Entertainment 2.0

In part one of this beginner series, I discussed the main Media Center PC and the hardware considerations that come into play.  The next thing we need to look at when setting up a Media Center system is integrating your whole home.  Having to put a PC at each TV isn’t always an option and Microsoft has made sure that you don’t have to.  Media Center can be extended around your home through the use of extenders and we’ll cover them here today.

You have several options when looking for an extender.  Prices range from $100 to close to $300 and what you choose will depend not only on your budget but what other features you might like to have.  They each offer something different and I’ll pass along my recommendations as we go.

First on our list of extenders is probably also the most popular.  The Xbox 360 comes out of the box ready to connect to any PC in your home with Windows Media Center.  The setup process is quick and intuitive.  Once connected you have the full Media Center experience at your finger tips.  Of all the extenders I’ve used, the 360 certainly has the fastest interface.  The one complaint this box has received is the amount of noise it makes.  While neither me nor my wife can hear it, others have commented that they can.  Something to consider.  The good part about the 360 is that you’re getting a great gaming machine in the process.  Even if you don’t consider yourself a gamer, per se, there are a lot of casual games available for the system that may make it worth the $200 price tag for the lowest priced model. 

Next up is the Linksys DMA-2100 and DMA-2200.  The only difference between the two boxes is that the 2200 comes with a built in DVD player.  Since I’m the type of user that puts his content on HDD, this isn’t important to me, but you may want it.  One of the differences between this (and other) extenders and the Xbox 360 is the speed of the UI.  I currently have a DMA-2100 connected to one of my televisions.  It’s running wireless, and the UI is certainly much slower than the 360s.  While the wireless connection is contributing to this, much of it has to do with processing power.  The Linksys doesn’t have it.  Don’t take that to mean that this is a bad extender.  I’ve been very happy with it so far.  It does its job perfectly and when on sale you can get one for around $100 or less.  That makes this the cheapest extender of the bunch.  The 2200 normally goes for a bit more but again, when on sale you should be able to find one for around $100.  For that price, understand that you’re getting an extender and nothing else.  The other devices listed in this article will typically do something else.  Not so with these. 

The last extender I want to cover by itself today is the D-link DSM-750.  I have yet to use one of these so it would be unfair to review it for you.  What I can tell you is that according to the D-link website, the DSM-750 will provide a little more than just extender capabilities.  Outside of the Media Center UI you are able to access your content.  This means that technically you don’t have to have a Media Center PC to be able to get your videos, pictures and music to your TV.  Though someone like myself wouldn’t use this feature, it is again something to consider.  Also, the DSM-750 is compatible with PlayON, a software application which when run on your PC, provides access to online video content such as Hulu, Youtube, etc.  This could be nice if you enjoy watching online video.  This extender goes for $290 according to the D-Link and I rarely see them on sale.  For this price I’d expect a lot more…

I won’t go into detail on any other extenders out there.  There are several.  I’ve been told that HP has discontinued the MediaConnect extender.  Samsung has one available but this will only work with select Samsung televisions.  As well, Toshiba has several in the works including, I believe, several models of televisions which will have the extender built in allowing you to simply plug it in, connect it to your network and be ready to go. The options available are many and there isn’t one “perfect” solution.  Many times this means that a combination of extenders is what is needed.

Please comment with questions should you find yourself looking for an extender and not knowing which to use.  I’m always happy to help!

Clubhouse tags: clubhouse, media center, windows media center, how-to,

So, you’ve been reading here or on some of the other great Media Center blogs out there and you’ve decided it’s time to take the plunge and get into using Media Center yourself.  This is a big step and one that there aren’t a lot of instructions out there for.  That’s where this series comes in. 

In this section, I’m going to explore your hardware choices.  In part 2, we’ll get into extenders and in part 3 we’ll hit on content.  Hopefully by breaking them up, I’ll be able to provide you with a pretty much, step-by-step guide to getting yourself up and running with Media Center.

As stated above, here we’ll focus on the main unit.  With extenders, this PC can act as a media server but we’ll get to that later.  First we want to get running locally.  I’ve posted about part of this before but the first thing we have to think about is whether or not we want an OEM or custom system.  I won’t repeat the whole article, but for me, you can’t beat a custom system.  This really comes down to whether or not you can build and maintain a custom system.  It’s really not that hard and if you think you can do it, it’s hard not to and you’ll probably find you enjoy it.

