Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Great Media Center Experiment

I upgraded my Home Theater!! I've been experimenting with Microsoft's Media Center for about two years now. The last Media Center Computer was a P4 2.0 with 2 gigs of Ram. While this Machine runs and functions, at times it is slow to respond.

I setup a new computer as my new Media Center in my home theater. The specs are as follows:

  • Intel Dou Core 1.8 gigahertz

  • 2 Gigs of RAM

  • WinTV-HVR-1600 Video Capture Card (Media Center Kit - includes Remote and IR blaster)

  • SIIG SoundWave Optical 5.1 - Sound Card

  • Diamond Stealth ATI X1550PRO PCIE 512 MB Video Card

  • Microsoft Vista Home Premium Version

  • 1 Terrabyte of storage - USB


I strongly suggest that if you are going to setup a Media Center PC use these as your min requirments. This machine runs Media Center flawlessly.

I moved the previous Media Center Computer to the "Kid's TV Room". The kid's Media Center has everything! I setup their tv shows to record in "My Recorded TV". I setup the "DVD Library" with all their Kid's movies. I also uploaded their favorite music and a few gigs of pictures. This allows them to watch slide shows of them themselves while listening to their favorite song!

I shared the "Recorded TV Folder","DVD Library Folder", "My Pictures Folder" and "My Music Folder". I did the same to the new Media Center.

I setup my Laptop's Media Center and I added those shared Directories to my "Library Folder". This allows me to view the "Recorded TV", "DVD Library", and "My Music" from those computers via my Laptop or any other computer in the house.

What is also cool ... Is that my 1 Media Center Remote Control can control both my Home Theater and my Kid's Room TV and devices! This one Media Center Remote controls : DVD Player, Volume, Satalite Dish, music player and everything in one spot on both systems!

This is the FUTURE of Home Theaters.

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