Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tigers_gonads on 09 June 2015, 16:16:11
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Okay, got a bit of a dilemma
My DVD player is on its last legs.
The Hard drive recorder has no digital tuner.
I have literally 1000's of tunes on MP3 on either dvd's of plug in hard drives which I tend to plug into my HiFi via the laptop.
Also, I listen to some internet radio channels.
Replacing this lot with decent quality stuff will cost me a arm and leg so had the mad idea of building a media centre to replace the lot :D
I love computers but they hate me so it must be relatively easy to use :-[ :-X
Thinking about a ...............
Slim tower so that it can get stuffed along side the TV.
Reasonable graphics card with HDMI output for the pictures.
Reasonable sound card with RCA / optical / coax output for sound. (music will be played on a Cyrus 2 amp with RCA inputs / DVD or maybe even Blu-ray will be either optical or digital coax to a Yamaha DSP amp )
TV card fitted so that I can use the unit as a DVR.
Internet so that I can use internet radio.
I don't want wires trailing across the living room floor so a wireless keyboard and mouse to control the lot would be needed so I guess that means Bluetooth too :-\
To keep the cost down, i'd probably end up using a second hand tower and building from there.
I also have plenty of hard drives around and Win 7 Ultimate for the operating system.
I think that lot sounds about right but I haven't got a clue about spec or prices so that's where you lot come in hopefully ;D
Anybody got something similar ?
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OK off the wall suggestion. Try one of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-MX-Android-TV-Box-4-2-2-Dual-Core-Smart-Fully-Loaded-XBMC-Media-Player-UK-/181646964188?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a4b00b5dc). (First link, for mx box, I haven't checked the pricing or spec to see if there is a better one for you).
There is two things it can't do on your list, play DVD's and DVR, although both are probably resolvable via USB devices.
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Bit left field, but a second hand PS3 and one of THESE (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-PlayTV-for-PlayStation3-watch-pause-record-TV-on-your-PS3-/301657056148?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item463c296394) would probably do all you want at a fraction of the time and expense of building up a tower pc ie:
DVR (via play tv)
Blue Ray
HDMI out
Optical sound out
Built in Wifi
Easy to use GUI
Bluetooth
choice of controller "proper" blu ray remote or wireless keyboard
Looks neater than any of the budget pc cases out there.
500GB ps3 can be had for about £100-120 from CEX with a warranty. ;)
EDIT - And I thought my suggestion was cheap deviator :y
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EDIT - And I thought my suggestion was cheap deviator :y
I have one under my TV that I use for all those legal streaming services. It's also a passive box (no fan, no hdd) so is as silent as they come. It's about 2/3 the size of ext 3.5" hdd bay.
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These come up occasionally on egay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-M-Pentium-4-with-250W-PSU-DVI-VGA-AV-WIFI-Media-Centre-Working-/251959943983?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aa9fba32f
(that one is too expensive, and has one of the front flaps missing). That makes a perfect media centre case (although you'll never get the VFD to work reliably under Windows 7). Rip out the mobo, and put in a mATX board and a decent i3 or low spec i5 *AND USE THE CPU's INTEGRATED GRAPHICS*. Couple this up to a fickin big HDD and a pair of Blackgold dual tuners and you'll be close to what I have.
I personally use an MS MCE keyboard, but they are not available new now, so you could try one of the many Rii keyboards (Amazon, £15 ish, but make sure you get UK layout in your chosen format).
The one downside of Vista and later is you can only have one audio endpoint (unlike XP :( ), so you can't pump audio to amp via SPDIF and to the telly via HDMI simultaneously.
Its well known I am a heavy Media Center user, so if you are planning on using the Microsoft Windows Media Center, I can advise :). But be aware, support for W7 ends in 2020, and Win10 has no Media Center.
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Mine is that Artisan case, DH67GD mobo, low power i5 (dual core HT) which is similar performance to top notch i3 (but lower power usage), 2Gb RAM, 2 Blackgold BTG3620's and a 3Tb HDD. Photos and music are stored on a separate server.
2 XBOX360s allow me to use Media Center in 2 other rooms.
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Thanks for that lot TB :)
Just found this on egay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Would this be a good starting point for the build ?
Had a dig around this morning and found a few hard drives which i've dropped in a caddy and are checking them for bad sectors as I type and a couple of DVD burners off old pc's which have been stuffed in various cubby holes in the house for years ::)
Also found a couple of disc's with windows XP pro on which I have acquired over the years :-X
Would these be better then stuffing Win 7 Ultimate on ?
