BlackGold BGT3650 quad tuner low profile tv card pricing announced

I was very happy to see Blackgold have updated their site to annonce the price of their Quad Freeview HD tuner I think is so ripe to upgrade to. Still a low profile single antenna input card which delivers 4 streams of HD television goodness in the UK (but given their are only 4 HD channels it can still be used for all the normal freeview services as well).

The best bit? They’re only selling it for £139 (plus VAT and delivery, which should round up to around £176.70). That’s still an absolute deal if you need 4 tuners in your media center system (or as I have done just hooked the whole think to a DVBlink server, which lets you stream to any device).

Now let me preorder it and I’ll happily hand over some cash!

via BGT3650

Mceiptv web streaming addon for Windows Media Center gets a UI preview

In a follow up to the the preview of ‘ddfczm’ latest web streaming project for media center, previously featured here, there’s now another update in the form of a UI preview video, showing off the extensible multi service addon for Windows Media Center although an early preview and still in development, the UI looks sharp and very functional. This is one I’m really looking forward to testing.

via Australian Media Center Community

BlackGold announce the quad Freeview HD BGT3650 low profile tuner card

Amazing, Blackgold have done it again, doubling up their dual tuner Freeview HD card in the same space, to give you 4 HD stream capable tuners for Windows Media Center or DVBLink. Very tempting, I can’t wait to see the price…

The world’s smallest and only (quad DVB-T/T2) half height card design enables this product to grace even the smallest and sleekest entertainment PC’s. Giving 4 simultaneous HD terrstrial streams from a single low profile card.

via BGT3650 – BlackGold.

Hauppauge unveils dual CableCARD tuner for only $129

If you’re in the US and looking for a CableCARD based solution for Windows Media Center, this looks like a seriously good product…

The Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 is a dual tuner CableCARD device that will connect to your Windows 7 Media Center PC via USB. Being USB could be a huge incentive to those who are craving CableCARD for their home theater PC (HTPC) but perhaps don’t have the room for an internal card (such as Ceton’s InfiniTV 4) in a small form factor PC. Hauppauge has priced the dual tuner device at a paltry $129! That is $120 less than the three-tuner SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime, and $170 less than the four-tuner Ceton InfiniTV 4.

via The Digital Media Zone.

Tip for setting up Media Center’s pictures & video folders

If you’re like me and want to set Windows Media Center up to jump directly into your home server’s media folders, I find the best way is not to add them to the library, but rather use the slightly older method of moving the locations of the local ‘My Pictures’ folder to the shared folder.

This means when Media Center loads the folder you don’t see the share name, which you normally have to click though, but rather a list all all your picture folders directly.

Autologin on to a Windows Account

Here’s a useful tip if you ever need to setup a password, I use this approach when setting my Media Center, as with a password, Windows can remember network logins and connect without requiring a keyboard attached (useful when combined with the option to launch Windows Media Center on startup)

Go to the Start Menu, type netplwiz in the search box, and press Enter
If you have UAC active (which you should), you’ll need to give permission for the program to start.
The User Accounts window will open. Notice the option Users must enter a name and password to use this computer, uncheck the box and click OK.
You will be prompted for the login name and password of the user that you want automatically logged in. Enter the information for a user account that already exists and click OK.