Starting clean

[NJ RadioGuy 2]

Hi all,

 

This request may be out of line for MB-C, but I can't really figure out where this belongs, and since Mediabrowser is the central focus of my home entertainment system at this point, I was hoping some folks here could help steer me on the right path. I'm experienced with PCs and networking but I have very little in the way of understanding the complexities of a box dedicated to home theatre.

 

After a few weeks of nagging problems, freezes and other annoyances (experience both by me and the family) I'm half thinking it's time to reformat the hard drive, cleanly re-load Windows 7 and start all over again. Is it worth the trouble to save any of the library files or pictures/etc or would I best just load everything clean?

 

When building a dedicated home theater PC, aside from anti-virus protection, MB-Server MB-Classic (plus codec packs, VLC playback, etc), and Media Center Master, what else needs to be on this PC besides browsers, uTorrent, and things like CCleaner/etc?

 

If I do go ahead and reformat and reinstall the operating system my goal is to create an extremely lean dedicated HTPC that does no other functions whatsoever. No gaming, no virtual machines, nada. Just a few TB of media and the software necessary to play it all back, stream it, protect it, service it remotely and have a slick interface for the family.

 

Thanks in advance.

[ginjaninja 537]

I would suggest a fresh build, the only metadata I keep is that downloaded to the media folders..but then I store metadata in media folders and dont make any manual metadata changes. I believe there are cases when ibn people and artists downloads go wrong permanentley. A fresh build will fix all evils as long as your internet and providors can take the load and you have no manual changes to loose. There is watched status stored is the userdata.db..this might be one file worth hanging on to...along with your library collection definition in the programdata folder..need to keep your mb usernames the same.

[NJ RadioGuy 2]

Yeah,  clean start is sounding more and more like The Thing To Do, which I will in early September once I acquire some new hardware (4TB drive, bigger case, power supply, and CPU cooler).

 

That then leaves the question of ancillary software that needs to go on the box, other than basic antivirus and anti-malware, remoting utilities, etc. The idea is to keep this box lean and troublefree, or as close to it as a Windows device can get. I'm definitely not into beta software and change-for-change-sake; I'd rather have rock-solid and reliable any day, minus a few new features, until the new stuff has been made equally rock-solid.

[breezytm 124]

Speaking from learning the hard way.

 

No antivirus if you only plan on using it for playback. Turn off automatic update. Create trakt.tv account and download the plugin before wiping everything out and sync your library. That way when your new library is setup trakt.tv can sync all your play state back down using the plugin. I personally wouldn't use the same box for downloading so I wouldn't put any torrent software on there. I would change Windows 7 to boot in shell mode using Windows Media Center or whatever Media center app I plan on using. See this tutorial if you don't know what I am talking about. I would Install the bare minimum codecs to prevent unnecessary processes running and using my cpu and ram for no reason. Install teamviewer for allowing remote access to the box. And of course drivers. 

 

The simpler your setup is the least headache you get. 

[NJ RadioGuy 2]

Very interesting idea about using a shell mode. More research there for sure. I do plan to download TV titles to that machine automatically using Media Center Master and a torrent client, but all my ripping is done on a different machine and sent across the LAN. I have about 600 optical disks in my collection and only 300 or so are ripped (most are DVDs, but about 60-70 BR-Ds).

 

I installed the trakt plugin....and nothing. The plugin shows up but no data on the server side. How do I get trakt to go through and do what it's supposed to do? This looks as if I'm going down another rabbit hole; what distinct benefit will this provide? Remember, guys....I don't live and breathe HTPC stuff. I am trying to get a simple setup going. I'm not a 20-something media guru but a 50-something that has very little time to give to this....family, work and 3 other hobbies/volunteer activities are enough. This is for family entertainment and relaxation in an age of cord cutting.

 

I'm asking for help, but please, please do not assume I am familiar with anything aside from the very rudimentary basics of using a home theatre PC. If it's anything beyond MB-Server 3, MB-Classic or Media Center Master, then unless it's something spelled out for me I will probably not understand why I'm doing it or what it's for. I'm really not trying to be dense, but I just don't get this stuff as easily as many others do here. In fact, I have so many questions about so much that not only don't I know where to begin but I can't even figure out the right place to ask them. I mean real "101" level stuff.

Edited August 7, 2014 by NJ RadioGuy

[breezytm 124]

@NJ RadioGuy

 

As I mentioned in my comment, you need to go to trakt.tv and create an account. Go to your current Media browser server and download trakt.tv plugin. Go to the the plugin and add your credentials (your trakt.tv credentials) and then navigate to schedule tasks and sync to trakt.tv. When complete, all your watched movies and tv shows status will be uploaded to the site. When you finish rebuilding your HTPC and have everything configure, you simply have to download the plugin, login to it and sync again. It will download all your media watched status from the server (trakt.tv website) to your client (MB3 sever).

 

You can also use the same method if you use other media centers like plex, xbmc, etc...they all have the plugin.

 

I think the shell stuff is great. It makes it truly a WAF

[NJ RadioGuy 2]

OK, good stuff. I have Trakt set up and (in theory) syncing now. Watched state has always been a problem for me; every time I did maintenance in the past it lost the watched state of movies and other stuff. This sounds like a good solution to that problem.