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Author Topic: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre  (Read 8220 times)

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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #30 on: 18 June 2015, 15:59:28 »
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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Kate

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #31 on: 18 June 2015, 22:09:27 »
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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Kate

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #32 on: 19 June 2015, 01:07:08 »
I upgraded my Internet connection speed too for catch-up etc.

« Last Edit: 19 June 2015, 01:13:00 by Kate »
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TheBoy

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #33 on: 19 June 2015, 21:26:58 »
Quote from: tigers_gonads on 18 June 2015, 15:59:28
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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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #34 on: 20 June 2015, 08:37:19 »
Quote from: TheBoy on 19 June 2015, 21:26:58
Quote from: tigers_gonads on 18 June 2015, 15:59:28
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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TheBoy

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #35 on: 20 June 2015, 08:48:45 »
Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in
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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #36 on: 20 June 2015, 08:59:55 »
Quote from: TheBoy on 20 June 2015, 08:48:45
Win7 (apart from Starter edition) have media center built in


Cheers TB
One less thing to get stressed about  ::)
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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #37 on: 20 June 2015, 09:25:40 »
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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TheBoy

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #38 on: 20 June 2015, 21:26:55 »
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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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #39 on: 23 June 2015, 11:54:25 »
Quote from: TheBoy on 20 June 2015, 21:26:55
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 ??

 
« Last Edit: 23 June 2015, 11:56:18 by tigers_gonads »
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omega2018

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #40 on: 23 June 2015, 12:40:25 »
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
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tigers_gonads

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #41 on: 23 June 2015, 14:17:09 »
Quote from: migmog on 23 June 2015, 12:40:25
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


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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omega2018

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #42 on: 23 June 2015, 16:37:03 »
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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Taxi_Driver

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #43 on: 23 June 2015, 18:10:40 »
Quote from: tigers_gonads on 20 June 2015, 08:59:55
Quote from: TheBoy on 20 June 2015, 08:48:45
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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TheBoy

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Re: What sort of spec is needed for a media centre
« Reply #44 on: 24 June 2015, 14:03:44 »
Quote from: Taxi Driver on 23 June 2015, 18:10:40
Quote from: tigers_gonads on 20 June 2015, 08:59:55
Quote from: TheBoy on 20 June 2015, 08:48:45
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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