Let’s take a look at the minimum system we’re going to want for Media Center.  Since this is going to be a system dedicated to one function, that’s what we want to focus on when buying parts.  Case-wise, you want something with enough space.  In this case, I personally would stay away from anything half height.  It’s just one more thing to worry about when buying other parts. 

Next is the motherboard.  I’m not the most technical person so you’re not going to hear about northbridge, southbridge, chipsets and whatnot.  You’re going to hear about the ability to make things work.  That being said, I look for a few things.  Most boards you look for today will have these things but check and be sure.  First is PCI Express.  Most if not all video cards on the market today use PCIx16 which is much faster than either PCI or AGP.  Unless you have quality onboard video you’re going to want an add-on card and this is the way to go.  Next is the number of SATA headers available.  The motherboard I bought has six which was a good number for me.  This will allow me to add five hard drives and a blu-ray recorder.  I have two drives so far so I have plenty of room for more storage, a key thought when building a media center as we’ll see in part three.

Next is that video card we mentioned above.  While there are fights between ATI and Nvidia over which is best, our goal here is something that can pipe HD video out to a large LCD.  I’m not going to do into the video card debate as there are sites out there that already do that, but make sure you don’t make my mistake.  Get yourself a card with HDMI out.  Most any card on the market that has one is going to have the ability to get your HD content to your display.  I have an Nvidia 8500GT and it works great but I do wish I had that HDMI connection.

RAM is next.   If you’re running Vista 32 bit, most people will tell you that 2GB is plenty.  Me, I’m going to max out.  4GB is what I put in my machine as I run 32-bit OSs.  x64 will handle even more so my suggestion here is to put in what your motherboard and your wallet can handle.  While you can certainly have too little RAM, it’s not possible to have too much.  Simple as that.

Next, and depending on how much content you want to archive and consume, is your hard drive space.  With 1TB drives running around $100 there’s no reason not to load up here.  This is also where case space and cooling can become important.  Between the size of .WTV and DVR-MS files for recorded TV, as well as other content you may want to store, the story here is a lot like RAM.  More is never enough!  Hard drives are easy though.  You can add more at any time without making massive changes to your system so at least a 1TB drive is a good start.  One recommendation on how to utilize your space:  I always set up a partition just for the OS and programs.  This ensures that should you need to reinstall your OS, you don’t have to worry about losing your archived content.

Next is an optical drive.  While I personally have no need for a Blu-ray drive, it may be something you want to consider.  If you have no need like me, a standard DVD-RW drive will work just fine.  If you plan on watching DVDs using this drive however, make sure you find a quiet one.  Nothing is going to kill a movie experience than a DVD drive sitting there spinning like a champ.

One other consideration I want to talk about today is cooling.  While this box could be setup as a server using extenders, more than likely you’ll be placing this box in your main viewing area.  As such, some of the most important research you have to look at is cooling.  You want to make sure that you either have fans that can keep your equipment cool while not being too loud or possibly look at liquid cooling.  It’s more expensive but it might be something to keep in mind.  Fans will work, but look for ones that can stay quiet for you.

Stay tuned for the other two parts of this series.  Again, in part two we’ll cover extenders and in part three we’ll talk about content.  With the content talk, we’ll expand a bit on storage options.

Clubhouse tags: clubhouse, media center, windows media center, how-to,

While I want to call this a how-to, and I suppose it is a bit of one, this is more about a certain method of doing things.  When there are multiple ways of accomplishing a task it’s hard to write and dedicated how-to.  This is more about how I handle media storage and my recommendations.  I’m sure many people have different methods and I encourage you to share them in the comments!

Media storage.  This can cause headaches depending on how much media you have.  A lot of people using Media Center have some recorded TV, music and pictures.  Most people have been dealing with these types of media (except maybe recorded TV) for awhile now and have a system that works for them.  What do you do however when you have several hundred if not over 1,000 video files?  It can get a bit more complicated at this point.  We need to make sure that we have a few things going for us: 

1. Organization-I want to know where my files are.
2. Safety-I want to know that I’m doing everything I can afford to not lose my files.

Now, let’s talk about point two first.  Safety can mean a few different things.  For those with the space and money, safety means setting up some sort of RAID array or server option.  This gives you a mirror of your system and allows you to replace your media should something disastrous happen.  This is definitely something in my long term plans and if you store a lot of media, it should be in yours too.  That being said, the more you have the more it costs.  Not always an option.

