Please share I am sure there are a few on here who would love to know how to do this

It's rather easy. You will need a pc2link for ML.

Beomedia software installing and it will work. Only IE 6 or 7 working with web function is a bit more work.

The Beomaster 5 is more complicated. It only works if serialnumbers are present at the hidden place in BIOS, and harddrive. Otherwise updates can't be downloaded.

I’m happy that I see interest for my post.

I have already up and running a configuration of a pc inside a cabinet for the past 4 years, without any box! and it's working seamlessly.

I just have plugged on a motherboard a video card (unnecessary) and a audio card (also unnecessary), initially a 500Gb HDD and upgrade it later to an 2TB HDD.

The configuration is as follows:

Hardware:

link

AMD Athlon LE-1640 @ 2.6 GHz

2GB of memory DDR2 @ 800 Hz

NVidia GeForce 8600 GT

Creative SB Live!

Western Digital 2TB Caviar

BeoLink PC 2

Software:

Windows XP Service Pack 2

Air Video Server (For sharing video over all iDevice and not only…)

Asus Updater (For updating the M/B bios and replacing the Bios logo with the one of Bang & Olufsen)

Dyn Updater (For constantly and freely updating the local ip address to a no-ip servers so I can remotely access the Beomedia)

GoodSync (File sync and back up software to always keep a back up of my songs, photos and movies on an external drive)

Google Chrome (For some better navigation)

iTunes (Needed installation for some software that depends on it like Air Video etc)

MiPony (Automated file downloader to help with long files downloaded from servers like Turbobit, FilePup, Uploaded etc)

Mp3 Tag (Best mp3 tag editor ever…)

Partition Magic 8.0 (Necessary tool for partitioning space on the HDD)

R-Drive Image (Cloning tool, that also helps as a security back up and an easy way of restoring Beomedia)

RealVNC (Remote access from any pc or iDevice I have)

Rename Wiz (Easiest file renamer ever…)

Resource Hacker (File hacking for some extra tweaking)

Shutdown Scheduler (Nice, easy and very dependable software to put Beomedia to sleep when its not needed)

SopCast (Nice and easy way to view - even in HD - football games for free or other channels)

Tonido (Turn your Beomedia into a cloud server)

U-Serv (Turn your Beomedia into a file server)

Vista Codecs (Very important codecs in order to view and have the best result in both Audio and Video of your Xvid movies)

VLC (In case you wish to watch something in high definition or something you’ve downloaded and you don’t want to convert in Xvid)

Vuze (The best torrent downloader - in my opinion)

and of course the BeoMedia 1 software.

With the addition of a video card and a sound card I have managed to have fast picture rendering and smooth reaction on menus and true surround sound from xvids that support AC3 or other surround codecs.

I don't think that it is as easy as Beobuddy describes.

You need to split your HDD partition in 3 partitions as the original Beomedia 1, just to install the Beomedia software correctly.

The three partitions are: Recovery, System, Data

You can leave Recovery as a very small partition as you don't need it (unless you feel like storing some back up ghost images or back up software just in case...)

When installing Windows XP you have to choose as installation drive, drive D:/System for later use with the Beomedia software.

After the installation you have to tweak the registry to view your files correctly and tweak some more to have some extra features...

You can (as I have) modify the boot sequence in order not to see any of the Windows Xp logo and have an Bang & Olufsen instead.

You can tweak the boot sequence in order to have a back up ghost (image) software to help you flash back the drive in case you did something very bad to your built up Beomedia.

After tweaking registry for Beomedia software to view files correctly you have to complete the registration with a PC or Mac in order to get the N. RADIO function to work otherwise you don't have N. RADIO.

For anyone that might be interested, while building my own Beomedia I thought I'd expand to some extras...

So,

I have managed to operate my own built Beomedia through:

BeoVision 9 (Surround setup with BeoLab 8000 and BeoLab 2) - Operated both with Beo4 and Beo5

BeoSound 4 (Masterlinked)

BeoLab 2000 (Masterlinked in bedroom)

All of the above are patched on a MasterLink Gateway operated via iPhone, iPad and any PC or Mac in the world as it broadcasts its IP on the web (all you need is a browser).

In this way, I can control all of my Beo products through iPhone, all my downloads via VNC, all of my files via Tonido or U-Serv (music and photos) and share all of my videos (xvid or other) via AirVideo on iPhone & iPad or even a PC (not meant to work in this way...but did it for the heck of it) over internet...

Now, next steps are connecting the lights of the house to a Lutron (probably) and some IP cameras to have some extra security. Shades remain an option as there's not much need for (don't have a projector setup yet) but once I'll get started on Lutron it might as well worth the try...

Gadjetx wrote:

You need to split your HDD partition in 3 partitions as the original Beomedia 1, just to install the Beomedia software correctly.

The three partitions are: Recovery, System, Data

 

There are 4 partitions 😕

A hidden partition assigned as dynamic folder. Otherwise recovery will never work. At first sight it looks like it works, but afterwards it isn't done completely.

And to add a minor detail.

A random soundcard will not have the same quality DAC as the Beomedia 1 has. Not by far.