I thought it would be nice to keep updated a FAQ for MCE 2005, so the standard questions can be answered.
Some of the stuff I posted below comes from the two faqs below.
Some other comes from other users or from my experience in playing with MCE 2005.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/faq.mspx
http://www.thegreenbutton.com/kb/default.aspx?cNode=0B3B4D&pNodes=7W5L0U


Q. Which components (hardware and software) should I use with MCE 2005?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/partners/dfw/partnerlisting.mspx

Q. What remote can be used with MCE 2005?
A. Microsoft Media Center Remote Control Inc Reciever OEM
example link
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=77109

Q. How do I play DVDs from Hard disk?
A. Create a directory called VIDEO_TS (all upper case) in "MOVIE TITLE" directory and put all of the vob, ifo and bup files in it. When choosing the folder for video playback, select the "movie title" folder.

Q. can I use FFDSHOW?
A. Not yet

Q. can I use .ape files?
A. Yes if you force MP10 to search for ALL FILES, and have the codec installed. See this thread (http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t237141.html)

Q. What file format does Media Center record in?
A. Media Center uses a new file format called DVR-MS. DVR-MS is an MPEG-2 file that includes metadata about the recorded program to be stored.

Q. Can the file format used by Media Center be changed? Can I edit recorded TV files?
A. According to this fellows (http://www.xpmce.com/forum/ftopic84613.html) you can. You need to use DVRedit to cut the commercial out and create a new DVR file, and then use DVR2WMV to convert the file to divx format. Both tools are available here (http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx).
You can also use:
TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress
Power Director Pro
NeroVision Express 2
DVR-Ripper
to edit and/or convert these files.
There are two commercial programs (Sonic Primetime and Arcsoft's Showbiz ) available to burn DVDs, also converting content to mpeg-2.
I have tried a few, and I like Nero Vision Express a lot. You open the file you want to edit, cut the commercials and burn to dvd using one single interface. High quality conversion and good synch.

Q. What is content protection, and how is it used by Media Center?
A. Content owners and/or broadcasters can set copy-protection flags to indicate that a program is subject to content protection. When Media Center detects that this flag is set, it will protect the content by limiting the ability to copy and distribute the program.

Q. Can protected recorded TV files be watched on another PC?
A. No, protected files can be watched only on the Media Center PC that originally recorded the content.

Q. Can unprotected recorded TV files be watched on another PC?
A. Yes, as long as that PC has the capability of playing DVR-MS files (either through Media Center or an updated Microsoft DirectShow player such as Windows Media Player 10 see Watch Recorded TV on Other Microsoft Windows XP-based PCs).
If you are having problems playing it back try to run this two fixes:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fb4c2c2e-60ea-4ed9-bc68-e93c9e65c58e&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DE1491AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

Q. Can protected recorded TV files be played back on the same MediaCenter PC using Windows Media Player 10 or other DirectShow-enabled applications?
A. No, protected files can be watched only through Media Center on the Media Center PC that originally recorded the content.

Q. Can I record DVDs to watch using a dedicated DVD player?
A. Yes. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 includes built-in support for burning video and data DVDs from photos, music, video and TV content on a wide range of media types and formats. DVDs can be burned in one of the following formats:
• Data DVD: Designed for storing files on disc such as creating a backup of music or photos.
• Video DVD: Designed for converting recorded TV or home movies into video for playback in most home DVD players.
• DVD Slideshow: Designed for creating a slide show with pictures and music for playback on consumer DVD players and computers equipped with DVD players.
A third-party developer, Sonic Solutions, has a number of products that offer this functionality. The Sonic MyDVD 4 Media Center Edition, Sonic MyDVD versions 5 and above, and Sonic PrimeTime products support recording of Media Center's recorded TV content onto DVDs that can be watched on standard DVD players.
Only unprotected content can be recorded to DVD in this way; protected content cannot be written to DVDs that can be watched in a dedicated DVD player.
There is also another application called DVR Ripper. This freeware app will convert DVR-MS files into MPA (MPEG Audio) and MPV (MPEG Video) - or a single MPEG file so you can edit and burn your recorded TV. It is not as integrated with MCE (cannot use the remote to operate it). You can download it here (http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx).

Q. Sometimes album art is not displayed while playing music in Media Center? How do I fix this?
A. Media Center attempts to display album art for an album by looking for an image file (folder.jpg) in the folder containing that album. If you do not see album art for a particular album, it is because this file is not available. To fix this, install Windows Media Player 9 and let it rearrange your music. If music metadata information is available, then Windows Media Player 9 automatically updates the track information, reorganizes your collection into folders, and adds the appropriate album art for each folder. Alternatively, you can manually add album art by making sure your song files are organized into folders by album and adding an appropriate folder.jpg to that folder. Note that the image file must be 200KB or less to be properly displayed.

Q. I have a bunch of music under My Music, but I want to remove EVERYTHING! How can I go about doing this?
Use Media Player Library and delete everything from the library. My Music will also appear empty once you restart MCE.

Q. How do I zoom when Playing video or DVD files?
There are three zoom settings when playing dvd or avi or other video files which are available if you click the info button while playing back.

Q. I only subscribe to some of the channels on my Sky box, how do I remove the ones I don't want to see on the EPG?
Press the green button, go to settings, TV, Guide, Edit Channel and untick the ones you don't want to see.

Q. Why do the fast-forward and rewind features not work properly for some of my video clips?
A. Depending on the video format of the video clip, Media Center may not be able to fast-forward and rewind through that clip. If you are trying to navigate through a video clip that does not support these features, the skip-forward and skip-back features may still function normally. The ability to fast-forward and rewind is dependent on the video format of the video clip, not the file format of the clip. You may not be able to determine the video format based on the file extension of the video file.

Q: How do I get recorded TV from my 2nd MCE PC to show up on my 1st MCEs recorded TV screen?
A: You can use the "Share Recorded TV" utility that is available on the downloads page on www.thegreenbutton.com.

Q. Which plugins are available for MCE2005?
A. A list is available in the Developers Green Button Forum (http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/messages.aspx?ForumID=26).

Q. Can you change the audio decoder to something else (e.g. if you do not like how nvidia downmixes 5.1 to stereo)?
A. Yes, but so far to AC3Filter only. Thanks to "Bolk" on thegreenbutton:
First of all make sure you installed the latest RC of AC3filter.
Go to start -> run -> regedit.exe
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\VideoChange PreferredMPEG2AudioDecoder into {A753A1EC-973E-4718-AF8E-A3F554D45C44}
Start MCE, go to settings, DVD, audio.

Q. How can I get the HDTV wonder working in MCE?
A. The best way to guarantee that it works, is to make sure that under device manager you see 5 devices related to the HDTV wonder. The "Rollup Update" should install the drivers, but did not work for everyone.
To get all the drivers see the post by "VBB" Here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=393949&perpage=20&highlight=hdtv%20wonder&pagenumber=50), that includes a zip file with all the drivers. Once you manually instal those drivers you should see in device manager the below:
ATI DTV Wonder Analog Audio Capture Device
ATI DTV Wonder Analog AV Capture Device
ATI DTV Wonder Analog AV Crossbar Device
ATI DTV Wonder Digital and Analog Tuner Device
ATI DTV Wonder Digital BDA Capture Device

Q. Can I put the HTPC in Suspend Mode? Will it record when it is supposed to?
Indeed you can. MCE does not have to be running in order to record a show. As long as the recording has been scheduled, all you need to do is have Windows up and running. It will come out of suspend, record, and go back to it once the recording is completed.

Q. I have a 16:9 TV connected via S-Video. How do I tell MCE to zoom the DVD so it will fill the screen completely?
A. When the movie is playing, right click and select zoom. Gives you 3 different zoom options.