Another backup option to consider, and this really works well for pictures, is using something like Windows Live Mesh.  Mesh allows 5GB of online storage which is synced with the PC you install the client on.  I use this free service to ensure that all of our pictures are safe should one of my PCs go down.  Not only that but it allows you access to your content even if you’re not on your own PC through the web client

For me, safety means keeping different files types on different physical drives.  For example, in my Media Center PC, I currently have a total of 5 drives split into 8 partitions.  Archived TV has two drives, Movies, 2 drives.  The fifth drive has three partitions.  One is strictly for the OS and installed apps.  Another is for recorded TV and the last is for Music.  These to me are the least critical media files I have so placing them on a partition isn’t a problem for me.

While technically any of these drives can fail and we’re not really providing any true protection, I do know that if there’s some sort of failure, I’m not going to lose EVERYTHING.  Not the best solution, but again, the ultimate goal is either RAID or a server solution.

For me, my whole system is setup for organization.  As stated above, I keep archived TV separate from movies and music.  I like knowing how to find what I’m looking for.  If we’re talking archived TV, file structure is simple:

Drive:/Series/Season

So an example of how a series would be stored on one of my drives would be:  J:/Seinfeld/Season 3.  This makes it easy for me to not only find the file I’m looking for but also know whether or not I have a complete season or if I’m missing episodes.

Movies are a different beast.  While it’s possible (and recommended, why in another article) to put each movie into its own folder, I’ve taken it an extra step.  I actually split my movies up by genre before putting them into individual folders for each movie.  While genre can be a bit subjective, I find it’s helped me in other ways which I’ll detail in the next post. 

I know it seems like I’ve written quite a bit to not say very much here.  The fact is that when you start collecting media on a hard drive as opposed to physically, there are certain things to consider.  If you’d like to read more about how to manage and utilize your media, I encourage you to read Michael Healy’s great post on the subject.  My method is only one way of doing things, and Michael shares not only how to arrange your files but some tools to make it easier as well.

Clubhouse tags: clubhouse, media center, windows media center, how-to,

I’ve been running Windows 7 as my main Media Center system since the beta first released.  As is the case with most enthusiasts, I like to play, even though my wife hates it.  This playing can cause issues.  I’m lucky because now I have a laptop to test software on and know that it works before putting on my main system.

The laptop thing happened just recently though and now I have to reinstall.  While it isn’t that difficult of a task, it can be problematic due to the fact that no one in the house has access to media while I do it.  When you centralize your media, this is one of the things that comes with it.

Here I’m going to walk through the install and Media Center setup process as it applies to me and will to most people.  Again, this doesn’t have to be a complicated procedure, but I’ll do my best to spell everything out.

The first thing we’re going to do is install Windows itself.  I again, am running Windows 7 and this installs like most other Windows OSs.  I won’t spend much time here since most people can handle this part of it.  One thing I like about Windows 7 though is the fact that it really works well at finding drivers for your hardware and installing them through Windows Update.  With Vista, I’d spend 30 minutes swapping disks or running executables to install drivers.  Now, Windows 7 finds all but 2 of mine and those I keep on the thumb drive for quick installation.  Any that your install doesn’t find, get those loaded after running

Once you’re drivers are installed (including for any installed TV Tuners) it’s time to start setting up to run as a media center and for me, a server.  The first step I take in doing this is setting up my libraries.  This can be done in Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, or right from the desktop.  I do it from the desktop just because it’s fast and easy.  If you bring up the “computer” window you can see the various libraries listed in the left-hand pane.  Click each one, move to the right side of the screen and click where it shows the number of locations in the library.  Here you can add folders.  These can either be local or shared network folders.

Once you have your libraries setup the next place to head is right into Media Center.  This is where you’ll probably have to do the most work to get things working the way you want, but again, it’s a relatively fast, easy process that shouldn’t be too difficult.

Media Center is first going to want you to run through the required setup.  This is extremely fast and is really just setting up your internet connection and a few other tidbits.  Afterward is when the “real” work begins.  At this point it’s time to start turning this into a real Media Center by configuring our TV signal and recorded TV settings.  Media Center walks you right through the process.  If your tuner is installed correctly, Media Center should give you the option to setup TV on the TV strip on the main menu.  Clicking this takes you through the process of setting up your region, installing PlayReady, and scanning your tuners for signals.  Once it locates the type of tuner and the signal connected, the system will provide you the available tuner options that you can setup.  In my case I have a hybrid analog and digital tuner.  Even so, I only set up the analog side as I still have it connected to cable.  By selecting my tuners manually, I’m able to skip setting up the digital tuner.  After selecting the tuners you want used, you’ll choose your TV provider and Media Center will get your guide data and you should be all set.  Optionally you can head to the setup and change where the system saves your recorded TV.  Personally, I keep recordings on a separate hard drive so I go in and make the change. 

