Author Topic: Because inquiring minds want to know...  (Read 6782 times)

bturnerjr

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Because inquiring minds want to know...
« on: May 14, 2008, 07:29:55 pm »
   I would love to convert my existing MCE 05 home-built box to LinuxMCE if I can have the same capabilities it now provides without the aggravation inherent in Microsoft OS's. I want to use it as a combined front-end/back-end MythTV server and as a fully functional KDE desktop for web surfing, e-mail, etc. I don't anticipate any other "server" services that it would need to handle. The most important capability would be consistent flawless execution of S3 standby/resume functions for power savings.  Is this a reasonable and doable quest?
   I will have to buy a compatible ir receiver/remote...Any suggestions/recommendations?

   Specs:

Standard mid-size tower w/ 435 Watt PS
MSI MS-7255 MB with dual core Pentium @2.8 GHz each
2 gig DDR memory
500 gig WD IDE hard-drive
ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro video card w/256 meg video RAM  w/vga output to 32" LCD tv/monitor
Hauppauge WinTV PVR500MCE dual tuner TV card
std cd/rw drive
Sony dual layer dvd/rw drive
sound is onboard VIA chip capable of HD
onboard LAN(will disable DHCP server and wired connection after install and use wireless Netgear WG311v3 via NDISWrapper)I see no need for two NIC's for my purposes.
Home LAN consists of Roadrunner broadband cable modem and Netgear router serving 4 PC's (2 wired and 2 wireless) as well as a wireless XBox 360 and shared all-in-one printer.


seth

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2008, 07:37:29 pm »
 :)
That would make a great LMCE box, there is just one issue you my find. ATI support in Linux is inherently just bad. Upgrade that video card to an Nvidia product, and you will be ready to go.

Regards,

Seth
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bturnerjr

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2008, 07:47:33 pm »
Thanks for the input. Any suggestions for Nvidia card and 10' UI combo receiver and remote?

seth

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2008, 08:01:21 pm »
 :)
Any NVIDIA 6x00 or 7x00 serires card will work great, out of the box, as far as receivers, I recommend windows mce remote/receiver bundles, i bought 2 on ebay for like $15US a piece plus shipping. I also highly recommend getting a USB-UIRT. This is by far the best purchase I made www.usbuirt.com it will learn any IR remote command, and replicate it for your system. And now with the 710 release, the ir blasters on the mce remote receivers also work well.

The USB-UIRT is about $55 US plus shipping, but well worth the price, it can really control everything in your system from within LMCE.
The MCE remotes are plug and play, as are the ir blasters. You may also wish to purchase an ir dongle or 2 for the USB-UIRT.

Get that little bit squared away, and welcome aboard. You won't regret making the change  ;D

Regards,

Seth
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bturnerjr

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2008, 08:07:52 pm »
Thanks. I already have a MCE 05 Remote/ir receiver combo. I can get the Nvidia card at my local Best Buy.
What is the USB-UIRT for and is it essential?

seth

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2008, 08:28:36 pm »
 ;D
Good news, your mce remote/receiver will work on install. The USB-UIRT is used to control IR devices.
For example, my core, has a dish network receiver, a sirius satellite receiver, a RCA AV Dolby Digital receiver, and a 42" Big screen TV. Using the USB-UIRT to learn each one of those devices remote control (this is very simple to do through the web admin after install) once all of the codes are learned, no matter which device I use, it has all been consolidated to a single mce remote, so if I want to watch a dvd, it automatically changes the input on my AV receiver to DVD, puts the TV on the correct input, and does it all with a single button press on the mce remote.

I also use it to change the channels on my dish network receiver, and all I had to do was learn the receivers codes. LMCE knows exactly what device to control, and which inputs to use, all controlled by IR and the USB-UIRT.

This is the main feature for me of the USB-UIRT, the ability to learn and reproduce any IR code I throw at it.  ;D

After the receiver is installed, it is automatically set up, and allows you to use your existing mce remote. This gives you the option to put your other receiver on a future media director (MD) and just carry the remote back and forth, so you have 2 places controlled by the same remote, and if you are on an MD, and you want to change a channel on the STB for cable or dish the MD sends the commands to the core, and blasts them using the USB-UIRT, so you can be in another room, and still have access to your main core devices.

Definitely a worth while purchase.

Regards,

Seth
« Last Edit: May 14, 2008, 08:31:31 pm by seth »
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bturnerjr

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2008, 08:48:23 pm »
Thanks much Seth.
  I am the type that when I want something, I want it NOW. :=) I am going to get the Nvidia card at Best Buy this afternoon, but will hold off on the USB-UIRT for now because it looks like it has to be ordered online, and I don't have any A/V devices I need to control anyway. I have no intent to use the Pluto portion of this distribution for now, but it will be there if I change my mind in the future. I am guessing that I will be able to use my MCE remote to access and controll an on-screen user interface for TV, PC, and DVD and CD drives in PC.
   How reliable is the S3 standby/restore functionality in the latest version of LinuxMCE?

ytuxedo002

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2008, 09:31:44 pm »
;D
Good news, your mce remote/receiver will work on install. The USB-UIRT is used to control IR devices.
For example, my core, has a dish network receiver, a sirius satellite receiver, a RCA AV Dolby Digital receiver, and a 42" Big screen TV. Using the USB-UIRT to learn each one of those devices remote control (this is very simple to do through the web admin after install) once all of the codes are learned, no matter which device I use, it has all been consolidated to a single mce remote, so if I want to watch a dvd, it automatically changes the input on my AV receiver to DVD, puts the TV on the correct input, and does it all with a single button press on the mce remote.

