Vista Media Center Users *IMPORTANT*

[Dos_Box]

Some of you may have been hearing for a while now about a certain update that Microsoft were working on for Vista Media Center called 'Fiji'. What you may not have heard is that Fiji was released at the beginning of August under the official title of 'Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008'. The reason you may not have heard much about it is that it was released to OEM's only. However, if you simply Google for it you will be led to may available download sites for immediate access (the link I had yesterday has died, so I don't have one at the moment).

Microsoft don't seem to fussed about clamping down on this so that's why there are plenty of links to it out there.

The update itself is quite important. It allows for MCE users outside of the US to record HD satellite and cable to the HD, has more codecs and detects more DVB-T channels. It also adds features such as catagories to the channel listings. Anyway, thought you'd like to know.

 

P.S. Want to play DivX and Quicktime in MCE? Then download the codec pack from here. Works a treat!

 

32 Bit: Download Vista Codec Package 4.7.3 - With this package installed, you shouldn't need to install any other codec or filter - Softpedia

 

64 Bit: Download VistaCodecs x64Components 1.5.2 - Do you want to watch your favorite video in MediaCenter? These components have been tested on Vista Ultimate x64 Edition - Softpedia

 

Oh, and read this page too for more plugins and goodies: 10 Essential Free Vista Media Center Addons & Tweaks | One Tip A Day

[Dos_Box]

And I just ordered one of these:

BlackGold (GDI) :: TV Tuner Products :: BGT3540 :: 6 in 1 :: Dual digital satellite, Dual digital terrestrial, Dual analogue terrestrial :: PCI express card

As it is a UK made product, is one of the few DVB-S (HD) devices that is certified to work with MCE in the UK.

As you can tell, I've been giving my media center a good update with a new blu-ray and HD DVD player combo + software cheap from Maplin (LG Super Multi Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD-ROM with DVD Rewriter > Maplin), which coupled with this cheap card from Sapphire (Scan Computers UK: 256MB Sapphire HD3450 PCI-E 2.0, 1000MHz GDDR2 600MHz GPU, 40 Cores, DVI-I/HDTV/D-Sub HDCP Ready) frees the CPU up from any HD decoding as the card does it all on board.

The next step is getting a dish fitted to our chimney to pick up Freesat HD.

[saundersmatt]

Oh my god I want to kiss you. Been looking for a dual tuner freesat card for a while but hadn't been able to see one.

Just out of curiosity are you running 32 or 64bit on your media centre box?

 

Matt

[Dos_Box]

32 Bit. I intend to do a bit of a HTPC with Vista MCE do's and don't sheet, to steer people though the pitfalls of setting up your own media centre that actually works as opposed to buying duff components which won't do HD etc. I've learnt a lot in the past 12 months about what kit you really need to make things work (just because it says HD\HDMI on the graphic card box kids doesn't really mean it is!) without them paying serious wonga for components not up to the task.

[somabc]

I have the HVR-4000, I'm not sure if it will work in DVB-S mode with Vista MCE now? If I were you I would get the blackgold card as Hauppage drivers are rubbish (and non-existent in 64bit).

 

Hauppauge Digital : WinTV-HVR-4000

[Dos_Box]

I currently have a very old Pinnacle single DVB-T card. My BlackGold card should land tomorrow.

[somabc]

32 Bit. I intend to do a bit of a HTPC with Vista MCE do's and don't sheet, to steer people though the pitfalls of setting up your own media centre that actually works as opposed to buying duff components which won't do HD etc. I've learnt a lot in the past 12 months about what kit you really need to make things work (just because it says HD\HDMI on the graphic card box kids doesn't really mean it is!) without them paying serious wonga for components not up to the task.

 

Yeah what you think you can put together for a HTPC and what will actually work (well) are two very different things, that's why I'm on my 3rd one

[cooper]

I may be wrong but if you have any DVB-S card it will work with HD you just need the right software to view the HD content.

