XL100- Upgrade path?

[Wheeker]

Hey there, well I am finally taking the plunge & upgrading my XL-100 even further. I have already carried out the following upgrades:
•Added 1 Gb RAM - now have 2Gb (afaik this is the official limit & others have had issues going beyond this, am I right?)
•Added additional 1Tb hard drive for Recorded TV (works great, though it's amazing how quickly it fills up!)
•Upgraded from XP to Windows 7 (love the new OS & MC, but have had stability & graphics card issues which leads me on to...)

I have just purchased & will install next week:
•New Graphics card- Sapphire RADEON HD 4550 to replace stock Nvidia 6600GT.
•Additional TV Tuner Card- Compro VideoMate T750F. Cheap enough but is about the only card out there that can do what I want: Dual DVB-T/Analog. Alternative was the much more expensive Blackgold BGT3500. However, this will only be used on recording conflicts/watching TV whilst recording, so hopefully lack of hardware encoding won't be a huge issue.

My main query is- when I install the above 2 items, can I install both at the same time or is it better practice to install one, check it's working & then install the other?

Also, am I crazy upgrading a 4 year-old machine? I justify it as: it cost me a packet "only" 4 years ago, Sony don't seem to be producing Media Centres anymore & most of my upgrades could be reused if I need to rebuild a new Media Centre. Any thoughts?

[ITTroll]

I would do them one at a time and take a backup before installing the tuner. Adding a tuner means you will need to run through the TV Tuner / Guide setup in Media Center. This should work OK with no problems but I am not familiar with your tuner.

Lack of hardware encoding is not an issue if you are recording digital channels as the broadcast stream is just written straight to disk.

I've upgraded so many components in my XL201 that if Sony made it they would call it an XL402. The fact that they are so upgradeable means they can have an extended life.

The next challenge though will be Freeview HD...

[gfiastre]

Hi,

I'm very interested in your results: did you do the upgrades?

I have exactly the same questions, and some issues also:
I upgraded to Windows 7 ultimate, and finally got every thing runnig but two things:

- I used simultaneously the HDMI sound output and the RCA output. I can now no longer use both at the same time. I can live like that.
- there are many DVB-T channels which I can't record. Mostly those who also have a HD channel. I can watch, time shift, but if I press the record button or program a recording, I get a black screen with 'no signal' message.

Thanks for your feedback

[gfiastre]

Hi,

I'm very interested in your results: did you do the upgrades?

I have exactly the same questions, and some issues also:
I upgraded to Windows 7 ultimate, and finally got every thing runnig but two things:

- I used simultaneously the HDMI sound output and the RCA output. I can now no longer use both at the same time. I can live like that.
- there are many DVB-T channels which I can't record. Mostly those who also have a HD channel. I can watch, time shift, but if I press the record button or program a recording, I get a black screen with 'no signal' message.

Thanks for your feedback

[Wheeker]

- I used simultaneously the HDMI sound output and the RCA output. I can now no longer use both at the same time. I can live like that. 
- there are many DVB-T channels which I can't record. Mostly those who also have a HD channel. I can watch, time shift, but if I press the record button or program a recording, I get a black screen with 'no signal' message. 

Hi gfiastre, yes I did do the upgrades & they were successful (up to a point!):
Sapphire RADEON HD 4550: This was easy to install & just slotted straight in. This immediately resolved my W7 MC crashing issues. However, I now have a problem with DVB-T/Mpeg-4/h.264 (I live in Ireland) TV recordings corrupting on playback. AFAIK this is a known issues with ATI graphics cards, I'm about to try the latest ATI driver CCC 10.3 to see if this resolves it. This issue sounds similar to yours, though as you still have the original Nvidia 6600 GT I don't see it as being related? I would be surprised if your Nvidia 6600 GT does not need upgrading. You could try the Windows optional updates KB981129 & KB981130.

Compro VideoMate T750F: Also easy to install. However, having intermittant issues with the driver disappearing after resume from Stand-by & it not functioning. Reboot & it comes back! Seems to be a known issue with W7 MC for many types of tuner cards, though don't think this has been acknowledged by Microsoft yet alone resolved!

As regards your audio issue- unlike XP, W7 does not allow you to ouput audio simultaneously through more than one output (e.g. S/Pdif + Analog Line-out). You need to manually choose which you want in Manage Audio Devices.