I made some big claims in the days between ordering my VMCE hardware components and them being delivered about how having bought appropriate hardware, and by following instructions, that I expected my VMCE would just work like it says on the box. (See post -
My MC experiment... ) I made this statement based on previous experince with bleeding edge equipment.
I received my hardware Weds 21/3/07 and had built the box by the next night including installing Vista Prem. My conclusion is that I was right. I spent the Saturday updating all necessary drivers and setting the MC setting as I wanted them. I have opted for IceTV as my guide as the cost does not concern me and I want the reliability. Within a week, it is functioning precisely as I expected. I do of course, have some very minor issues but nothing that could be described as a frustration. These are;
- Can only get 1176 x 664 resolution but seeing as though this is a dedicated MC and not really used for computing duties this isn't really a problem at all. Not sure if it's the LCD TV or the NVidia drivers yet but its basically irrelevant. I'm keeping an eye on the NVidia driver releases as you might expect.
- At the end of the build I had 3 remote controls to choose from, 1 with each of my Fusion HDTV Cards (different cards meant 2 different remotes) and one with my Silverstone LC14M case. These were all crap so I bought a Microsoft MCE Remote for $50 and it works perfect, just like it says on the box. PLUS my MS MCE Keyboard works with it.
- The thumb driven mouse of said keyboard is a bit naf but given the rarity of PC type duties it doesn't really matter cos it gets the job done.
But then there's the good bits;
- Addins like FFDShow and BigScreen Weather are outstanding and I can imagine even more dazzling utils popping up as more and more people convert
- WAF is more like WOW as the ads suggest.
- Once you have working features like pause and rewind of live TV you don't know how you could possibly live with out them.
- One remote!
- This thing works like an appliance
- I could go on...
I'm quite sure things could get a bit more tricky if I was to run Foxtel but I have seen the setup guide on this forum that like I said, if you follow the instructions, I feel I could make work with little fuss. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you buy the right equipment for the job and don't try and fumble through with inadequate gear, your chances of real problems are slim, if you add to this the commitment to follow the instructions of any device or app carefully, it becomes pretty darn hard to go wrong.
From here I continue to trawl through this forum sniffing out all the tricks, tips and addins that I can get my hands on to improve my VMC. Please feel free to add you favourites for me to check out.
ontiK.
Thoughts of VMCE noobie (and YOUR favourite addins)
"Somewhere in Texas, there's a village missing an idiot."
