Turn your PC into home theater computer server

Major Changes in this Release v1.10 HSagetV Skin for MVP

Important Note: This is for Hauppuage Software Server and for those who use this software with SageTV instead of the SageTv MVP Client.

What's New!

I've re-coded the code so you can see the following changes.
Change the format of the Main Menu to what you see below:
Changed the order of selection to: SageTV Recordings, Music, Radio Photo.
Setup which will open the correct menu per your selection.
No more jumping around the menus. That's been fixed now.



1. SageTV Recordings
2. Music
3. Radio
4. Photo
5. Setup

Note: For now on all new skins themes will start off with SageTV Recordings (all others will have Videos, Music, Radio, Photo, Setup in that order). This theme has active menus as black text instead of white so you can read what you have selected. Thats for this theme right now. Everything else will follow this format.

Next version 1.15 will have Photo instead Pictures labeled when you select Photo. Setup will have all menu active text in black. Right now you have some that are. I am still working on it but you can use this theme right now as-is...

Direct download for v1.10 here:
http://files.filefront.com/hsagetv mmvp110exe/;8881473;/fileinfo.html

Below was taken from the next v1.15 not released yet...

StageTV Recordings


Music


Radio


Photo


Still working on Photo and Setup....

Alright. thanks tipstir...thats enough to keep me busy 4 a while since my game rig is not built yet..Will make a check list and add the additional accessories after my build...as for the monitor i have 2 Hp 1740's. Should I up grade to a HD LCD? If so any recommendations?

No you should be okay.. Are you planning on recording and watching recorded media on the PC or on the TV? The way I have it setup I can watch all recorded tv shows on the PC, TV or stream the media onto wireless laptops or wired desktop too. Most users just hook the PC to the TV. Some leave the PC in a closet and just use it a media recorder server. Remote into the box to check on things if needed. That's pretty much how I do it also.

v1.15 Released!

Direct download here!
http://files.filefront.com/hsagetv mmvp115exe/;8919474;/fileinfo.html

StageTV Recordings



What's New!
16x9 Support Added to skin mods
Changed OSD to match the theme, this is my style as you'll soon see.

Note: I've added support to 16x9 skin ratio.. Don't worry if you have 4:3 it will still display the skin like normal
If you got 16x9 turn on. With 16x9 SD/HDTV Widescreen you might see the image wider? Still working on that idea!
My goal is to get more images for Pictures and more rows for Videos instead of 6 down say 12 down. Right now it's just 6.

STill have to work on Photo and Configure but it works..

HD Streaming Router WZR2-G300N Replacement

Well as you know I have 7 Media MVP well the other day this week my router started to drop packets so that now meant time to find another router. So I decided to stick with the trusted Buffalo Routers, but to stay in line with the norm, I did get a N wireless router.



They have this labeled as a speed demon, well they aint kidding... I just ran some WAN to LAN test on www.speedtest.net and I got these results...

try #1.



try #2.



Also prior loading times with the MVP took forever with my 8MB of RAM 4MB Flash wired router. Now this new N has 16MB and 4MB of Flash, but it has high speed features for HD streaming and wireless up to 300Mpbs.. With the 54G mode I get 125Mbp. But you got to use their network devices to get those results though. Now all media is loads faster. I use to wait for 353 pages with 6 lines per page per TV screen to show Music files. Now it 1, 2, 3 it on the screen. Everything looks quicker. Those 3 ANTs with my two Buffalo WHR-54G-HP Access Points makes the place wireless at strong excellent rating..

I'll write a full review on post it on www.epinions.com later after all testing.. So far so good. I had to make some changes on my infrastructure. The old way with the NICs are gone the new way with the NICs is here to stay. So if you have some network streaming problems you might want to try out the popular WZR2-G300N.

Best speed.. Excellent Network Streaming A/V too!

Try #3 gave me these results the cable modem can only go up to 43Mbps




WZR2-G300N - Buffalo Speed Demon Wireless/Wired Router Draft 2.0 N
Specs..
CPU 500MHz
16MB of RAM
4MB of Flash

My Wireless Project with Buffalo & MediaMVP

As you know I wanted to see how well the 3 wireless network devices would be with the wired Media MVP.

First Test

Here you have it a case study to see if all 3 Buffalo network wireless devices would work together but some features have to be disabled:

WZR2-G300N

Wireless / Wired N-Mode, G-Mode, - B-Mode High Speed Demon Router / Access Point
Marvel CPU 500MHz + Atheros chip 16MB of RAM & 4MB Flash - wired 10/100, wireless 54, 125, 300Mbps
+

WHR-HP-G54

Wireless / Wired G-Mode, - B-Mode High Power Turbo Speed MIMO Router / Access Point
Broadcom with Afterburn CPU 200MHz 16MB of RAM & 4MB Flash - wired 10/100, wireless 54, 125Mbps

