MEGA 180 as Media Center (experiences)

I am trying to use my MEGA 180 as a Media Center, i.e. to listen to radio and CD's, to watch TV and DVD's, and to use the HDD to record programs on temporarily to watch later. Plus the TV pause facility. I am using Windows XP home on it, and have all the latest Windows patches. I don't want to have a PC screen atached to it, so the listening needs to be done without turnig the TV on, and the rest without any tiny writing on the screen etc.
HiFi mode works fine for the listening to radio and CD's.
Once I start PC mode, windows boots to the login screen. I would like to boot straight into a Media Center application, missing out this login screen. Any ideas?
I have tried Media Centre Deluxe III, and ShowShifter. Although I much prefer ShowShifter, it has to be ruled out as it does not use the LCD display at all (as far as I know!). Media Center Deluxe III has a lot of functionality missing, and is a little unstable, but it generally does the job. Has anyone had experiences with other packages?
I have found how to give the radio channels proper names (editing a text file with the details called .freq). I can't do the same with the TV channels. Also I haven't found how to remove all the junk TV channels found during the auto-scan. Anyone with any ideas here.
What about a list of remote key functions. I have found quite a few, but I think we could all gain from a documented list of them. They certainly aren't in the manual that I downloaded.
I have noticed that the whole unit powers on sometines when I use the remote for my old video recorder. I have not yet identified the exact cause of this. I also have an infra-red wireless keyboard that may giving it the wakeup indication, but I'm not sure if it was in sleep or power down. The standby mode seems to lock up the box, i.e. it does not power up again properly.
What about getting EPGs and setting the unit up to record TV programs. Can it be set to a no-noise state whilst waiting for the show to start, and then power to that state again when the recording has finished. I have toyed with the boot-up clock in the BIOS, but have not had it working yet.
This could be such a great box given the right software.

Autologon with windows XP
I Use TweakUI to autologin windows xp
you can download it here
Set native resolution to 768x576
I also use TVtool to set the resolution to 768x576 which is the native PAL resolution. This prevents that stuff gets scaled
However, note that MediaCenter III Deluxe doesnt work nicely with it
Many stuff will b offscreen
Remote control
I use Girder for my remote control. It allows me to control all programs using a remote control (unfortunaly not msi's remote control).
TV Guide
Try to see if there's XMLTV support for your country. Many HTPC support XMLTV to show a TVguide

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Mega 180 and Media Center III----looks perfect----is it??

I DON'T want to shell out $1000 for cheap HP/Compaq or whatever which includes Media Center Edition
But I DO like the look and features of Microsoft's Media Center Edition.
In the Manual for the MEGA 180-----Media Center III looks perfect for what I want.
Am thinking of a Mega 180 using onboard video, the MSI TV/Tuner Card, onboard SoundStorm---and a cheap Barton. I already have 2 x 512 of NVidia recommended PC2700 RAM for use with the onboard and almost all other parts----but by the time I'm done----I'd be shelling out around $400
The manual makes everything look good "on paper"----but I see from this forum their are "issues".
Did/does MSI support the 651 model well?? Bios updates----utility and driver updates??
This thing looks like a tremendous alternative to a Microsoft Media Center Edition overpriced machine. And I'm willing to do driver updates and Bios updates----heck, I love a challenge----I just don't like a product that lies about what it can really do.
Worth it----or should I pass.....
Thanks-----John

Quote
Originally posted by johnrr6
Did you try the settings button in MC III that says "Enable Fullscreen"
That may not be it----it may just be a TV setting----but it's the only thing I can think if.
Good Luck,
John
I believe that function is only for viewing the videos from the preview window to fullscreen. I don't think it enables/disables "stretch mode" but i'll try that tonight.
if it works i'll post it here. if not ... well .... same thing i guess

Mega 865 - MSI Media Center SLOW on Music mode (CD audio)

