Weekend Project: Windows Media Center

Yes, I know that the correct english spelling of Center is Centre.

Windows Media Centre

Thanks to the generosity of Jeffa, I scored an old Mini-ATX case with power supply. Yeah, being the junior on the team – I get all the hand-me-downs.

Some hundreds of dollars later from AUSPCMarket, and I have my first ever:

  1. AMD based PC (AMD Athlan64 x2 6000+)
  2. Gigabyte Motherboard PC (GA-MA69GM-S2H)
  3. Self-constructed PC (only a screwdriver required)
  4. Media Center PC (Vista Ultimate)
  5. Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 8000

Not being a hardware type, the moving of cables, CPUs, fans, more cables and stuff made the physical construction a little longer than an expert. There are still some internal wiring bits to complete: hard disk light at the front and CD audio. Also missed that the our Acer LCD TV has VGA and PC Audio. The cables I purchased were not correct.

The toughest part was installing the power to the SATA DVD/CD drive, and ensuring the CD eject button had enough clearance to work.

The first PATA (this was a surprise!) hard disk was stuffed, so off to plan B with a 500Gb PATA and we’re away. The motherboard would not boot up with this hard disk attached; so the old disk is a throw away.

Using the onboard graphics and USB based TV tuner is probably sub-optimal. Need to fix these.

To add/change

  1. Dual channel PCI DVB-T card
  2. DivX support (complete at 9:40pm)
  3. TV Guide so I can record TV successfully.

Oh, and the cats love the extra space. The case and CPU are quiet and relatively cool. The cave aspect of the case make it a perfect hunting spot:

IMG_1283

7 thoughts on “Weekend Project: Windows Media Center”

  2. Pingback: Weekend Project, Tuesday Update: Windows Media Center | www.nickhodge.com
  3. Pingback: Weekend Project, Tuesday Update: Windows Media Center : DPE Australia

  4. Did you get a TV Guide? Check out IceTV. Has a remote feature which is pretty cool. If you signup from this recommendation, my username is mollyfud if you take up a subscription (I get a free months use).
    TIA
    Molly

  5. I see a XBOX 360 in the background, that would natively stream media off the WHS. So now you effectivley have TWO Media Centre machines 🙂

  6. Jordan

    I’m in the midst of moving the media center to somewhere else in the house — you are correct; the Xbox 360 is a Media Center extender.

    SO as long as its somewhere on the same network; all is good

    Nick

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