Anyone here use the PRO-LCD?

[kd6icz]

This thing:

http://www.nmediapc.com/prolcd.htm

[Scallica]

I had one and it blew up. You can't read the screen if you are more than 2ft away, so it's a waste of $40.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=7&t=8334

[kd6icz]

Wow! Well ok then. That's very strange that the USB connection melted rather than the actual power source connection.

[STC]

I use one and it does the job. I replaced a parallel VFD some years ago with it.

[kd6icz]

Are there any other front LCD's out there for WMC?

[STC]

Check out the Smartie LCD forum.

[wiretap]

I use it on my HTPC's. As stated, it doesn't have the best viewing angles, but it gets the job done in my rackmount so I can just take a glance at them to check the status. (see pic below)

There's tons of other LCD's/VFD's you can choose from.. I'd recommend a VFD over an LCD, owning both. (I have a few VL System VFD's) With LCDsmartie, you can use this plugin: http://mcedll.codeplex.com/

Maybe checkout Crystalfontz or Matrix Orbital for their selection of screens.. most of theirs work just fine with LCDsmartie.

[kd6icz]

I use it on my HTPC's. As stated, it doesn't have the best viewing angles, but it gets the job done in my rackmount so I can just take a glance at them to check the status. (see pic below)

There's tons of other LCD's/VFD's you can choose from.. I'd recommend a VFD over an LCD, owning both. (I have a few VL System VFD's) With LCDsmartie, you can use this plugin: http://mcedll.codeplex.com/

Maybe checkout Crystalfontz or Matrix Orbital for their selection of screens.. most of theirs work just fine with LCDsmartie.

Ha! I see you too have "saved a lot of money" not renting set top boxes from your cable company... Great picture! My setup isn't quite that pretty but it is in a 19" rack and last time I added how much I have into this HOBBY I could have paid for the top of the line DVR from my cable company for several years... But hey... I can record 18 shows at once and have enough hard disk space to store 5000 episodes of COPS in HD! So there! Lol.

[wiretap]

Yup, I'd rather build my own PC's than pay more than I need to the cable company.

[Ed]

Needs more blue leds, it's not cool enough without them

[kd6icz]

Yup, I'd rather build my own PC's than pay more than I need to the cable company.

I've saved your picture. The next time my girlfriend complains about what she refers to my "DAMN TV CONTRAPTION", I'm simply going to show her this picture and say "it could be worse..."

[wiretap]

haha. It's actually pretty easy. I taught my fiance how to use it all. The only thing that needs to be done is turn on the TV with the remote, then turn on the HTPC with the remote and navigate to movies/tv/etc. I use Emby theater for everything ever since I ditched WMC.

[kd6icz]

haha. It's actually pretty easy. I taught my fiance how to use it all. The only thing that needs to be done is turn on the TV with the remote, then turn on the HTPC with the remote and navigate to movies/tv/etc. I use Emby theater for everything ever since I ditched WMC.

Yeah... Mine freezes every once in awhile. Something to do with the sub $100 RAID controller I'm using. When it's up and working like it's supposed to mine is only a Xbox and TV that girlfriend has to deal with. I had to spend almost a $1000 on Minuteman Remote Power Managers to remotely reset everything in the event I'm out of town and it stops working. That's why I'm trying to simplify my system now.

Can I ask what's your running there? Tuners, hard disk setup, extenders (if any), PC specs, etc?

[Slion]

Are there any other front LCD's out there for WMC?

I'm on MediaPortal using a Futaba VFD together with SharpDisplayManager. I'd recommend that GP1212A01 model, you should be able to get it to fit in 5.25 bay. You will need to take care of the cabling and plexiglass screen filter. I could help
If you want to integrate SharpDisplayManager within you favourite application.

[DavidinCT]

I have one of those older D.Vine cases that has a LPT port based VFD display. I have been using it for years now. I honestly think as a dedicated machine, it kind of completes the case a little. Only thing I don't like, is the display is 2 X 20, so from 3-4 feet away you cant read it. When I upgraded the motherboard years ago, I needed to find a PCIe LPT port but, after some work, I found one and it all works again ($8 on ebay).

I use this little program
http://babgvant.com/files/folders/lcdwr ... fault.aspx

It works really good, shows the name of the show/movie your watching, music as well, shows when a show is recording, As well as custom messages too

The case is like this one, so you can see the layout (Mine has a 1 bay drive door and does not have front USB but, otherwise it's the same case)
http://www.modthebox.com/review346_1.shtml

I actually have the IR sensor inside the case going out the side of the LCD location, nice and all internal

haha. It's actually pretty easy. I taught my fiance how to use it all. The only thing that needs to be done is turn on the TV with the remote, then turn on the HTPC with the remote and navigate to movies/tv/etc. I use Emby theater for everything ever since I ditched WMC.

Mine is soo easy that even the kids can use it, I use a Pronto Pro remote and have it macro'ed to the hill. One button to turn TV and A/V reciver on, one button to switch sources (one click will change the input on the TV and the input on the A/V receiver).

When your done, Hit the off button, sends a off command to every device besides the WMC machine, that sleeps in 45 min after no use...

[wiretap]

Can I ask what's your running there? Tuners, hard disk setup, extenders (if any), PC specs, etc?

The HTPC's are just standard hardware, nothing special. (Inte i3, Gigabyte mobo, 4GB RAM, 60GB SSD, Windows 8.1 MCE + Emby Theater) I have HDMI over Cat6 to the TV's, and USB over Cat6 to IR receivers at the TV's.

For the server, I'm in the process of rebuilding at the moment. It hosts everything for all my computers. The new box is a Norco RPC-4220 with an Intel Xeon E3-1220v2, 16GB RAM, 3x IBM M1015's, and 20TB of WD SSHD's. It has ESXi 6.0 for VM's. I'm running Windows 8.1 WMC x64 with ServerWMC to host the Ceton InfiniTV4 to give live TV to the HTPC's via Emby Server. I also run SnapRAID + Stablebit Drivepool + Stablebit Scanner. It's RAID6 style so I can have up to 2 hard drives fail before I lose any content. I have about 1500 ripped Blu-ray's and 75 HDTV series. So, there's always something for myself, my fiance, or guests to watch.

Everything is on a gigabit switch so there's instant access and no worries about lag when streaming to multiple clients. It's also setup with Emby Server so I can view everything remotely on my phone or at work. I have a pfSense router at the top of the network to have OpenVPN for secure access, port forwarding, firewalling, bandwidth monitoring, etc.

[kd6icz]

I've tried to soak in the Emby platform but it's just so much to know that my head spins.

The simple question is does your system work with Copy Protected channels? I have TWC so everything is copy protected except for broadcast channels.