I've been running MCE since 2k5. I'm now running it on a tremendously underpowered machine, apparently:

Vista Ultimate 64
AMD Athlonx2 6000+
Nvidia 7800 GTS 256Mb, with nvidia pure video
4Gb DDR2 800
Hd Homerun on dedicated 1Gb port
2x Haupage WinPVR II
2x 750Gb Seagate 7200RPM, RAID 0 Striped, 80MB/s sustained write (HD Tune).

Most of the time I'm unable to record HD without stuttering. I've updated to all the latest drivers. As a result, my analog tuners no longer work at all.

I'm totally confused by the stuttering. My 1.36Tb HD has 400 Mb reserved as free so that fragmentation is not a problem. HD Tune reports sustained write speeds of 80 MBYTES/s. 2 analog streams and 2 HD streams are not more than 30 MBITS/s = 4MBytes/s.

I have a Sony BD100 blu-ray drive and the XBox HD-DVD drive. Its unbelievable that Vista "Ultimate" doesn't have built in Blu-ray/HD-DVD support. I can see them not wanting to support Sony's baby, but no HD-DVD support? I know why, of course: the result is that I've watched more HD movies by downloading them on XBox Live.

I'm going back to the cable company's HD-DVR. If the wife misses another "So Think You Can Dance", there'll be a Hot Coffee incident of the electrical-short variety. Once the wife is covered, I'll be converting my box to Myth TV on Linux.

Here's what Microsoft needs to do to win me back:

Vista Ultimate Media Center needs to be, guess what? The Ultimate Media Center:

1) HD QAM support built in.
2) Blu-Ray support built in.
3) DVD caching: built in.
4) All the *** I don't need: removable.
5) No waking up in the morning to find some random upgrade f****** it.

By "built in" I mean, fully supported drivers from Microsoft, not half arsed hack jobs (sorry silicondust).

I've been a Microsoft advocate for 10 years. Vista was the last straw. My MCE machine is the last PC in the house with Vista on it. Its one of two that have any Windows on at all, and the other dual-boots linux. Of my 7 machines that were running windows, my dual-boot laptop will be the last, and it was upgraded from Vista to XP. The best bit is, since my XP license are all full retail and transferable, and since MS has decided to stop selling their only good OS, I'll probably be able to make a killing on eBay.

I'm not expecting getting MythTV working to be easy. But I do expect MCE to be easy. Thats why I've always been willing to pay for Microsoft software: I have money, but limited time. It seems I've spent the last year baby-sitting Vista.

Are you looking for help?  If so: "2x Haupage WinPVR II" is, unfortunately, rather generic.  What specific tuners (example:  WinTV-PVR-500MCE) are they?
That said, most (if not all) of your issues aren't MS issues at all:  Hauppauge's tuners drivers don't quite work right on an x64 machine with >=4GB RAM installed.  Known issue.
See this thread for some possible workarounds.  Unfortunately, the only sure-fire way to fix it at present is to remove some RAM.  :(

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~Chris
'nearly every day of my life is some kind of computer hell'

Desktop: Shuttle SN41 (AthlonXP 2700+), AIW, T550, PVR-USB2, HDHR; server: Intel E6400 on I965P mobo, 2GB RAM, 2x 500GB WD, PVR500, NV DualTV, Saber2020, 2xHDHR; Xbox MCX, Xbox360

For HD stuttering is that when you record from your HDHomeRun?  If so, check your Gigabit network card settings.  See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929707 (it refers to Extenders but it also applies to the HDHomeRun)

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.:: Vista Ultimate x64 :: Antec Fusion :: Corsair HX520w :: ASUS P5E-VM :: Core2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz :: 4GB RAM :: Samsung 32GB SSD :: Western Digital 1TB SATA :: LG GGC-H20L BD/HD DVD :: HDHomeRun x2 ::.

I can't say what the problem, is but your machine is not under power. If anything it may have too much new technology. 64 bit technology is still a bit on the bleeding edge.

I have recorded on many occasions  1 HD and 2 SD signals at the same time, and my machine is puny compared to yours.

Vista Ultimate 32
Intel Core2 6400 2.13GHz
2GB DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
AverMedia M780 PCIe NTSC/ATSC Combo TV Tuner (1 HD, 1 SD Turner) (Using Beta drivers)
AverMedia AverTV Tuner (1 SD Turner)

I don't know

Most of the time I'm unable to record HD without stuttering, I just when the MCE is close and schedule recording is runing ,the MCE picture is shaking in 15 minutes .But I don't have HD tuner,I just have Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 usb TV stick.I post this problem in a MCE forum,but nobody help me out.Now I have solve it by myself .I just start the MCE all the time, when my laptop is waked up ,the MCE already running ,and the picture is fine ,If it's recording with the MCE close, the  picture will be shaking in 15 minutes .

