Matt Goyer's Media Center Blog

DIY Dual HD Tuner MCE

Matt Goyer — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:02:58 +0000

I’m trying to put together a system for my friend. It’s a lot harder than I remember it!Almost easier to go out and buy a HP z560 though they’re pricey at $1700.

So, anyone have thoughts on the following config:

SILVERSTONE LASCALA 10 CS-SST-LC10B Black Aluminum front panel, 1.0mm SECC body ATX Media Center Computer Case - $99.99

~~Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V - $39.99~~

~~ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $88.99~~

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - $109

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $144.99

AVERMEDIA AVERTVHD MCE A180 DIGITAL TV TUNER - $81.13 x 2 - Recommended by a lead PM on the Media Center TV team

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $139.99

GIGABYTE GV-NX76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Silent Pipe Lead Free Video Card - $102.99 - No fan

The TV he is looking at, VIZIO VX37L HDTV - 37″ LCD HDTV -

The antenna, The Winegard PR-4400 4-Bay

Added:

NEC Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE / ATAPI DVD Burner - $30.99

MASSCOOL Stars-700 Silver thermal grease - $1.99

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V TUV, UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC - $69.99

GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $79.99

Series limit has been reached

Matt Goyer — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:44:14 +0000

A hockey buddy of mine who used to work on the Microsoft DVR (code named Babylon) e-mailed me the other day about the ‘Series limit has been reached’ dialog:

Ok Matt, this error dialog is pissing me off like crazy. I’ve been googling for solutions and haven’t found any though your name keeps popping up on pages dealing with this. What’s the skinny? Can I make this go away in Media Center 2005? Is there a private build floating around with this abomination turned off?

I checked in with my friends on the TV team and sadly you cannot turn this off in Media Center 2005. However, it is turned off in Windows Vista.

MCE Recommendations?

Matt Goyer — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:51:57 +0000

Lazy web request :).

I have a friend wanting to build his own Media Center. It’ll have dual OTA tuners and needs to be capable of running Windows Vista. What sort of processor and graphics card does he need to make that happen?

Can anyone send me an MCX installer?

Matt Goyer — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:27:06 +0000

I brought a MCX home and want to install it for my dad but I’m missing the MCX software setup. Can anyone send it to me?

Digital audio player

Matt Goyer — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:07:26 +0000

I’d like to buy my dad a digital audio player for his living room that connects wirelessly to a computer in his den. I was thinking about getting a Roku Soundbridge but was wondering if there were any other options that I should be considering?

Roll back from RTM to MCE 2005?

Matt Goyer — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:43:36 +0000

I’m running Vista Ultimate RTM at home and I have to say I hate it. I know the problem isn’t necessarily Media Center’s. But some combination of Media Center + Drivers + Codecs is ruining my experience with Media Center and as a result I watch all my content in an old copy of VLC. I absolutely cannot believe that they released to RTM in this state and are only weeks away from consumer launch.

If any OEMs are reading this and have machines they’d like to beta test that they feel work well I’d be more than happy to trade space in my living room for honest feedback (public or private).

Zune and Media Center

Matt Goyer — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:51:30 +0000

ChrisL, CableCARD Recordings On Zune? Why The Answer Is No.

Forget CableCARD, has anyone asked why they can’t watch DVR-MS on their Zune?

Redfin is hiring SDEs, SDETs, Agents, Etc.

Matt Goyer — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:01:26 +0000

I know this isn’t Media Center related but a lot of you work in the tech business and maybe you’re looking for a opportunity at a rapidly growing fun startup in the Seattle / Bay Area. If that’s the case we, Redfin, have a surprising amount of open head count right now. Check out our jobs page. We’re looking for everything from engineers (SDEs) to kick ass test engineers (SDETs) to agents.

If you’re curious about what it’d be like to work here I’m always happy to go for a drink and let you know how it’s worked out for me (just ping me at mail *at* mattgoyer.com).

SoftSled

Matt Goyer — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:30:08 +0000

Chris Lanier, No Streaming CableCARD Content to Other Windows PC’s:

Microsoft has decided to skip that side of the market (with some Microsoft employees not even knowing it’s been a wanted feature for the past four years) it doesn’t look very hopeful that it will be an addition to the platform anytime soon.

The eHome group and its management are well aware of the demand for SoftSled.

Vista RTM

Matt Goyer — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 06:49:45 +0000

Congratulations to everyone on the Media Center team for RTM’ing last week!

I have to admit that I was really hoping we’d RTM in August (as was originally planned) so that I could partake in the RTM glow and celebrations before moving on to my new opportunity. But then the date slipped and I wasn’t going to stick around any longer than necessary after I got my bonus :).