WMC - More questions

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jerryt

I am not using recording broker, but my understanding is that it moves a saved scheduled recording to the server. It does not move the phyiscal recording.

Right, the way I understand it is it monitors the recording schedule across a number of WMC machines, and if there's a conflict on one of them, it tries to move/reschedule that requested recording to another machine with a free tuner.

So I'm not talking about moving existing recordings, I'm wondering if it can be configured to move/reschedule everything to a specific WMC machine.

Basically I think Plucky suggested that between DVB Link and Recording Broker you could "simulate" a client/server relationship. I think I've got a good handle on how DVBLink fits into that, but I'm not sure how all Recording Broker fits into the picture, at least not in the case where all tuners are configured/available on all WMC machines.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

...with the computer as I stated before the picture quality is better than what I was getting from the hd300. Even enough difference my wife noticed it was a better picture all around.

Plucky, PLEASE share the PC configuration (motherboard, videocard, custom settings for the videocard/windows/etc) that is resulting in better PQ than an HD300? I have struggled for years trying to get the output from a PC even close to the quality I get out of dedicated units like the HD300 (or my S3 TiVo). I have tried ATI and nVidia cards, tweaked every setting I could find, etc, etc, and I was never satisfied.

I would appreciate as much detail as you can stand to provide, including your A/V settings in SageTV like decoder, etc. If you think this makes more sense in a PM, that is cool. I would really appreciate it!

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by kmp14

Plucky, PLEASE share the PC configuration (motherboard, videocard, custom settings for the videocard/windows/etc) that is resulting in better PQ than an HD300? I have struggled for years trying to get the output from a PC even close to the quality I get out of dedicated units like the HD300 (or my S3 TiVo). I have tried ATI and nVidia cards, tweaked every setting I could find, etc, etc, and I was never satisfied.

I would appreciate as much detail as you can stand to provide, including your A/V settings in SageTV like decoder, etc. If you think this makes more sense in a PM, that is cool. I would really appreciate it!

I am using simply the intel motherboard for sandybridge and the integrated video with and core i5 processor.

I use TMT 5 for playback.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I am using simply the intel motherboard for sandybridge and the integrated video with and core i5 processor.

I use TMT 5 for playback.

Sorry, confused a bit. How are you using TMT 5 for playback in SageTV? Does that mean you use the TMT 5 decoder?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by kmp14

Sorry, confused a bit. How are you using TMT 5 for playback in SageTV? Does that mean you use the TMT 5 decoder?

He means that tmt 5 is playing the blu-ray. Not sage (or WMC). Meaning he is either launching tmt with fuzzy's mod (or something else) or is using wmc which has tmt integration.

[SWKerr]

WMC and the Xbox360 can work very well together if you are willing to stay in the box that Microsoft puts you in. The 360 is quiet and fairly cheap.

Have one HTPC with a BluRay player and TMT software on your main TV. (TMT/MCE Plugin to play BluRays)
Convert all Movies and other rips to a standard format and resolution.
Put Xbox360 on all other TVs.

Plucky's work around for running multiple WMC HTPCs is just crazy complicated. I think WMC can make sense if you have cable and a cable card tuner. Add a Xbox360 for other TVs and live with Big Brothers format and DRM limits.

I did see a demo on Missing Remote on Media Center on Windows embedded that was pretty cool but who knows if that means anything will come of it.

I just found out you can launch directly to Media Center on the 360 in this thread. That is nice but I still can't watch anything since nothing is in the right format.

If you are like me and can't get cable WMC does not make any sense at all. The negatives don't come close to overcoming the positives right now but that may change as they add more online options although I doubt I will be willing to pay for them.

Also: My standard BluRay recodes which end up at about 4-6GB m2ts files look really good on the Xbox360. The picture quality for what plays it great. I don't think the hardware is at all limiting.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Right, the way I understand it is it monitors the recording schedule across a number of WMC machines, and if there's a conflict on one of them, it tries to move/reschedule that requested recording to another machine with a free tuner.

So I'm not talking about moving existing recordings, I'm wondering if it can be configured to move/reschedule everything to a specific WMC machine.

Basically I think Plucky suggested that between DVB Link and Recording Broker you could "simulate" a client/server relationship. I think I've got a good handle on how DVBLink fits into that, but I'm not sure how all Recording Broker fits into the picture, at least not in the case where all tuners are configured/available on all WMC machines.

Maybe Multiple WMC PC's with Remote Potato used to schedule all the recordings on the server.

Recording broker would not work in my application, since it is only trying to resolve recording conflicts.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jerryt

Maybe Multiple WMC PC's with Remote Potato used to schedule all the recordings on the server.

But that's not built into the UI.

[cncb]

I tried WMC again and it looks like there still are problems with sharing recordings. That is, if you have a networked PC that is "watching" a network shared drive where the "server" is recording to the shows will show up as "1 min" long without any metadata. You have to remove the share and add it again to see the correct data for the recording. It is stupid crap like this that unbelievably never gets fixed that always prevents me from using WMC...

[gsr]

Originally Posted by cncb

I tried WMC again and it looks like there still are problems with sharing recordings. That is, if you have a networked PC that is "watching" a network shared drive where the "server" is recording to the shows will show up as "1 min" long without any metadata. You have to remove the share and add it again to see the correct data for the recording. It is stupid crap like this that unbelievably never gets fixed that always prevents me from using WMC...

That sort of thing will never get fixed unless Microsoft decides to allow PC's to be extenders as what you're complaining about isn't intended functionality. The functionality that's supposed to (and does) work is having a WMC PC work in conjunction with extenders (XBOX 360 or the other, now discontinued options like the Linksys DMA2100) for other rooms.

[Sparhawk6]

Wow, you can launch right into WMC from the Xbox? That sounds promising. What remote control allows you to do that?

[gsr]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk6

Wow, you can launch right into WMC from the Xbox? That sounds promising. What remote control allows you to do that?

There's actually a setting on the XBOX that will have it boot into WMC mode by default. You can also use either a standard WMC remote or the XBOX Media remote with it, in which case pressing the green MC button will turn it on and go direct to the WMC interface.

[Trepidati0n]

Originally Posted by gsr

There's actually a setting on the XBOX that will have it boot into WMC mode by default. You can also use either a standard WMC remote or the XBOX Media remote with it, in which case pressing the green MC button will turn it on and go direct to the WMC interface.

This is what will "probably" be our next solution. The wife pretty much just watches TV with the random DVD/Blu-Ray. Plan is to build a Win7 ultimate box with a WHS2011 virtual machine (RAM is amazingly cheap right now). Use a 360 + Roku to cover all the video options required.

But, no plans to change until after the 2011-2012 TV season.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by Trepidati0n

...with a WHS2011 virtual machine (RAM is amazingly cheap right now).

Just curious, why WHS2011 in a virtual machine?