I also use it to change the channels on my dish network receiver, and all I had to do was learn the receivers codes. LMCE knows exactly what device to control, and which inputs to use, all controlled by IR and the USB-UIRT.

This is the main feature for me of the USB-UIRT, the ability to learn and reproduce any IR code I throw at it.  ;D

After the receiver is installed, it is automatically set up, and allows you to use your existing mce remote. This gives you the option to put your other receiver on a future media director (MD) and just carry the remote back and forth, so you have 2 places controlled by the same remote, and if you are on an MD, and you want to change a channel on the STB for cable or dish the MD sends the commands to the core, and blasts them using the USB-UIRT, so you can be in another room, and still have access to your main core devices.

Definitely a worth while purchase.

Regards,

Seth

Seth,

Check your pm.

Thanks

brittney

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2008, 09:40:33 pm »
so i need to put a usbuirt infront of all the A/V devices i want to use? I.e my tv, my digital tv box and whatnot?

cheers
-bri

seth

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2008, 10:18:29 pm »
 ;)
My TV and entertainment rack are built into my wall at home. I have a dual-headed ir blaster dongle plugged into the back of my USB-UIRT. One of the heads is in the AV rack with the satellite receiver, AV receiver, and sirius receiver. The head on the blaster is powerful enough to hit all devices. The second head of the blaster is run behind the wall into the TV recess. I have it mounted over the TV's ir sensor.

On my MD I have a mce usb receiver with a single irblaster, that one I have run to a second satellite receiver, underneath the 27" TV in the same recess of my entertainment center, its blaster is strong enough to hit both the TV and the receiver.

However, if running a 64bit version of lmce, connected to the USB-UIRT, the ir blaster dongles are not required. I have done this with beta4, for whatever reason, running 64bit LMCE allows the internal ir blaster to function on the USB-UIRT.

But that is my layout. I made my own ir blaster dongles from radio shack parts, but there are other resources on line.

Regards,

Seth
".....Because Once you've LinuxMCE'd....."
System stats located at my user page:

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ytuxedo002

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2008, 10:34:20 pm »
;)
My TV and entertainment rack are built into my wall at home. I have a dual-headed ir blaster dongle plugged into the back of my USB-UIRT. One of the heads is in the AV rack with the satellite receiver, AV receiver, and sirius receiver. The head on the blaster is powerful enough to hit all devices. The second head of the blaster is run behind the wall into the TV recess. I have it mounted over the TV's ir sensor.

On my MD I have a mce usb receiver with a single irblaster, that one I have run to a second satellite receiver, underneath the 27" TV in the same recess of my entertainment center, its blaster is strong enough to hit both the TV and the receiver.

However, if running a 64bit version of lmce, connected to the USB-UIRT, the ir blaster dongles are not required. I have done this with beta4, for whatever reason, running 64bit LMCE allows the internal ir blaster to function on the USB-UIRT.

But that is my layout. I made my own ir blaster dongles from radio shack parts, but there are other resources on line.

Regards,

Seth

What do the ir dongles do?

seth

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2008, 10:53:19 pm »
 ;)
IR Blaster Dongles are small IR led's attached to a wire to better position them in front of the device to be controlled for improved performance and accuracy. An example is on like in the link below:

http://www.smarthome.com/8170.html?src=WG1000118&gclid=CJeW9v_tppMCFRLnxgoduCm2ng
".....Because Once you've LinuxMCE'd....."
System stats located at my user page:

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ytuxedo002

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2008, 11:49:20 pm »
;)
IR Blaster Dongles are small IR led's attached to a wire to better position them in front of the device to be controlled for improved performance and accuracy. An example is on like in the link below:

http://www.smarthome.com/8170.html?src=WG1000118&gclid=CJeW9v_tppMCFRLnxgoduCm2ng

Perfect.  Thanks for your help.

darrenmason

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #13 on: May 15, 2008, 12:41:32 am »
To the original poster....

If you only want to use the MythTv functionaility on top of desktop functionilty then I would suggest that you are better served by one of the Myth based distributions, like MythBuntu rather than linuxMCE.
My brother in-law had the same requirements and that is what I set up for him. He mainly uses the machine for email and web browsing - but it has two tuners and MythTV running for PVR functionailty as well.

linuxMCE adds a lot of complexity on top of the above. It also adds a lot of functionality but you have said that you don't want that yet...

bturnerjr

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Re: Because inquiring minds want to know...
« Reply #14 on: May 15, 2008, 02:06:30 am »
Thanks darrenmason.(and Seth and others who contributed) It would appear after playing around with it this afternoon and evening that this app is overkill for what I want it for. I'll look into mythbuntu...
:=)