 

when schedule record TV from MCE picture is shaking in 15 minutes

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HP DV9644CA Laptop,Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5250 @ 1.50GHz,4.00 GB RAM,NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS 256M,200G Hard Disk, Vista Ultimate X64,Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 usb TV stick.MX5500 Logitech Combo.Linksys WRT300N Wireless N Router.

Two things:

1) Is the 7800GTS enough video card to stream HD? I had a 7600 and it stuttered all the time. So I upgraded to an 8600GTS.
2) Look at Media Portal versus Myth TV. Media Portal is much simpler to setup, and has a new feature called "TV Server" that allows for hosting TV (recorded and live) content across your entire network from one Tuner Farm PC.

Steinway

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AMD Athlon 6400+ BE (watercooled)
Nvidia 8600GTS
Hauppauge HVR-1600
Razer Barracuda AC-1
2GB DDR2
1TB HDD
Vista Ultimate

yong:

I use MCE to record TV program,when it wakes up from sleep or hibernate mode to record the schedule TV,the first 15 minutes's picture is fine ,but after 15 minutes the picture is shaking.When I record the tv program in the normal mode( not start from sleep or hibernate),the picture is fine whenever how long I have recorded the TV program.I live in canada ,here has the TV GUIDE.I use the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950 usb TV stick,my laptop is HP DV9644CA ,Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5250 @ 1.50GHz,4.00 GB RAM,NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS 256M, Vista Ultimate X64, and I have update the newest video card driver from hp website .I found this website is very professional site about MCE.Anyone can help me out, this problem really annoys me a long time.At first I thought maybe it's the power plan's problem, I try the high performance power plan ,and set never turn off the hard disk,, use 100% Cpu processor state, pevent idling to sleep,but it doesn't work. Sorry about my poor English, Thank you to help me !

Is it possible your laptop is going into some sort of power saving mode when MCE launches from a scheduled recording?  Something like speed stepping on your CPU.

You might try and disable that either through the BIOS or through the power management feature (that 15 min thing wouldn't surprise me if it's retsulting from one of the power saving mode in Windows).

i have to agree with you, Jamie.  i've been a big fan of Windows "NT" variants since i first got my MCE certs back in 2000.  Since Vista launched, its been nothing but a pain and after a year and a half, nothing has changed.  in addition to Media Center problems, my HP Officejet continually uninstalls,  MS Office 2007 crashes 4 of 5 times i start it, i've had just as many BSODs as XP did, and Paperport always crashes too.   

I must say Vista Media Center's poor execution is terribly disappointing.  I started using XP MCE as soon it was available with 2x xbox360s as extenders and it was great.  With Vista (Ultimate 64bit), it was fine the first year, but after numerous updates, more and more issues arise.  The interface now always has this lag of about 30sec to 3 minutes(!) just to navigate the menus.  Playback is often interupted by a sudden freeze followed by a message "video error: files needed to play....".  once this happens, i have to restart the PC.

i could go on, but i'm sure many people experience the similar things.  Shame on Microsoft for such poor execution.  i can no longer promote the superiority of Windows to my friends and colleagues.  i used to dismiss Apple's Mac as far inferior to Windows but how can i do that now when basic OS features don't work properly?  luckily i don't run many 3rd party apps, i'd be afraid to find out how bad Vista can really get!

former diehard Windows user,

steve     

I have no sympathy for ya. I bet if you bought an OEM you wouldn't have these problems. You, yourself are to blame, not Microsoft. So long.

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Brian Zellinger

You heard me! You hear me?

toejam357:

i have to agree with you, Jamie.  i've been a big fan of Windows "NT" variants since i first got my MCE certs back in 2000.  Since Vista launched, its been nothing but a pain and after a year and a half, nothing has changed.  in addition to Media Center problems, my HP Officejet continually uninstalls,  MS Office 2007 crashes 4 of 5 times i start it, i've had just as many BSODs as XP did, and Paperport always crashes too.   

What? I would not blame MS all for your problems, your machine must be in a complete mess to have all those issues, Vista and Office 2007 have been rock solid for me, never seen a BSOD.

Is your Officejet problem to do with HP drivers? Have you seen the amount of cr*p that comes with Officejet drivers these days?

You mentioned just as many BSOD as XP, a BSOD indicates a serious software or hardware issue, I am suprised you had a lot of these with XP as well, again like Vista, XP was pretty solid for me. 

Maybe it's the user and not the machine?

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Steve