BES

What is BES?

BES stands for Bedroom Entertainment System.  The BES will be computer based and allow for my multimedia system to reach the bedroom.  This will share the same frontend visual as both the HTPC and MediaPVR systems, so to keep a common theme.  Most parts in the system are virtually the same as what are found in those two systems.  Basically I took what has worked in the past, and didn't deviate from the success I've had in playing back all content as on those two machines.

A couple of years ago, I did a concept BES system based on matrixing video to two different destinations.  Namely a TV in the bedroom and one in the bathroom.  Though I may still take on that en-devour in the future, the beginnings will be to a designated TV only in the bedroom.  Though the capabilities will certainly be there for future upgrading.

CURRENT HARDWARE:

Motherboard: ASRock N68C-S UCC

I was looking at motherboards on eBay, but this one is still stocked at a local computer store.  I compared pricing and this one comes out cheaper than buying off ebay (especially once you add in shipping).  It is also new, and has all the extras (like the IO shield and cables), something that ebay boards don't always include.  It is a low budget board, but since I'm using an external video card (Asus EAH2600 Pro), it should work and playback whatever I throw at it.  I'm also judging this assumption on the fact that googling has shown that others have used this motherboard in HTPC builds successfully.  It comes out to $45 at the local computer store after a mail in rebate.  It is an AM2/AM3 motherboard, with two DDR2 and two DDR3 RAM slots depending on what type of CPU installed.  Has 4 SATA ports, 1xPCIx1, 1xPCIx16, and 2x PCI slots.  It also includes on-board video (not using), on-board audio, LAN, and lot's of USB.  The motherboard also has CPU fan speed control incorporated in the BIOS.  Hoping a good bang for the buck.

CPU: Athlon 64 x2 4800+ Dual Core Windsor @2.5GHz

I've had great success in using this type of CPU to playback HD material in the past, so when I saw one on sale on Ebay, I snagged it for about $31+shipping.

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master TZ3 CPU Cooler

This CPU cooler was chosen for use with the M2A motherboard in the HTPC, and has worked just fine, so I decided to use it in this system too.  It seems to be working well as it is good for CPU's up to 130W.  It was under $20 now from the local computer store.

RAM: Crucial CT25664AA800 2x2GB RAM 

Now that I decided to upgrade all three media machines from WinXP to Win7, I decided to up the memory from 2 Gig to 4 Gig.  BES got two Crucial 2Gig sticks, which I ended up buying off Ebay.  No issues, now time to change OS's.  The Mushkin memory that was used in BES will be swapped to the MediaPVR, and bumps its memory to 4 Gig.  It already had matching Mushkin memory installed.

Case: GMC R2 Toast

Finally bringing back this cool case again.  I used it briefly in my previous Gen1 MediaPVR build, but decommissioned it once that system moved out of view.  No sense in using a cool box if people can't see it.  So it will be great to get it going again. 

The coolness factor with this case is the fact the the opitcal drive pops upwards, like toast popping out of a toaster as pictured below.

  Video Card: Asus EAH2600 Pro Dual DVI

PCI-E video card with onboard HD decoding capabilities.  Can output to 1920x1080 resolutions.  It's also HDCP complient.  It has dual DVI-I ports and a TV (SVGA/multi-port) output.  Since it can do decoding onboard, it will help take pressure off the CPU.  I originally used this card in the HTPC system before replacing it with the 4350 Silent card.  I had nothing against this board and wanted to use it again...now's the opportunity.  Even if I decide to go dual video out, this card should be able to handle it.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250G SATA Drive - ST3250620AS

This was the drive that was being used in the music distribution system prior to shutting it down.  It was never heavily used so it had no issues what-so-ever.  I hope to have continued good luck and use with it, and decided to swap out the WD400BD 40 Gig drive with this one.  The 40Gig drive was too small, and after everything was installed and running, I only had a Gig or two left in free space, so there was a tremendous amount of drive swapping with the internal RAM.  I shouldn't have this issue now.

DVD-ROM: LG GSA-H50N

Received this drive from a recycled computer, so it cost me nothing.  It works well and should be fine for a basic DVD drive in this system.


Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS - 500W

I had one carried over that I was using in my Workhorse computer.  I ended up picking up an Antec VP450 for that computer, so I could use the OCZ supply in BES.  I love the OCZ StealthStream in the HTPC, but it is coming to EOL in the stores.  It is being replaced with a 550W supply that supposedly is not as silent as this one.  Depending on how silent the Antec is, I may actually end up using it instead down the road, since they make excellent supplies too. 

Network: TP-Link TG3468 GigLAN adapter

Newly installed GigLAN PCIe x1 network adapter.  Bought for $15 from the local computer store.  Not much more to say except that this brings my one step closer to fully running the home at GigLAN speeds.


