I discovered on ASUSBoards a Windows XP Install Guide (article) which I followed closely. After doing this I was left with a nice new, stable computer. I placed shortcuts to my video directory, Defragmenter and the onscreen keyboard on the desktop to make navigation that bit easier.

When I had left the computer on for a few days, I got dire warnings of low virtual memory. Allowing Windows to allocate room automatically (MyComputer/System/Advanced/Performance Settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory Change/System Managed Size) seemed to resolve this problem.

I decided to use NISTime to update the clock on my computer it's free and easy to configure. The only problem is that it only tries the server once per period (from 1 hour up) and gives up if it can't connect to the server. The built-in Windows' Internet Time update facility is also a possibility and with a Registry hack you can change the default period from one second up. See Software Tips for information on changing the period.

Since my PC is in another room, I don't have to worry about noise. But others may be interested in CDR Tools that caps the speed of CD/DVD-ROM players, allowing for quieter movies!

HTPC Specific Software

I installed ATI's MultiMediaCentre and the Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ Interactive Program Guide with no problem. MMC comes with all the features one needs to play any files and I experimented extensively to get the right settings. I discovered that DVD quality capture creates very bad audio sync problems on play back, when I use the fast forward/rewind buttons or if I jump to a point in the video file. Another thing I didn't like was the fact that the software had been made for computer users and less for Remote Wonder users. For example, there were far too many dialog boxes, with small fonts, to go through to schedule a recording. More than a couple of times it crashed and locked up the Remote Wonder requiring me to go to the computer itself to restart. The Remote Wonder was also a little flaky. I spent a week or so trying to get this software to work, but as rumour had it, it just was not possible to get it going properly.

I tried Windows Media Player, but navigation was difficult with the remote. I next looked at I looked at PowerVCR, but it hung right after starting. It also apeared that it hadn't been updated for a number of years. My next choice was WinDVR II. I tried it, but again, the controls were not the easiest to use.

My final choice was ShowShifter. The screen was designed to be used on a TV (nice large buttons) and all the menus and options were available within a few clicks of the remote (Showshifter has a plugin for the Remote Wonder); the Remote Wonder worked very well under Showshifter. I didn't have trouble with any audio sync problems, allowing me to junp around the video to my heart's content. Scheduling was easy and there is a one-touch-record option that is excellent. I think it is the best software package for HTPCs. It has all the features one needs: DVD player, jukebox, CD player and picture viewer. There are a couple of useability issues, such as number of mouse clicks to move around the screen and a DVD module which is pretty unstable, but overall it is a well-thought-out and stable piece of software.

An Electronic Program Guide is not provided internally by Showshifter and the ones they recommend, I have yet to try because program data was unavailable easily for Canada. However there are a few third party "internal" options now. Three of the best are: DGShow/TVHolic combo, PicoGuide and Now Showing. These are all useable on TV screens and allow scheduling of recordings. I looked at the DGShow/TVHolic combination. Configuration was easy and it worked very well. Unfortunately, in Showshifter TVHolic starts another instance of itself every time you click the menu button, which makes it a little awkward. I looked at PicoGuide but couldn't get it configured properly. I also looked at Now Showing. It worked very well for me, but it requires a keyboard to do some tasks which makes it awkward again. These programs are developing well and while still in the betaware stage of development I expect in the next few months they will be working very well.

A freeware alternative to Showshifter is MyHTPC. This is still in development but it acts as a front-end for various HTPC components. You need to add a PVR program (many use DigTV at the moment) and an audio component (usually WinAmp). They say they will be adding built-in PVR functions in the future, however. It has pretty much all the features of Showshifter, but is still too early in development, I think, to be used for everyday use.

Additional remote control software is unnecessary for the Remote Wonder since ATI provides perfectly good support. However a number of people have had good luck with Girder.

Video Recording/Playback Software
There is video recording software for the desktop (see links below) that I did not look at because they would be difficult to navigate with on a TV. For use on TVs, large buttons, few mouse clicks and an extremely logical layout are necessary and many of these programs do not have these features.

