I have solved viewing of HD channels using MP! After trying a few things, including un-installing PDVD8 and installing PDVD9, it did not work, I had a read on the MP forums.
No such luck on solving my problem specifically, but did find this SAF codec bundle. This did help me though. I downloaded the beta and started installing it... First of all it recommend that I unistall codec packs - so I removed CCC codec pack on my system - and then it detected I had an old version of DX. The nice thing was that it pointed me to where I can download the newer version which I did so. Unfortunately it errored out at the HD codec... saying that it could not find the PDVD HD DLL - even thought PDVD9 was installed!
Well this prompted me to install PDVD8 at the same time as PDVD9. I then pointed the HD decoding to the PDVD8 codec via MP configuration, and magically it worked. Now I can view BBC HD and ITV HD via the TV plugin... Weird!
Monday, 30 November 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
Star Wars: A New Hope - ITV HD
Here's some screenies of what I did manage to record with a manual timer!
Setting a manual timer to record!
Well, I think I've lost the skill of setting a manual timer to record a programme - like we all would have done once upon a time on our VCRs... It was an experience a bit like writing a letter with a pen... The skill was long forgotten, as I am so used to using an EPG to schedule a record timer, and hence I got it all wrong! :(
Well, with Star Wars: A New Hope showing on ITV HD over the weekend, I decided to get my HTPC to record it... I had a paper guide with me and looked up when it was on and set a manual timer in MediaPortal accordingly... I managed to put the HTPC in S1 sleep mode, set WinOff to turn off accordingly and went out for the evening...
I returned and looked at the HTPC to see if it had recorded, and fair enough it had. However, I checked the recording and it turned out the programme had started late and the recording end midway through! I was puzzled to why it ended so early, and checked the guide again, and noticed Star Wars was in two parts! If I had used my Humax FOXSAT-HDR it would have setup the 'split event' recording and recorded both parts without trouble - and also would have coped with the late running of the film - both features are part of the Freesat+ specs.
There's more to this sad tale... As I have recently returned to Windows XP as my prefer choice of OS for a HTPC, I have not managed to set up the TV viewing and recording properly. For some unknown reason, I am unable to view BBC or ITV HD (using PDVD8 or 9). This is with the new install of MediaPortal 1.0.2. I am able to record the HD channels (as above) and view the recordings in PDVD9, but I can not view the live channel in MP! MP just freezes, and on BBC HD, I just have sound... I think another re-install of MP is needed!
Well, with Star Wars: A New Hope showing on ITV HD over the weekend, I decided to get my HTPC to record it... I had a paper guide with me and looked up when it was on and set a manual timer in MediaPortal accordingly... I managed to put the HTPC in S1 sleep mode, set WinOff to turn off accordingly and went out for the evening...
I returned and looked at the HTPC to see if it had recorded, and fair enough it had. However, I checked the recording and it turned out the programme had started late and the recording end midway through! I was puzzled to why it ended so early, and checked the guide again, and noticed Star Wars was in two parts! If I had used my Humax FOXSAT-HDR it would have setup the 'split event' recording and recorded both parts without trouble - and also would have coped with the late running of the film - both features are part of the Freesat+ specs.
There's more to this sad tale... As I have recently returned to Windows XP as my prefer choice of OS for a HTPC, I have not managed to set up the TV viewing and recording properly. For some unknown reason, I am unable to view BBC or ITV HD (using PDVD8 or 9). This is with the new install of MediaPortal 1.0.2. I am able to record the HD channels (as above) and view the recordings in PDVD9, but I can not view the live channel in MP! MP just freezes, and on BBC HD, I just have sound... I think another re-install of MP is needed!
Thursday, 5 November 2009
TV Server
What was the reason I removed the 7010iX tuner card from the HTCP, you wonder... Well, I wasn't using it much to watch TV or record from... so I had the bright idea of building an energy efficient PC as a dedicated TV Server...
I was worried about the power consumption of my HTPC - averaging 150W at times - and leaving it on to record programmes late at night. The idea was that if I could build an energy efficient box - using 50W when running - I would sleep better at night ;) and use it more to record TV...
Just today, I see this Acer PC for sale on eBuyer: Acer Aspire X1300 SFF Desktop PC.
It has the energy efficient AMD processor in it: the 5050e and according to the guy on Coding Horror, he's built a energy efficient PC using it.
But after a quick calculation of the components making up that PC, I think it can be built for less. Using near-equivalent bits from Scan, I can make a box cheaper than the asking price of £250:
CPU: AMB Althlon 64 X2 5000+ @ £43
Mobo: Asus M3N78-VM @ £48
RAM: 2 x 1Gb Hynix 667 @ £33
HDD: 320Gb Hitachi £31
DVD: Samsung SH @ £18
Case: mATX case @ £31
Total: £204
Admittedly, there's no OS or warranty costs, but still a saving of about £45... Well I think I'm going to wait for the AMD X2 240e processor (as I don't seem able to get the 5050e anymore) to be released to start building this box...
