computer | bill

Let’s see, so far I have gotten my Media Center PCs and my PS3 to connect to the WHS. I tried several things last night but have been unsuccessful in getting the xbox360 to connect. I’ve tried using Windows Media Connect v2.0, PVConnect and connecting to the WHS through the Media Center Extender feature all with no luck playing videos.

I’ve heard you can do a little hack to get WMP11 to install which has Windows Media Connect v3.0, but I’ve come across a more appealing solution for streaming video to the xbox360 from the WHS.

One feature I’m excited to see, but not use on there is the backup. It uses disk dedupe technology so you are only using space for each unique version of a file.

3x computers running Vista means only one copy of the Windows folder. I’ve also excluded it from doing a backup of the large game install folders (WoW is over 9gb). Maybe I will back them up once I add a couple 1.5Tb Seagate drives.

Today is a great day indeed. I ordered an ONKYO celebrex coupon TX-SR606 receiver from newegg.com and it should arrive today. I see the receiver is back up to $499.99, I ordered it at $369.99. I’ve also been told that I should have the cabinetry for my entertainment center and home office by 10/22.

Once I get everything installed I will post a picture or two of what it looks like. It’s kind of like the last mod I planned for my Windows Home Server. I have a couple 3D renders you can click the rest of the story to see.

If all that wasn’t enough it’s Tuesday and that means Buffalo Wild Wings. It’s been a tradition going back about as long as I can remember; 8+ years. I noticed last week that they have the blazin’ challenge here now. If you can eat X blazin’ wings in X minutes you get your picture put up on the wall. I may have to take that challenge up afterhours. I am going to need beer to win that one…

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I got videos to work on my Playstation 3! Updates fix things and break things. Apparently an update to the PS3 broke PVConnect. All the videos would show up but say “Unsupported Data.” To fix it you modify a file on the WHS via remote desktop. We Got Served not only had this information but is filled with a lot of other useful information. I will copy the fix into the rest of the story…

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What I failed to realize was that the first thing you need to do with Windows Home Server is install the updates. Microsoft has the WHS Power Pack 1 (or PP1).

If you have the HP MediaSmart Server there is the v1.3 software update. This update delivers enhanced media streaming capability from PacketVideo, server-side anti-virus protection from McAfee.

I had mentioned in my first post that I wanted to stream media to my PCs and consoles. I had no success with the Media Sharing compared to ability out of the box. I am however able to find a lot of information on the internet of people who have had/are having the same problems.

Getting PCs to work was the firs problem I solved. Playing videos through Media Center was a matter of installing the right codecs. I found the Combined Community Codec Pack was the choice that sounded best to me. If you have Vista 64-bit you will also need to find “x64 Componets_v152.exe” I also needed to install a reg hack to be able to see .mp4 files in Media Center. I don’t recall where I got either of the last two updates, but you can get the contents of the .reg file by viewing the rest of this blog.

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I purchased a HP MediaSmart Server ex470. For those who are not in the know, it is a headless Windows server running a hybrid of Windows Server 2003 called Windows Home Server. My primary reason for having the server is to centralize the 3 PCs multimedia files (pictures, music and movies). The secondary reason is to stream the files to Vista Media Center, my PS3 and xbox360.

Installation was a snap, although I had to change over to a Vista 32 box to install the included HP software. I was able to configure accounts username/password to match the server without entering any information. It also gives each account a private user folder to store personal files that are blocked from the other users. Permissions were fairly basic, but this is meant for a home not business so I understand.

Shortly after copying media files I ran into my first snag. Viewing video files (mp4 or dvd (video_ts folder) on Vista Media Center, PS3 or xbox360 all had various issues. I will be following up with some of the things I’ve tried, the successes/failures of each and what I am still trying to make this all work…