Category Archives: HTPC

Two Media Centers in one room

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Recently I upgraded my HTPC case for my spare/test HTPC so that I could set it up in my bedroom and play around with windows 7 media center, and get more hands on use with it. Since there isn’t a softsled solution for media center I still require a Linksys Media Center Extender in the room as well. Since both are media center devices they share the same IR codes which caused problems trying to use one or the other.

 

Today I had remembered that VMC supported 9 IR codes, so that you could effectively run 8 (since code 0 and 1 share the same codes) different media center HTPC’s and IR blasters all at the same time, in the same room, and not interfere with each other. So while thinking about that I set off trying to find any information on how to change the control ID’s for media center. Not being able to find anything on Google, I went to the “HTPC Collective” on Twitter, and within minutes Ian Dixon, Mike Brown and Richard Miller answered the call.

 

Ian with this link. Mike with this, and Richard with this. Follow the instructions located on each page, I went into the registry, changed the “Set Remote Control ID” to 2, deleted the other remote control ID’s as instructed, then programmed my MCE remote also as instructed. These same instructions, originally set out for vista media center, also work for windows 7 media center (7MC).

 

Enable Universal Remote Control – If you have a universal remote control you may need to enable it. A reboot is required for this setting to take effect.

  • Registry key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
  • Registry value – EnableDebounce
  • Registry value data type – REG_DWORD
  • Registry value data – 1 = enable universal remote control; 0 = disable universal remote control

Set Remote Control ID – To enable your Media Center to respond to a specific remote control ID do the following; 1. Press and hold the DVD Menu key on the remote then press a number button (1-8) for 5 seconds. Remotes with visible LED signal indicators will blink twice to confirm the change.  2. Enter that same number below. 3. Save. 4. Restart the Media Center PC.  Note: To enable Media Center to respond to all remotes use the number 0. A reboot is required for this setting to take effect.

  • Registry key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
  • Registry value – CodeSetNum0
  • Registry value data type – REG_DWORD

This setting also requires deleting the following registry values:

  • Registry key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
  • Registry value – CodeSetNum1
  • Registry value – CodeSetNum2
  • Registry value – CodeSetNum3

 

I then took my newly configured setup, and went one step further. I programmed my Logitech Harmony 550 to control the new remote control ID, and added a new activity so that I can now use and control my Linksys Media Center Extender, my 7MC HTPC, and my TV all with one single remote. In order to program my Harmony remote with the new remote ID I had to manually configure the harmony remote, one button at a time, which with the Logitech software it actually makes it a breeze to configure.

 

So if you are like me, have more than one media center pc, extender, 360, ect… this solution will work for you.

 

- Josh

HTPC Case review

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Last week I finally had a chance to order up a new HTPC case for my test HTPC. Previously I was running a a Q Pack cube case, which served its purpose while I had it, but it just wasn’t what I needed or what I wanted for a real HTPC. I had recently returned some items to newegg and couldn’t get my money returned, all I could do was get “in store credit” for the items. So with that extra money that I needed to spend I set out looking for the cheapest HTPC case, that still looked decent and got decent reviews. I eventually found this case.

 

P1040080  P1040079

 HEC 7K09

 

Some of the requirements for the HTPC that I was looking for when searching for a new case where:

  • Cost – had to be cheap enough, and not break the bank
  • Looks – had to look half way decent, and not stick out like a sore thumb
  • Power – had to have a PSU
  • Color – had to come in black
  • Size – had to fit a micro ATX motherboard, and be low profile, and small form factor

 

So with that in mind I started searching AVS Forums and newegg to see what was out there, and what others where getting. The HEC case kept coming up over and over again, however with mixed reviews. Some folks loved the case for its “bang for the buck” which is what I was looking for, while others said the case was too restrictive and didn’t work out all that well. For me I was willing to forgo the down sides to the case from the reviews that I read it seemed to be what I was looking for.

 

Last week the case came in and I started to swap out the motherboard, DVD drive, and all of that into the new case. One of the first things I did notice was that this definitely is a tight fitting case. Getting the motherboard and ram to fit in was a chore in of itself.

 

P1040064 P1040072

 

I had to remove the PSU to access the hard drive carriage bay which wasn’t all that bad however with the limited space, trying to figure out some form of wire organization/management at the same time, was beginning to be more tasking than I had imagine. I even had to swap out the ram sticks I was using with the ram I had in my office pc. I was using Corsair XMS2 with the extra tall heat sinks which caused a fitment problem with my DVD drive bay. So I put the XMS2 ram into my office desktop pc, and took the normal height ram and installed it into the test pc here so I could mount my DVD drive.

 

P1040067 P1040075

 

Once I figured out the intricacies and quirks of the case, things finally started to get put together and was able to complete the install. I have this test HTPC located in my bedroom which I share duties with a linksys DMA 2100. I have the test HTPC to use for testing out the new builds of windows 7, as well as test out new third party plug-ins and applications. I also use it as a DVD juke box as currently I can’t get DVD streaming on my extenders unless I re-encode all of my ripped dvd’s, which at this point in time I am not willing to do. This also allows me to have a better upscaling dvd player in my bedroom which until now I haven’t had before. 

 

Over all I wouldn’t call this a case for beginners or noobs. You will easily get frustrated and not want to use this case if you try and use this case as your first PC build let alone a HTPC build. I would say that if you are accustom to building pc’s and understand how small form factor cases work and understand the limitations of how they work, then this might just be a choice for a good looking, budget minded HTPC case. For me the case works well. Its a solid build, looks great, and works well with the AMD 780G mobo and cpu setup I installed in this case. The PSU is a little on the weaker side, but I am running a low power 4850e 45watt cpu and a 640gig WD “green” drive so I wasn’t worried at all about the PSU.  So again after everything it still is a pretty good choice for a budget HTPC case.

 

If you have any questions or comments register and post them up.

- Josh