HTPC / WMC - The Correct PC/Win7 Setup?

[rockyinnc]

I am in the very beginning of setting up my first HTPC. I've posted a couple other questions to this forum and have gotten some great feedback and suggestions on hardware. I've placed orders for a number of the recommendations.

I have an existing family PC that is about two years old. It is a Dell Inspiron 580s desktop with a Intel 5i-650 3.2Ghz quad core processor and 6Gb of RAM. The graphics card is a AMD ATI HD 5450. The PC is running Windows 7 64-bit. It currently has five user accounts set up on it. In addition to using it as a HTPC, I will continue to use it for the main PC for family photos and videos from our cameras and iTunes. I have on order a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun Prime cablecard device LINK and will be using this PC as the main HTPC as a whole house DVR. I have two other TV's that will be using xbox's as media extenders to access content from this PC. All my family have their own laptops now and no longer use this PC.

My questions revolve around the best way to set up Windows 7 to handle the media and accounts. Here are a couple questions I could use your advice on:

1. Since it has never been re-imaged and not had any virus/malware infections, should I re-image it to factory defaults and start from scratch? Or just delete the other accounts?

2. Should I set up a new HTPC user account on this PC to run everything from (a generic account)?

3. If so, should this account have administrative priveleges or a basic account?
I ask if this would be better to avoid malware.

4. Are there any other special settings that should be done to Win7 to make it a better HTPC?

5.. Since I have never had a HTPC before, what other software would you recommend I try out that is HTPC focused?

Thank you again to [H]ard|Forum, I am learning a lot from all the good posts.

Rocky

 

[valve1138]

I would format it and start clean. Let it make its one account that has Admin privileges. Load up Microsoft Security Essentials on it and you'll be fine.

Other than that, where are the recordings going to go? Mine go to a separate 2TB drive, with the OS on it's own HD.

What other content do you plan on serving with this? Ripped movies? Or just the TV recordings?

 

[rockyinnc]

What other content do you plan on serving with this? Ripped movies? Or just the TV recordings?

Thanks valve1138! Primarily it would be the whole house DVR, then using it for my iTunes support of my iPhone and iPad. I will also be using it for music streaming to my receiver either played by iTunes, WMC, Pandora or Spotify.

I have not thought ahead enough on the regular movie file streaming through this PC. I also have a Synology DS209 NAS that is used for storage and streaming. This PC currently backs up all files to the Synology.

For those reading this that have not heard of Synology it is a great little Network Attached Server (NAS). I cannot say enough good things about it. Good hardware and awesome software. LINK It's not cheap, but well worth it. I've had two other NAS boxes and the Synology is the best. I've had mine for two years now and the Diskstation software keeps getting more features.

 

[valve1138]

You really should be in good shape then.

Check out your options for commercial skipping, with that PC it won't be a problem.

I use MCEBuddy right now. Might switch to a Showanalyzer solution though.

 

[rudy]

What type of TV are you running because if you have a plasma because you are serious there are a couple things you should do to make it unlikely to have burn in or image retention.

I highly suggest a factory reset, removal of BS ware, and then setting up an HTPC account which is standard, next make it so that account is the default which auto logs in. Make a separate admin account. You want security because even if you 100% trust everyone in your family you never know what might get installed when tech dummy friend comes over.

Another really fun product are these IR power control units from simerec.
http://www.simerec.com/

I use those and they allow me to turn my PC on from a total shut down state. I do it with a logitech harmony link. I really like wifi solutions since I dont need line of sight and can have things up and running as I walk in the door.

I would also suggest you get unified remote from the google play store and set it up. It can remote control almost anything on the HTPC with lots of great premade remotes for WMC, VLC, etc... And it even has a great powerpoint function. It works over blue tooth or LAN.

 

[rockyinnc]

Rudy,
TV is a Sony 46" LCD, nothing super fancy.

I am in the process this week of re-imaging the PC. I had imaged it with Clonezilla when I first got the PC, so it is a easy process. Clonezilla LInk

I assume the Google Play store is just for Android devices, that won't help us since we have only iPhones/iPads.

Is the Harmony remote a MCE/WMC remote? Or is it just for your TV and receiver ?

I was looking at possible setting up something with Wake-on-LAN to get it started remotely, but haven't gotten that far yet, with control from a iOS app. But since the HTPC is a DVR, do you ever really turn it off?

Thanks,

Rocky

 

[thegrinch]

Yes, Logitech Harmony remotes can be programmed for WMC. So it sounds like you'll need to be logging into the machine for iTunes/iPad/iPhone tools but for anything else?

Are you planning on watching tv FROM the HTPC directly? Or just use extenders per TV?

Xbox's support WOL when accessing the WMC interface, so that'll wake the machine for you. I have my HTPC sleep after an hour of inactivity and it wakes for recordings or when an xbox accesses it.

If you need it to wake up for other uses, there are plenty of WOL apps for your phone, etc that can also wake the machine. Heck, simply accessing the machine through RDC will wake the machine.

 

[rudy]

Harmony works with anything that has an IR reciever. Most likely your PC does not have one, but you can buy one for $25 or less that works over USB.