http://www.winextra.com/forums/forum/38 Bring back the eXtra in Windows en-US Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:21:06 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.winextra.com/forums/search.php http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/10680#post-53509 Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:20:27 +0000 Pierre 53509@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>Like the "God folder", but more complete:<br /> <a href="http://www.sevenforums.com/955359-post11.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.sevenforums.com/955359-post11.html</a><br /> That site is a mine of information. </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9654#post-47728 Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:59:01 +0000 ChadMan 47728@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>I have one complaint about Home Theater System. The blinking LEDs on the BlurRay disc, the keyboard receiver and my batt backup need to be attenuated. I guess I could open them up and change their current limiting resistors in some of the devices like the BluRay disc and the keyboard receiver. But that's a pain! </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9654#post-47726 Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:39:14 +0000 ChadMan 47726@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>I'm running my HTPC on windows 7 and MyMovies. I would have used Linux Media Center Edition but it would not do BlueRay. This PC is standalone but there is a server version of MyMovies. I have 2-1.5TB drives with Win 7 on a 200 gig partition on one and over 300 ripped DVDs (room for maybe 100 more) using no compression. For my Blue ray playback I (rarely) use Cyberlink Power DVD and for my ripped collection playback I use ArcSoft Total Media Theatre because it has excellent up-sampling playback. I have found so little difference between BlueRay and up-sampled DVD to realize BlueRay discs aren't worth the premium in price and storage file size overhead I don't care about extras on the discs. I use MyMovies for collection management and soon my phone will have Android 2.1 so I can use the MyMovie phone app that let's me scan movies and mark them as lent out (and to whom) or tells if they are in my collection so I don't buy duplicates. Very cool! I can't wait for 5TB drives!<br /> my tuner is a Pioneer (sub $500) that passes all HDMI (vid and sound) to the TV so all links are either HDMI or optical/digital (gone with the RCA jacks). All my speakers are the larger pioneer cabinets, older using JBL speakers I think. Those little home theater speakers have the dynamic range but their sound is small in comparison. Lastly is a huge KLM (cheapy/old school) sub woofer that does the trick nicely. 5.1 surround is serving me fine in my little house.</p> <p>If I were gone to build a new PC and had an older intel dual core or AMD dual core, I would spin off an HTPC with them. </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9654#post-47721 Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:52:00 +0000 James 47721@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p><blockquote><br /> MythTV is not intuitive to install. Sure, you can download the file through package manager or use apt-get but that's just the beginning.... Then you have to configure it. The GUI will let you modify maybe 80 percent of the settings but in the end, it's that other 20 percent of the settings that are critical to your success.<br /> </blockquote></p> <p>That about sums up my experience with Linux - the 'ole 80/20 rule. 80% of the stuff works great, it's the 20% that doesn't that kills it.</p> <p>I've had my eye on the Roku Box, but more recently I've been thinking about spending a little more and getting either a Western Digital Live, or one of Viewsonics. The Roku is nice for Netflix a bit cheaper, and the MLB package is nice, but the expanded offerings of the other two companies are compelling - more media types played, streaming services like Pandora, and connecting to the network have started to turn my head a bit.</p> <p>Here's a nice little write up on a few different ones.</p> <p><a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/can_media_player_replace_home_theater_pc?page=0,1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/can_media_player_replace_home_theater_pc?page=0,1</a> </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9654#post-47714 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:01:45 +0000 PJ 47714@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>This is part 4 of my eternal quest to find the perfect home media rig.</p> <p>The prior three parts are available at:<br /> Part 1. <a href="http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8481" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8481</a><br /> Part 2. <a href="http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8546" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8546</a><br /> Part 3. <a href="http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8886" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8886</a></p> <p>In my last recounting I mentioned that I found bliss in my Patriot Box Office (PBO) media player. That's still true but there's just one small downside to the PBO, your media still has to reside somewhere.</p> <p>I ended up blowing away the Ubuntu Server installation and put an Ubuntu Desktop installation in it's place. Then I reinstalled MythTV. And reinstalled it. And reinstalled it and reinstalled it and reinstalled it. See, this is one example of the many reasons that Linux will never catch on as a mainstream desktop OS destined for the masses. Windows in it's infinite flavors and Mac OS in it's marginally smaller palette of flavors will always come out ahead of Linux. It's easy to install new packages. The packages come complete and ready to install and it's all quite intuitive.</p> <p>MythTV is not intuitive to install. Sure, you can download the file through package manager or use apt-get but that's just the beginning.... Then you have to configure it. The GUI will let you modify maybe 80 percent of the settings but in the end, it's that other 20 percent of the settings that are critical to your success.</p> <p>So after OCDing on the installation piece, I also installed XBMC, as well as a bunch of codecs that were needed for playback of my video and audio files. Then I installed Tangerine and then mt-daapd and then forked-daapd and then I erased everything and started all over. The configuration of each of those installations was onerous, to say the least, and rarely worked well enough for me to listen or watch any of the media I had on the hard drives.</p> <p>Speaking of hard drives, that was a tough nut to crack in and of itself. Do I format my hard drives as NTFS, ext3, ext4? Why, oh why must I decide these things now? I finally settled on NTFS for one hard drive and ext4 for the other. A nice compromise that paid back in spades later on.</p> <p>Eventually Ubuntu, the software installations and I achieved an uneasy truce. I never was able to watch much on my LCD TV that was connected to the media center but at least I could watch/listen to the media on almost all the other computers in my house.