Q. How do I change hardware acceleration, aspect ration in the NDVD codec, so it will have effect in MCE?
A. When you are playing a movie in MCE (or WMP, or ZP, etc), you will notice that a nvidia decoder properties icon will appear on the bottom right in windows. RIght click and select properties and you can adjust the settings.

Q. Some sections of an english dvd in foreign language should display subtitles, but they don't, how do I activate that?
A. You can fix that by going to (Green Button)->Settings->DVD->DVD Language and setting "Subtitle" to "Title Default" instead of "None".

Q. How do I set my PC to "suspend" mode using the remote, so that the PC will be completely silent (no fans)?
By default, Windows XP restricts a suspend to S1 only *IF* a USB device is plugged into the PC which wants the ability to wake the PC from suspend. Such is the case with the MCE remote receiver hardware. Microsoft enforces the S1 rule because *many* motherboards simply wont work right suspending to S3 and allowing for a USB wake event.
There is a registry hack you can use which will change this behavior, but YMMV on whether your PC will still behave coming out of a suspend. You can always back out the registry change if it doesn't work for you...
Here is the registry changes which must be added:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesusb]
"USBBIOSHACKS"=dword:00000000
"USBBIOSx"=dword:00000000
Once these are added, reboot your PC (also make sure your Bios setting is for S3 suspend) and then try a suspend. Your fans should turn completely OFF.

Q. How do you program the Windows MCE remote to control other equipment. like your TV or amplifier?
A. To program buttons on the remote control using the learning feature
1. Place the remote control for Media Center PC head to head (2 to 3 inches apart) with the remote from which it is learning.
2. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and hold the DVD MENU and OK buttons at the same time until the remote control lights turn off (2 seconds).
3. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and release the TV, VOL+, or VOL- button, depending on which command you want it to learn.
4. On the remote control that is teaching the command, press and hold the button that you want the corresponding button on the remote control for Media Center PC to learn.
The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm the selection.
If the remote did not learn the command, the lights blink quickly four times. To try again, repeat steps 1 through 4.
To restore the default remote control settings:
1. Press and hold the DVD MENU button and the LEFT navigation button at the same time until the remote control for Media Center PC lights turn off.
2. Press the OK button.
The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm that the buttons have been reset. The TV button will have no command assigned to it and the VOL+ and VOL- buttons will adjust the Media Center PC volume.

Q. How do I change the codecs used in the dvd playback?
A. Download the codec checker from Microsoft, here (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=de1491ac-0ab6-4990-943d-627e6ade9fcb&displaylang=en&Hash=FFN6KB).

Q. Is there a thread of feature requests so I can add mine?
Yes, you can find it here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4889617#post4889617)

.Q Is there a list of ideal components for a MCE HTPC?
Yes, you can find it here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=487647).

Q. Does MCE Live TV support picture-in-picture or picture-next-to-picture for multiple tuners? Know of anything that does it cleanly (unlike that the ATI solution)?
A. MCE does not support picture-in-picture or picture-next-to-picture. However, it does support multiple tuners to allow you record multiple shows at once, or be recording one show while watching another.

Q. Is there a Faq for AC3/DTS playback with MCE2005?
A. Yes, it is here
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=496948

Q. DVD Playback skips, what can I do about it?
A. It is likely you are using the coax or optical out from your motherboard. It has been observed on a few motherboard using Soundmax: solution can be
- find a driver for your motherboard that can fix the problem. One is listed in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5030572#post5030572), see if it works for you
- buy a soundcard to bypass the motherboard, and disable on board audio in the Bios

Q. How do I play WMVHD with wmaudio 5.1 analogue channels via SPDIF, if DD is not available?
I am using Ac3filter 1_01a
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/AC3_Filter.htm
I selected SPDIF passthrough, et voila, real time encoding DD of T2 extreme version.
Tested with the Soundmax onboard spdif passthrough and with Maudio Revo.

Q. How do I play .ts or .tp files in MCE2005?[b]
You go to http://dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ and check the latest version of HDTVPUMP.
I downloaded version 1.0.3 (http://dvbportal.dyn1.de/download.php?file=hdtvpump-1.0.3.zip) and it works fine on my setup.

[b]Q. How to play .mov files in MCE2005?
If you have QuickTime installed, you will need to unistall it.
Download and install Quicktime Alternative v1.42 (http://www.techspot.com/download104.html)/
- Untick install media player classic (you are already using WMP10)
- Associate .mov with windows media player
Edit the registry by adding in KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mov\
the a new string value "PerceivedType", type REG_SZ; remember to set its value to video.

Q: How do I Install an ATI HDTV Wonder: Step-by-Step WMCE
A: to find the guide click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=515080)

Q: How do I achieve Bit-perfect Audio using MCE 2005?
A: Interesting experiments in this thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7200938&&#post7200938

Some questions I couldn't answer of find an answer...

Q. Can you set MCE to record to a series of Disks, instead of only one?

Q. Can the file format used by Media Center be changed? Can I edit recorded TV files?
Q. Can the files generated by Media Center be converted to another video format?

A. Yes, you can use

DVR-Edit
TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress
Power Director Pro
NeroVision Express 2
DVR-Ripper
DVR-MS 2 WMV

to edit and/or convert these files.

There are two commercial programs (Sonic Primetime and Arcsoft's Showbiz ) available to burn DVDs, also converting content to mpeg-2.

Q. Can I edit recorded TV files?
A. See above

Q. Can you set MCE to record to a series of Disks, instead of only one?
A: Yes you can. MCE will create a "Recorded TV" directory in the root of the drive. It also lets you specify how much disk space to use.

Hi Mark, I have updated the FAQ with your input.. I am still working things out... How do you set MCE to record to more than one disk AT THE TIME? I can only set it either to C or D or whatever, will it automatically switch to a different disk when space is low, as it remembers that once it was set to a different disk?

Q. can I use .ape files?
A. Not yet

a. yes you can... at least playback, but not ripping.... go here:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t237141.html

:cool:

Q. Can I record DVDs to watch using a dedicated DVD player?
A. Yes. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 includes built-in support for burning video and data DVDs from photos, music, video and TV content on a wide range of media types and formats. DVDs can be burned in one of the following formats:
• Data DVD: Designed for storing files on disc such as creating a backup of music or photos.
• Video DVD: Designed for converting recorded TV or home movies into video for playback in most home DVD players.
• DVD Slideshow: Designed for creating a slide show with pictures and music for playback on consumer DVD players and computers equipped with DVD players.

Note: Burning a "Video DVD" uses software by Sonic which is _not_ included if you purchase a single OEM copy. It can be found in the 3-Pack or should be included if you purchase an MCE machine from any System Builder or OEM.

Q. Can you change the audio decoder to something else (e.g. if you do not like how nvidia downmixes 5.1 to stereo)?

A. Yes, but so far to AC3Filter only. Thanks to "Bolk" on thegreenbutton:

First of all make sure you installed the latest RC of AC3filter.
Go to start -> run -> regedit.exe
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video
Change PreferredMPEG2AudioDecoder into {A753A1EC-973E-4718-AF8E-A3F554D45C44}

Start MCE, go to settings, DVD, audio. Have fun

*EDIT*: I remembered when I did the above, the registry location isn't exactly right. The value within the {}'s is correct, but the full location was slightly off. I don't remember off the top of my head what it is exactly, but it should be easy to figure out. I just copied and pasted what "Bolk" posted at TGB.



Also,

Q. How can I get the HDTV wonder working in MCE?
A. The best way to guarantee that it works, is to make sure that under device manager you see 5 devices related to the HDTV wonder. The "Rollup Update" should install the drivers, but did not work for everyone. For me it only installed 3/5.

