I just ordered parts for my HTPC (Home Theater PC) and was looking for feedback from other users that are trying W7 RC as their OS. Any and all suggestions, feedback, and discussion is requested, particularly what TV Tuner you are using, and if you are using W7 RC as your primary DVD player, as ewll as the software you are using to do so in both of the aforementioned cases. Setup : ASRock A790GXH/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2 45W OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 HD Tuner TBD

I just ordered parts for my HTPC (Home Theater PC) and was looking for feedback from other users that are trying W7 RC as their OS. Any and all suggestions, feedback, and discussion is requested, particularly what TV Tuner you are using, and if you are using W7 RC as your primary DVD player, as ewll as the software you are using to do so in both of the aforementioned cases. Setup : ASRock A790GXH/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2 45W OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 HD Tuner TBD I also have built a PC just for my Media Center and am using Win-7 and I am loving it! I also have a Windows Home Server in the house and it connected rite up, and runs with out a hitch. Here are the parts an specs of the Media Center PC I built for you too look at. I purchased everything from NewEgg.com in case your wanting a peep at them it is easier there, and you get good reviews and great customer service. HTPC Build with Windows-7 Ultimate X64 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ASUS M4A78-EM HDMI 780G AMD 7750 Kuma AM2+ CPU (Used this CPU because I have 4 spares, was cheaper then buying another one for it) Mushkin DDR2-1066 RAM 4GB 2x2GB Kit. Black Heat Spreader. Cooler Master Silent Pro RS-500-AMBA-D3 PSU (Modular, 80+ Certified, Crossfire Ready) Western Digital Caviar Black 1-TB SATAII Hard Drive WD1001FALS LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray DVD/RW Drive Moneual LAB MonCaso 932T (THPC Media Center PC Case with 7" Touchscreen LCD and Remote) AVerMedia AVerTV PCIe TV tuner card (Model: 7 95522 96066 5) ATSC / ClearQAM / NTSC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This PC is hooked to our home entertainment center. Specs below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mitsubishi LazerVue 65" HD LCD Model: L65-A90 Television Dennon AVR-5308 CI THX Certified 125w Per Channel Reciever 7.1 Surround Boston Acoustics Speakers and Sub SONY BDP-S550 Blu-Ray player I run the blow software and games on the HTPC along with the Media Connect for my WHS: CloneDVD HD ConvertXtoDVD MS Office Lineage2 WOW FireFox Hope that is what you were looking for, I also use the Windows Media Center Software in Win-7 all the time, except when gaming or running other apps to rip, burn, or game. Currently Testing Windows 7 Beta: 4 Systems built the same: 1Win7 ~ 2Vista Ultimate X64 ~ 1XP Pro/XP Pro X64 Dual Boot Box AMD X4 Phenom II 940, 8GB Corsair XMS2, EVGA 730a Motherboard, EVGA 9800 GX2 SCC, 2x500GB 32MEG Cache Seagate SATA Drives in Raid-0, 2x1TB WD SATA Data Drives, 6xHP w2207h HDMI LCD, 52" Mitsubishi LCD TV, Antec 900 Case, Antec TPQ 1000w PSU, 2 Sony BluRay Burner Drives.

I have three HTPC'sone with Windows 7 (installed this weekend) and the other two with Windows Media Center 2005.Here is what I discovered so far: sleep fuction initially did not work properly. After reading some on-line articles I discovered my wireless mouse (logitech LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse) was causing the problem. In device manager I unchecked the "allow this deivce to bring the computer out of standby". After that bingo, all was good. Amazingly all of the media center functionality was right on (guide, LAN shares for video, audio, etc.) I didn't notice any other incompatibilites (harware/software). I also have a bunch of videos (tv shows, movies, etc.), photos, and mp3'sand they all worked. No DRM restrictions as of yet. Haven't recorded any videos so not sure what i'll run into. Unlike past installations of Windows (media center 2005, XP, Vista) I didn't need to install any codecs!! All codecs were installed right from the windows 7 DVD during installation. So that means all of my videos played with no addtional codecs; Bravo MS. I also run a media server (using XP Pro SP3) with four 500GB hd's. It hasTVersity on it to stream video/photos/mp3's to my XBOX 360, PSP, and Wii. All running on a GbE backbone. Sick! In case your wondering what I using on my Windows 7 machine here are the specs:Antec HTPC low profile caseAsus P5KPL-CMScythe Shuriken CPU fanIntel Duo-Core E52002GB RAM (CrucialDDR2 667 w/ heat spreaders)350GB WD SATA II HDSamsung DVD-burnerAll case fans by Silenx (They are the quitest andeven passed wife test)Coolmax 475 watt power supply (silent too)ATI Radeon x1550 (512) PCie card for video (low profile) ATI Theater Pro 550 (analog) TV tuner (low profile)MCSE remote (A90-00007) and receiverMini wireless keyboard (awsome for living/bed room)http://usb.brando.com.hk/usb-2-4ghz-rf-wireless-multimedia-tiny-keyboard_p00678c034d015.htmlOptoma EP1690 Projector (connected to ATI card via DVI) dispaying on 66" screen

