gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Just followed this guide to setting up Windows 7 Media Server, and making it look all pretty and nice like...
It's a fair bit of work to get it all set up but the end result is well worth it. You get purdy pictures, both the DVD covers and background images, and you get descriptions of the movies, along with actor info and stuff like that. Also you can select one of the actors and bring up a list of all the other films you've got on your computer that they're in.
You can even set up trailers (last three screenshots) and watch them full screen or against the backdrop image, to help convince the missus what you're watching for the night  I love it, need to get my TV series sorted now 
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
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That looks pretty good!
If you have media centre set up like that when you stream stuff to an Xbox does it display like that?
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jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
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Looks ace, but would take something awesome to sway me from PS3 Mediaserver. Are the DVD covers from DVD rips or ISO or MKVs?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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Good point Jamied, does it handle MKV's, BDMV and TS files?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by Bart
Good point Jamied, does it handle MKV's, BDMV and TS files?
Jamied, what PS3 media server do you have?
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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You can play pretty much anything with WMC, although some files (BDMV etc) requires external software like powerDVD or Arcsoft Total Media Theatre (can be made near enough seamless).
to be honest, power consumption alone would make me look at a HTPC rather than a PS3 for playing back content - PS3 200w, HTPC around 40/50w (Atom ION board).
[Edited on 31-05-2010 by Dom]
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Any reason why you chose W7MC over a similar piece of software such as XBMC?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by Dom
You can play pretty much anything with WMC, although some files (BDMV etc) requires external software like powerDVD or Arcsoft Total Media Theatre (can be made near enough seamless).
This is one of the reasons why I turned away from WMC.
I wanted to play files regardless of format, I didnt want to be watching one in VLC player, one in WMC and another in Power DVD. I wanted something that would boot up in seconds and hit the play button, playing any file format I could throw at it, not fcuking about with 3rd party software etc.
Popcorn Hour C200 FTW 
[Edited on 31-05-2010 by Bart]
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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You can set it up so that it's pretty much seamless, ie: you press play and the film loads up fullscreen, press stop and you're back into WMC.
If you need more live tv features (Picture in Picture etc) then Myth TV is better, likewise XMBC/Boxee/Plex is probably slighty better on the play downloaded/ripped media (iirc, they don't have live tv support). But WMC is a decent middle ground, it's free and it doesn't look too shabby on a 42"+ screen
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by noshua
Any reason why you chose W7MC over a similar piece of software such as XBMC?
I've tried XMBC and i didn't think it was that nice to use, mainly because it lagged a bit compared to WMC7 and the addon plugins for XMBC are pretty much cack (think i found a weather plugin that actually looked ok). Boxee is better but limited. MythTV is the one i'd ultimately look at, i don't think it's as slick at WMC but it blows it out of the water functionality-wise. Although i found setup to be a bit of a pain in the arse, mainly because my knowledge on linux is limited.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Looks so good! But I have no idea what anyone is talking about so I'm just going to keep looking at the pictures
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by Graham88
Looks so good! But I have no idea what anyone is talking about so I'm just going to keep looking at the pictures
Google HTPC (Home Theatre PC), in essence a dedicated PC connected to your TV to play media/watch live TV. Although it can get a lot more complicated than that - i've played with someone’s install that linked HTPC with home automation, so you'd press a 'movie' button (he had a crestron remote) and the lights dimmed, projector screen came out of the ceiling, blinds closed etc You could also watch/listen to anything around the house, so he'd pause live tv in the lounge and then continue to watch it in the study/kitchen/bedroom/bathroom, or watch a film anywhere or set something to record in the kitchen come back later and watch it in the bedroom. It wasn't cheap and he i remember saying it was an arse to install and get everything working correctly, but it certainly was impressive and it had its uses.
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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Wmc has come along way on the last few years. I'm going to have to get a new media player soon. My pch a110th is almost two years old and is.struggling with a jukebox with 700 films and growing
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jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Bart
quote:
Originally posted by Bart
Good point Jamied, does it handle MKV's, BDMV and TS files?
Jamied, what PS3 media server do you have?
i use my pc and a program called ps3 media server that streams just about every format, e.g. MKV,ISO,1080p etc etc easily and works very well. have a go with it, see what you think.
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Dom
I've tried XMBC and i didn't think it was that nice to use, mainly because it lagged a bit compared to WMC7 and the addon plugins for XMBC are pretty much cack (think i found a weather plugin that actually looked ok). Boxee is better but limited. MythTV is the one i'd ultimately look at, i don't think it's as slick at WMC but it blows it out of the water functionality-wise. Although i found setup to be a bit of a pain in the arse, mainly because my knowledge on linux is limited.
Was you using the LiveCD? You can install XBMC on Windows and Mac as well as Linux.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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I've just started using WMC, so got the default skins and stuff - any good webpages/guides for customising appearance?
I turned to WMC so I could clear up some shelf real-estate for my new bluray purchases, so all my SD films are on my PC now. Don't wanna rip BD as my PC connects to amp with a coax cable which won't send HDAudio, at least until I get a graphics card with audio over HDMI!
What does everyone use for ripping their DVDs too? I used AnyDVD but it was on a 21day trial which just ended. Any free alternatives?
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Are you encoding the DVD rips or having them stored in VOB format?
Doom9 has some good tutorials on DVD backup - http://www.doom9.org/guides.htm
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by noshua
Are you encoding the DVD rips or having them stored in VOB format?
Doom9 has some good tutorials on DVD backup - http://www.doom9.org/guides.htm
I was ripping them with AnyDVD - into the .vob format.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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UI of this looks awesome
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Brett
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Yeah, I'd install this, then get TunerFreeMCE for all the iplayer, etc. and chuck a tv card in there to get the recording functionality. Just done similar with a Vista machine.
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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Could you have the same setup for CD albums, photo's and other features that the box i've been looking at?
What have you actually installed mate
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ajscorsa
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Registered: 30th Apr 02
Location: Perceton, North Ayrshire
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Is there anywhere I can find a tutorial to set it up like this?
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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There's a link in my original post mate.
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A2H GO
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Registered: 14th Sep 04
Location: Stoke
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I setup WMC but it was un-useably slow. Not sure whether it was my latop or internet connection so i went back to streaming though my xbox which ive never had any problems with.
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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Can you play Blu-Ray & DVD iso's?
I was thinking about getting a Dune Media player, but may consider building a Media Centre instead
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