 

Cooper

[somabc]

I may be wrong but if you have any DVB-S card it will work with HD you just need the right software to view the HD content.

 

Cooper

 

I think you need DVB-S2 to decode the H264 streams that are broadcast on the ASTRA (Sky HD / Freesat) satellites.

 

DVB-S2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ChrisJohn]

32 Bit. I intend to do a bit of a HTPC with Vista MCE do's and don't sheet, to steer people though the pitfalls of setting up your own media centre that actually works as opposed to buying duff components which won't do HD etc. I've learnt a lot in the past 12 months about what kit you really need to make things work (just because it says HD\HDMI on the graphic card box kids doesn't really mean it is!) without them paying serious wonga for components not up to the task.

 

Hello, I have found my way to this forum because I have been researching how to get and watch HD TV on my PC. I am about to add a Freesat dish to my chimney and buy a tuner card. I have been considering both the Hauppauge HVR-4000 and the Blackgold BGT 3510 mentioned in this thread and would welcome any advice from practical experience of these cards from any users in your forum. I am also struggling to understand exactly what is required in software terms. I am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit on a quad CPU so shouldn't be short of CPU power to decode. I have got but not yet installed "Fiji" with its hotfixes and also downloaded the Codec pack mentioned at the start of this thread. Would I be correct in thinking that with these installed I could use VMC to watch and record HDTV without using the software supplied with either of the tuners or would their drivers still be required? My apologies for so many questions on my first posting but if, DOS_Box, you have summarised your do's and don't somewhere, perhaps you would kindly point me in the right direction?

[Ric_]

@ChrisJohn: DB will be about at some point to help you out... all I know is that his current advice is not to buy the BlackGold card as it won't do HD Freesat.

[ChrisJohn]

@ChrisJohn: DB will be about at some point to help you out... all I know is that his current advice is not to buy the BlackGold card as it won't do HD Freesat.

 

Very many thanks indeed for that prompt advice. I use VideoReDo to edit my recorded programmes and the developers there are still working on the .wtv format that Fiji uses so I might put off making the change just yet. Windows7RC is rumoured to be due within a few weeks so I might risk installing that on its own partition and use that for experiments. Up until now I have only been running it in a VM. The choice of suitable cards that can handle Freesat HD seems strictly limited! Apart from the HVR-4000 I can't find any!

[Ric_]

@ChrisJohn: I'm running one of the latest Windows 7 betas and it wipes the floor with Vista (with Fiji, etc. installed). Soooo much more stable and 'it just works'!

[Dos_Box]

Here I am

The Blackgold card will not do HD. The origional release was publised as such, but the problem lies in that the tuner can pick up the HD signal but the on board decoder can't deal with them!

I have since gone out this weekend and brought a Hauppauge Nova-HD-S2 card for this function. I just need to get my new case today as the old one is falling to bits!

[ChrisJohn]

Here I am

I have since gone out this weekend and brought a Hauppauge Nova-HD-S2 card for this function. I just need to get my new case today as the old one is falling to bits!

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

It would be great to hear how you get on with this card. I was only looking at the HVR-4000 as it gave me DVB-T as well and I hadn't the confidence to drop DVB-T before I knew DVB-S would do everything. It is odd that the single tuner Nova HD-S2 card costs almost as much as the Quad HVR version but I guess that's product marketing for you!

 

I am using a Dell 24" monitor that has a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 so I am hopeful of a good HD picture. Depending on how you get on, I might just take the plunge. Will you be using the WinTV v7 software or going the Fiji and H.264 codec route with VMC?

[sted]

i was under the impression the 2008 pack was neutered in terms of hd and couldnt deal with it (i installed it (and beta of win7) on laptop and now the tv tuner dont work bsds on channel scan so ive decided not to risk it on my main pc (atm im running freeview on both though laptop really just as it came with a tv card and 4 testing))