DVD Players

When I bought my OEM DVD drive, I decided to buy InterVideo's WinDVD. I had evaluated a number of DVD players on a much older computer and WinDVD seemed the most feature rich and stable. One can use the WinDVD MPEG codec in Showshifter with no trouble since Showshifter recognizes the codec automatically. But as I noted above, Showshifter has a pretty unstable DVD front-end. Several times I would press Play and Showshifter would hang. I managed to get out of this without going to the computer (see Tips page), but it was an annoyance I don't want. The great advantage of Showshifter is the ATI Remote plug-in, which makes battling with Showshifters DVD module worth while. There are a few alternatives to WinDVD, the main ones being: Maximus DVD (requires codec), PowerDVD, ZoomPlayer (requires codec).

Video Editting Software

To convert video files, I have been using the built-in utility in Showshifter which allows conversion among MPEG4, MJPEG, and AVI.

But Ulead's Video Studio 6 (which I got with the ATI card) is also very flexible. Video Studio allows me to convert among VCD, SVCD, MPEG2, AVI etc. It will also allow me to record in MPEG2 format, which Showshifter won't allow me to do. Video editting is very easy with this program. It's a matter of selecting the clip and dragging it on to a storyboard, removing any undesired frames , creating a file and having an option to burn the file to CD or DVD.

An alternative to buying VideoStudio, would be to use VirtualDub (requires VfW Windows drivers for capture and not WDM drivers the ATI card uses) to process the video, encode with TMPGEnc or DVD2VCD and burn with VCDEasy.

If the video source has a lot of noise AVISynth is a good solution to cleaning video. There are many guides to creating scripts (there is no GUI for AVISynth) on the web.

Audio Recording/Playback/Editting Software
Many of the HTPC front-ends have jukebox features, making it easy to play audio over one's hi-fi system. But audio recording is not really supported under HTPC software, so I tend to use desktop apps. Audio recorduing is fairly simple thing to do, unlike video. Many of the audio editors have perfectly good recording facilities. I use Audacity for recording since it is a very good editor. There are all kinds of effects you can use to change the sound and I have found it to be a very stable program.

To create CDs from LPs, once the sound has been recording to disk, you need to split the tracks. I use LPRipper, but CD Wave Editor is also a good program.

To record streaming audio from the internet, one needs a program that has a "virtual" sound card in software. This is because the sound card is playing the sound and recording it at the same time (which sound cards can't do). I use Total Recorder. It allows scheduling of recordings and can record to wav or MP3 format. StreamRipper is a freeware alternative, but doesn't record to wav files.

It should be noted that many of the programs I have mentioned can do the tasks of the other programs (like video editors can record video), but it is not always the easiest way.

Windows Software
ABX Zone - Windows XP Install Guide
ATI Tweak
NISTime
CDR Tools
PowerOff

HTPC Specific
ATI MMC Install Guide
ATI Overscan problem
Doom9 Software Guide
Extreme Tech 'Shootout'
Frey Technologies
MediaPortal
Snapstream

Showshifter
ShowShifter
Showshifter 2.10 Download
Add-ins from Burkheart
Add-ins from Lusid
Showshifter Group
Showshifter XMLTV
Showshifter Reg Tweaks
ShowShifter scheduling software

Remote Controls
ATI Remote Wonder Button Remapping from Showshifter
GIRDER
HIP
IR Assistant
MediaTexX
Remote Wonder France site - in English
Tira IR Remote
TV Sheduler's HE Remote Software

Electronic Program Guides
DGShow
Now Showing EPG
Pico EPG
Showshifter XMLTV Support
TVHolic
XLMTV

Video Recording/Playing
Chris TV
DigTV
Doom9 software links
CyberLink
K!TV
InterVideo
TheFlyDS

DVD Players
BlazeDVD
EasyDVD
MaximusDVD
PowerDVD
Sonic CinePlayer
SuperDVD
ViPlayer
WinDVD
Microsoft Win XP Fix for WinDVD
UltraDVD
ZoomPlayer

Video Editting
ASFTools
AVISynth
AVISynth Tutorial
Blender
DVD2SVCD
Kvcd
Make AVI
MPEG Mediator
Pure Motion
Roxio VideoWave
tmpgenc
Ulead
Ulead Forums
VideoStudio - Pan and Zoom Tutorial
VCDEasy
Virtual Dub
Virtual Dub + VCR
Virtual Dub - Using with WDM drivers Guide
VirtualDub - Video Cleaning Tutorial

Audio Software
Audacity
CDEx
CD Wave Editor
DBPowerAmp
KXProject Audio Drivers
LAME StreamRipper
Total Recorder
WinAmp
Xiph


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