Cheers :)
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TB - how quiet is that case with a modern low power CPU etc in it? I have a couple of (now quiet aged Atom based) Asus EEE PCs (EB1502P) which are getting a little bit noisy as the fan etc gets tired and they bug me, especially in the bedroom.. I'd love a silent setup but then you start talking serious money :(
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Thanks for that lot TB :)
Just found this on egay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Would this be a good starting point for the build ?
Had a dig around this morning and found a few hard drives which i've dropped in a caddy and are checking them for bad sectors as I type and a couple of DVD burners off old pc's which have been stuffed in various cubby holes in the house for years ::)
Also found a couple of disc's with windows XP pro on which I have acquired over the years :-X
Would these be better then stuffing Win 7 Ultimate on ?
Cheers :)
I bought one of those, for spares should any part of mine fail. Doesn't come with the proprietry drive holder, so will need a bit of meccano mounting.
Bin the mobo, its shit. Or to try if you get on with media center, get a cpu (I paid £1.75 delivered (but note that mobo is fussy on cpu)) and use old ddr. It will run, but not great.
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TB - how quiet is that case with a modern low power CPU etc in it? I have a couple of (now quiet aged Atom based) Asus EEE PCs (EB1502P) which are getting a little bit noisy as the fan etc gets tired and they bug me, especially in the bedroom.. I'd love a silent setup but then you start talking serious money :(
Only 2 fans are in psu. Mine must be 8yrs old, and fans still fairly quite. The HDD spinning up when it wakes from s3 is noisier
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TB - how quiet is that case with a modern low power CPU etc in it? I have a couple of (now quiet aged Atom based) Asus EEE PCs (EB1502P) which are getting a little bit noisy as the fan etc gets tired and they bug me, especially in the bedroom.. I'd love a silent setup but then you start talking serious money :(
Only 2 fans are in psu. Mine must be 8yrs old, and fans still fairly quite. The HDD spinning up when it wakes from s3 is noisier
From what I've read, you seem quite techie so try this. Most HDD makers have a firmware settings tool you can play with. When I ran a PC as a media centre, I ran the drives at either 3800 or 4200rpm instead of the 5400rpm my storage drives were normally. This extends the life of the drive, reduces heat and makes you AV PC a lot quieter for no cost. The downside is data transfer is slower, but you never really thrash a media centre PC anyway.
PLEASE NOTE - These tools are not for the faint hearted. Only do this if you know the implications, I accept no responsibility, ever!
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i've got a similar problem - my compro e700 twin tuner is about to expire. can anyone recommend a twin tuner - has to be pci express and has to be twin terrestrial tuner preferably hdtv?
this one 361155942947 on ebay looks possible, a TBS 6281.
i vaguely recall there is a catch with some tuners but can't remember what it is. no hd tv in the uk or not compatible with mce perhaps?
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Thanks for that lot TB :)
Just found this on egay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Would this be a good starting point for the build ?
Had a dig around this morning and found a few hard drives which i've dropped in a caddy and are checking them for bad sectors as I type and a couple of DVD burners off old pc's which have been stuffed in various cubby holes in the house for years ::)
Also found a couple of disc's with windows XP pro on which I have acquired over the years :-X
Would these be better then stuffing Win 7 Ultimate on ?
Cheers :)
I bought one of those, for spares should any part of mine fail. Doesn't come with the proprietry drive holder, so will need a bit of meccano mounting.
Bin the mobo, its shit. Or to try if you get on with media center, get a cpu (I paid £1.75 delivered (but note that mobo is fussy on cpu)) and use old ddr. It will run, but not great.
Thanks for that lot TB :)
Just a couple of more questions from one of the leading OOF techno numpty's :-[
You mention the motherboard is shite. Are you saying that in the future, I can basically rip the old board out / cpu out and replace it with something from the 21 century complete with new tv / sound cards and it will mate up to the case controls with no problems ?
Also am I right in thinking that I would be better using Windows XP as the operating system ?
Deviator
I know what you mean about burning out hard drives and i'll look into that if and when :y
I once left a 160 gig one in a caddy spinning for 10 days when I pished off on holidays :-[
It worked okay for about 5 minutes then went tits up so ended up wrapping it in a poly bag and sandwiching it between 3 ice packs to get it to run. I got most of the pictures off it but that took me a good 3 weeks :-[
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I've just retired a hard drive that's been spinning since 2009, excluding the odd power cut. Still perfectly healthy. I think they survive better if they are just left running.