The hard part is out of the way.  From this point on, much of what you can do is optional.  It can take some time for libraries to populate which is one of the reasons I set them up first.  You can of course add plugins to Media Center which will help you expand the functionality, but for basic DVR, music and picture playback you should be all set.

If you read posts on The Green Button, here, or on other blogs, you might think that Media Center is something that takes a genius to run.  This simply isn’t the case.  Those of us who write blogs are more than likely on the geeky side and therefore tend to play with our systems.  If you’re looking for something relatively simple and quick to setup which will provide you with TV (proper hardware of course), video, music and picture viewing capabilities, you can have Media Center up and running in less than 20 minutes depending on your setup.  Don’t be intimidated.  Even if you’ve never looked at Media Center before, go in and do a quick setup.  Even without a TV tuner, you may find that you like using it for other things.

Michael Healy of Hack 7MC has come through again.  To be honest, this is the stuff I wish knew how to do.  Mr. Healy has today taken time to show us how to add new strips to the 7MC start menu.

Anyone who’s been using Media Center for any length of time knows that the start menu has never been very user editable. (Yeah, I think it’s a word!)  Michael has taken time to show you how to add your own strips.  I know that this is something I’ll be doing soon so I can add a custom strip to handle the extra apps I’ve installed.  I know there’s an “Extras” strip but for me, putting my apps closer to the center of the menu is going to be perfect.

From the post:

The first step to getting your new menu strip is to choose what programs you want to be on it. These programs have to be already entered into the Media Center’s Extra Programs. You can find a guide on adding new entries to the Extra Programs using Media Center Launcher and Configurator right here. Once all the programs you want to launch from your new bar are installed open a registry editor (start > “regedit” > enter).

Head over to Hack 7MC to read the rest of the how-to.

On a related note, if you’re looking to do anything that involves changing the look of your Media Center or anything dealing with 7MC in general, I suggest you subscribe to the feed provided by Michael’s blog.  This is one of the first ones I read every time there’s a new post.

Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD fame last week took time to post a step by step showing how to download and automatically get your TV shows into Recorded TV on your Media Center.  While a little complicated, this process will get everything setup so that you won’t have to touch it after that.

From the post:

We’re going to start with a quick overview of how the process works. First we set our favorite BitTorrent program to automatically download our favorite shows using the magic of RSS. Then we query TheTVDB.com for the metadata for the recording which includes things like the original air time, the description and the genre. Finally we use DVRMSToolBox to automatically process the x.264 MKV file (also works with Xvid), converting them to MPEG-2 while at the same time retaining the Dolby Digital Surround sound. And finally, it wraps the audio and video into a new DVR-MS file in the Recorded TV folder — since Windows 7 support h.264 we won’t have to re-encode, and yes we’ve already gotten it to work.
Disclaimer
Make sure you check with your local, state and country’s laws — In some cases you may be inadvertently downloading (and uploading) copyrighted material.

Josh and I discussed this a bit on the last show.  Ben has written a great guide here.  And as the above disclaimer shows, understands that this might not be 100% legal everywhere.  I think most people who read the blog have probably already reads Ben’s post in it’s entirety.  While it may not be legal in your area, this is a great way to get your programming if you don’t have any other option.  I suggest you check those laws as Ben says though.

Media Center by itself is great.  Being able to use one application to manage and view television, music, video, podcasts, and pictures is a powerful reason to use it in your home, never mind getting rid of that cable/sat DVR fee.  But how do you get Media Center working on all of your televisions?  This is where extenders come into play.  You’ve got some options here and I want to take time to cover them all.

First up is the Xbox 360.  Most people know this as a game console, and so it is.  What many people outside of the Media Center community don’t know is that the Xbox 360 has a built in Media Center extender.  This part of the software will allow you to extend your Media Center experience to which ever television you hook it to.  Many people don’t like using the 360 as an extender as they find it loud.  I’ve been using one for several years now and I have yet to hear it during watching sessions.

Next on the list are the Linksys DMA-2100 and 2200.  Really the only difference between the two is that the 2200 comes with a built in DVD player.  I recently purchased a DMA-2100 for my sons’ playroom and I’ll be posting a review soon.  This is a straight up extender.  Other than the 2200 playing DVDs, you’re getting a direct copy of the Media Center UI and that’s it.  It’ll save you some money (especially if you find it on sale) but you’re not getting a lot.  One good thing however is that this box comes with built in wireless so you don’t need to spend an extra $100 for wireless connectivity like you will for the Xbox 360.