To get all the drivers see the post by "VBB" Here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=393949&perpage=20&highlight=hdtv%20wonder&pagenumber=50), that includes a zip file with all the drivers. Once you manually instal those drivers you should see in device manager the below:

ATI DTV Wonder Analog Audio Capture Device
ATI DTV Wonder Analog AV Capture Device
ATI DTV Wonder Analog AV Crossbar Device
ATI DTV Wonder Digital and Analog Tuner Device
ATI DTV Wonder Digital BDA Capture Device

This got the HDTV wonder working for me.

A couple questions on file types...

I'm not a current MCE user but am interested in it. I am wondering how many file types can be played without leaving the MCE UI.

Does it only play files that it records?
Will is play standard ts (transport stream) files? If not, is there a way to convert them to something it will play (like dvr-ms)?
Will it play WMV (SD and HD)?
Avi, Divx, Xvid?

Can it connect to streaming servers, like a Windows Media server that may be broadcasting from a live source (like a tuner source that MCE doesn't support)?

I like the idea of a single interface that relies solely on a remote for operation.

rule of thumb is... if media player 10 can play it, MCE can play it.

Originally posted by jimwhite
Q. can I use .ape files?
A. Not yet

a. yes you can... at least playback, but not ripping.... go here:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t237141.html

:cool:

Thanks Jim!

>>Q. How can I get the HDTV wonder working in MCE?

You can install the device drivers for the ATI DTV Wonder by going to Windows Update and selecting the Driver Update. The drivers are not included in the Media Center ATSC Rollup, but are posted on Windows Update as a separate download.

can you change where mce 2005 saves recordings?

Originally posted by jpk
>>Q. How can I get the HDTV wonder working in MCE?

You can install the device drivers for the ATI DTV Wonder by going to Windows Update and selecting the Driver Update. The drivers are not included in the Media Center ATSC Rollup, but are posted on Windows Update as a separate download.

When installed my HDTV Wonder, I did the Rollup and all updates, yet only 3/5 of the devices associated with it had their drivers installed. 2 still had (?) by it in device manager. Perhaps I did something wrong, but from my reading others had the same issue. Once I used the zip file with drivers posted in the other thread, I was all set to go.

If this is going to be a real FAQ (and the AC3Filter answer was dynamite-can't wait to try it out), then we need to be very specific about how you get the drivers for the HDTV Wonder. These drivers are absolutley buried in an old version of the Windows update site-and they aren't called HDTV Wonder Drivers or something that simple-they are in a package called "ATI Multimedia Update". When you say windows update to someone, they think you go and Windows "finds the updates and installs them automatically. This is anything but automatic. You even have to update the drivers manually from Device manager.

/Rant on
Jay, as long as you're following this thread, why can't these drivers be part of the "normal" windows update? are they beta? Why won't anyone create a nice installer?

Let me guess, no one wants to support anything under MCE unless its a system builder. So you hide the drivers from the average Joe who can't do research on the internet?

I'm still trying to figure out why the ehomewonder requires driver reinstalls after every reboot when paired with an HDTV Wonder. Others have the same problem. That would be something good to fix.

Love MCE. Hate the lack of end-consumer support. Don't even tell me to call Dell. They may have sold me my Box, but there is no way they're going to fix some of this stuff.
/rant off

He's right, Jay :). The reason why I posted the latest HDTV Wonder drivers was that they were not easily available. The biggest issue for me at this point is the disappearing analog tuner. This seems to be happening with the ATI ehome Wonder and several Hauppauge cards. I have narrowed this down to the receiver service, which starts up automatically and throws an error in the event log. This error says "TV tuner malfunction" and occurs for each instance of an analog TV tuner card. In my case that is the ehome Wonder and the analog part of the HDTV Wonder. This happens on every reboot and can only be resolved by going into the device manager and uninstalling both cards. After a second reboot, the cards are redetected and MCE starts working again. What's strange, though, is that event log still throws a receiver error for the analog part of the HDTV Wonder. That one just never goes away. For the record, I'm using the 9/23/04 drivers for the HDTV Wonder and the 7/15/04 drivers for the ehome Wonder as well as the 1.00.59 NVDVD filters. I have not encountered any problem other than the reboot issue. Hopefully, this will be resolved soon. MCE is awesome ;).

VBB, I have had the same reports about disappearing tuner from other users who had similar issues with Hauppage cards. That is why I bought NVTV. Working and recording 4 series per day, has been a week now.
I live in Europe, so HDTV is not an issue for me, and it wont be for another two years at least...

Originally posted by setherd
can you change where mce 2005 saves recordings?

Press the Green Button, Settings, TV, Recorder, Recorder Storage
There you can choose which drive to use.

You should have received a notification to reboot after the ATI DTV Wonder drivers were installed and after that both tuners should appear normally in Device Manager. Media Center will continue to report an error in the logs because the NTSC tuner on the DTV Wonder is not used. That error is benign.

As for the report that the drivers were not detected by Windows Update and aren't called DTV Wonder drivers, I can only conclude that you have a slightly different version of the DTV Wonder board and ATI has changed the PnP IDs in their latest driver. The driver that appears on Windows Update is ATI DTV Wonder.

Jay,

Thanks for your quick reply. The problem is not that Windows does not detect the cards. Both TV tuners show up in device manager just fine, but after every reboot, MCE does not recognize the analog card, in my case the ehome Wonder. So in addition to the NTSC tuner of the HDTV Wonder, the NTSC tuner of the ehome Wonder creates an error in the log. That's the tuner that we use for analog cable, so it has to be active. It only becomes active again after you remove the card from device manager and reboot a second time. I've also seen it happen where a simple reboot without uninstalling the card takes care of the problem. The only tuner that stays active permamently and does not create an error is the HDTV Wonder's ATSC tuner. Therefore, the digital channels always work.

Q. Has anyone figured out how to enable the 7 second skip back that was available in MCE2004?

If you were in a Fast-FastForward and then hit play to compensate for your reaction time it the video would jump back ~7 seconds (I think you could configure this in the settings area.)

If its gone, I would love MS to add it back, but its probably gone because someone owns a patent on the technology or something.

Mike

Originally posted by gnollo
Press the Green Button, Settings, TV, Recorder, Recorder Storage
There you can choose which drive to use.

thanks!, I just ordered a remote from newegg. this interface really is setup for a remote not keyboard.
...if only ffdshow worked :(

I hate to disagree Jay, but there are reports all over the internet of people having to get the HDTV wonder drivers out of the .cab file 10/14 on the searchable "administrator only"version of windows update. In fact, I can't remember a single report of someone "finding" them normally via the automated windows update. Why would ATI change a device ID? maybe thats why there was a rebate at COMPUSA?

Also, you might want to call Dell and tell them to stop shipping these systems with the powerdvd decoders. they don't work. there was a long thread on the MS MCE newsgroup about this-which is also the thread where I found out how you get the HDTV wonder drivers.

I tried out AC3 filter tonight. I like what it does for my analog channels (from the sat box). But I'm still unable to configure a set-up where the Digital Channels received thru the HDTV wonder come thru the analog outputs of my Audigy ZS. The SPDIF conues to work fine-the receiver is reading a dolby digital 2.0 (stereo) signal via the analog out. Dolby Digital works fine using a DVD, but no with the Digital TV channels. Any ideas?

I have an AIW 9800 pro and an HDTV Wonder.

1) How does the PVR act? Any skipping or stuttering?

2) Can you record a show and watch the DVD and switch between them, without losing your place in the DVD?

3) Have you got the ATI AIW to work? My dream is to record on the AIW 9800 Pro and the HDTV Wonder at the same time, while watching a previous recorded show (from either).

4) How about hibernation - does that work? Can you put the machine into hibernation, and will MCE 2005 wake it up a few minutes before it is time to record the show?