Another reason to pull of the 7010iX card is to reduce the energy consumption of the HTPC, and speed up the boot process. Uninstalling TV Server or configuring it so it does not start up the service on boot or on MediaPortal start, means that MP loads faster for Movie watching...
I was worried about the power consumption of my HTPC - averaging 150W at times - and leaving it on to record programmes late at night. The idea was that if I could build an energy efficient box - using 50W when running - I would sleep better at night ;) and use it more to record TV...
Just today, I see this Acer PC for sale on eBuyer: Acer Aspire X1300 SFF Desktop PC.
It has the energy efficient AMD processor in it: the 5050e and according to the guy on Coding Horror, he's built a energy efficient PC using it.
But after a quick calculation of the components making up that PC, I think it can be built for less. Using near-equivalent bits from Scan, I can make a box cheaper than the asking price of £250:
CPU: AMB Althlon 64 X2 5000+ @ £43
Mobo: Asus M3N78-VM @ £48
RAM: 2 x 1Gb Hynix 667 @ £33
HDD: 320Gb Hitachi £31
DVD: Samsung SH @ £18
Case: mATX case @ £31
Total: £204
Admittedly, there's no OS or warranty costs, but still a saving of about £45... Well I think I'm going to wait for the AMD X2 240e processor (as I don't seem able to get the 5050e anymore) to be released to start building this box...
Another reason to pull of the 7010iX card is to reduce the energy consumption of the HTPC, and speed up the boot process. Uninstalling TV Server or configuring it so it does not start up the service on boot or on MediaPortal start, means that MP loads faster for Movie watching...
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Back on the blog!
Hello! Sorry, I've not been blogging of late - did anyone miss me? No..? Oh well...
A lot has happened to my Freesat/Freeview HTPC since my last post... so here's they are itemised!
1. Windows Vista HTPC
So I tried moving to Vista on my P4 based machine, and found it quite slow. I upgraded the memory to a full 4Gb - to find that the bios can't deal with more than 3.4Gb. I bought a Readyboost USB stick to improve performance, but that did not help too much. The machine was still a pain to use... so I tried...
2. Windows 7 HTPC
Windows 7, initially gave the impression of being speedier, but after a while I found it was pretty much like Vista in terms of performance. I also found Windows 7 to be lacking drivers and codecs that I needed to play some media files.
I was so un-impressed with both VMC and 7MC that I had no time for it. I suppose I could have made an effort and installed some mods or skins but found the V/7MC experience so poor compared to MediaPortal that I didn't...
3. Windows XP HTPC
So after all the faffing about with Vista and Windows7, I had to return to Windows XP. What a great version of Windows this is... really. A brand new install, and tweaked immediately to give a faster boot up.
Now it boots up so fast that if I put MediaPortal in the startup menu item, it starts up way before the other applications (such as anti-virus) starts that it no longer becomes the foreground application - and the remote does not control it!
4. MediaPortal 1.0.2 and 1.1.0
5. Removal of 7010ix tuner!
6. Dreambox plug-in
7. Dead PSU!
A lot has happened to my Freesat/Freeview HTPC since my last post... so here's they are itemised!
1. Windows Vista HTPC
So I tried moving to Vista on my P4 based machine, and found it quite slow. I upgraded the memory to a full 4Gb - to find that the bios can't deal with more than 3.4Gb. I bought a Readyboost USB stick to improve performance, but that did not help too much. The machine was still a pain to use... so I tried...
2. Windows 7 HTPC
Windows 7, initially gave the impression of being speedier, but after a while I found it was pretty much like Vista in terms of performance. I also found Windows 7 to be lacking drivers and codecs that I needed to play some media files.
I was so un-impressed with both VMC and 7MC that I had no time for it. I suppose I could have made an effort and installed some mods or skins but found the V/7MC experience so poor compared to MediaPortal that I didn't...
3. Windows XP HTPC
So after all the faffing about with Vista and Windows7, I had to return to Windows XP. What a great version of Windows this is... really. A brand new install, and tweaked immediately to give a faster boot up.
Now it boots up so fast that if I put MediaPortal in the startup menu item, it starts up way before the other applications (such as anti-virus) starts that it no longer becomes the foreground application - and the remote does not control it!
4. MediaPortal 1.0.2 and 1.1.0
5. Removal of 7010ix tuner!
6. Dreambox plug-in
7. Dead PSU!
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
MP: Scheduled a recording...
