9 Newbiee questions

[shortydigital]

sorry for the long post , i didn't want to make 9 posts since some of the Q's are just yes or no. Here are my newbie questions, I did search (a lot) and have been lurking for a while, but just need to clarify a few things before I drop some $ on new hardware. So far I have this installed and running:
Room 1: LMCE Core/Hybrid Intel 3.0ghz, 1 gb RAM, dvd drive,
Edtv plasma 480p (with rs232 not yet used) and a  5.1 receiver, no ir blasting yet.

Room2: LMCE MD intel 1.1 ghz, 512 mb ram
720p projector, 5.1 receiver

LMCE so far works fine, streams from the dvd drive, stored dvds and downloaded movies, pics, and music.

I Plan to stream local hd (qam) and analog cable to both rooms. And will buy the following:
Add to room 1 / core -Hdhomerun, Hauppauge wintv-500 kit, GO 2.4 Optical Air Mouse, nvidia 6200 128mb  pci ( not pci-e)
Add room 2 / MD, hauppauge remote and IR blaster from above kit, nvidia 6200 128mb agp.

Questions
 1. Can I use my old xbox mce( not 360) to stream live tv or at least watch the non hd movies from my LMCE PVR? No talking about xbox booting up as a MD, but just accessing the PVR files, better question may be can a non LMCE device such as a windows box acccess the PVR files, if so is this practical. The current XMCE interface rocks and it automatically accesses windows shares.

2. If I save a file/movie to pvr or copy it or download at HD resolution and want to watch it on a non HD capable tv through a weaker MD that lacks HD support/outputs, say an old laptop, will LMCE down convert it and play it or is it not possible?

3. Will the Hauppauge mce remote and IR reader will work on the md even though the Hauppauge card is in the core/hybrid.

4. Will this setup allow full 1080p steaming and playback down the road from broadcast/blueray/hddvd, assuming the nvidias I buy have at least 128 onboard? Some forum posts stated hd tv is choppy, I’m looking for a smooth picture.

5. Does the pvr storage space have to be local to the core via sata/ide/usb or can it store on an xp file server somewhere else on the network. If so are there any performance issue and should the file server be on the external home network or the private LMCE 192.168.80.x. MD network.

6. What network should the HDHOMERUN be on, the external or the private LMCE 192.168.80.x network.
 
7. I should be able to run full HD up to 1080p over vga/ HD15 connector? Is there any reason to seek hdmi or dvi for just video I fully understand the differneces of the cables, but if both my plasma and projector have VGA/HD15 connectors I see no reason not tio use them for the short runs of less then 15 feet. Are there any clear advantages that I’m not aware of?

8. Universal remotes. I have a Logitech harmony programmable. Can I use this, it has to be programmed to control a device, LMCE isn’t in the supported devices list (lol) so how can I program LMCE to use this if the remote has to be programmed itself. Is there a generic device that I should program to that has been tested and works? Does this make any sense?

9. Does any one know of a cheap as dirt audio solution for optical or coaxial output that is supported maybe even USB. I looks like the only none-onboard solution in wiki is the SB Live card , but its listed as stereo only and S/PDIF is unreliable. I don’t want to upgrade the MBs if they provide everything else and work fine.

Thanks Shaun

[Zaerc]

1. The xbox with xbmc can play media stored in lmce through it's network file shares.  And xebian has a mythtv frontend iirc, that might be able to hook up with lmce's backend I think (but I've never even tried that myself).

2. No lmce does not convert it, but that might be possible in the future, I have no idea if anyone is working on that though.

3. That is how it should work as far as I understand it, but I have no experience with IR myself yet.

4. No idea and for the time being I'm not really interested in HD myself to be honest.

5. As far as I know storage could be just about anywhere you like, and fileservers should be located on the internal  (private/192.168.80.*) network.  Performance shouldn't be an issue in a healthy setup I reckon but your milage may vary.

6. I have no experience with the HDHomerun either but I'd be very surprised if it doesn't have to be connected to the internal (private/192.168.80.*) network.

7. No idea.

8. I'm not familiar with those.

9. Maybe these are an option for you: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/SlimDevices_Squeezebox

I hope that helps a bit, maybe someone else can answer the questions I couldn't answer and/or correct me where I'm wrong.

[Greg]

8. Universal remotes. I have a Logitech harmony programmable. Can I use this, it has to be programmed to control a device, LMCE isn’t in the supported devices list (lol) so how can I program LMCE to use this if the remote has to be programmed itself. Is there a generic device that I should program to that has been tested and works? Does this make any sense?

You haven't told us which model, making it hard to give a specific answer.  Since LMCE supports Windows Media Center remotes OOTB, I would look for a way to program your Harmony to control a Windows Media Center.

[shortydigital]

Greg- sorry, its a logitech 550 One-touch advanced remote: Infrared, Infrared Learning.

Zaerc - thanks for the info.

[ddamron]

In response to your question #3...

Is this the white USB dongle?  with 2 ports for Blasters on the back?

If so, YES, it will work.  I've had mine working for quite a while.. 
Mine is from a haupauge (sp?) PVR150MCE

Dan

[shortydigital]

Dan, yes it is, its the one that comes with the wintv -500 kit. i just want to make sure i can use it as a media center remote on a different pc then the card is in. Thanks

any other takers on Q's 7-9

?

[danielk]

You might want to upgrade the nVidia 6200, if you're doing HD.

I don't think that card will work with HD+OrbiterGL. If you disable the Orbiter's fancy alpha blending it can handle HD, but the UI will look dated.

[shortydigital]

any suggestions, i thought along as it had 128mb or more that i'd be fine. i know wiki lists 6000 series and up, but for my specific app, hd is there a higher requirement ?

[1audio]

HD playback depends a lot on the CPU, especially in Linux since they don't want linux users to access the hardware acceleration for some reason. Expect to need at least a 3 GHz AMD or equivalent for decent results. And H.264 HD will need a lot more to work. Think of it as multiplying bits- 20 MB/s in and 1.6 GB/s out so the processor and the video card need to make all of those bits from the few that come in (100:1 or more compression).

The HDHome run needs to be on your internal network. No reason to not have everything on that network.

VGA is fine for any of those resolutions. HDCP protection doesn't really exist in Linux.

I saw a $30 usb-tos multichannel audo adapter at Fry's last week. Don't know if you can get it running under Linux/Alsa. Search, you may well find something. It must work under Alsa or you will be disappointed.

[ddamron]

I don't know if this is relevant, but I've been watching HD via satellite for quite some time...
using MythTV..

[shortydigital]

Ddamron, can you elaborate on your set up. is it a settop sat box or a sat card, if set top , what capture card? how many MD's, how much CPU/ram/ what model video cards. Thanks

[ddamron]

check out my user page..

I have 3x DVB-S cards, watching HD on MythTV via 1Gb ethernet
I've had 2 shows at the same time (both HD)

You should be able to see the rest on my user page.

[ddamron]

I'm actually watching a recording I made off sat right now on the Fiire Station 1"
It's HD (watching it in 720P) and all is well..
I'll try to scale it up and see what happens...