Sunday, January 25, 2009

Windows 7 Media Centre

I purchased the Hauppauge HVR 2200 for my system on Friday and the Hauppauge MCE Remote.

Installation was a breeze. Dual tuners are mucho awesome. This card comes highly recommended in all Media Centre circles and it very much deserves the praise.

Having the remote just makes life so much easier using Media Centre, plus my poor old Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse have piss poor radio range, so no more standing up and walking to the TV to do anything.

So far, I have to say my Windows 7, Media Centre and Hauppauge experiences thus far have been nothing short of excellent. If your in the market for a DVB-T tuner, I would highly advise at least looking at the Hauppauge range.

Finally found the Australian support site, so I have the latest drivers now and will probably install them tomorrow morning. Just for the hell of it as it isn’t broken, but I’m running Windows 7 so may as well stay on the bleeding edge all the way.

Incidentally. DVico cards aren’t quite as bad as I’ve read about, but their drivers are complete rubbish. Was previously using the DVico FusionHDTV Plus card, although it worked well, it did experience the occasional glitch. Using latest release from website and previously the Microsoft provided drivers from Windows Update.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Windows 7 Installation

I said I would post about the installation.

Firstly, SIS chipsets suck. I have always disliked them and my experiences continue to remain consistent with every new generation.

After first boot, Ethernet, RAID and DVB-T were not detected. Inserted my flash drive to install drivers and although USB hardware was detected it did not work correctly. Realised I had installed a USB Mass Storage Volume and then puked.

Installed LAN drivers from SIS site, after burning them to CD.

Now I have internet and Windows Update happily installed drivers and updates for everything. Yay, USB now works for Mass Storage devices. Even installed drivers for my crappy Dvico Fusion DVB-T adapter.

Once that was out of the way everything worked smoothly. Installed Microsoft's Windows 7 beta drivers for my keyboard and mouse. Installed Promise FastTrack drivers for my RAID setup and I’m happy as a pig in shit.

Installed the Kaspersky 8 beta for Windows 7. I had to update databases several times and reboot countless times, but it finally stopped bitching that it needed to be updated. Now I am going to turn of the oh so very annoying firewall. When will security vendors realise I and people like me understand the pop ups, but the average user has no idea what they mean. Plus, add rules for basic Windows services that run on 127.x would you please. 36 pop ups on first boot after install and I didn’t even have the PC online.Geez…

Anyway. Connecting to the TV in lounge tonight. Have yet to even load Media Centre, so keen to see what the new interface and options are like.

Media Centre

Today is the day.

Will be commandeering the TV from the family this evening and setting up Media Centre for Windows 7. Looking forward to finally testing it out.

As far as Windows 7 goes, all good, nothing bad to report thus far. Although the Kaspersky Windows 7 beta leaves much to be desired.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Windows 7 Beta

Finally sorted all the issues with the SIS motherboard. I hope, touch wood…

Currently undergoing the initial installation. I have hopes this will become my first Media Centre.

Once I get it all up and running I’ll report on my experiences.

Silicon Integrated Systems Corp

Why.

They have been around for years now. I appeal to you, name one chipset they have developed that isn’t a complete waste of silicon.

Please. Seriously. Cause I truly want to know.

From the desk of someone who keeps running into the crap they make and really wishes it would just stop.