Kiwimeat’s Kitchen

After procrastinating for ages, the availability of Windows Home Server for Technet Plus subscribers got me motivated and my Windows Home Server is now up and running.

• Motherboard - Intel DQ45CB (mATX, 5 x SATA, 1 x eSATA, Intel Gigabit)
• Processor - e5200 (2.5GHz, 45nm, 65w max)
• Memory - 4GB (2 x 2GB Geil PC6400 DDR2)
• Storage - 2 x WD Green Power 1TB, 1 x 500GB Samsung, 1 x 400GB Samsung
• OS - Windows Home Server PP2.
• Case - Antec Mini P180
• PSU - Antec NeoHE 500W.

Total Storage is 2.64TB with just over 1TB used so far.
Most folders have the duplicate option enabled.
PC backups are working well, and Media Centre Connector works (if a little slowly).

The solution is virtually silent thanks to the Mini P180 design and the HD’s are typically running at between 32-38C.

Just looking at automation of moving recorded shows from my VMC box to the WHS.

Anandtech posted up a good (and short) summary article about the current state of HD audio over HDMI for PCs.

It can be found here.

It’s very hard not to get immensely frustrated about the effort required for consumers to actually access the full features of the product they have bought due to the “consumer last” position of the media companies and their willing accomplices in the PC and HT audio industry.

Mixing Gigabit network kit - especially “consumer” grade (aka cheap) - with Fast Ethernet (or wireless) devices such as Media Centre extenders can be bad news. At least it is for my setup.

Symptoms are that playback on the Linksys DMA2100 extender is either flawed (jerky, pixalated, audio drop outs) or completely unusable. The network optimisation report will show the link as being unsuitable for HD if not nothing at all.

Microsoft have a KB article which which describes a workaround. Either drop the Media Centre network card speed to 100Mbs or implement Flow Control RX on the host Media Centre. Linksys actually include an errata card in the box with this KB article linked.

Unfortunately applying the RX setting to the Flow Control on my Media Centre with it’s integrated Intel gigabit port caused the receive speed to die making networking and updating content on the Media Centre a royal pain. Likewise the gigabit NIC wan’t happy being forced to 100Mbs.

My solution. Disable the onboard gigabit network card in the Media Centre and install an old 3Com 3C905TX PCI Fast Ethernet Card. Hey presto, the DMA2100 is happy, and I can at least copy content to the Media Centre at reasonable speed.

All for lack of a $1 or less gigabit port in the Linksys Media Extender!

Moral of this tale - You get what you pay for!

My Linksys DMA2100 was delivered a week ago and I’ve set it up in the master bedroom. It’s primary function will be to remove the need for my dearly beloved to move from the very comfortable bed and fight for a timeslot in the Home Theatre room to watch recored HDTV or DVDs.

Setup was straight-forward and relatively painless. I found that the component connection looked a little soft into the Samsung 32″ LCD in our bedroom. However, changing over to HDMI gave a better picture.
As per the addendum note in the box, I did have to amend the Flow Control setting on the NIC in my Media Centre to RX in order to get sufficient quality for HD TV. I’m using the wired Ethernet option (wired each room with CAT6 when I had the HT built).

Watching Live HDTV, Recorded TV and using the Guide is just like Vista Media Centre. My wife is happy with the functionality.

For watching movies XVid worked and you can get DivX working - go here.
Also I have found that DVD VOB’s do play.
It’s just that you don’t have access to the DVD menu options but if you are like me and used DVDShrink to merge the 1GB (or less) VOB files into a single file using English soundtrack only then you can simply play that. I’ve also added a shortcut in the folder to each movie and this can be used to launch the movie.

Only one downside/bad experience so far. Two day into ownership on the Sunday the DMA2100 hung for a couple of hours and nothing seemed to work to reset it. Even using the rear-reset button, then suddenly it came good. Very frustrating but it has not reoccurred.

It’s getting closer to Christmas…and also to release of the Linksys Media Extenders for Vista. Unfortunately none are available before Xmas which is a shame as I wanted to give one to my wife for her birthday (2 days after Christmas).

The product pages for the Linksys DMA2100 and DMA2200 are now up on the Linksys site and I’ve downloaded the manual.

Another product that caught my eye was the NAS200 an entry level Network Attached Storage Device.

• Ethernet connected network storage with two available SATA hard drive bays
• Add even more storage with twoUSB 2.0 ports for hard drive or flash USB storage devices
• Securely share files locally orthrough the Internet (FTP, HTTP)
• Built-in media server for streamingto PC or UPnP AV digital media adapter

It’s generally available sub $200 from computer shops and all you need to add is hard disks.

I’ve been after a simple NAS to install on the network for general media sharing, and backup duties. This may well fill the bill.

Upgraditis is a common affliction, especially in the technological age, and for some time I have been battling the symptoms on the home theatre front.

It’s been there for a while nagging away at my conscious. Initially I was looking to improve low frequency performance especially for music and thence began a search for a musical sub woofer. Then it was all compounded by my jumping off the fence regarding HiDef movies.

Anyway, with a bit of help from an excellent deal from my local dealer (certainly sounds like an addiction!) I may have been cured…well in remission at least.
Hi-Fi Additions

• Yamaha RX-V3800Bi AVR - replaces RX-V2600B
• REL R205 Sub Bass System -replaces Energy XL8 sub
• Toshiba HD-XE1 - replaces Denon 2930 for SD-DVD and HD-EP10 for HD-DVD
• Oppo 980HD for DVD/CD/SACD Playback (can carry SACD over HDMI as DSD) - replaces Denon 2930 for SACD/CD duties

Currently only the RX-V3800 is installed (and currently uncalibrated). The rest is on order with the Oppo coming from the US as the Australian supplier is out of stock and waiting for the new 983HD before ordering more.
Home Theatre PC

• Replaced original X1300 video card with a X2600PRO with Heat Pipe = near silence from HTPC!
• Added Pioneer BDC-S02
• Installed Slysoft AnyDVD HD and Upgraded the bundled Pioneer PowerDVD to the full PowerDVD Ultra.

As a result I now have region free (and AACS & HDCP free) Blu-Ray playback.
The only downside at the moment is that I have to use optical to feed the audio to my AVR and this results in the Hi-Def audio track being down-converted to Dolby Digital. The solution is to use the multi-channel analog outs into my AVR’s multi-channel analog in. Unfortunately these are currently occupied by the analog outs from my Denon 2930 for SACD support but once the Oppo 980HD arrives they will be freed up and I will be able to get PCM out to my AVR.

One of the coolest features of Microsoft’s Windows Media Centre is the ability to support extenders but until recently these have realistically been limited to the original XBox and the XBox-360. Some third parties tried but failed.

With the launch of Vista, Microsoft and some partners have tried again. Without further ado….
The Press Release is here
The Microsoft Web Site is here

D-Link have the D-Link® MediaLounge™ DSM-750 Wireless N HD Media Center Extender which is “coming soon”.

Linksys have the DMA2100 (update RRP US$300) & DMA2200 (update RRP US$350) which bear an uncanny physical resemblance to the Kiss kit (Linksys acquired Kiss last year). These are also “coming soon” (Update - apparently this means November in US).

All are Wireless N devices and will of course need Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate running Media Centre to work.

One of these may be almost exactly what we need for the master bedroom where we have a 32″ Samsung LCD, Topfield 5000 SD PVR (fantastic), Pioneer DVD player & a VHS Video player but no means of getting content from MBOX (our Media Centre in the Home Theatre room) unless I hook up my laptop to the VGA input.