+

WLI-TX4-G54HP with Hauppauge Media MVP 1000

Wireless G-Mode, - B-Mode High Power Turbo Speed MIMO Ethernet Converter Drop Access for Wired Devices
Broadcom CPU 200MHz 16MB of RAM & 4MB Flash - wired 10/100, wireless 54, 125Mbps

I had purchased two WZR2-G300N one as used as wireless/wired router 20Hz and another I just got on Friday for the access point. I had a lot of problems and it looks like it was the one I was using as the router causing my problems as being faulty. I had just returned that lastnight, just told them it wasn't working. So I still have one WZR2-G300N which I will disable the wireless and use it as a wired router and then use or keep the current wireless access point WHR-HP-G54AP in place. Right now I am using 2 WHR-HP-G54 (one as wired router and the other one as access point) Still the wireless is showing Excellent signal on 1 desktop, 4 laptops and 1 WLI-TX4-G54HP with Hauppauge Media MVP.

For some strange reason no matter what I did or configured the 2 WZR2-G300N with WLI-TX4-G54HP and MVP it just won't work. Kept on getting drop connections, where it would work then it won't. Then to make matters worst I lost the wired and wireless connections. I had to be the main router being used. As that was in placed for 1 week with WHR-HP-G54AP and WLI-TX4-G54HP and MVP was working perfectly. On the router side on each PC there seem to be WAN and LAN disconnection going on daily or at odd times. So the router was dropping the connections, so that was the first problem. Then when I got the second WZR2-G300N this past Friday night then all hell broke loose as they say. Nothing worked right.. I did get everything where it should be then the next day nothing worked.

Well in a bit I'll configured the new WZR2-G300N with a laptop prior before I implement that migration into the existing WHR-HP-G54RT wired router which will be shutdown. It's only going to work this way it has to be wired can't use the wireless features or it won't work with WLI-TX4-G54HP.

Setup... First Test Failure

Setup... Second Test

Setup... Third Test

WZR2-G300N
Wireless Disable
Router Mode

WHR-HP-G54AP
Wireless Enabled
Security Enabled
Router Mode Disabled
Access Point Mode
Channel 11 Manual Lock
G-Mode

WLI-TX4-G54HP
Wireless Mode
Security Enabled
Bridge Mode
Channel 11 connected to WHR-HP-G54A
G-Mode

Second Test

Running the dual network here:

4-wired desktop
1-wireless desktop
4-wireless laptops
7-wired media mvp

AOSS is disabled on all three devices..
Test results show all work fine.. For Intranet, Internet and Streaming Media from HTPC to media players

WHR-HP-G54
Wired Router Mode Enabled
Wireless Router Mode disabled
G-Mode
UPnp - Enabled
Security Mode Disabled
Wired Router

Throughput WAN to LAN -- good
Throughput LAN to LAN -- fair

WHR-HP-G54
Wireless Access Mode Enabled
Wired Connections not used
G-Mode
Turbo 54G
Multi-Cast Enabled
125Mbps Enabled
Security Mode Enabled

Through LAN to LAN -- very good

WLI-TX4-G54HP
Wireless Ethernet Converter Bridge
Security Enabled
G-Turbo Mode Enabled
125Mbps Enabled
First device connected use MAC address for Hauppauge MediaMVP

Third Test

Running the dual network here:

4-wired desktop
1-wireless desktop
4-wireless laptops
7-wired media mvp

AOSS is disabled on all three devices..
Test results show report better overhaul compared to use WHR-HP-G54 Wired Router.. For Intranet, Internet and Streaming Media from HTPC to media players

WZR2-G300N
Wired Router Mode Enabled
Wireless Router Mode disabled
G-Mode -Only
UPnp - Enabled
Wireless Security Mode Disabled

Throughput WAN to LAN -- Excellent
Throughput LAN to LAN -- Excellent
Throughput Downloading - Excellent
Throughput Streaming Media - Excellent

WHR-HP-G54 + 4db Gain ANT
Wireless Access Mode Enabled
Wired Connections not used
G-Mode
Turbo 54G
Multi-Cast Enabled
125Mbps Enabled
Security Mode Enabled

Through LAN to LAN -- Very Good to Excellent 5 Bars
Throughput Streaming Media - Excellent

WLI-TX4-G54HP
Wireless Ethernet Converter Bridge
Security Enabled
G-Turbo Mode Enabled
125Mbps Enabled
First device connected use MAC address for Hauppauge MediaMVP

Throughput Streaming Media - Excellent

Everything is working A.O.K!

Price

What prices would one be looking at to set up a HTPC? How cheap could one get?

What you need?

Do you want to buy one? Or Build one?

If you already have a spare PC around say 1GHz with 512MB of RAM and 200GB HDD you can start there. Just need to buy a tuner card. Range $79 and up.