Hello,
I'm having a problem with the Mega 865, when I'm playing CD audio with the Home Theatre / MSI Media Center Deluxe II application. It seems to VERY, extremely slow. It takes about 30 seconds for the application to respond when I directly click into the application, and it does not hardly ever respond to the remote. When I try to close the application once it has begun playing an audio CD, it does not respond very well, usually not within 30 seconds. When I open the task manager, the CPU usage is between 90 & 100 percent. I looked at the system requirements for this application, and the computer has over twice the requirements, so that is not the problem at all. I tried updating to DirectX 9.0b and Media Player 9, but that did not seem to improve performance. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Phillip

This email from tech support may be useful. I'm not sure if this is a new version or not. Its a 110MB download, so hopefully it will help. I'm downloading it now. I'll let you all know if this works (in case someone else has this problem, and they are searching through the posts):
Dear Phillip T. George ,
Thank you for contacting MSI Technical Support.
Deleted by GV
Besides, please take a good look at this update for Microsoft DirectX
v9.0b:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8dfd1b6d-e177-4
a0e-91d0-b4310675b02b
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8dfd1b6d-e177-
4a0e-91d0-b4310675b02b&displaylang=en> &displaylang=en
Thank you for supporting MSI product. Please feel free to let us know if
you still have any further issues or inquiries.
Best regards,
MSI Technical Support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please include previous mails when replying!
-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip T. George [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 3:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Mega 865 - MSI Media Center SLOW on Music mode (CD audio)
Hello,
I'm having a problem with the Mega 865. When I'm playing CD audio with
the Home Theatre / MSI Media Center Deluxe II application. It seems to
VERY, extremely slow. It takes about 30 seconds for the application to
respond when I directly click into the application, and it does not
hardly ever respond to the remote. When I try to close the application
once it has begun playing an audio CD, it does not respond very well,
usually not within 30 seconds. When I open the task manager, the CPU
usage is between 90 & 100 percent. I looked at the system requirements
for this application, and the computer has over twice the requirements,
so that is not the problem at all. I tried updating to DirectX 9.0b and
Media Player 9, but that did not seem to improve performance. Any
suggestions? Also, I'm running Windows XP Home Editon and very few
things have been installed on this new machine.
Thanks,
Phillip T. George
Electronic & Computer Solutions, Inc.

[Mega PC 180 Deluxe] Media Center III shows widescreen AVI in stretched fullscreen

Hey Guys,
I need some advice. I have Media Center Deluxe III running on my Mega PC 180 Deluxe and it works just fine... except for one titty bitty thingy:
All my DiVX widescreen films are stretched into fullscreen mode. Ergo, all of the film is stretched (long heads and stuff...)
How can this be prevented or solved, because it really is annoying.
Plz Help me with this!

Quote
Originally posted by johnrr6
Did you try the settings button in MC III that says "Enable Fullscreen"
That may not be it----it may just be a TV setting----but it's the only thing I can think if.
Good Luck,
John
I believe that function is only for viewing the videos from the preview window to fullscreen. I don't think it enables/disables "stretch mode" but i'll try that tonight.
if it works i'll post it here. if not ... well .... same thing i guess

Plex Media Center experience

Does anyone out there have experience using Plex? It certainly looks attractive; I'm just concerned about gremlins. I have a new 19" HDTV (720p) with multiple HDMI ports and an Imac (1.83 gHz) running Leopard 10.5.7. I'd like to use the Netflix "Watch Now" service. Downloading the software and cabling things up is no problem. But how about the results? Some online posts I've seen (admittedly from the pre-Plex era) speak of problems with screen size and aspect ratio, resolution difficulties and other things. I know that many Netflix offerings are DVD resolution or lower, rather than HD. We'll just have to live with that. But is the user experience likely to be positive, mixed or disappointing? Thanks for sharing!

