going to end up with an extra box (Tuning Adapter) plugged into the Nintendo anyway... so what's another box?

I thought you had just mentioned that the WHS would automatically archive the TV recordings so that I wouldnt need to bother saving to the network in some form?

As for the 29/59 bug, I appreciate the link and did some reading, it seems to be unclear if the A6-3650 is affected, so I'll have to test it. Are there any video files I could download with that problem already apparent that I could run to see if the issue is present?

You're right that I'd need an SDV from everything I've been looking at, but were I to do the Ceton in the WHS box, then the SDV will be sitting next to that box which will be a full size PC not sitting next to the TV.

Thanks for the suggestion on the switches, I have a 5 port and an 8 port gigabit switch available to me, and more are cheap enough anyways.

[richard1980]

29/59 test clips here: http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... spx#470316

[Beradon]

29/59 test clips here: http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... spx#470316

Thanks

[barnabas1969]

While it is definitely an option, it would be quite the bummer to have my Nintendo PC be completely useless after all the time and effort I put in to it. Not to mention it looks just like an old 8-bit Nintendo, with functional power LED, power and reset buttons, and functional front game ports for emulation with the original Nintendo remotes.

Understood. Well, from what you've posted, it looks like your Nintendo PC can handle the load... except that I don't know if the integrated GPU in that CPU works well with the "29/59 bug"... others can probably post opinions about that... or you can search around. There are posts here and on Windows Experts about the 29/59 bug.

Since your main problems with the Nintendo PC seem to be:
1) Storage Space
2) Room for a tuner

I see your problem with storage space. You could use an external HDD, or you could map a drive to another machine. But... the other machine equals additional cost (power and hardware). I suppose you could mitigate the power usage by making your Nintendo send a WOL packet to the other machine when the Nintendo wakes up. I think I would probably opt to hide an external HDD behind your other equipment.

As for room for a tuner, I'm not sure what your objection is to the Ceton USB. You could hide it behind other equipment as well. Or, you could go with the HDHomeRun Prime... and put it in a closet.

If you have SDV, which I'm guessing you do since you're on TWC... you're going to end up with an extra box (Tuning Adapter) plugged into the Nintendo anyway... so what's another box?

I thought you had just mentioned that the WHS would automatically archive the TV recordings so that I wouldnt need to bother saving to the network in some form?

As for the 29/59 bug, I appreciate the link and did some reading, it seems to be unclear if the A6-3650 is affected, so I'll have to test it. Are there any video files I could download with that problem already apparent that I could run to see if the issue is present?

You're right that I'd need an SDV from everything I've been looking at, but were I to do the Ceton in the WHS box, then the SDV will be sitting next to that box which will be a full size PC not sitting next to the TV.

Thanks for the suggestion on the switches, I have a 5 port and an 8 port gigabit switch available to me, and more are cheap enough anyways.

I wasn't the one who mentioned WHS. I've never actually used WHS. Others are doing it, so I'm sure it works, but I thought you didn't want to have another always-on PC in the house. Personally, I think you'll have less headache if the storage is local... but that's just me.

I believe you're correct about the Tuning Adapter. If you put the Ceton card in your WHS, I believe you're correct that the TA will be connected to the WHS PC.

I'm not sure what you're talking about switches. I don't remember posting anything about switches.

EDIT: Now I see that Tracer gave you some advice on switches. I agree with him. That's how I have it setup... but in my case it's due to all the traffic for four extenders. I have all the extenders and the HTPC plugged into a switch... and then that switch is up-linked to my router. This prevents all that traffic from going through the router and potentially bogging it down.

[Beradon]

I wasn't the one who mentioned WHS. I've never actually used WHS. Others are doing it, so I'm sure it works, but I thought you didn't want to have another always-on PC in the house. Personally, I think you'll have less headache if the storage is local... but that's just me.

I believe you're correct about the Tuning Adapter. If you put the Ceton card in your WHS, I believe you're correct that the TA will be connected to the WHS PC.

I'm not sure what you're talking about switches. I don't remember posting anything about switches.

EDIT: Now I see that Tracer gave you some advice on switches. I agree with him. That's how I have it setup... but in my case it's due to all the traffic for four extenders. I have all the extenders and the HTPC plugged into a switch... and then that switch is up-linked to my router. This prevents all that traffic from going through the router and potentially bogging it down.

Aye, I apologize, some of my answers have been to multiple posts in a single section despite my quoting. The quotes have really been to the main idea of the response but I'm drawing from all of the information you guys have given me so far to make my decisions/discussion points.

I guess it doesnt really bother me in the end to have another always on PC, although I do wonder, if the Ceton is in the WHS and the Nintendo is used as the MCS, if the Nintendo goes S3 while no one is watching TV, but the WHS stays on all the time, will there be that interval of 'reconnect' time for the Ceton, or should it stay good all the time since the machine it is in doesnt turn off?

[barnabas1969]

I wasn't the one who mentioned WHS. I've never actually used WHS. Others are doing it, so I'm sure it works, but I thought you didn't want to have another always-on PC in the house. Personally, I think you'll have less headache if the storage is local... but that's just me.

I believe you're correct about the Tuning Adapter. If you put the Ceton card in your WHS, I believe you're correct that the TA will be connected to the WHS PC.

I'm not sure what you're talking about switches. I don't remember posting anything about switches.

EDIT: Now I see that Tracer gave you some advice on switches. I agree with him. That's how I have it setup... but in my case it's due to all the traffic for four extenders. I have all the extenders and the HTPC plugged into a switch... and then that switch is up-linked to my router. This prevents all that traffic from going through the router and potentially bogging it down.

Aye, I apologize, some of my answers have been to multiple posts in a single section despite my quoting. The quotes have really been to the main idea of the response but I'm drawing from all of the information you guys have given me so far to make my decisions/discussion points.

I guess it doesnt really bother me in the end to have another always on PC, although I do wonder, if the Ceton is in the WHS and the Nintendo is used as the MCS, if the Nintendo goes S3 while no one is watching TV, but the WHS stays on all the time, will there be that interval of 'reconnect' time for the Ceton, or should it stay good all the time since the machine it is in doesnt turn off?

My guess would be that it would still have delay. Others have told me in the past that the delay is due to how the driver in Media Center handles CableCARD tuners. But others with experience will have to say for sure.

[Beradon]

Did some testing with the link to the 29/59 video and yes the 6530D on my A6-3650 is definitely affected by it unfortunately.