grabbed my copy off of MSDN today and installed (fresh) tonight. Took me all of about 50 minutes to get up and running.
My <now very old> config:
Samsung PS2S4S Plasma SD Panel (848x480 native)
Asus A8NVM-CSM Motherboard
AMD Athlon 3200+
1.5GB Ram
Gigabyte nVidia 8400GS with 256MB
2 x Hauupauge Nova-S-Plus DVB-S Tuner Cards
Bunch of HDDs
My Install:
1) boot and install off Win 7 USB drive
2) run updates
3) install winrar
4) download/install latest nVidia driver (190.38)
5) install soundmax sound driver (cause winvista and win7 do not install driver with spdif capabilities)
6) install matroska_splitter - deselect MPEG-TS support (otherwise it screws up playback of mts files from panasonic hd video camera)
7) merge registry hack to enable win7 MKV playback
8) install irtrans software (to drive remote control and VFD)
9) merge reg hack to force daily time updates
10) start media center and run through wizard configuring screen (DVI) and sound (spdif)
11) add media library folders
12) attempt to set up live TV - "no supported tuners"
13) install 2_123_27056 hauppauge driver and restart
14) set up live TV, choose Optus D1 (NZ), select custom single oscillator, enter 11300, ignore signal meter
15) check guide - all channels there
16) test playback of MP3, WMA, AVI, MTS, MKV, Recorded TV
17) make irtrans hack (edit apps.cfg file) for skip forward and skip backward (didnt need this in vista/xp, only win7)
18) configure auto-login for media center user
19) add additional users for LAN access to media
20) reboot again for luck!