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I've just retired a hard drive that's been spinning since 2009, excluding the odd power cut. Still perfectly healthy. I think they survive better if they are just left running.
Fair point that.
Constant spin up / down / wear on the bering.
Mine was bolted into a caddy at the time so had no cooling whatsoever and it must have been a few years old :-\
Is it fair to say it is best to leave these things running, say from morning to bedtime (if the cooling is decent) ?
Also to add .............. Just been looking at I3 /I5 motherboard bundles.
Noticed that most of these bundles have 6gb or more of RAM.
Iirc, 32bit windows can only actually recognise about 4gig so is it a waste of time having more or is does media player see something different ?
Apologies if i'm talking 'dangle berries' here, I might have bolted PC's together to make a few quid may years ago but I never claimed to understand what the fick I was doing so be gentle with me :-[ ;D
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I always leave my computers running 24/7 as they are much more reliable. Starting, stopping and heat cycling all have a negative effect on reliability.
HD drives use 'fluid' bearings, in this instance the fluid is air, so there is no contact between metal surfaces.
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TB - how quiet is that case with a modern low power CPU etc in it? I have a couple of (now quiet aged Atom based) Asus EEE PCs (EB1502P) which are getting a little bit noisy as the fan etc gets tired and they bug me, especially in the bedroom.. I'd love a silent setup but then you start talking serious money :(
Only 2 fans are in psu. Mine must be 8yrs old, and fans still fairly quite. The HDD spinning up when it wakes from s3 is noisier
From what I've read, you seem quite techie so try this. Most HDD makers have a firmware settings tool you can play with. When I ran a PC as a media centre, I ran the drives at either 3800 or 4200rpm instead of the 5400rpm my storage drives were normally. This extends the life of the drive, reduces heat and makes you AV PC a lot quieter for no cost. The downside is data transfer is slower, but you never really thrash a media centre PC anyway.
PLEASE NOTE - These tools are not for the faint hearted. Only do this if you know the implications, I accept no responsibility, ever!
Its not really enough to worry about TBH. Its not even so much the spin-up noise, but the head movement when it spins up - this current drive clearly (like many others) has some kind of head movement test as part of its power up sequence.
Now the DVD drive... ...but I use software to control that's speed to a max of 2x when playing video :)
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i've got a similar problem - my compro e700 twin tuner is about to expire. can anyone recommend a twin tuner - has to be pci express and has to be twin terrestrial tuner preferably hdtv?
this one 361155942947 on ebay looks possible, a TBS 6281.
i vaguely recall there is a catch with some tuners but can't remember what it is. no hd tv in the uk or not compatible with mce perhaps?
I use a pair of BGT3620 twin HD tuners for up to 4 simultaneous recordings under Media Center (other software can, I believe, record all channels on a single mux with each tuner). I think these are obsolete, so will be replaced with one of these...
http://www.blackgold.tv/portfolio-item/pc-tv/#tab-id-1
Beware, though, Linux support seems very patchy.
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I've just retired a hard drive that's been spinning since 2009, excluding the odd power cut. Still perfectly healthy. I think they survive better if they are just left running.
I agree. When consider how many disks must be in all the servers I support at work (we must be talking several 10s of thousands of disks, not including SAN or NFS arrays), the number of disk failures in a given week is very low.
OOF disks get thrashed 24/7 (other stuff runs on the same physical server, accessing the same disks), and (touch wood) seem resistant to failure (kiss of death on that now then!).
My Media Center appears to use about 30-50W when on, depending what its doing, and SFA when in S3 standby. Worth letting it go into standby for that, as its only on for a few hours a week.
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The other thing to remember about hard drives is that they are sensitive to shock, especially when operating. Not so bad if they are bolted into a chassis that doesn't get moved around a lot, but if you're transporting them in a caddy or as an external USB drive, they are quite easily damaged. This doesn't make it a good way to transport backup data off site, IMHO.
Most USB drives are just a bare drive with a plastic case snapped round it, after all.
Most modern machines seem to achieve similar power consumption. I know my i5 is around 50w when idle but you can add another 100w when the CPU is busy! It's not a total disaster if the drive in your media centre isn't quite as long-lived, after all.
I have what I'd regard as a home made NAS which I got down to 24 watts with 2 drives spinning but it wouldn't have the grunt to work as a MC. If you're using a conventional PC power supply they tend to set the minimum power consumption at 30 or 40 watts anyway, because they are invariably designed to deliver 400 W and quite inefficient when lightly loaded.
