UI quality of WMC + Extender as a multiple-DVR replacement?

My Linksys will work w/ any MCE remote and believe the Xbox is the same, some MCE remotes have more functions than others but most will most likely have everything you're used to on you Comcast remote(I'm never used their remote but I'm sure it's about the same as TWC, COX and FIOS). As far as I know all MCE remotes have Guide and DVR keys.

Most things will be done quite similar to most cable providers DVR remote except for last channel is done by pressing OK while watching live TV, the back will only put you into the last screen/menu.

I think MC has one of the best guides out there-looks, function and that it gives you 2hr of listing at a time.

As a whole the 7MC user interface is quite nice and easy to use and if you find you don't like how they do something it's more likely just because it's different from what you're used to and not because it's a bad way to do it.

The experience on the extender is about the same as in 7MC other than a few menu items aren't available and the remote doesn't respond as quick(some find it annoying but IIRC the Xbox is better than other extenders).

Here's some screens shot I had taken of my 7MC, keep in mind I have done customization(guide/mini guide are showing more listings than default, back ground image, colors).

Actually skip forward/back is far superior in 7MC that any other DVR I've seen. Not only you can you set how far it skips by default (I set 29 sec forward and 8 sec back for the more common 30 sec commercials and to compensate for the time it takes to press the button) but you can also push 5(or any number) then skip and it will skip 5 x default skip amount, or you can put in the numbers for a time and it will skip to that point. I use automatic commercial skip so I don't use the skip keys that often anymore. All the custom things I do on 7MC show up the same on my extender even auotmatic commercial skipping.

I actually use 2 different remotes for the HTPC, neither required anything custom on the HTPC it self for normal functions. At first I was only using what sound like a complicated set up but really isn't and it makes use more simple, it has a Harmony remote programed to work as my TV's remote and all IR commands go thru the TV, each devices IR commends are then saved on the TV by using that devises remote(for the HTPC I used a MCE remote, AVR it's remote, etc) when ever I switch an input the TV uses the IR codes stored for the device on that input and also switches inputs on the AVR, making for no need of multiple remotes and/or change devices on the remote, I more recently added a fancy wifi remote but keep the harmony around because the wife is scared of the new remote(translation to lazy to learn how to use it which is manly just the new location keys). I use a MCE remote on my extender even though it has less function keys than the Linksys remote but I like the layout better and I don't really use the other keys and again no customization needed is it uses standard MCE IR remote commands(I believe the Xbox is the same).

So in short you can program your fancy programmable remote to use MCE IR codes, buy 1 of the many MCE remotes made by various companies or use the one that comes w/ it to control you HTPC and/or extender and shouldn't need any custom remapping of keys to get functions your used to and/or available in 7MC. Custom mapping is usually used for launch third party apps that don't integrate into 7MC or maybe some custom hotkey function both of which wouldn't be available on the extender.

The Xbox may be the only one that is still made but you still buy the other extenders and at times even new in box and in most cases for much less. All extenders aren't created equal, each seem to have pluses over others and non of them can do it it all. If all you really want to do is share tuners and recordings then something like a linksys DMA2100 could be better as they use less power, are silent and could be had really cheap. If you wanted BD playback using another HTPC and tuner sharing could be better but since you're on Comcast DRM could be an issue for recordings and using an extenders is the only way around it other than using a sling box or similar.

Just to wet your imagination more with WMC -

http://www.hack7mc.com/

Here some themes - http://www.aboutonlinetips.com/windo...center-themes/

If you think that's cool, you haven't seen Media Browser in Action yet -



This theme is called Vanilla

Here's a Gallery of Media Browser users - http://www.mediabrowser.tv/forum/vie...hp?f=10&t=1389

You can set it up for not only Movies but Music and Recorded TV

Then you have My Channel Icons which is constantly updated and Remote Potato that will do remote scheduling and even stream content from your Media Center to your mobile device.

For Internet Content beyond the Internet TV plug-in which you can install once Windows gets all its updates and you set up Media Center. Beyond that, there's SecondRunTV 2.0 and MacroTube which is available on TheGreenButton web site, which is the Microsoft owned forum for Media Center.

Have fun, watching four streams and using an extender is just the TIP of the iceberg... You'll be looking at local or network attached storage pretty soon...

Ya! Com Skip with Show Analyzer and compress without killing PQ with MCEBuddy 2.0

I didn't know there was a Game Time! plug-in! - http://community.mediabrowser.tv/per...-alpha-release

Its simple to operate WMC even for Wivess and Children are never a concern.

WAF goes down if it doesn't work right, but as long as you K.I.S.S that is not an issue and I used my daily without any errors and it changes faster than most cable boxes do

Here's a layout of a typical WMC remote -



Here's what one of the Xbox 360 remotes look like -



I think your over-concerning yourself. Cable Boxes aren't all that hot, slow menus, confusing sub-menus, fees. Didn't I mention FEES! MC EPG Info is free... You can also edit it if you want several ways, inside Media Center and there a program that has more advanced features.

With WMC you can hide the channels you don't get/want from the guide, with cable boxes/DVR's you have to sift through all the channels each time.

That should handle everything just fine and those 2TB deskstars are pretty fast and might even be able to handle commercial scanning on 2 shows at once if/when you do along w/ recording and playback needs.

You can cut back on the power supply, i3 has very low power demand. Not down to Atom levels but close enough, especially if your not going to upgrade to graphics cards.

You can save a few dollars there.

Robert Heron updated his Atom HTPC to Sandybridge i3 with InfiniTV4 -

Yeah I didn't notice the 500w PSU that's more than you'd need in that system even if you put a gaming GPU in. The good news is the PSU only uses as much power as needed for the load, the bad news it probably won't be as efficient at these lower loads it will see than a smaller PSU.

I mapped my Exit button to the "back" button from the WMC remote. This now functions the exit button found on my STB remote. This was pretty simple for me to set up since I was "learning" every button for the Harmony. I just used the WMC remote first to see which buttons I would use in WMC then I wrote them down on a piece of paper and wrote the corresponding Harmony button I would use for it next to the WMC button. Then just took my time and went 1 by 1.

Are you by any chance hitting the WMC button when you're done watching something to go back to the main WMC Screen? If yes then that is why it's cycling back through "closed" menus.