Recommended
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 - single tuner
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500 - dual tuner
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-Series for NTSC/ATSC

Price around on the net as prices do drop Use the link below for tuner cards
http://castle.pricewatch.com/s/search.asp?s=hauppauge&srt=t&mi=0&m=&view=

If you want to build a system:

1. AMD X2 X64-bit Avg CPU Speed 2GHz
2. RAM 1GB Min
3. HDD 320GB Min
4. Video: 128MB AGP 8x Min S-Video Out
5. Sound Card: Any will do
6. Tuner Card: Listed above
7. CASE: Any to match your TV
8. MOBO: with SATA II 300
9. PSU: 430W min Recommend 500W with SATA power connectors
10. Wireless:
11. Keyboard
12. Laser Mouse
13. Network Card

Software: Free/Pay for EPG (Media Portal) or Pay for (SAGETV) free EPG
OS: Windows Media Center 2005 SP2
or
OS: Windows Vista Ultra 2007 with Media Center 2007

$300 to build a budget system, might be slightly higher though.
You can buy systems already made from HP an etc.. You'll have to check on prices for that as they vary.

Fourth and Fifth Test

Fourth Test - Failure bady-- DHCP Client Table can't maintain auto assign IP, you have to make everything static even for wireless laptops, the unit will try to assign IP already assigned to another devices where you would get IP conflict. This happen to the first PC connected to the ports it also happen on wireless for DHCP. Well then came the WAN and LAN connections started to drop badly by day 10 to a point that my wired Hauppauge MediaMVP I couldn't watch any media on it. Connections would just drop.

Fifth Test - I had to go back to my standby router WHR-HP-G54 used only as wired router. Still have number 2 upstairs in a closet working great as wireless access point. This is so weird why would the WHR-HP-G54 work with no hiccups no drops and no DHCP issues where the WZR2-G300N fails in this part. I've taken this crappy router right back to the store where it came from!

Now with the WHR-HP-G54 used as a wired router using stock firmware there seems to be a problem when I transfer large files say 300MB to another PC on the main floor. I get a message saying it's going to take 31-60 mins. This is crazy! The WZR2-G300N besides being crappy would take only 30 seconds to transfer the same file. So what's wrong with the WHR-HP-G54? Well let me see I don't connect anything devices into the wireless WHR-HP-G54-2 access point I use another 5-point switch which that access point connects to inside the closet, that makes all the wireless focus on the device itself instead of it managing the switch ports.

So why not apply the same method to the WHR-HP-G54-1 don't use the switch ports on it. So I use DLINK 5-port fast ethernet switch those have extra buffers per ports. Wow! what a difference I get 30 seconds now with that same file. Let the WHR-HP-G54 do it's router but not let it manage the switch ports as they don't seem to work well. But companies do the same thing everything should come down to the area in a switch otherwise you would have bottlenecks. I must say my old dlink wired router I didn't need to use a another switch too it.

Everything is working as it should no messages for now...

Peace!

Question the set up you suggested on the 1st page is slightly different than the second page.
Ex. You stated that any soundcard would do on second page but on 1st page said that it should have analog, digital coax.

I just want to make sure since I'm getting a sound card now that I get one that will let me upgrade later to get the computer tv recording experience.

The first page is using onboard 6 chan audio. You can use PCI or PCI-Express if you prefer. The only reason you would change this setup if you started to get hicups in the audio. Otherwise you should be good to go..

psssst.....Tipstir......
any chance of you taking a peek in here when you get a a mo please?
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic92898.html
:grinthumb

I've posted in your post.. If you need help I'll come around more often.. Got some updates to post here... As well very soon..!

No Workgroup PCs in My Network Places?

I was starting to have a problem with Hauppauge Media MVP Server where it couldn't open may workgroup or access any of the other server systems on my network. So if you can't see your work group PCs in MY Network Places, then you have a problem like I did:

To fix..

Under My Network Places
Set up a home or small office network
Make sure your work group matches what's in there
and continue to run..

Next do the following...

click on start
click on run
type: cmd

type: ipconfig /flushdns
type: nbtstat -r
type: netsh interface ip delete arpcache

Now go to your Network Connections
Right click on your LAN or WLAN
Click on Properties
Click on Internet TCP/IP
Click on Advance

Default Gateway should have your DG (router)
If not put the IP in there and leave the Metric alone.
Click on the Wins tab
Change Default NetBIOS
To Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

Click apply or okay

Now...

click on start
click on run
type: services.msc

Make sure.. Computer Browsing is Enable and Started (auto)
Make sure... Network Connections is Enabled and Started (auto)

If you want your Router to show up under My Network Places under XP like it does Under Vista

You need to make sure SSDP is enabled and started (auto)
You need to make sure UPnP is enabled and started (auto)

In your router turn on UPnP (some of you say it slows down your connections, but I don't see that happening..

Now under My Network Places there is:

Show UPnP Devices click on that.. If you get an error, then you need to rebuild the dbase.

Fix is here:

Click on start
click on run
type: esentutl /p %windir%\security\database\secedit.sdb

This should fix this problem..

Click on Show UPnP Devices again..
Might have to reboot the PC for it to show your Router.
Once the Router shows up in My Network Places
You'll have a command to Invoke the Router which
will open the Web GUI for the Router.

Enjoy!...

Nice Rig

Thanks