PVR - Everything Works

[Dwaino86]

I just wanted to share my joy with everybody. It also might double as helpful for other newbies to know what can be achieved

my htpc plays all my music, dvds and can record 2 channels (even HD!) at a time all from VMC. I select all the programs from the electronic guide, instead of programming manually. my htpc automatically turns on at 6pm and switches off at 11 (when most programs i want to watch are on).

i can also use my pc and even switch it on remotely, from anywhere in the world. If i want my pc to start downloading something or i want to record something, but am not at home, it can all be done.

All this costed less than $300 + Vista (no ongoing costs)

Here is what i have used:

freeEPG - easy to use, this is fantastic
http://www.epgstream.net/

webguide4 allows programming of VMC using your web browser
http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/

switching on pc at daily time - use your BIOS
switching off pc at daily time - scheduled tasks (i wrote a simple batch file, but im sure there are better ways)

in order to do anything remotely, you will have to familiarize yourself with port forwarding from your router - http://www.portforward.com/english/r...outerindex.htm - this website is a wonderful help

you may also need to disable your modem (so that it doesn't act as a router as well)

Once you have set up the port forwarding, you can then access webguide4 over the internet (provided your htpc is on)

www.dyndns.com will give you a free host address that will always point to your dynamic IP.

with this you can remotely control your htpc using TIGHT VNC. Set up your HTPC with VNC server. Just download VNC viewer on the remote computer.
NOTE: VNC server cannot run as a service with Vista ... it stuffs up. Instead just set a scheduled task to run VNC server every time you log in.

Lastly, you can wake ur pc remotely.
http://www.rshut.com/products/wol/
This is brilliant. It tells you how to setup your port forwarding, and lets you send a magic packet from this page.

Im not saying that you'll make all this work in one afternoon (or 2 or 3). But it can be done. I have done it with a DLINK 524 and Speedstream 4200 (from optus). And am VERY VERY happy

Now if i decide i want to record a program during the day, i just get online somewhere, wake up the pc, log onto webguide4 and set it to record. If i want it to start downloading /other task, i log into VNC.

VMC is a beautiful program. Thanks for all you posts that helped me peoples...


HARDWARE:

2nd hand P4. 3.0ghz, 1gb ram, 256mb GPU. pretty low end stuff

added Vista Ultimate, added 2 Leadtek 1000s capture cards.

Hooked this up to my Plasma and Amp/Surround Sound.

WICKED

[GlenR]

Excellent! Good to hear a success story. Now all you need is another tumer or two, a WHS rig to host you media files, and extender or two and you're away.

That's the thing with this stuff. Even when you ahve it reliable and it doesn't need any tinkering, you can still find more to tinker with.

I couldn't live without my VMC - the wife would kill me.

[dgaust]

Same, my wife was ropeable when the file server was down for two days and she couldn't watch any dvds..... it all becomes so easy, that if you ever have to go back to 'just tv' it sucks.

Good to see everything is working well for you.

[getafix]

Image Your Hard Drive!!!!!!!!!!

[Dwaino86]

Hey pps, thanks for the replies. I am about to google 'image hard drive', that seems like a good idea!

i hadnt heard of media extenders before, but they look cool... do they just connect to my existing wireless network? i always thought that video would be too much data to transfer wireless ... or am i missing something?

whats WHS?

The Wake on LAN website i recommended have added a link to this thread hehe

[Dwaino86]

So it turns out i cant use the Wake on LAN feature as i hoped because my router is dumb. It forgets something after 5 minutes and so cant be woken after that time (i dont really understand it...)

its discussed here:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/833973.html

bummer, guess ill have to leave pc on if i want remote use ....

[Astrotoy7]

@Dwaino..

I use Remote desktop connection to get to my vista pcs from offsite, are there any advantages to using VNC instead ?? I'd prefer not to install anything else. Plus the pcs at work already have RDC in so it makes it very easy to get in.

astro

[Dwaino86]

To be honest im a complete noob to remote pc usage (as well as many other things!). I didnt even hear about RDC until i had already installed VNC and got it working. i have since read a few forums about it, and it seems that RDC is far more capable ... however i dont really have any major use for any of them, and cant be bothered changing anything now ...

all i use VNC for is mucking around with the HTPC from laptop when wife has taken control of the TV

is RDC easy to setup? Is there a step-by-step guide anywhere?

[Dwaino86]

I got the Wake on Wan (wide area network) to work properly! All i had to do was upgrade my router firmware and set the port forwarding to 192.168.0.255 (instead of 192.168.0.100 - for example).

yay

oh - and ultra vnc is better than tight vnc much nicer (didnt like RDC)

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by Dwaino86

I got the Wake on Wan (wide area network) to work properly! All i had to do was upgrade my router firmware and set the port forwarding to 192.168.0.255 (instead of 192.168.0.100 - for example).

yay

oh - and ultra vnc is better than tight vnc much nicer (didnt like RDC)

Of course if you're planning to buy an extender make sure you do some research about WOL. I have a linksys DMA2200 and it's a no go zone unfortunately. I use away mode which from what I can tell is just another way of saying my PC is always on!