Here's one for the FAQ: what are the minimum real-world hardware requirements to run an HD MCE?
i.e. minimum graphics card options & CPU speed specifically

Thanks!
Chris

RogueWarrior, question 1 and 2 are hardware related, and I don't have the HDTV wonder, so I cannot answer.
For question 3, I haven't tested. When MCE is on, my HTPC doesnt automatically go into suspend.... I will test.

Originally posted by gnollo
Some questions I couldn't answer of find an answer...

Q. Can you set MCE to record to a series of Disks, instead of only one?
I am not an MCE user right now, cannot justify it with an HD-Tivo, but this sounds like you might want to try using a RAID 0 or RAID 1 config.

RAID 0 will span two disk
RAID 1 will stripe the data to two disk. ( Fast with data redundency )

Of course you need multiple drives and a IDE/SATA/SCSI controller that supports RAID, I would not suggest using software raid.

At an Intel conference a MS guy came to tout MCE. When asked if it could record content from a cable STB he said "no, but that someone had hacked it to permit that use." Any idea if that hack is available?

Hibernation: If I "standby" the machine via the power button on the MCE remote, it will come up, record, and go back to sleep.

I don't think the machine will auto standby as long as MCE is running, which I think it should. There are a lot of power mgmt settings I haven't tried though.

Originally posted by bollingm

RAID 0 will span two disk
RAID 1 will stripe the data to two disk. ( Fast with data redundency )


No.

RAID 0 - Striping (fast, no data redundancy)
RAID 1 - Mirrored (Same speed as a single drive but data is duplicated on each drive for data redundancy)

Originally posted by rlundy
Hibernation: If I "standby" the machine via the power button on the MCE remote, it will come up, record, and go back to sleep.

I don't think the machine will auto standby as long as MCE is running, which I think it should. There are a lot of power mgmt settings I haven't tried though.

I think you are right, I have had my machine on for a week and it has NEVER gone on Standby. Good to know you have good results with the "record after standby" procedure. I will see how it works for me.

Originally posted by gnollo
I think you are right, I have had my machine on for a week and it has NEVER gone on Standby. Good to know you have good results with the "record after standby" procedure. I will see how it works for me.

Sorry, I got my wires crossed.:(

"At an Intel conference a MS guy came to tout MCE. When asked if it could record content from a cable STB he said "no, but that someone had hacked it to permit that use." Any idea if that hack is available?"

You're obviously talking abuot the ATI HDTV Wonder because MCE can record fine from a cable or sat receiver through a regular card.

You guys probably know this already, but MCE does not have to be running in order to record a show. As long as the recording has been scheduled, all you need to do is have Windows up and running. I tried this last night when I recorded both Lost and Smallville at the same time. Worked perfectly with MCE turned off. The only thing that I noticed was that the HD recording of Lost had some terrible skipping and stuttering. Not sure if this was playback or recording related. I think I'll try recording to a separate drive next time to see if that helps.

Using ATI MMC (I do not have Windows MCE installed yet) - I am able to hibernate my machine and setup tasks manually that wake the machine to run a task - five minutes before the recording is scheduled in MMC to record.

This works great, it then goes back into hibernation - after 10 minutes of no activity.

Was wondering if this works for MCE's aplications as well - seems it shoud be. Would love for this stuff to be automated - so that I would not need to do it manually.

Rogue Warrior, according to various users, it is possible indeed.
No manual tasks anymore. I have set up once to record four different series, and the EPG will do just that for the rest of the year.
I love the capability of searching for films, and getting back a list of movies on different channels, which then I can set to be recorded.
That is quite handy when you have loads of channels and browsing the normal EPG guide searching for a movie would be quite time consuming.

Has anyone tried any other remotes with MCE2005 such as the Niveus? If so how does it work?

Q: Does MP10 in MCE 2005 support ASIO or have a way to bypass kmixer when playing back lossless WMA files? I use JRMC10 now, but I'm looking at MCE2005. Not using ASIO or bypassing kmixer is a deal breaker for me.

One more...

Q: In MC10, can I assign a number to an album and use a remote to plan the album by number? With JRMC and Girder, I can select and play all my albums/playlists using my Pronto without firing up the projector.

Note, my HTPC is connected to a fp system. There is no other monitor, so being able to use a remote without requiring a monitor is important. Eventually, I plan on adding a touchscreen, but even then, it would be good to be able to do things without requiring a monitor.

Looks like the AVSForum folks were right. There wil be an updated DTV Wonder driver posted to Windows Update shortly. It may take a few days to propagate through to the website.

JPK,
Any word on whether we will see a Dvico Fusion HDTV driver on Windows Update?

Thanks for info Jay, do you know specifically which problems are being fixed on the DTV Wonder? I have run into a couple of minor issues. Thanks.

Jay-

Do you mean that the current HDTV Wonder Drivers (9/23?) will be more accessible via the normal Windows update process, or that more updated drivers will be available.

And thanks for checking that out and getting it fixed. Impressive.

I'd like to extend the earlier posed question about the ATI All-In Wonder 9800's use in MCE2005, to ATI's AIW9X00 family. I think the drivers and behavior is similar.

So the questions are:

1. Can ATI All-In Wonder 9x00's analog tuner (or composite/S-video input) be recognized / used by the MCE2005, and if so, what are the steps to do so;

2. If one has both the ATI All-In Wonder 9x00 and an ATI HDTV Wonder, one has a total of 3 tuners (1 analog in AIW, 1 analog in HDTV Wonder, 1 digital in HDTV Wonder) and 2 analog video inputs. Which of these can be addressed / used in MCE2005 at the same time (i.e. for simultaneous recording or picture-in-picture) or at least recognized individually for switching amoing them? What drivers or install procedures are needed to enable this?

3. Can ATI's RemoteWonder 2 be programmed somehow to work as the Windows MCE remote control, and if so, what can and what can't be done?

Thanks
Alec

Please excuse my ignorance here, but could someone clarify a few things for me. MCE 2005 is basically Windows XP with "Media Center" functions and programs right? I mean, can you "switch" over to a regular XP desktop and run XP programs at anytime?
Can you also have ATI MMC loaded on a computer running the MCE 2005 operating system?
Thanks,
Ritch

Originally posted by dantenatas
Please excuse my ignorance here, but could someone clarify a few things for me. MCE 2005 is basically Windows XP with "Media Center" functions and programs right? I mean, can you "switch" over to a regular XP desktop and run XP programs at anytime?
Can you also have ATI MMC loaded on a computer running the MCE 2005 operating system?
Thanks,
Ritch

Yes, you can either close or minimize the "Media Center" interface and see the standard XP desktop.

Yes you could run the ATI MMC app as long as MCE isn't accessing the Tuner (recording a show in the background). The real question is why would you use the ATI app if you have MCE? MCE is a 1000 times better then the ATI MMC program.

dantenatas,

Yes, it's basically Windows XP Professional with the Media Center application, which you can run and exit at any time. ATI MMC should run without any problems, I assume ;).

Actually, you can only use the MMC app after shutting down the Media Center Service(s) that run in the background. Basically, even if MCE isn't running, the MCE services are loaded and have control of the tuners.

Originally posted by mike_orst


The real question is why would you use the ATI app if you have MCE? MCE is a 1000 times better then the ATI MMC program.

Just in case I want to record an HD program to an HD mpg that I want to watch on another computer. From what I've read here, it seems that the HD recordings from MCE can only be played back on the computer they were recorded on, or at least another computer that is running MCE. Am I wrong?

Any computer with Media Player 10 can play the recordings.