Control: VRC-1100 USB HID Remote

Picked up a couple of these off ebay for both the MediaPVR and BES to replace the Hauppauge remotes.  In the case of the MediaPVR, it was to remove the buggy Hauppauge drivers that usually crashed.  It also allowed for mouse control outside of MediaPortal, which using the Hauppauge drivers, wouldn't allow.  This was needed to be able to navigate around the Kylo web browser for view Netflix/Hulu and performing other web features.

CURRENT SOFTWARE:

OS: Windows 7

Media: Kodi Matrix (19.5)

LOG:

*Sept 17th, 2011*

Started to piece together the BES system.  Installed the power supply, hard drive and DVD drive into the case.  Ran/routed some of the supply wiring, and left the CPU, memory and video card in the case to store them.

Just making the final decision on the motherboard, but it looks to be the ASRock board stated above in the hardware section above.

*Sept 28th, 2011*

Bought the ASRock motherboard and Cooler Master CPU cooler and pieced everything together last night.  Installed the operating system, and most drivers and had the system up and running before morning.  Tonight I installed Xlobby with the xStreamed skin, and fired up a couple of HD movies.  The system played them back flawlessly.

A little bit more tinkering and the system will be good to go up to the bedroom.  I will most likely install a wireless G network card into the box in the interim, until I get a chance to run the LAN wire in the attic down the wall and terminated.  Once in the bedroom, using wireless will render HD playback useless, but I should be able to playback DVD movies off the server.  Below are some pics of the system during setup and test.

*Sept 29th, 2011*

Was trying to get working the last couple of night an old USB IR.  Had a Girder plugin that recognized the device, but I couldn't get it to do anything more.  I then found an old LIRC circuit that I had built and low-behold, it worked.  I'm now using it with an old Panasonic VCR remote as shown below:

*Oct 23rd, 2011*

So I had successfully used the above remote, and it was neat scrolling through my xStreamed main menu using the scroll wheel, but I ended up reverting back to a Happauge remote that I had extra laying around.  I did this to keep some commonality between the systems, now that two systems (BES and the MediaPVR) are using the same type of remote.  I've tried to keep the functionality between the two remotes on both systems the same too.

On of the other things that I did since the last post almost a month ago, was to do some nice cabling between BES to the TV, since I didn't bury it behind the wall like I did with the MediaPVR to the livingroom TV.  I think I did a wonderful job by tie-wrapping the LircIR cable, HDMI, audio and Coax cables together in a bundle.

Finally the last thing I did was to drop a CAT5e cable, that had been run into the attic when I ran speaker cabling for my music distribution project a few years back, down the wall, so I could get a wired network connection to BES.  Up until now, I had been using a wireless adapter (G) to connect, and it was horrible on media playback.  DVD movies streamed would skip, and most HD content was un-watchable.  Everything runs smooth now.  I've also allowed for future upgrading where I can now run drops to the other bedrooms back to this location, add a network switch (I have an 8-port spared up just for this reason), and the other bedrooms will to have wired network access.

So unless I do some xStreamed updates, or I do decide to run a second monitor to the bathroom, this project is pretty much completed.

*Feb 20th, 2012*

So like I mentioned in the HTPC and MediaPVR threads, I swapped the Xlobby frontend over to a full run of MediaPortal.  The main reason for doing this was because of major crashing issues when flowing through the movie database, but there were other reasons for the switch over.  It took about 5 days for switching the main components on the three machines, and there will be continuous tweaking and updating for the next little while I'm predicting, but so far I've been very satisfied with the results.

*Feb.13th, 2013*

Things have changed since that last entry.  First, this system has been updated to MediaPortal v1.2.3.

The other more recent change was that I replaced the Hauppauge remote control system, and opted for a VRC-1100 USB remote.  Though it was touted to be a MCE style remote (and if it had been it would have worked flawlessly with MP), it was far from being generic.  When first used, most buttons were not recognized.  After reading over the MP forums, others who had used this same remote ended up installing the Generic Keyboard/Remote plugin.  After some trial and error, I finally got all the buttons of the remote to function as they should.  The one exception was the Green Start button.  I use that to start MP if sitting at the Windows desktop.  For this to work, I had to install the program AutoHotKeys, which runs off of scripts to simulate key strokes.

The other major reason for going with this type of remote is that all the media systems use the Kylo web browser to access Netflix.  The Hauppague remote setup that I had been using would not allow mouse functionality outside of MP.  The VRC-1100 remote has a mouse type pad and both a left and right mouse buttons.  So in MP, once Netflix has been selected, and Kylo started, one would use these buttons to control the cursor.  Upon exiting Kylo, then one would go back to the other remotes buttons for controlling within MP.