D-link has also jumped into the extender market with the DSM-750.  I have yet to get my hands on one of these machines but by looking at the product page, this looks like a very nice machine.  Larger than the Linksys, the D-link will also stream media to your television without using the Media Center UI.  Specifically, there’s an application available online called PlayOn which is supposed to work on this box.  This app will allow you to use the DSM-750 to stream Hulu, and other online content to your TV.  That’s not a bad little feature to have although with SecondRun.TV, this isn’t something that will be needed for long.  Much like the Linksys boxes, the DSM-750 offers wireless out of the box.

HP is next in line and offers the MediaSmart Connect.  This is another box I have yet to get my hands on.  HP has a reputation of creating quality Media Center hardware.  Look no further than the HP TouchSmart PC if you want to see a great use of the UI.  Like the others, the MediaSmart Connect will allow you to get all of content from the PC to the TV without the use of the computer itself.  With wireless once again built in, there’s no need to run wires around your home.

As you can see, there are a lot of options for getting your content to the set you want to watch it on.  One of the great things about Media Center is that it isn’t trapped inside your PC.  These devices can allow you to run up to five other televisions without the need for expensive hardware being attached to each one.  Not only that, but your media remains the same no matter where you move in your house.  If you start watching a recorded TV program in the living room and decide to move upstairs, you can resume the show right where you left off.  Quite nice I must tell you.

If you have questions about extenders or anything else related to extending your Media Center experience, please don’t hesitate to comment, email or twitter me.  I’m always happy to help!

In writing this blog I’ve very easily gotten caught up in the review/news side.  This post is the first in what I hope are many beginner how-to posts aimed at helping those who have maybe read posts here, watched some of Ian’s how-to videos at The Digital Lifestyle or have perused the forums over at The Green Button.  No matter how you found out about Media Center, you need to know a few things right from the start.

I’m going to be covering a lot of these things over the next few weeks, but the first thing I want to cover is that fact that each and every copy of Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate as well as the new Windows 7 beta has a built in DVR.  There’s not a whole lot of sense in paying your cable or satellite company $5 to $10 a month for something your PC can do for you for free.

Getting DVR capabilities our of your machine isn’t all that difficult.  A lot of the stuff you may read here is something that the average computer user wouldn’t want to try but I can tell you that when I started using Media Center back in 2005, I didn’t have much more knowledge than the average user.  Even now there are those in the Media Center community who have a lot more than I do and my system works great.  If you can install a circuit card and handle walking through a little setup, you’re all set.

The first thing you’re going to need besides your PC is a TV Tuner.  What kind of tuner you get depends on how you receive your television signal.  There are several used in the U.S. and since that’s where I live, their the ones I can talk about:

• NTSC-(National Television System Committee):  This is the analog system which is being faded out in the US.  It’s also used to transmit analog cable signals.  While Over-the-Air NTSC is being replaced by ATSC, cable will continue to use this for analog transmission for some time.
• ATSC-(Advanced Television Systems Committee):  This is what Over-the-Air transmissions have or will be switching to in the US and replaces NTSC.
• QAM-(Quadrature Amplitude Modulation):  Digital cable and some other signals are transmitted in this format.  Depending on where you live, your cable company may provide some of your channels in what is called ClearQAM or without encryption.  These can be brought into Media Center with a QAM tuner.

I’ll be honest, everything you just read is very confusing to me.  The easy way to remember it is this:

• Cable:  NTSC tuner needed for standard def analog cable.  QAM tuner needed for HD ClearQAM programming.
• Over-the-Air:  NTSC not really usable anymore although it may work in certain markets.  ATSC needed for sure on June 12th 2009.

So next is to get a TV tuner for your PC.  You need to first know what type of slot you have available.  Most tuners are either PCI or PCI express.  Check to make sure you know what you have before you run out and buy your card.  Nothing is going to make you more angry than getting your tuner home to find out you don’t have the right expansion port available.

Most tuners sold today are either going to be digital only (ATSC/QAM) or a hybrid of digital and analog (NTSC).  Again, how you get your TV will determine what you need.  If you use OTA and you’re never going to get cable or satellite service, ATSC will be just fine for you.  If you’re still hooked to cable, then your best bet is the hybrid tuner as it will allow you to get the NTSC signal as well as the ClearQAM channels that your cable company provides.  Most of these tuners will also have the ATSC tuner needed to pick up the OTA channels in your area.

