Optimal system settings

[capone]

Has anyone come across a guide for best setup of os/hw/bios for a pvr system?

All my years have been spent on optimizing systems that are home/work use, w/ many applications running at once and a lot of large and small files. I've never had a system that did just one thing w/ just a few large files like the pvr system.

I know there are plenty, but I'm looking for some that people have used and trust.

[Darx-starz]

I would do the things that you would normaly do if you have doing it a while then you must know what you are doing. However, a couple of things I have done is remove things. Like MSN messenger disable system sounds patch it up and turn off the automatic updates. Don't run AV software.
Disable IE any other junk that windows installs that you don't need.
I use Ultr@VNC for remote connectivity. Works like a charm. I just put the basic OS on, SP1 it and Ultr@VNC the rest.


One thing you MUST do IMHO is defrag everyday. Do it as part of your EPG update is one way. Just add the line:
defrag Drive: -v -f

I mail myself the defrag report. Use something like blat for that. You could also mail yourself the epg text after /GRAB statement.

Anybody else have any tricks?

[capone]

I have everything set and installed almost the same as you, down to ultra@vnc (love that app).

Quick question: where do you add that line to make it part of epg?

I would just have cacheman run the defrag when idle, but I'd rather run it on schedule (and w/o using scheduler).

[reven]

edit the file "PostUpdateEPG.bat" in the gbpvr directory (if its not there create it).

and add the line
"defrag Drive: -v -f"
anywhere in the "PostUpdateEPG.bat" file. then once the epg has been updated the hdd will be defragged.

[reefboy]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I run AVG antivirus software which is free along with zonealarm so that I have a little more protection and control. Other than that my setup is the same. I schedule the defrag through the system scheduler. I have to agree that UltraVNC is an excellent application.

[capone]

Has anyone tried playing w/ the desktop heap or bytes locked for I/O (both found in tweaki). I'm wondering if a pvr-only sys could use w/ a smaller heap, and if a larger lock would make sense. I'm also thinking maybe it's worse, since you're streaming files bytes at a time and not just moving large files.

[capone]

I agjusted the pagefile up since i got more ram. Thx.

As far as the desktop heap and I/O bytes locked, leave those alone *unless* you get specific out of memory errors.

[capone]

Great tips. If you you haven't tried it, Tweaki is very good, and doesn't need to be active. It offers pretty good depth of control, but it's getting long in the tooth, too.

[capone]

I run Registry Mechanic, which hasn't gone wrong yet. I don't do too often, but in a week w/ a new driver or plugin, the box doesn't do anything outside GB. I didn't play around too much w/ the network speed. I would if it was 2k sys, but XP is fairly smart. I think if I saw any stutter across the lan I would.

I did turn off a lot of the visuals, which most ppl doing PVR only should, but turn on Clear Type (or google for powertoys and get cleartype tuner). It helps a *lot* looking at system fonts on a TV.