All these *-dev" packages sounds to me as being Ubuntu named packages. For example; yaourt -ss libmysqlclient only list one package, and no *-dev" package. I think you'll have to go thru the list or just run ./configure and see what happens. Chances are that you have half of them installed already.
Last edited by swanson (2012-02-15 05:03:35)

MSI MEGA 180 Media Centre Full Screen Button

I have a MEGA 180 with Media Centre III and was wondering if there was a button on the remote that does full screen instead of having to start the item you wish then trying to navigate to the button and pressing ok?
This is for the sections such as MP3 mode for the visulisations or Video Clip mode for full screen home movies.
I have tried all of the buttons but none of them seem to work.
Any help would be apprecitated
Cheers.

That makes the MCDIII run in full screen, but the video (etc) still runs in a window inside the MCDIII App. The only ways I found were to set the settings to auto maximise the display, or to press the button to the bottom right of the picture. Also I found there was no way of getting back to menu mode without using the keyboard (unless you were prepared to navigate the buttons without seeing them!!!).
This made MCDIII totaly unsuitable as a remote controlled application, and hence I binned it. I now use MediaPortal which works well. Just need to find a better way of getting the DVD filters to work.

MEGA 180 & TV Tuner Crash

Neither the Intervideo software provided with the MSI TV Tuner card for MEGA PCs nor Media Center III Deluxe are working for me. Intervideo MSIPVS crashes when I try to start it up and Media Center III crashes when I view TV (I can view for a few seconds, sometimes even a couple minutes, but then it crashes.)
After the drivers on the CD didn't work I installed the latest drivers off MSI's site to no avail. (Version 2.79.1.65 and the driver dates under Device Manager are 8/28/2003 for all components)
Running WinXP Pro SP1 with all updates, DX9c, latest Nforce drivers, latest ATI drivers. Rest of system info is in my sig
Any ideas would be much appreciated and thanks in advance

Quote
Originally posted by Blmcg
Make sure nothing else is running in the background while you do this, and ensure you have ALL the updates for your mega machine eg: Chipset etc. and try again.
I terminated everything I could via task manager and Media Center III still crashed. I'm pretty sure I have all available updates.
Quote
Originally posted by Stu Online
what drive is your system installed to?
if windows has been installed to the F: drive (with card readers taking C: and D:) then intervideo software will not work correctly
It's installed to C: with the card readers on E: and F: Also, not only is the intervideo software not working but also Media Center III. If I can get Media Center III stable I'd be satisfied.
I've also tried removing the Radeon 9200SE but that didn't resolve the problem. Next I suppose I'll try some other capture/viewing software to see if it runs stable. Thanks for the help so far.

Mega 180 Pro Power Supply Bad - How do I order a new one? | SPLIT

Good evening.
I look for a moderator.
I have a problem that I bought it it ebay-en single MSI Mega 865 Pro Media Center PC. But not good his power-supply unit. In Hungary there is not a power-supply unit to it.
How I can obtain a good one

Quote from: gnctiger on 17-July-10, 07:45:57
Good evening.
I am a Hungarian citizen.
There is distributor in Hungary though here at us, but they do not have a component to it already. Nearly MSI centre it is in Germany
Well, call them back and ask where to ask for such since they don't have it,.
Or to tell the PSU specifications
Quote from: gnctiger on 17-July-10, 07:56:05
Good evening.
Stupid question, but I ask it.
Is not for somebody into a machine like this his power-supply unit for sale?
Buy/trade/sale is not allowed in a forum.
You can try e-bay or such instead

Mega 180 Radio working under XP Media Center 2005

Hello,
i'm quite fond about Windows XP Media Center 2K5 and would like it to control the Mega 180's radio unit. I would like to know if there are people that have already looked for ways to control the radio. It could be a start to implement some kind of Media Center plugin...
Greetings,
Peter Vrenken

the problem is the fact that the radio tuner isn't a "physical" device that Windows recognises
damn MSI and their proprietory hardware!! surely some sort of USB tuner "hardwired" to the USB controller would have been a better solution? grr, but then how would that have worked in Hi-Fi mode...