I know it sounds like a lot but trust me, picking a tuner isn’t as hard as it seems.  Once you have it installed, get your drivers installed and Media Center should be able to find it the next time you run it up.  The biggest concern next to the signal you receive is getting a tuner that’s Media Center compatible.  There are those out there that aren’t but most will say it in the description.

Once you install a tuner, you should have a menu option on the TV slider to setup live TV.  This is a relatively straight forward process.  Follow the steps and you shouldn’t have any trouble at all.  It takes a little time of course but Media Center should find your signal and walk you through the proper setup process.

Using this method you can get rid of your cable company’s $5 to $10 a month DVR fee.  While your upfront cost will be a bit more, since switching to Media Center, our family has found that we have a lot more control.

If you have questions about how to get your PC working as a DVR, please leave a comment here, email me, or send me a message on Twitter.  Even if I don’t have the answer to your question, I’ll find someone who does!  The Media Center community is all about helping people find the answers they need to enjoy using the application!

Not making any real changes to anything.  The only change is going to be in some of the content.  While I still want to focus on the news and start picking up more reviews, something else I want to start doing is writing “how-to” articles.  These articles are not only for this blog but for several other sites as well.  I, along with others in the community, have been given the chance to start posting for the Microsoft Clubhouse and as such, I want to provide as much beginner information as possible.

I will be tagging these posts as “how-to” so if you’re a more advanced user, you can skip them if you’d like.  For those of you out there just getting into Media Center, these are the posts you may want to look at.  I’ll also be posting them on a separate page here on the blog. 

If you are a beginner, another great place to look for how-to guides is over at The Digital Lifestyle.  Ian has posted several videos in his How-To section that can be very helpful for someone just starting with Media Center.  Head over and take a look if you’re wondering how to go about performing some of the tasks in Media Center.

This weekend I’m completing a project that I’ve wanted to finish for a long time.  This involves moving my main media server (7MC) to my main viewing area, moving my Xbox 360 extender upstairs and wiring a second 7MC machine in my kitchen to act as an extender.  Getting this PC up and running is the focus of this article.  It’s actually not too hard and while you won’t get every feature of your main 7MC machine, you’ll get everything you need to be able to enjoy your media in another location.

The first thing you’re going to need is the second PC.  To get the most out of this, both your main Media Center and your second PC need to be running the Windows 7 beta.  The fact is that you can share recorded TV using Vista, however there is a registry hack involved.  You can find the hack here but I won’t be covering it.  It’s not something I’ve ever done and and I don’t want to point people in the wrong direction on this.

Once you have two systems running Windows 7 and you’ve set up your Media Center on both, the next thing to do is set up your libraries.  This can be done simply by sharing them on the network using homegroups or, you can add folders from your main Media Center PC on the second one.  Something to remember is that they have to be visible on the network so you’ll have to set up sharing.  If you have a closed home network like I do, I just give everyone full permission.  That way, I don’t have to make changes every time I add a new PC to the network.

Once your media folders are shared, you simply go to your Media Center setup and start adding them to each of your Media Libraries.  The nice part is that this is all handled inside the Media Center UI so there’s no need for a mouse or keyboard.  If the folders are properly shared, they’ll show up on the list of locations.  If you’ve recently switched from Vista to Windows 7 you’ll notice the addition of the Recorded TV library. 

Now, while Media Center itself can handle TV, music and pictures, video is another story.  Oh, MC can do it but it’s not very gracious and there are third party apps out there that will make it much easier.

The first one is Media Browser.  This one is a bit tricky to set up if you have multiple video locations so I’ll be covering it in an article soon.  Two easy and great looking apps though are myTV for archived TV series and My Movies for ripped DVDs.  Both look great, aren’t that hard to set up and once running you can access all of your video content in a much easier to use interface.

In the end, setting up a second PC as an extender to your main Media Center machine is just like setting up the first one.  The thing to keep in mind is network shares and the fact that if you want access to live TV, you’re going to need a tuner for each PC.  There is one way around this and that’s to use an HD Homerun as your tuner.  Keep in mind however that this will limit you to ATSC and QAM signals so if you have standard cable it’s not really an option.

I hope this helps anyone who has a second PC lying around and wants to add to their Media Center network.  Do you already use a second PC in your setup?  Comment below and let me know!  I’m curious how other people accomplish this.  If you have any questions about my setup or any of the apps I mentioned, please let me know.  I’m always happy to help!