I recently upgraded my HTPC (not too dissimilar spec to yours) and decided to install W7 64bit beta from scratch. All wentsmoothly. I installed ArcSoft Total MediaTheatre 2 which needed the latest update to work -its not obvious how todo that without loading the program itself but easy enough afterlooking in the program directories. Now after upgrading to RC (admittedly using the hack method) TMT2 is a bit shaky.Havent got it workingagain in the media centre interface mode yet. I know third party yada yada but c'mon Microsoft, if you are not going to include bluray ability native then you could at leasttry and make sure its going to workwith the main third party products. BTW, I wouldn't recommend trying to use integrated graphics if you want to watch bluray. I tried with a Nvidia 8300. Its supposedly meant to be up to the taskandperhaps it is onearlier OS but withWindows 7 it was performing poorly and even bluescreening. Put in an ATI 3470 and all wasgood.

I recently upgraded my HTPC (not too dissimilar spec to yours) and decided to install W7 64bit beta from scratch. All wentsmoothly. I installed ArcSoft Total MediaTheatre 2 which needed the latest update to work -its not obvious how todo that without loading the program itself but easy enough afterlooking in the program directories. Now after upgrading to RC (admittedly using the hack method) TMT2 is a bit shaky.Havent got it workingagain in the media centre interface mode yet. I know third party yada yada but c'mon Microsoft, if you are not going to include bluray ability native then you could at leasttry and make sure its going to workwith the main third party products. BTW, I wouldn't recommend trying to use integrated graphics if you want to watch bluray. I tried with a Nvidia 8300. Its supposedly meant to be up to the taskandperhaps it is onearlier OS but withWindows 7 it was performing poorly and even bluescreening. Put in an ATI 3470 and all wasgood. I wound up just upgrading to TMT3 and it works pretty much flawlessly once you put it into Vista compatibility mode. BluRay also plays flawlessly so far on a Nvidia 8800GT.

@mr. cee - Since I will be using a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse, this information is invaluable to me. Thank you for helping to prevent several headaches @beneuto - I appreciate the input on Blu-Ray and TMT2. I will not be running Blu-Ray yet, but I have read that the the 790GX chipset I will be using is able to handle 1080p playback without issue. At worst I can pick up a low-priced fanless graphics card to Crossfire with the onboard video chipset if and when I make the upgrade. This is all great feedback, and I look forward to reading about more setups. Cheers, Boz

.....also run a media server (using XP Pro SP3) with four 500GB hd's. It has TVersity on it to stream video/photos/mp3's to my XBOX 360, PSP, and Wii. All running on a GbE backbone. Sick! In case your wondering what I using on my Windows 7 machine ........ Hi, i've been doing exactly the same thing its a great solution, i almost sold my wii before i learnt how to do this. I also backup my wii games to a usb hdd which makes it easier to use. What media viewer are you using as preference on the wii? and are you always running it hardwired?

You must have a blu ray ripper. With this BD application, you can convert Blu-ray discs and general DVDs to whatever file formats you needed, so as to freely experience them with your Home Theater System,HTPC, portable devices, media player software,projectors or edit them in various video editing software, etc. http://www.pavtube.com/guide/watch-blu-ray-dvd-videos-on-samsung-sp-h03-pico-projector.html