HTPC problems/solutions (1 Viewer)

[NJRadioGuy]

Hello all, In the last month I built an ITX-based HTPC using Windows7/64 that has given me nothing but extreme frustration and I'm hoping someone more experienced that I am may be able to assist. The goal is a wife/family friendly player for ISOs of my DVD library as well as the occasional downloaded TV show that can be controlled solely from my Logitech Harmony 659 universal remote (i.e. no traditional Windows interface, no keyboard and no mouse for normal operation). I had been using a Linux-based "Popcorn Hour A-110" for about 2 years but it was never-ending trouble as well and since I'm not a Linux guru, I found it to be too much for me. The system build and upgrades went mostly-smooth and at first Windows Media Center played everything except ISO files smoothly for the most part. Of late, however, I cannot get it to play any type of video file, including MKVs, AVIs or anything else. Today when I went into the HT and launched the system, Windows Media Center didn't even make the usual startup sounds that it always did. There is *something* bad in there but honestly I don't know where to look. I've tried Googling and most of the results found are either not applicable to my situation or else they were tried unsuccessfully. This is all new territory for me, thus I am extremely inexperienced with all the technologies, codecs and whatnot. I installed the K-lite and Shark-007 codec packs, including those for 64-bit and it worked for less than a day. I would be forever indebted to anybody who could lend a hand in getting this set up for me. Conversely, is there different software or even hardware I could use that's dirt-simple, can play ISO, MKVs, AVIs and H.264 (or whatever other common standards are out there) and can be controlled with my IR remote and not a keyboard/mouse? Any assistance would be warmly welcomed, all I ask is that you please help me understand it in terms that an old non-geek geezer like me can understand. Many thanks to all in advance.

 

[mattCR]

Do you know what hardware are you using for your ITX board? That would help.


If you get real stuck, feel free to PM, I know several people here can vouch, if it's possible, most of this can be fixed remotely


If you're not after TV tuners, etc. you might also consider the NMT Popcorn Hour, a review of it is up in this forum.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Hello Matt, My motherboard is a Gigabyte H67N-USB3-B3, the CPU is an i3 (not sure of the speed) and there are 8GB of RAM installed on the box. I'm using the onboard video, not a separate video card, and the TV accepts the conventional blue VGA input. Audio is switched via my Onkyo receiver and when it works, it works fine. The OS is Win7/64 Ultimate and the account being set up has administrative privileges. Every released update has been installed (it does so automatically) and I'm running MSE for anti-malware. Beyond that, I don't know what configuration details I can tell you...it's a home-brew box. As you probably read in my initial post, I did own a Popcorn Hour for a few years and it's still sort-of in service. The issue is that it's Linux and I know bugger-all about that OS, nor do I really wish to become expert at it. Every shout-out for help has been met with either silence or a load of technical double-speak that I do not understand--and when I ask for it, I'm treated as if I have a third ear sticking out of my forehead. In 2011, with millions of folks using ISO files, one would think this sort of thing would be easy to accomplish. I'm not even after playing music on it or making slideshows, etc. I'm not into mucking about with esoteric config files, etc. All I want to do is (a) be able to watch a movie every night without having to think 9 steps ahead of the game and (b) have a device my wife can use as easily as she does our FiOS DVR. If there is any other solution that fits my requirements I'm all ears! Meanwhile, later this morning, I will post the exact nature of the problems I've been experiencing--but the upshot is that WMC will not play any manner of video file. I can get AVIs and MP4s to play in WMP but not WMC. I cannot load ISOs even with Virtual Clone Drive and the loader app that goes along with VCD errors out on install. There is something badly corrupted in there but I'm at a complete loss on where to even begin troubleshooting this. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Peter

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Matt, The board said I could not send another PM today. Please e-mail me at the address in my first private message and let me know when you're ready to remote in.

 

[mattCR]

Gotcha

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Hi All, Consider this one closed. I gave up after 2 grueling days and just did a bare-metal reinstall that seems to have solved the playback issues. I decided to go with Media Browser and at least in the major respects, it's running fine (although I have a boatload of questions that I'll start another thread about shortly). Thanks to Matt and others for stepping up. Your assistance and suggestions were grately appreciated, though I do wish I could have solved the issue with far less drastic measures than it ultimately required. Fortunately I didn't have too much crap on the machine to deal with.