*June 4th, 2013*

Well I had recently upgraded MediaPortal to v1.3.0 Final. Now I'm going to be updating the OS from WinXP to Win7.  It will be a 64bit OS, and to make it work right, I ended up purchasing 2x2Gig memory to make this a 4 Gig RAM machine.  The original 2 sticks of 1Gig memory will be moved to the MediaPVR.  The memory was installed rather quickly and is currently running fine.  Most likely will perform the OS upgrade in the next couple of days.

*June 5th, 2013*

First machine of the three to start the upgrade to Win7.  It installed without issues.  Next to install was the Win7 64-bit drivers for the motherboard.  They loaded fine.  Next on the list was to install the ATI Catalyst Drivers.  Version 13 was downloaded and installed, again without issues.  Then installed Google Chrome, UltraVNC, and finally Kylo browser, which was configured to go to Netflix for its homepage.  Silverlight was then installed to stream Netflix video.

After all this was done, MediaPortal 1.3.0 was installed.  Part of this installation was to install the LAV codecs.  At the end of installation, MP indicated that the machine wasn't running Aero, and may cause stuttering and tearing issues with video.  I think it was turned off since I was remote accessing BES via UltraVNC at the time.

I still proceeded to install Streamed MP, set up the basics within its setup/editor.  I then did some basic setup within the MediaPortal setup/editor.  I finished the night with letting the system configure the Moving Pictures database.

This morning, that had completed, but I figured out where all the MP config files are.  When setting up Win7, it did a backup of the old WinXP and left it sitting in a folder called Windows.old.  So I was able to transfer the Moving Pictures info, TV Series info, config files and databases over.

I started MP to see how everything looks.  The home screen came up fine.  I have basic functionality with the VRC-1100 remote.  I have to properly setup the key mapping for it.  That's most likely the biggest issue right now.  Other than that, I have to setup the Videos folder, Music folder, World Weather, and LAN control, then this machine will be pretty much up to the standard it was at before the upgrade.

Overall, it has taken time, but it's been pretty uneventful.  The upgrade should be completed by tonight, with the hopes of starting the WIn7 upgrade on the MediaPVR, with the hopes of taking what I learned here and apply it to that upgrade, and it will go just as smooth. 

*October 7, 2014*

Over the weekend, since I tore down the old Xlobby ZoneSkin system, I ended up using the 250Gig drive from that system and replace the WD400BD drive.  Everything mostly installed without issues, and by Sunday, the system was fully operational with MP 1.7.1 Final.  The only issue I'm running into is that the Multishortcut plugin is not running with this version of MP and I'm trying to figure out why, but everything else is.

*September 13, 2015*

I have been an avid user of MediaPortal for some time now.  The largest reason was MediaPortal offered a full PVR system which I used extensively with my TV antennas.  Since moving, the location we are now, I can't get any reception via OTA...so I had to resort to getting a cable subscription.  To that end, I don't use MediaPortal's TV server...and the use of MediaPortal dwindled and fell to the most recent XBMC, or now known as Kodi, with the TVADDONs plugin.  It is very easily downloaded and pre-configured with the best streaming addons, and users can easily add more.  There is also a Pi version, and an Android version so it is very easy to get multi-system cross platforms, and all easily controlled via an app on the Android phones, or iPhones.

*March 14, 2021*

Been almost 6 years since I did an update to this machine.  I finally added a GigLAN PCIe card into the system.  A TP-Link TG-3468 board.  It's a basic run of the mill LAN adapter, but it allows the slow migration of my network moving towards a full GigLAN network.  The card was pretty cheap at $15 at the local computer shop.  Almost installed without issues.  The driver disk was one of those 1/2pint CD Rom, which ended up dropping off the tray, and into the Rom drive.  And the website didn't offer Win7 drivers, but the WinXP drivers on the site ended up working.

*January 23, 2023*

Major boost with the system and updated from Win7 (which was loosing support from a variety of vendors), to Win10 Pro.  I also finally felt comfortable enought to update Kodi from 18 Leia to 20 Nexus. 

*January 30, 2023*

Ran into issues with Kodi 20 and some of the addons (namely PKC), so I went back to Kodi Matrix 19.5, and everything appears to be running fine again.

*Febuary 15, 2023*

Ran into hardware limitations with Kodi on Win 10, and ended up running Kodi on Linux Mint.

*May 4th, 2023*

After all sorts of hardware compatibility issues with Win 10 and then Linux Mint, I ended up reverting BES back to Win 7 and running Kodi 19.5 Matrix on it.  I also found a few different and seemingly more reliable addons to use.