... unless the recording has DRM.
If you record from an svideo there cannot be any DRM (methinks).
If you record from a tuner (HDTV or Analogue) I believe that if it the content provider wants to restrict viewing to the PC, MCE is built so it can be implemented.
I could be wrong, but if you read the faq, it is mentioned.

You can play recordings on WMP 9+. You will need the patch to enable this, it's a part of SP2. You will also need an MPEG-2 decoder installed.

Content can be protected from any source (S-Video, Analog, HD, etc). So far, the only ones that I know of that protect their content are HBO and Cinemax. These recordings can only be played in MCE on the machine they were recorded on.

Hi Chris, I have just tried to play a .dvr-ms file from my main HTPC, connected to a projector (main Home Theater), which is a non MCE PC. It is is running WMP10. No joy, it says "windows Media Player cannot play the file. The player might not support the file type or a required codec might not be installed on your computer."
I can play a dvd fine using WMP10.
Any ideas?

He asked because he wanted to watch an "HD" program on another TV. There is no DRM on over the air HDTV..........

I must say I am loving watching a program while it is being recorded, because I was late coming in, pause it, and then forward through adverts while it is still recording....

gnollo,
I believe DRM can and is being used with s-video input. I can play .dvr-ms files on my non-MCE computer except for shows recorded on HBO. The HBO files will not play because MCE is honoring the broadcast flag (I think it's the only channel on DirecTV using it at the moment) and using DRM. I am using s-video input into a Hauppauge PVR-250 card. MCE must be using the EGP data to determine whether or not to use DRM.

Jay/Chris,

What's going on with the analog tuner reboot issue? Is MS aware of this? It's really annoying that the analog tuner has to be reinstalled every time you boot up Windows. Please let us know if there will be a fix for that :).

When you say FFDshow won't work with MCE, you mean just with the built in DVD player? If I install or use a 3rd party DVD player I can get it to work, right?

Originally posted by PAP
When you say FFDshow won't work with MCE, you mean just with the built in DVD player? If I install or use a 3rd party DVD player I can get it to work, right?

Yup. Windows MCE is Windows with an extra application, an interface that links together seamlessly several sub-applications (music player, video player, dvd player, tv guide and recorder, tv-scaling application). Even with MCE running you can run what you want. But you cannot run ffdshow WITHIN MCE.
That's all.

Few things that bug me:
1) I ripped my cds as Artist\Album\tracks, but some mp3 I have have all been put in one folder. I make sure that the ID3 tags are all the same, but MCE will still take each song as an individual album (so no cover for them).
How to get around that?
2) I have a 16:9 TV connected via S-Video. How do I tell MCE to zoom the DVD so it will fill the screen completely?
3) How do I change hardware acceleration, aspect ration in the NDVD codec, so it will have effect in MCE?

Originally posted by godavego
Q: Does MP10 in MCE 2005 support ASIO or have a way to bypass kmixer when playing back lossless WMA files? I use JRMC10 now, but I'm looking at MCE2005. Not using ASIO or bypassing kmixer is a deal breaker for me.

MCE uses WMP as a player, and since WMP does not support ASIO, there is no ASIO support in MCE. Having said this, you can get bit perfect playback with several cards: RME is one, and I believe Lynx as well. You have to have WMP's volume at exactly 0db (max) to get bit-perfect, and of course turn off any "enhancements" (you can search this group for more info re this). Also, to get bit-perfect rips, rip through EAC, instead of through WMP, then import into WMP (and then you can play through MCE).

[i]Content can be protected from any source (S-Video, Analog, HD, etc). So far, the only ones that I know of that protect their content are HBO and Cinemax. These recordings can only be played in MCE on the machine they were recorded on. [/B]

It depends how your cable/sat provider sets the flag: many will not let you record to MCE at all.

Audio Codecs
You can change audio codecs (and video, as well) by using ZoomPlayer. Once you register your preferred codecs in ZP, MCE will use them. (Sometimes, if you have NVDV audio codec installed, it will remain even if another codec is chosen in ZP - in this case just delete NVDVD, then your chosen codec will be accepted by MCE.)

Originally posted by gnollo

2) I have a 16:9 TV connected via S-Video. How do I tell MCE to zoom the DVD so it will fill the screen completely?

When the movie is playing, right click and select zoom. Gives you 3 different zoom options.

3) How do I change hardware acceleration, aspect ration in the NDVD codec, so it will have effect in MCE? [/B]
When you are playing a movie in MCE (or WMP, or ZP, etc), you will notice that a nvidia decoder properties icon will appear on the bottom right in windows. RIght click and select properties and you can adjust the settings.

I'll try posting again to see if there are any replays...

Q. Has anyone figured out how to enable the 7 second skip back that was available in MCE2004?

If you were in a Fast-FastForward and then hit play to compensate for your reaction time it the video would jump back ~7 seconds (I think you could configure this in the settings area.)

If its gone, I would love MS to add it back, but its probably gone because someone owns a patent on the technology or something.

Mike

Do you mean that the current HDTV Wonder Drivers (9/23?) will be more accessible via the normal Windows update process, or that more updated drivers will be available.

The drivers are an updated version of the 9/23 drivers that has a new INF so that they install properly from Windows Update. There aren't any binary changes, just an INF fix so that they will install correctly.

Originally posted by genro
When the movie is playing, right click and select zoom. Gives you 3 different zoom options.

Or hit the "More Info" button on the remote, with is the 10' equivalent of a right-click.

Originally posted by genro
When the movie is playing, right click and select zoom. Gives you 3 different zoom options.


I tried that but it never "fills the screen". I was hoping for some a la ZP aspect ratio adjustments. It would be great to be able to fill the screen more accurately. 3 settings are nowhere near enough for me... I guess that goes on the list of future enhancement requests.

OK I have an AIW 9800 Pro and an HDTV Wonder.

I installed MCE 2005 and it refused to recognize the AIW as a tuner card (so I could not use the HDTV Wonder). Went out and bought a 250, and now that part is fine.

So I have 2 questions:

1) Is the AIW 9800 Pro not a legal tuner card for MCE?
2) Even after installing 250 and getting the HDTV setup - I cannot watch anything:D. IT keeps complaining about a decoder. Is this the nvidia decoder I need to buy? Is there a trail version to see if this MCE is worth it?

I have spent so much on this machine, why do one of the three cards I bought not have an MCE 2005 decoder????

Thanks!!

When I press the off button on the Remote, the PC goes to some kind of suspend, but all the fans are still blazing....
Any ideas on how to stop the fans (suspend to Ram?).

Originally posted by gnollo
When I press the off button on the Remote, the PC goes to some kind of suspend, but all the fans are still blazing....
Any ideas on how to stop the fans (suspend to Ram?).

Go to www.thegreenbutton.com and go to the tips & trick forum. Search for sleep I think - there is a registry setting that will put it all the way into S3 sleep - also make sure your bios is set to S3.

As far as I can tell, there are three deal-breakers for me.

1) With WMP10, there doesn't seem to be a way to use ASIO or bypass kmixer. I many thousands of $$$$ invested in my sound system, and JRMC with ASIO sounds better with WAV files than WMP10 without ASIO. With ASIO, it's really hard for me to tell the difference between my CD player and the ripped copy on the computer.

2) No support for ffdshow. For smaller screens, this isn't a big deal, but with larger screens it really helps.

3) This one is not really a huge deal because I can get around it with a lot of work, but why should I have to? My HTPC is hooked up to a fp system, and I don't have a separate monitor. MCE expects that you have a monitor to do just about everything. I'm sure I can figure a way around this limitation, but it will take a lot of time. Once I do hook up a second monitor, this will not be as big a deal.

For now, I'm sticking with normal XP, JRMC, and TheaterTek.

Rouge Warrior,

You cannot use any of the AIW cards and expect the HDTV Wonder to work. They do not play nice together. Maybe one day, but not now.