Msi mega 180. serial for media center III?

Just bought a mega 180.
Where do I find the serial for media center III software?
Couldn't see anything in the manual.
Thanks
Simon

Either its on the CD-cover or on the thing the CD comes in. Clear enough?

Mega 180-----Media Center III and a Vid Card----Working???

I'm trying to narrow down what is causing Media Center III to crash intermittently on my Mega 180.
I think I have it narrowed down to the SoundStorm drivers conflicting with Media Center III
But I want to eliminate that it is a problem with the 18G "Crush" onboard video chipset. I am using the onboard only.
Anybody have a vid card in their AGP slot of the Mega 180 and use Media Center III??
Are you still getting crashes in Media Center III??
John

Finally I give up using the Media Center. I'm using now Girder with Nathans great plug in (see MSI Mega series girder plugin version 1.0 available ). The only disadvantage is that the fancy leds are not working.
Regards
Patrik

[Mega 180] Media Center III with Hauppauge PVR250

Hi
We have a problem to get the TV card installied in MSI Media Center III deluxe.
The TV card (Hauppauge PVR 250) works very well with the Hauppauge WinTV Software - but there seems to be no way to integrate the tuner card in Media Center.
We proceeded like this:
- We startet MSI Media Center III deluxe und selected Television
- In the Setting the WDM Driver for the Hauppauge Card was selected.
- Here is the First Problem. It is impossible to selecte Cable as source. After selecting "cable" media center switches autmatically to "antenna"
- We pressed the button for automatic programming but it just did nothing.
Do anybody here has the same configuration and got the card working?
Can somebody post us his WinDVR3.prog file (if this is the file for TV programming). Perhaps we can program then television manually.
Thanks for help
Greetings
Patrik
PS: We know that a MSI tuner card is recommended.

Finally I give up using the Media Center. I'm using now Girder with Nathans great plug in (see MSI Mega series girder plugin version 1.0 available ). The only disadvantage is that the fancy leds are not working.
Regards
Patrik

Media Center III / Mega 180

I finally found Media Center III.
Why oh why did MSI hide this beatiful application under utillity/home theater ?
I mean that app should have been a install option during autoplay.
This is beyond my understanding.
Anyway, i just love it, it fully integrates everything, really sweet stuff.
But i have one problem, where do i delete / rename TV channels
found during autoscan ??
I havent found any help files at all regarding this application.
Is there a help file ? The help button inside MCIII doesnt work.
In the manual for the 180, there is a helpfile in the programs menu, but i dont
have it...
Dst

Quote
I havent found any help files at all regarding this application.
i just looked on intervideo's website in their support section for Home Theater (Media Centre III) and this was all i found:
http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Faq.jsp?product=Home_Theater
makes MSI support look helpful!

Media Center Deluxe (pc mega 180) ???

Hello everyone,
Do you know where you can have a update of Media Center Deluxe? Because at the moment I use one, but it is so slow and full with bugs !!!
greetz Tom

there is probably more chance of elvis presley drawing your winning numbers on the lottery and then sending you on holiday to mars with kurt cobain and jimi hendrix
if you really need an upgrade to media centre, Intervideo have just released Home Theater 2.5, but you'll have to pay for it
http://www.intervideo.com

MEGA 180: Full Screen Media Center Deluxe III

Hi,
When I am running Media Center Deluxe III in full screen I still can see to the right and bottom of the window some of the background picture of my desktop . This is very annoying when I am watching a DVD om my TV. I don't want to see a glimps of Ireland watching Star Trek . Does anyone has the same problem? Did you find a solution to make it really full screen?
Regards,
Rene

There was one really appealing suggestion regarding the MSI Media Center III, but unfortunately it did not intend to fix the MMC itself.
It was rather about making you to feel better about what's going on

MEGA 180 as Media Center (experiences)

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