With ITV HD testing upscaling of their SD material on their HD stream and with the fact that in MP 1.0.2 there a recording timer facility under the TV section, I performed an experiment...
I turned on my HTPC, went into the TV section, turned on the TV and tuned into a blank channel. I then setup a timer to record The Matrix Reloaded on the ITV HD channel, and left it. Before I went to bed, I setup WinOFF to turn off the HTPC 5 mins after the timer ends.
The next morning, I checked the HTPC to see that it was off, and booted it up to check to see if the timer had recorded. All was successful - it was off and the timer had recorded ITV HD!
Here's some screen grabs upscaled of The Matrix Reloaded! (It took me a while to fine where the 14Gb ts file was, as MP had not put the recording to where my settings was pointing to...)
And for those who want to compare the PQ look at this screengrab from Blu-Ray.com and my screen grab:
Spot the difference! :) (open both in new windows...)
I turned on my HTPC, went into the TV section, turned on the TV and tuned into a blank channel. I then setup a timer to record The Matrix Reloaded on the ITV HD channel, and left it. Before I went to bed, I setup WinOFF to turn off the HTPC 5 mins after the timer ends.
The next morning, I checked the HTPC to see that it was off, and booted it up to check to see if the timer had recorded. All was successful - it was off and the timer had recorded ITV HD!
Here's some screen grabs upscaled of The Matrix Reloaded! (It took me a while to fine where the 14Gb ts file was, as MP had not put the recording to where my settings was pointing to...)
And for those who want to compare the PQ look at this screengrab from Blu-Ray.com and my screen grab:
Spot the difference! :) (open both in new windows...)
Friday, 7 August 2009
Upgrade to Windows 7
After experiencing the sluggish behaviour of Vista, I decided to upgrade it to Windows 7!
The beta version of Windows 7 (which is still available to download, running out in July next year) allows you to upgrade from Vista. The upgrade took a while to perform on my P4, but went without a hitch. Someone informed me that VMC is not upgraded in the process but it seems to have done so. Although I had not configured VMC too much, it certainly seems to have upgraded, rather than forcing me to start from a fresh set up.
But it looks like the 'upgrade' has only upgraded the OS. It has certainly not transferred the VMC settings to 7MC - I had to perform a retune to get back my TV channels. In fact, I had to do this with MediaPortal too... I guess it didn't want to keep any TV channel settings!!
The beta version of Windows 7 (which is still available to download, running out in July next year) allows you to upgrade from Vista. The upgrade took a while to perform on my P4, but went without a hitch. Someone informed me that VMC is not upgraded in the process but it seems to have done so. Although I had not configured VMC too much, it certainly seems to have upgraded, rather than forcing me to start from a fresh set up.
But it looks like the 'upgrade' has only upgraded the OS. It has certainly not transferred the VMC settings to 7MC - I had to perform a retune to get back my TV channels. In fact, I had to do this with MediaPortal too... I guess it didn't want to keep any TV channel settings!!
Saturday, 1 August 2009
More memory woes...
So I bought 2 x 1Gb memory sticks to replace my 2 x 512Mb sticks that made up my 3Gb of RAM in the P4 HTPC, only to find out that the BIOS could only handle 3Gb. Initially I thought the memory was faulty but the constant 3Gb value that appeared each time I moved the sticks about in different configurations... was a good indication that there was a limit of some sort.
I had to perform a BIOS upgrade to see if I could get more than 3Gb of memory to appear, so I has to find out how to perform a BIOS upgrade... After much, much fiddling about - I could not get a floppy disk and drive to work - I burnt a bootable CD and performed a successful flash with that. Now the PC can see 3.4Gb of memory! It wasn't worth the effort, man! All I am hoping for is that the some of the 3.4Gb is not being used by the GPU - that the GPU memory is addressed separately and that is why only 3.4Gb can be addressed for the rest of the system... I don't even know where the rest is being used...
The two USB flash drives have also arrived and I am using one as the Readyboost drive. I'm not to sure that it has speeded anything up or not - too early for me to tell.. The other USB flash drive has not been used to buffer MediaPortal TVServer yet. I am having a problem with decoding TV with the codecs on the HTPC at the moment, having only installed PDVD9, CCC codec pack, and TMT3. I haven't experimented with all the codecs but PDVD9 for TV gives jerky pictures...
I had to perform a BIOS upgrade to see if I could get more than 3Gb of memory to appear, so I has to find out how to perform a BIOS upgrade... After much, much fiddling about - I could not get a floppy disk and drive to work - I burnt a bootable CD and performed a successful flash with that. Now the PC can see 3.4Gb of memory! It wasn't worth the effort, man! All I am hoping for is that the some of the 3.4Gb is not being used by the GPU - that the GPU memory is addressed separately and that is why only 3.4Gb can be addressed for the rest of the system... I don't even know where the rest is being used...
