[Tybio]

Over the last few months I have been looking into products that would allow me to create an extendable media solution for my home. I started by looking at the streaming set top boxes, but I ran face first into wall after wall trying to find one I liked.


Then the AppleTV announcement came and I started looking at a more integrated solution, iTunes + AppleTV being quite a draw, mostly due to the desire for h.264 support and eventually MPEG-4 AVC. Yes, I'm one that feels that there is no way Apple would put out a box that could not grow as the HD customer base grows. I'm sure AppleTV is crippled right now, perhaps more due to iTunes and the iTunes store being unable to supply content that can use the higher profiles.


Anyway, that got me thinking even more about a solution that would expand over time. That's when I remembered the extender built into the Xbox 360. Now, the current UI leaves me very very reluctant. If it supported a MyMovies like feel to it I'd jump on Vista MCE the first day I could. Whopse, getting off topic...sorry, I ramble at times.


Back to the Vista Media Center part. I'm interested in the capabilities, the idea of adding extenders over time and features. However, my current need is to have a set top box that can play....my content. That content is in the form of Video_TS folders and you can infer the rest with ease.


So I come here, to the experts to ask if Vista Media Center (aka Professional) run on a desktop would be a viable starting point. I don't need, nor want TV recording ability at the moment, though that is a path I may take later. The main goal is to have a media vault, with potential (as it were). Is it feesable to serve content from Vista Media Center while using it for standard low CPU tasks (Firefox, Trillian, Email)?


The system is an AMD X2 4200+ with 3 Gigs of RAM. The data would be stored on a NAS and all devices (Desktop, NAS and Xbox) would be on a Gig switch.


Future Goals: ITVN on a tuner for Setanta sports, Possible CableCard main system, other extenders.


(The possible CableCard system would take over the main role, and is the reason I don't want to invest in a full HTPC to run Vista Media Center right away....want to see how this falls out and costs)

 

[enchntr]

Well, sounds like you and I have the same machines, and I'm currently running Vista MCE as my DVD library.


Out of the box, Vista does *not* support VIDEO_TS folders, probably due to the piracy connotation. A registry hack is all that is needed to get the VIDEO_TS support though, and the MCML front end is much nicer than MyMovies.


HOWEVER (and this is a big one), I don't know if I like running my DVDs through MCE. This could very well be a configuration issue, but running a 7950GX2 with PureVideo leaves a lot to be desired with regard to de-interlacing. Watching Cars is somewhat painful in parts, and any kind of text is stair stepped. I've been able to get better results from TheaterTek, but to use that in MCE, you need MyMovies.


So, the conundrum...better playback or better interface. Since I didn't want to spend the money on TheaterTek.


Also, the service that MCE uses to get coverart and disc details is good, but I found that my own coverart was better, and that I needed to edit the XML files created on some because the disc information was messed up (the XML also points to the coverart).

 

[Tybio]

So you can play Video_TS folders with Vista MC? That I did not know. When you enable it, does the service go out and grab disk information/covers automatically? Even if they are low quality, as a starting point that would be nice...then replace from there.


I intend to run this via an Xbox 360 extender to the TV if it works out...the update to the UI on the 360 with Vista makes it much more attractive then it is currently.


I guess I'll just have to try it and see, $50 more for the upgrade to vista to get Professional is a sound investment to validate IMHO.

 

[Yeorwned]

Stay away from Vista MCE if you can help it. A lot more options for MCE extenders are appearing on the market as of now.

 

[enchntr]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybio /forum/post/0


So you can play Video_TS folders with Vista MC? That I did not know. When you enable it, does the service go out and grab disk information/covers automatically? Even if they are low quality, as a starting point that would be nice...then replace from there.


I intend to run this via an Xbox 360 extender to the TV if it works out...the update to the UI on the 360 with Vista makes it much more attractive then it is currently.


I guess I'll just have to try it and see, $50 more for the upgrade to vista to get Professional is a sound investment to validate IMHO.

Yes, you can play VIDEO_TS folders directly from a HDD (NAS, LOCAL, SAN). Once the registry change is made, you can have MCE search directories for DVD files, and once set up, the service will pull the XML files and artwork for you from AMG.


I do know that MCE works with the 360 extenders only at the moment, however, I do not know if you can stream the VIDEO_TS files to an extender at this time as I don't own a 360.


I currently run Vista Ultimate and am much happier with it than XP MCE. I also run Vista on my laptop, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the HW support so far. Runs much faster than XP did, but that's due to the new pre-caching scheme.


Overall, Vista works well...


Ed

 

[Tybio]

I don't really feel the need for Ultimate myself (If I was in beta I'd be running it too tho!).


Interesting. I know that currently only wmv files can be streamed to the 360. I'm thinking that's likely to remain for a while. I hope they can get the menu for content better on it however, it looks like a folder-list right now and is very...ugly (Wife factor inbound!).


As to Vista, I'm willing to run it for a new Media Center setup...but if I didn't have that to consider I'd stick with XP till at least the first set of patches came out. Just makes life more easy when computers are not breaking all the time

I may consider running transcode360 or something, I recall seeing one of them that would mount iso images when you wanted to watch the movie, that would be nice...to keep the fully original format. Perhaps I can string apps to get the iso transcoded to the 360 and pray they update the UI.


That, and hope that they don't disable the DVD registry thing when they ship Vista