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Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts ::)
Thanks for the advise lads :)
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Most modern machines seem to achieve similar power consumption. I know my i5 is around 50w when idle but you can add another 100w when the CPU is busy! It's not a total disaster if the drive in your media centre isn't quite as long-lived, after all.
There are 2 main classes of Intel I-Core CPUs, esp i3 and i5 - the normal variants everyone has (usually between around 30 and 80W), and the more expensive, less capable low power ones (not to be confused with the Mobile variants). For eg, my Media Center's i5 is only dual core, but hyperthreaded, but TDP is 35W.
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Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts ::)
Thanks for the advise lads :)
You'll find this thread useful I suspect... (certainly the first few posts)
https://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php/665-Elonex-Artisan
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Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86
Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts ::)
Thanks for the advise lads :)
You'll find this thread useful I suspect... (certainly the first few posts)
https://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php/665-Elonex-Artisan
Will do :y
Cheers TB :)
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ive ordered one of these to replace my non hdtv compro twin card. £56 delivered but from singapore http://www.buydvb.net/tbs6281-dvbt2tc-dual-tuner-pcie-card-p-104.html (http://www.buydvb.net/tbs6281-dvbt2tc-dual-tuner-pcie-card-p-104.html)
the elonex looks amazing value, but the description is a bit vague on whether it comes with OS and tuner or not. i think you could add the above card if you wanted twin hdtv.
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the elonex looks amazing value, but the description is a bit vague on whether it comes with OS and tuner or not. i think you could add the above card if you wanted twin hdtv.
Its bare bones, so needs CPU, RAM, graphics card, Hard disk, DVD drive and tuners.
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seller's pics are showing what looks the connector end of a tuner, video card and of two graphics cards - dvi and vga. plus the vga and audio on the mb. plus separate sound outputs. plus some card with an antenna on it.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzAwWDUwMA==/z/vEwAAOSwBahVQ5K6/$_12.JPG)
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seller's pics are showing what looks the connector end of a tuner, video card and of two graphics cards - dvi and vga. plus the vga and audio on the mb. plus separate sound outputs. plus some card with an antenna on it.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzAwWDUwMA==/z/vEwAAOSwBahVQ5K6/$_12.JPG)
It clearly states this in the add tho' .....
elonex media centre great for pc/media centre builders
barebone unit contains
motherboard
power supply
and windows remote
in original box
please note these are partial build you are getting what is stated above
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yes hence the ambiguity ::)
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yes hence the ambiguity ::)
No ambiguity, its a barebones :)
The images are the old Elonex material.
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Okay, it finally arrived this afternoon so now the fun starts :D
Operating systems.
I have both win 7 ultimate and XP pro sat here. Which one is best for a numpty like me :-[
Processors.
What's best for this board and where from ? Its a P4M-915G/P/GVD1/910GLD1 Mainboard fitted.
Hard drives.
Looking at it, it needs a IDE hard drive. Where from and what would you fit ?
Added bonus is it looks like it has a rack for 1 drive :-\
Ram.
I've dug out 2 sticks of DDR 400 1 gig. Can I stick these in to get it running ?
Apologies if these seem daft questions but for the first time in my life, i'm determined NOT to jump in feet first for a change ::)
I'll put some pickys on here in the next day of so but it looks in great nick and just like the stock photos on the advert ( minus the 5 cards on the right hand side )
TIA :)
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What an interesting thread. :y
I use a standard PC for my media centre. It's a Dell Vostro 220 and it's almost silent. It runs Windows 7 and has 4GB RAM with a Core2 Duo processor. I only have one tuner in it as my other dual one isn't working properly so I left it in my other PC which is also connected to the TV. Both the tuners I've got are Hauppauge.
So what's the advantage of using the Elonex type of media centre? I'm guessing it uses a lot less energy?
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I upgraded my Internet connection speed too for catch-up etc.
(http://www.speedtest.net/result/4443157719.png)
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Okay, it finally arrived this afternoon so now the fun starts :D
Operating systems.
I have both win 7 ultimate and XP pro sat here. Which one is best for a numpty like me :-[
Processors.
What's best for this board and where from ? Its a P4M-915G/P/GVD1/910GLD1 Mainboard fitted.
Hard drives.
Looking at it, it needs a IDE hard drive. Where from and what would you fit ?
Added bonus is it looks like it has a rack for 1 drive :-\
Ram.
