My HTPC and Home Cinema Set Up...

[Per]

OK, kit consists of the following...

TV - Panasonic TH46PZ80 plasma
Panasonic PJ2000 1080p Projector
Beamax 96" tab tensioned electric screen
Onkyo 785 AVR
Sky HD 500GB
HTPC - 5TB memory, AMD2+ processor, BluRay dvd drive
PS3 250GB
Black Nintendo Wii
Panasonic BD50 blu Ray player (now redundant...)
KEF IQ9 front, IQ1s rear and IQ6C centre
SVS SB12+ Sub

Currently have about 140 DVD and Blu Rays on HTPC - room for about 200 more.

Also have all my music - only about 12gb and room for anopther 90gb!

So, some pictures - camera is only a basic digital, so quality not great - no facility to set long exposure.

Also, some problems with my photo editing software - pictures come out in a 'posterised' format, so I am unable to optimise them for internet - hopefully these aren't too big!!!!

Here goes....

[northan]

Nice gear.
Do you use my movies or media browser?

[Per]

Thanks.

I use Media Browser as I didn't like My Movies.

Cheers

Per

[cryan]

(01-31-2011 09:47 AM)Per Wrote:  Thanks.

I use Media Browser as I didn't like My Movies.

Cheers

Per

Lovely Setup, Envious of the Speakers... I'm after upgrading mine however my other half is slightly deaf so I never win on the 'Better sound quality' front.

How do you store your DVDs/Blu Rays ... ISO format or folder format?

Did you switch from my movies to media browser ... easy/hard?

[Per]

Cheers for your comments.

Love the KEFs. Wife struggled to get used to the idea of such large speakers at first, but doesn't regret the decision now.

DVDs are in Video_TS format (not really sure what that is, but it works!!), Blu Rays are in ISO, using Virtual Clone Drive - again, can't explain the 'how' but it works, so I am happy!

Didn't give My Movies much of a try, but I didn't find it intuitive to use, also I think there is an annual subscription (can't recall fully).

Based on recommendation of a few other HTPC owners, I went with Medai Browser and I like how it looks and how it operates - even my wife and kids have mastered it - so it can't be all bad!!

Cheers

Per

[elootos]

(01-31-2011 10:00 PM)Per Wrote:  Didn't give My Movies much of a try, but I didn't find it intuitive to use, also I think there is an annual subscription (can't recall fully).

Based on recommendation of a few other HTPC owners, I went with Medai Browser and I like how it looks and how it operates - even my wife and kids have mastered it - so it can't be all bad!!

Cheers

Per

Great home cinema you have!!

Very jealous of the tab-tensioned screen - been brain-storming how to DIY one for the last few years but I keep coming up blank.


As for Media Browser, I'm back using it now after ditching it for My Movies about a year ago. But I also use it with Media Center Master that updates all the metadata for your films so Media Browser looks great.

There is a free version so give it a whirl.

[Per]

Cheers

As I had read of issues with non tab-tensioned screens,I decided to spend and get a decent one - the Beamax one cost about £1200, but it has been worth it - nearly 3 years of use so far and its flawless.

Do you have any pictures of how Media Centre Master looks in operation? Reluctant to change anything on my set up as it all works well, and I'd hate to create a headache!!

Cheers

Per

[cryan]

(02-01-2011 10:04 AM)Per Wrote:  Cheers

As I had read of issues with non tab-tensioned screens,I decided to spend and get a decent one - the Beamax one cost about £1200, but it has been worth it - nearly 3 years of use so far and its flawless.

Do you have any pictures of how Media Centre Master looks in operation? Reluctant to change anything on my set up as it all works well, and I'd hate to create a headache!!

Cheers

Per

Thats exactly how I feel - MyMovies works for me just fine and i've trained the other half how to use it, but people keep on talking about how much greener the grass is on the Media Browser side...

I think I'm easily tempted by challenges that are sure to go wrong...

I'd love to invest in a tensioned screen and yours certainly does make it look worth it

[elootos]

Media Center Master is worth it if you do want to run Media Browser.

I gave up with Media Browser before as it's film detection was flaky at best, but with Media Center Master together, they are both as good as My Movies.

I can never quite put my finger on why I don't like My Movies; just never seem to get on with it very well.

You just point MCM to your film folder and it scans through it dumping IMDB.com info from each film into each folder.

However, if you have the other half used to My Movies...

[Per]

Yeah... there's a handful of movies (not too many) which on using Meta Browser keep on getting wrong movie poster attached - an example is Jeff Waynes Musical Version of War of the Worlds - Meta Browser finds the right Cover art and back grounds, but Media Centre keeps on dumping in the Tom Cruise W.O.T.W film cover art - which bugs me.

Maybe this is something that MCM might fix - thing is I am nervous of messing it all up!!!

Will I need to remove Meta Browser and MCB, or can I download MCM and trial it??

Cheers

Per