You must get a non-AIW to get it to work properly.

You bought a "250". What is that?

Originally posted by RogueWarrior
1) Is the AIW 9800 Pro not a legal tuner card for MCE?
My AIW 9600 works fine. Driver issue? Of course, I don't have an HDTV Wonder in there at the same time, but...
2) Even after installing 250 and getting the HDTV setup - I cannot watch anything:D. IT keeps complaining about a decoder. Is this the nvidia decoder I need to buy? Is there a trail version to see if this MCE is worth it?
Yes, you'll need an MPEG-2 decoder which, due to MPEG-2 licensing issues, could not be included with MCE. This is independent of your hardware drivers. I think there's a trial version of the nvidia codec; you might also try Cyberlink's codec (by installing a trail version of PowerDVD) or Intervideo's codec (by installing a trail version of WinDVD.)

I installed no other drivers - other then what came with MCE.

1) What did you do to get the AIW to be recognized? My screen looks fine until I need to watch video - then I see nothing. What drivers did you use to make MCE recognize the TV Tuner in the AIW?

2) Can I use the encoder that came with both my ATI cards?

3) Has anyone got the AIW and the ATI Wonder to play together?

4) The 250 is the PVR-250 from Haupaggue

5) There is a driver for the AIW from mcexp - do anyone think this driver is cool?

Help!!

oh great, I have an AIW 9700 Pro in my HTPC, mostly to handle games but was planning on using it as the analog TV tuner in MCE 2005. I also just bought the HDTV Wonder (haven't installed it yet). So what you guys are saying is that I should get a standard video card to use with the HDTV Wonder? Do I also need a regular analog tuner card as well?

For now, I'm sticking with normal XP, JRMC, and TheaterTek.

What are you using as a PVR? For HDTV?

Originally posted by gnollo
When I press the off button on the Remote, the PC goes to some kind of suspend, but all the fans are still blazing....
Any ideas on how to stop the fans (suspend to Ram?).

I've verified and corrected this issue on my setup -- it really has nothing to do with MCE but rather to do with Windows XP and the USB-based remote.

By default, Windows XP restricts a suspend to S1 only *IF* a USB device is plugged into the PC which wants the ability to wake the PC from suspend. Such is the case with the MCE remote receiver hardware. Microsoft enforces the S1 rule because *many* motherboards simply wont work right suspending to S3 and allowing for a USB wake event.

There is a registry hack you can use which will change this behavior, but YMMV on whether your PC will still behave coming out of a suspend. You can always back out the registry change if it doesn't work for you...

Here is the registry changes which must be added:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesusb]
"USBBIOSHACKS"=dword:00000000
"USBBIOSx"=dword:00000000

Once these are added, reboot your PC (also make sure your Bios setting is for S3 suspend) and then try a suspend. Your fans should turn completely OFF.

-Jon

Couple of questions:

1) When using an Extender (linksys or xbox) can you schedule TV recordings and pause live TV?

2) With an extender can you play mpgs or just MCE recordings?

3) When the extender is active, can you use the main PC?

4) Comments on multimontors, svideo etc..

thanks for any help...

Originally posted by JackLT
1) When using an Extender (linksys or xbox) can you schedule TV recordings and pause live TV?

2) With an extender can you play mpgs or just MCE recordings?

3) When the extender is active, can you use the main PC?


Yes, yes (as I understand it, within certain limitations (like 720x480 max resolution and a certain max bitrate)), and yes.

Originally posted by jon_rhees
I've verified and corrected this issue on my setup -- it really has nothing to do with MCE but rather to do with Windows XP and the USB-based remote.

By default, Windows XP restricts a suspend to S1 only *IF* a USB device is plugged into the PC which wants the ability to wake the PC from suspend. Such is the case with the MCE remote receiver hardware. Microsoft enforces the S1 rule because *many* motherboards simply wont work right suspending to S3 and allowing for a USB wake event.

There is a registry hack you can use which will change this behavior, but YMMV on whether your PC will still behave coming out of a suspend. You can always back out the registry change if it doesn't work for you...

Here is the registry changes which must be added:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesusb]
"USBBIOSHACKS"=dword:00000000
"USBBIOSx"=dword:00000000

Once these are added, reboot your PC (also make sure your Bios setting is for S3 suspend) and then try a suspend. Your fans should turn completely OFF.

-Jon

Mmmh, I am using the Vaio HTPC below connected to my 32" Samsung CRT via S-Video

http://www.biosmagazine.co.uk/images/content/prodpics/200310/Sony-VAIO-RS300_opt.jpg

When I was using the original XP installation it would go straight to "no fans" settings using the provided Sony Remote.
I don't actually know how to go to the Bios, as it is hidden completely (sweet). In bootup process a Pentium bitmap flashes up, followed by the Sony logo, and the bootup Windows screen (just all in the center of the screen).
I guess I can try during bootup F8, F2, CTRL F8, CTRL F2.. I will report back.
Thanks for the tip.

Originally posted by gnollo
I guess I can try during bootup F8, F2, CTRL F8, CTRL F2.. I will report back.
Thanks for the tip.

You're more likely to break into BIOS by trying ESC, DEL, F1, CTL-S, or some combination of those with ALT, CTL, or SHIFT, *during that Pentium screen*. If you pass that Pentium logo, you've passed the window for entering BIOS settings. If you get to the Windows boot logo, it's definitely too late. F8 will just get you the Windows boot loader menu, which won't help. :-)

A lot of guys are talking about loading mce but I thought it couldn't be bought seperataly. Is this right or am I just out of the loop? I just built a new pentium 4 system that would be great for mce but I don't know where to find it.

www.ebuyer.com

I have a M-Audio 410 sound card and a M-Audio Revo sound card...I am thinking of upgrading to Mce 2005. Will either card give bit perfect/AISO/By Pass K Mixer quality sound? All my CDs are ripped to .ape format using EAC.

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that ATI released new E-Home drivers today. The version number is 1.17.24.223, and the release notes are as follows:

- Initial driver release designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
- Added dual tuner support for Media Center

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-mce-ehome-4-08-223-19039.exe

Cheers!

Originally posted by gnollo
www.ebuyer.com

Thanks, but If your saying that they sell on that site could you be a litter more specific, I can't find it anywhere.:)

bfeils
Try newegg.com

Newegg.com link for mce2005 - u must buy hardware with it (i just got a CF reader - but the mce remote would prob suffice)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=32-102-311&depa=0

Help - I have an AIW 9800 Pro and an HDTV Wonder

I installed the new MCE.10kv.zip drivers (from xpmce) - and it now sees the AIW tuner and the HDTV Tuner!

The new issue is that the normal SD channels (from the AIW) are fine (grainy but fine) - but SOME of the channels from the HDTV have horizontal squiggly black lines.

I do not get this behavior when I run MMC - on normal WinXP (I have dual booted this machine - so that I could fall back in case )

Please help - has anyone ever seen this issue?

I typed "Media Center Edition" in the search engine and brings a series of results (including the remote control), one of them is the OEM single pack (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2897917229&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=74686).

Originally posted by himey
I have a M-Audio 410 sound card and a M-Audio Revo sound card...I am thinking of upgrading to Mce 2005. Will either card give bit perfect/AISO/By Pass K Mixer quality sound? All my CDs are ripped to .ape format using EAC.

They will, but not when playing your .ape files with MCE. Normally each application uses an Asio plugin (winamp, foobar etc). That I know of there are no asio plugins for WMP10 (I think it is the application used by the MCE front end to play music).
I wonder if using Asio4All we would be a way of going around application specific plugins.. (http://www.asio4all.com/).
I will test it to see if it will allow Asio passthrough...

