Getting started with WMC

[mixduptransistor]

Hey guys, I'm new to the WMC world (but not to the DVR/tech world) and I wanted to run some of my ideas by you guys

I have been a TiVo guy for years, and currently have three TiVos in my house (two Premieres, and one TiVo HD. I don't do any recording, really, on the HD so I have four effective tuners on two different schedules with the two Premieres)

I also recently purchased an Xbox One, and the TV integration is pretty sweet. I love being able to swap back and forth seamlessly between TV and literally everything else. There is one problem, though. I would love to be able to integrate my Xbox 360 into the mix.

So, I have decided to tinker with Windows Media Center and using my 360 as an extender in the living room. I snagged an HDHomeRun Prime on ebay for $99 and it should be here by Friday.

My questions start out with what I should use to run WMC. My main PC is Windows 7 with 16gb RAM and an Intel Quad Core i7 @ 4ghz. I also have an iMac with a 3Ghz Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM. I've got a VMWare Fusion license as well as an MSDN license so installing a new copy of Windows 7 (or 8) isn't an issue. My storage, in either case, will be my QNAP NAS, either via SMB share or by mounting a volume via iSCSI. All networking is wired gigabit. Obviously my main PC would be best, but I use this for gaming, and would want recordings to happen no matter what I'm doing on the PC. It's always on, and I don't dual boot into anything else so that's not a problem. What are the general requirements/suggested system specs for the main WMC PC? Note that I won't be using the PC at a TV, all of my actual TV viewing will be via an Xbox 360 in another room.

Do you guys suggest Windows 7 or 8? Any major differences on the media center side? I kind of prefer Windows 7 on the desktop side, but if I put this in a VM I'll never touch, Win 8 isn't off the table, and if there are significant differences I can put up with Win 8 on my desktop.

What options do I have for transcoding video on the fly to watch through WMC on the Xbox? I'd like to have 100% of my media through the XBone or the XB360.

I'm sure I'll have other questions, but I've been digging through the threads here and have picked up a lot of info about WMC.

[barnabas1969]

Either PC will do the job but, of course, it depends on what else you do with the PC simultaneously with TV playback. Don't try to play any hard-core games on the PC while watching TV on the extender.

It's possible to run Media Center in a VM, but it adds a lot of complexity. I don't recommend it.

Media Center will not record directly to a NAS. You can move recordings after they are complete though. I think I've read that iSCSI works as recorder storage (where Media Center writes recorded TV files).

I recommend Windows 7. Several people have had trouble getting the XBox 360 to connect to Win8 as an extender.

Regarding the playback of your other media, take a look at the thread linked below. Pay particular attention to the discussion about Transcode 360 and Media Browser.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=5&t=6366