I've dug out 2 sticks of DDR 400 1 gig. Can I stick these in to get it running ?
Apologies if these seem daft questions but for the first time in my life, i'm determined NOT to jump in feet first for a change ::)
I'll put some pickys on here in the next day of so but it looks in great nick and just like the stock photos on the advert ( minus the 5 cards on the right hand side )
TIA :)
Win7 every time, over XP. CPU is fussy, see that ebuyer thread I posted earlier. I got a usable CPU for under £2 delivered from egay a few weeks back
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Okay, it finally arrived this afternoon so now the fun starts :D
Operating systems.
I have both win 7 ultimate and XP pro sat here. Which one is best for a numpty like me :-[
Processors.
What's best for this board and where from ? Its a P4M-915G/P/GVD1/910GLD1 Mainboard fitted.
Hard drives.
Looking at it, it needs a IDE hard drive. Where from and what would you fit ?
Added bonus is it looks like it has a rack for 1 drive :-\
Ram.
I've dug out 2 sticks of DDR 400 1 gig. Can I stick these in to get it running ?
Apologies if these seem daft questions but for the first time in my life, i'm determined NOT to jump in feet first for a change ::)
I'll put some pickys on here in the next day of so but it looks in great nick and just like the stock photos on the advert ( minus the 5 cards on the right hand side )
TIA :)
Win7 every time, over XP. CPU is fussy, see that ebuyer thread I posted earlier. I got a usable CPU for under £2 delivered from egay a few weeks back
Win 7 Ultimate it is then :y
Does that have media centre built in or is it available to download from somewhere ?
Checked out the ebuyer thread, think I understand some of it :-[ ;D
I've got a 3.4 Ghz processor off the list on its way for 4 quid delivered :y
Also ordered a graphics card off the list with HDMI output so I should be okay for pictures now.
If I read things correctly, that RAM I found DDR3 400 Hz should work okay.
I'll have a look for a hard drive and TV card later :y
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Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in
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Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in
Cheers TB
One less thing to get stressed about ::)
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Would this hard drive be suitable for what i'm doing ?
http://www.ebuyer.com/321341-wd-1tb-green-desktop-drive-wd10ezrx
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Any SATA drive will suffice. The original Elonex came with 500Mb IIRC, which probably was a shade tight. I keep below 2Tb if using that FIC 915 based board, as I doubt it would support larger.
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Any SATA drive will suffice. The original Elonex came with 500Mb IIRC, which probably was a shade tight. I keep below 2Tb if using that FIC 915 based board, as I doubt it would support larger.
1Tb ordered.
Should be here this week.
I'll probably start building it up and installing windows over the weekend.
A quick question on these TV cards ............
I've seen some with a FM aerial on, is there any on the market which have a DAB radio included on the card ??
I haven't seen one ??
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normally you get the freeview radio channels which are broadcast digitally the same way as the freeview tv - i.e you cont need any aerial other than the one you use for the tv. see http://www.freeview.co.uk/whats-on/channels#channels-radio (http://www.freeview.co.uk/whats-on/channels#channels-radio)
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normally you get the freeview radio channels which are broadcast digitally the same way as the freeview tv - i.e you cont need any aerial other than the one you use for the tv. see http://www.freeview.co.uk/whats-on/channels#channels-radio (http://www.freeview.co.uk/whats-on/channels#channels-radio)
Yup :)
I sometimes use the portable upstairs to listen to talk sport when i'm up there :y
A few weeks ago, I bought a DAB unit for the car and was surprised just how many local dab stations playing good music we have locally so was hoping to start playing them through the Hifi amp without shelling out on a dab tuner :)
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re tuner cards see my earlier post. the £56 hdtv twin card arrived today and seems to be working well so far. check you have a pci express slot on your mb. incidentally the guide says it needs multi core 2.6ghz processor for hdtv but seems to be fine with my 2.4ghz quad and only using 10% cpu. for normal tv it says Pentium 4 2.0 GHz, Pentium M 1.3 GHz
definitely get a twin tuner if you can otherwise it is annoying when you cannot record two progs that are on at the same time or watch one while recording the other. now there are loads of +1 channels i very rarely would need 3 tuners.
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Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in
Cheers TB
One less thing to get stressed about ::)
But don't click on the little windows icon that will appear on the toolbar....prompting you to upgrade to windows10.....I don't believe that comes with media center... :y
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Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in
Cheers TB
One less thing to get stressed about ::)
But don't click on the little windows icon that will appear on the toolbar....prompting you to upgrade to windows10.....I don't believe that comes with media center... :y
Correct, WMC will not be in Windows 10, MS have already confirmed that.