Originally posted by JackLT
Couple of questions:

1) When using an Extender (linksys or xbox) can you schedule TV recordings and pause live TV?

2) With an extender can you play mpgs or just MCE recordings?

3) When the extender is active, can you use the main PC?

4) Comments on multimontors, svideo etc..

thanks for any help...
In regards to number 3. Can the person using the main TV watch live TV while the other person is also wathing live TV ( Dual Tuners )? Can both sides watch recorded TV? Can both sides get to the Music and Pictures as well?

Originally posted by gnollo
I typed "Media Center Edition" in the search engine and brings a series of results (including the remote control), one of them is the OEM single pack (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2897917229&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=74686).
Thats really strange, I can get to it from your link and it shows the price in pounds but when I search for it everythings in dollars and it doesn't show up.

Can MCE 2005 be changed to record in mpeg2 instead of DVR-MS.
I read some where it could be done but I can't find the web site again
Thanks

Does this have to be installed on a clean hard drive, or can it be installed on top of e.g. Win XP? In the past OEM versions required new/clean hard drives to install. I am rebuilding my PC now, and I was wondering if I should try out MCE - the plan is the PC will become a HTPC soon

Christian

Originally posted by bollingm
In regards to number 3. Can the person using the main TV watch live TV while the other person is also wathing live TV ( Dual Tuners )? Can both sides watch recorded TV? Can both sides get to the Music and Pictures as well?
Yes, yes, and yes.

Originally posted by tkellytn
Can MCE 2005 be changed to record in mpeg2 instead of DVR-MS.
I read some where it could be done but I can't find the web site again
Thanks
If so it'd be something of a hack.

What *I* would be interested in, since DVR-MS *is* just mpeg-2 with added metadata, would be a util to strip that extra metadata to make a standard mpeg-2 file for editing, without the need to re-encode it...

Ok, I have tried to digest this thread, and I am coming up short in a few areas that I would like to get clarified:

1. EXACTLY what steps do I need to take to get an HDTV Wonder installed in MCE 2005 and in what order?

- Do I have to install anything from the included CD, or does the HDTV Windows Update for MCE 2005 get me everything (assuming I only want to use the card inside of MCE).

- If I do need ATI drivers, do I install anything from the CD before installing the updated drivers from their site? (current as of 8/19/04)?

2. Either officially or unofficially, does the AIW 9800's analog tuner work? If unofficially, where do I get what I need for that? I saw reference to xpmce or something like that?

I would really appreciate some input from someone who has it working. Currently, I have MCE 2005 installed using an NVIDIA 6800 card for video, and a Hauppage 250MCE for analog. I also have a DVICO Fusion 3 in there, but it isn't working. I got some bad info that it would work from TGB.

I would like to know if I can get my AIW 9800 working on another computer I intend to install MCE 2005 on.

If anyone could speak to this, I would REALLY appreciate it!

Thanks,

Rob

Couldn't get to the bios but the hack in the registry has worked.
Fans stop now when I suspend, and the HTPC restarts from remote. I will test it tonight with a timed recording to see if it responds properly.
Is MCE multiregional as per dvd playback?
I need to install dvd regionkiller and make my Sony drive regionfree... no luck playing region1 dvds so far.
Installed latest NVidia drivers, no noticeable change for me.
Still having trouble with My music. All I want is for the damn thing to show album covers according to the folders I organised. It just does its own thing, creates new icons for a single track that it decides it should be shown on its own, and ignores the folder structure... mmhhh.

robroy-

Here are the steps I used to get the HDTV Wonder Installed

1. Install nothing from the CD
2. Go to ATI's website and download the first three packages under the hdtv wonder. Install each package. You don't need the MMC unless you're going to use outside of MCE
3. Install the card. Let windows do its thing. It will find several devices.
4. The BDA drivers are supposed to be on windows update (the real version) by now. If you set the install up right, it may go out and get the BDA drivers for you. If it didn't:
4. Anyway, after the card installs, check device mgr-you should see approx 4 items for the HDTV wonder under sound and video devices.
5. Launch explorer, go to windows update. If the BDA drivers didn't install above, you should see a (1) beside driver updates.
6. You may also get the HDTV roll-up for MCE here as well if you haven't already done that.
7. Reboot-check device mgr to amke sure everyhting is there, with no yellow ?
8. Launch MCE-you may have to set up you analog tuner again-or not.
9. You should see a "set up digital TV" option under settings>TV. Choose it and follow the prompts.

If you got to the launch MCE part and MCE doesn't find any TV tuners:

1. Exit MCE
2. In device manager, delete (uninstall) your analog card
3. reboot, let windows reinstall the driver for your hauppage card
4. Go back to MCE and try again.

The last part is what I have to deal with on every reboot using the ehomewonder along with the HDTV Wonder. Its been reported that the Hauppage cards can do the same.

good luck.

Originally posted by Alec
I'd like to extend the earlier posed question about the ATI All-In Wonder 9800's use in MCE2005, to ATI's AIW9X00 family. I think the drivers and behavior is similar.

So the questions are:

1. Can ATI All-In Wonder 9x00's analog tuner (or composite/S-video input) be recognized / used by the MCE2005, and if so, what are the steps to do so;

2. If one has both the ATI All-In Wonder 9x00 and an ATI HDTV Wonder, one has a total of 3 tuners (1 analog in AIW, 1 analog in HDTV Wonder, 1 digital in HDTV Wonder) and 2 analog video inputs. Which of these can be addressed / used in MCE2005 at the same time (i.e. for simultaneous recording or picture-in-picture) or at least recognized individually for switching amoing them? What drivers or install procedures are needed to enable this?

3. Can ATI's RemoteWonder 2 be programmed somehow to work as the Windows MCE remote control, and if so, what can and what can't be done?

Thanks
Alec

Alex, did you ever figure out the ATI 9x00 question?

As far as the RW2, you could use it with Girder to send commands to MCE

After MUCH work (steps below) I have AIW 9800 pro and HDTV Wonder recording at the same TIME!! I can even watch a DVD while they are recording (or a previously recorded show!!) This thing ROCKS!! ATI MMC eats dust now:D

So steps:

1) Clean install of mce 2005 - while installing it will ask for disk two (insert disk 2). Then it will ask for "Windows XP Professionsal Service Pack2" - this is just disk one of MCE. Follow through the initialization and you are ready for step 2

2) Install MOBO drivers (sound, LAN, etc)

3) Run ALL updates - including mce 2005 rollup, etc. I mean ALL except for drivers (that comes later).

Things like .Net and the sort. Reboot after each install.

4) Now you will either see ? in the device manager for the HDTV wonder or you will not. If you do - unpack the cab file I have attached and use the drivers in the cab file. For each unknown device point the wizard to the unpacked directory and then reboot after all drivers are found.

5) Install the DTV Decoder from ATI's website: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/atiCDwiz4-0.exe It will ask you for the original CD that came with the HDTV Wonder - insert the CD and then follow the instructions. Then reboot.

6) Next get the kram hacked drivers for the AIW card from the following site:

http://www.xpmce.com/forum/ftopic88674.html

7) unpack the zip file and run setup from root directory - then after the setup is complete - Reboot

8) MCE will startup and ask for the drivers - point the wizard at the EHOMEAIW\WDM_XP directory.

9) Point the setup to this directory for all the drivers needed. Now you are good to go (reboot again just to be safe).

10) No more unknown hardware errors should occur and you should be good to go.

11) MAKE sure that the antenna cables are attached.

12) Start up mediacenter and go to settings TV and setup the TV Tuners.

13) You will first configure the AIW and then the HDTV wonder.

Hope that helps some people!