</p> <p>The PBO ended up getting moved to my bedroom TV and connected to the home network via WiFi. Believe it or not, the video/audio quality really didn't change.</p> <p>The setup wasn't suiting my goals. I wanted instant access to all my stuff on the hard drive. From the main TV. In desperation I finally went out and bought a new copy of Windows 7 Home Premium and installed that on the computer. Indeed, in the intervening time, I had built a new computer and replaced the aging HP computer.</p> <p>Now I have an AMD X2 250 with a Biostar A780L motherboard, 4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM and an ATI HD 5570 video card. All stuffed into a standard black box that sits in the corner. I made a bad choice on the power supply though. Whines like a banshee. All the time. It'll have to be replaced but so far I've spent $220 on <em>all</em> the hardware plus another $109 for an OEM version of Windows 7. Get this: I paid more for the Windows 7 than I did for the motherboard, CPU and RAM! The motherboard sports a 10/100 NIC. Not ideal but it works for the moment. Eventually I'll toss in a Gig NIC. The keyboard is a Logitech Multimedia Bluetooth keyboard that I originally purchased for use with my PS3. It has a trackpad built into it. There is also a Hauppage 1600 TV tuner card and an HP MCE remote and MS IR USB thingie that I re-purposed from a few of my other computers.</p> <p>Perfection. Nirvana.</p> <p>Really, it is. After dropping in a few codecs so Media Player (and the MCE package) can play .mkv files natively, I'm sitting very pretty. Everything is controllable via the MCE remote control and I can even record HD programs off the Verizon FIOS cable TV. Just in time for the new season of Top Gear. And this is where my hard drive format choice came in handy. Windows doesn't read ext4, which is the format I used on the hard drive storing all my movies and documents.</p> <p>A quick trip to the CD bin and I pulled out my live boot CD of Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. Reboot the computer with that and, bingo!, I was able to copy all my files over to the NTFS formatted hard drive. No muss, no fuss. Boot back into Windows, reformat a drive, copy the files back, share out the folders and not one of the computers one my network required reconfiguration to get access to the media.</p> <p>Who would have thought that Microsoft could come up with such an awesome program? And then never pitch it? The Media Center Edition (MCE) of Windows 7 is a very low key hero in this game. It looks good, makes installation a cinch and setup is accomplished via wizards that do everything for you.</p> <p>And, to top it all off, after sharing out my folders on the hard drives, I still have complete access to my media from the other computers via the network as well as my PBO in the bedroom.</p> <p>The one piece that's lacking is auto-integration with iTunes. Not an issue, though. Forked-daapd has a Windows port that will allow me to share out my music library. If I get worked up enough to do it. Or I can always point the iTunes library to the network share. Either way, it's just gravy on the steak because everything else is working smooth as silk.</p> <p>I love it when a plan comes together....</p> <p>So, where do I go from here? Because we all know that the journey can't stop just because I've reached the end.... I don't know but I have been eying the latest Apple TV box. And that sleek little Roku 1080p box over there? I just might have to give it a run around the block once or twice.... Not to mention, the WiFi Internet radios....</p> <p>Maybe this journey isn't quite done just yet. </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9449#post-46392 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:30:49 +0000 Pierre 46392@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>The only drawback to this method is, when the gadgets are updated you need to go through the full rigamarole again… </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9449#post-46386 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:03:33 +0000 Billy 46386@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>Very nice. </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/9449#post-46376 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:55:46 +0000 Pierre 46376@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>If you use desktop gadgets, Windows 7 comes with a small complement of them. You can download more from the <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize/gadgets" target="_blank">Windows personalization gallery</a> and other sites.</p> <p>Normally downloaded gadgets require to be installed for each profile. Installing a gadget makes it immediately active.</p> <p>This is relevant only if you fill these prerequisites: you have multiple user profiles defined, you have downloaded additional desktop gadgets, and you want these extra gadgets to be available for all user profiles.</p> <p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Log in to an administor profile, install the desired gadgets.</p> <p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Close the newly installed gadgets.</p> <p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Open an Explorer window, navigate to "C:\Users\{login ID}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets". Each installed gadget is materialized by a subfolder. Copy those you wish to share between profiles to a backup location (such as your desktop).</p> <p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Uninstall the gadgets<strong>(*)</strong>. <strong>Close the gadget list window</strong>.</p> <p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Open an Explorer window, navigate to "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Shared Gadgets". Copy the saved gadget folders there.</p> <p>Your downloaded gadgets are now available in the gadget list window for every profile. You can delete the backup copy if you wish.</p> <p><em><strong>(*)</strong> To uninstall a gadget, open the gadget list window, right-click the gadget, select "uninstall". Some gadgets' files will not be unlocked when you close the gadget. In order to unistall them, you need to log off and back on first</em>. </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8889#post-44081 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:30:07 +0000 moosepucky 44081@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <blockquote><p><cite>Infinidean <a href="http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8889#post-44069" target="_blank">said</a>:</cite><br /> Well done. Thank you for sharing it. </p></blockquote> <p>Thanks for saying this.</p> <p>If you, or anyone else, sees any glaring errors ilke spel'in or grammar or.... (god forbid) content. Let me know </p> http://www.winextra.com/forums/topic/8889#post-44069 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:49:48 +0000 Infinidean 44069@http://www.winextra.com/forums/ <p>Well done. Thank you for sharing it. </p>