The two USB flash drives have also arrived and I am using one as the Readyboost drive. I'm not to sure that it has speeded anything up or not - too early for me to tell.. The other USB flash drive has not been used to buffer MediaPortal TVServer yet. I am having a problem with decoding TV with the codecs on the HTPC at the moment, having only installed PDVD9, CCC codec pack, and TMT3. I haven't experimented with all the codecs but PDVD9 for TV gives jerky pictures...
Running total:
- Antec Veris Remote Max HTPC case @ £133
- Pinnacle 7010iX Dual Analog + DTT + Dsat tuner card @ £23
- 2 x 1 Gb PC2-4200 DDR2 RAM @ £20
- Pentium 4 CPU fan @ £15
- SATA DVD rewriter @ £15
- HD 2600 Pro GPU @ £23
- Zalman GPU heatsink @ £10
- Liteon BD-ROM @ 45
- 2 x 1 Gb PC2-4200 DDR2 RAM @ £20
- 2 x 4Gb flash drives @ £10
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Recall, recall, recall...
Well, it is not a problem with the memory - I ran MemTest for 4 hours and not one error resulted. So what can it be that is causing my PC to freeze and on reboot give me the access violation blue screen of death? I have to do more investigating... But, I've managed to boot up into Vista without the bluescreen and reboot, so that's something...
In the meantime, I've been reading up on speeding up Vista and all the googles return talk about Readyboost, so I've ordered two 4Gb USB sticks off Play.com which are Readyboost ready! One to use as the Readyboost memory cache, and the other as a buffer for MediaPortal's TVServer (for it to buffer TV to, instead of writting to the HDD). We will see how this goes...
I've also ordered two 1Gb memory sticks to raise the memory in the HTPC from 3Gb to 4Gb. I am also thinking about getting a controllable 120mm case fan (or a 120 to 80mm adaptor), as I think it might be the heat that is causing my PC problems. Currently I do not have the case's two fans plugged in due to the noise they make!
In the meantime, I've been reading up on speeding up Vista and all the googles return talk about Readyboost, so I've ordered two 4Gb USB sticks off Play.com which are Readyboost ready! One to use as the Readyboost memory cache, and the other as a buffer for MediaPortal's TVServer (for it to buffer TV to, instead of writting to the HDD). We will see how this goes...
I've also ordered two 1Gb memory sticks to raise the memory in the HTPC from 3Gb to 4Gb. I am also thinking about getting a controllable 120mm case fan (or a 120 to 80mm adaptor), as I think it might be the heat that is causing my PC problems. Currently I do not have the case's two fans plugged in due to the noise they make!
Monday, 27 July 2009
Working Blu-ray but not Vista!!
So I sent away the BD-ROM drive back to Scan to get a replacement. It cost me £6.70 to post it to be signed for and insured, and within a couple of days I got a new drive back.
I fitted this back into my HTPC (now with Vista Ultimate installed) and TMT3 could play the Blu-ray movies I (eventually) got from Amazon! This was an unexpected result - it looks like the previous drive was dodgy - refusing to play the discs and wanting to update the AAC keys which did not succeed. Well, I wasn't going to declare success with Blu-ray playback until I had a chance to test it with PowerDVD. This weekend I had the chance, and installed PowerDVD 9, and low and be hold... it worked. PDVD9 could playback the Blu-ray discs it had complained about before. Great!
Unfortunately, not so great on the Vista front. I've now solved my display blanking out half way through watching a video - I had to turn off alsorts of power saving features in Vista, and the clincher was disabling the GPU's power saving mode. I thought all my problems were solved until, while watching a movie, the HTPC froze! On reboot, I get a bluescreen 'access violation' of death and the machine reboots again... :( (Now I have to solve this problem!)
I fitted this back into my HTPC (now with Vista Ultimate installed) and TMT3 could play the Blu-ray movies I (eventually) got from Amazon! This was an unexpected result - it looks like the previous drive was dodgy - refusing to play the discs and wanting to update the AAC keys which did not succeed. Well, I wasn't going to declare success with Blu-ray playback until I had a chance to test it with PowerDVD. This weekend I had the chance, and installed PowerDVD 9, and low and be hold... it worked. PDVD9 could playback the Blu-ray discs it had complained about before. Great!
Unfortunately, not so great on the Vista front. I've now solved my display blanking out half way through watching a video - I had to turn off alsorts of power saving features in Vista, and the clincher was disabling the GPU's power saving mode. I thought all my problems were solved until, while watching a movie, the HTPC froze! On reboot, I get a bluescreen 'access violation' of death and the machine reboots again... :( (Now I have to solve this problem!)
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