I don't believe that Media Center supports DAB. Not that that stops you using software outside of the Media Center interface.
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i don't think media center supports DAB either. just to clarify though the digital radio i mentioned and which you can get through media center is not DAB, it is freeview. there are around 30 freeview radio channels. i vaguely recall the digital quality is better than dab but could be wrong, freeview quality seems to have dropped over the years.
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Okay, I commandeered the dining room table this morning and started to build it up.
DVD drive fitted :y
Processor fitted :y
Whopping big heat sink which looks like a sub station fitted :y
Hard drive fitted :y
2 sticks of RAM fitted :y
With a little bit of dismantling, the graphics card is now fitted abet in a slightly dodgy manor while the half height adaptor brackets arrive next week ::) :-[.
And on to my next problem ::)
At the end of the case, I have a Spectra Riser card fitted so that the full size TV / Satellite cards will fit in the case.
Looking on Ebuyer ect, these cards in PCI form are like rocking horse poo :(
Now I know you can get adaptor cards to convert PCI into PCI e format :y
The problem with these is that with the adaptor fitted, the chassis which holds the 2 TV card wont fit in the slot :(
Does anybody know of a riser card which converts PCI into 2 x PCI e slots ??
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Try to avoid the adapters, as they are universally shite, and always flakey.
Also, on that Spectra case, if you can avoid the riser card, as ultimately you will find that you will change the CPU/mobo, and most motherboards are a bit shitty with these type of risers.
Although not HD, the Hauppauge Nova 500DT gives 2 SD freeview tuners in a PCI card. Downside is they are actually USB tuners, so standby is a bit naff with them. But I'd suggest a 2nd hand one could be had for under £20
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Try to avoid the adapters, as they are universally shite, and always flakey.
Also, on that Spectra case, if you can avoid the riser card, as ultimately you will find that you will change the CPU/mobo, and most motherboards are a bit shitty with these type of risers.
Although not HD, the Hauppauge Nova 500DT gives 2 SD freeview tuners in a PCI card. Downside is they are actually USB tuners, so standby is a bit naff with them. But I'd suggest a 2nd hand one could be had for under £20
Will look into it
Cheers TB :)
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Right, IT LIVES :D :D :D
ish .....................
Managed to get Win 7 Ultimate installed okay :y
Started Friday morning and it finally finished doing the update cycle this morning ::)
Next problems ::)
I cannot seem to get any output from the SPDIF coax, optical or RCA boards front and back :(
The only sound I get is from the TV via the HDMI input.
I have tried setting up the sounds through Media Centre but to no avail :(
I have checked the connections from the 2 boards too the motherboard and all imo seems okay :-\
Also the front card reader is not working :(
And also the case display / volume front control is not working :(
The volume knob lights up blue.
The matrix display greets you on power up and shut down and also I have what I presume is the hard drive light flickering when the hard drive is active but nothing else :(
Thinking this is driver related, i've checked the links off TB's link but some are no longer active :(
Any ideas please .............
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Okay, various drivers later, that lots working even though the card reader will not read SD HC cards :(
Don't know if there is a software fix for this ??
Couple more problems for those that know how the hell Media Centre works ::) ;D
I transferred 10 dvd's full of mp3 songs across to the music folder.
These are named All the number 1's 1953 - 2005 through to All the number 10's 1953 - 2005
Basically every tune that has been in the top 10 over the last 52 years :y :y
I don't know what happened but Media Centre seen unable to catalogue these 10 albums as 10 albums :(
If you enter media centre, they are catalogued in every which way but above and is a nightmare to use :(
I was hoping to use a pair of rechargeable Wi-Fi speakers in the garden when funds allow so this is a real pain in the arse >:(
Obviously you can use Media Player to play them in whatever order with no problem but as far as I can see, Media Player can't be configured to stream via Wi-Fi :-\
DVD playback ................
I have set up the menus and have Dolby Digital output through the optical link to the AV amp.
Problem is that the output on media centre is set for night time by default which is seriously screwing up the sound on both films.
The menu is visible but locked out so nothing can be changed.
Mini Me had a play with the registry and changed the value so that it showed normal but the option was still blocked and I cant keep pishing around with the registry every time I want to switch between Dynamic, Normal and Night mode :(
Anybody else got the same problem's and have a fix ??