Alec:

1) This will answer question #1

2) You can only reference the AIW tuner and the HDTV tuner on the HDTV Wonder (have not tried to address the analog tuner - but MCE has not given me the option anyway - so I guess no :p )

3) I use the HDTV wonder remote and the plugin from this web site:
http://remotew.free.fr/plugins.htm#MCE

All the best!

Sounds like a great setup. Question--is this only for the MCE+HDTV wonder + Ehome tuner card?

What if I have a different tuner card? Will the hack still work?

OOPS!!

Here are the HDTV Wonder drivers mentioned in the posting above.

4) Now you will either see ? in the device manager for the HDTV wonder or you will not. If you do - unpack the cab file I have attached and use the drivers in the cab file. For each unknown device point the wizard to the unpacked directory and then reboot after all drivers are found.

Sorry for that miss :D

Originally posted by scottb4u
Sounds like a great setup. Question--is this only for the MCE+HDTV wonder + Ehome tuner card?

What if I have a different tuner card? Will the hack still work?

The setup I defined above is for an AIW 9800 Pro and an HDTV Wonder

Originally posted by gnollo
Couldn't get to the bios but the hack in the registry has worked.
Fans stop now when I suspend, and the HTPC restarts from remote. I will test it tonight with a timed recording to see if it responds properly.


I want to be able to hibernate my machine and have it wake up to record the shows.

I have an AIW 9800 Pro and an HDTV Wonder. I can schedule shows to record and it will record them fine. What does not work is if I hibernate the machine - it does not wake up to record the shows by itself.

When I create a task (Windows Task) to wake up the machine (to run a simple empty batch file) - it wakes up and records the show - but that is a manual process.

What extra step do I need to do when I setup a recording to tell it to wake from hibernation and then record the show at the scheduled time? I could not find this anywhere in the settings for recording or for the recording itself - please help!

Thanks!

Good and bad.
Good= after the registry hack, the PC is silent and wakes up from suspend, to record the program as scheduled
Bad= the recording was corrupted
More testing to be done, I can see a rollback looming at the horizon.

Is there any kind of a hack or work around to get the HD Wonder working in MCE 2005 without an additional analog tuner?

Originally posted by dantenatas
Is there any kind of a hack or work around to get the HD Wonder working in MCE 2005 without an additional analog tuner?

That's what I want to know as well. I just want to use a digital card.

Today, ATI finally posted the new HDTV Wonder drivers on their website:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/hdtv-wonder-4-10-2014.exe

So now we have both the E-Home and the HDTV Wonder drivers with a proper installer. So far so good, but both drivers are rather old, especially the E-Home dating back to June. Nevertheless, we should be happy that ATI now has them on their site officially.

The big issue where you have to reboot Windows several times before it finally detects the analog tuner still has not been fixed yet. This is something that, at least in my opinion, Microsoft has to work on, because it is happening with tuner cards from different manufacturers. Also, as posted earlier, it seems that you can disable the Fusion's analog tuner in the device manager, which seems to take care of the reboot issue. Unfortunately, you cannot do the same with the ATI HDTV Wonder, because both the analog and the digital tuner use the same driver (the third from the top/bottom, "Analog and Digital Tuner Device". If you disable that one, both the analog and the digital tuner stop working.

I'm with you VBB. I like to reboot any PC every few days or so and going thru device manager, etc. slows that process down.

Does anyone have any sound out of your analog soundcard outputs when watching a digital channel thru the HDTV wonder? AC3Filter v.70 worked great for me on DVD and analog TV thru the ehome wonder, but I get nothing via analog outputs when I switch to a digital channel. Sound Card is an Audigy ZS. I've tried both versions of AC3Filter and the Nvidia Codecs (I'm using the decoder pack from the web site). I don't mind buying the TT package to get the Nvidia Decoders that do DD and DTS-but still think that AC3Filter should work. Its lamost like there is some other Decoder that comes into play when switching to a digital source in MCE.

Ideas?

Quick report. I am getting MCE crashes and freezes since I upgraded to the latest version of the Nvidia drivers. I wonder if it is time to roll back.
I have downloaded Sonic Prime Time. I had a little play and this is what I can report.
It allows you to burn to DVD a dvr-ms file to DVD from within MCE (using the remote). You cannot burn a DVD for standalone use from within MCE, you need to use keyboard and mouse (at least I havent found a way).
Of the recordings I had, one was too large for a DVD (2 hour movie) and would not be burned. There doesnt seem to be an option to resize the movie.
I am not too hot about that...
Also I made my drive regionfree using patched firmware and installed DVD Region Killer, and now I can play region 1 dvds via MCE.

Also I was having problems playing back dvr-ms files on my other HTPC via the network.
Downloaded the windows fix
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fb4c2c2e-60ea-4ed9-bc68-e93c9e65c58e&displaylang=en
Guess what, I still have a problem.

I posted this in the AC3 thread, but was wondering if perhaps this might be a better place to find an answer. Hopefully my other issues with AC3 can be answered there. Anyway, here goes.

i've just started playing with this stuff myself on MCE2005. okay, can someone take a stab at this. when launching the WMV-HD clips via media center, the DD5.1 lights up on my receiver. when launching the same clips via windows media player, it's just passing PCM audio. it also seems like all of the audio is coming out of all speakers, even though DD5.1 is lighting up.

any takers?

fish

I'm also experiencing another issue, which I can not figure out at all. I can not play DVD's via MCE, I get an error advising that the Video Decoder is corrupt or not functioning properly. I have no problems watching DVD's via PowerDVD. I did have the NVIDIA Decoder installed, thought that was the problem and uninstalled it. I feel like I'm so close to having the system just how I want it, but I'm going nuts trying to iron out these final bugs.

fish

Don't know if anyone is interested but I picked up an Xbox Media Center Extender tonight at Future Shop here in Calgary (best buy also said they had some coming in this weekend). It came to $99cdn and included an IR adapter (same as the DVD one) and a remote (similar but not as nice as the stock MCE one) a CD for the MCE 2005 system and a DVD to use in the xbox.

Verdict? It installed quite easily and I was able to not only watch live TV (pause, stop, FFD etc.) but I was able to set recordings on the main box, playback recorded shows (perfectly I might add) and all the regular media management you would do.

Very nice to use, only PITA is having to put the disc in to start it, not a huge deal if it's that box's main task but annoying all the same. For the money it's not bad, especially if you take into account that you don't need to buy a DVD remote, so for $99 if you were planning on buying the DVD remote you could save $50-55 cdn.

Originally posted by poisson
I posted this in the AC3 thread, but was wondering if perhaps this might be a better place to find an answer. Hopefully my other issues with AC3 can be answered there. Anyway, here goes.

i've just started playing with this stuff myself on MCE2005. okay, can someone take a stab at this. when launching the WMV-HD clips via media center, the DD5.1 lights up on my receiver. when launching the same clips via windows media player, it's just passing PCM audio. it also seems like all of the audio is coming out of all speakers, even though DD5.1 is lighting up.

any takers?

fish

- how did you connect HTPC to amplifier, 6 analogues or SPDIF?
- is your amp set to DPII or similar?
- do you know that WMV-HD normally don't come with DD soundtrack, but have a analogue WMV track?
- what file did you try to play?
- isnt' it normal that music comes out of all speaker when DD5.1 is lit? Or do you mean it sounds like it is set to "hall" so the same sound effect comes out of all speakers, instead of surround effects?

Originally posted by cowtown
Don't know if anyone is interested but I picked up an Xbox Media Center Extender tonight at Future Shop here in Calgary (best buy also said they had some coming in this weekend). It came to $99cdn and included an IR adapter (same as the DVD one) and a remote (similar but not as nice as the stock MCE one) a CD for the MCE 2005 system and a DVD to use in the xbox.

Verdict? It installed quite easily and I was able to not only watch live TV (pause, stop, FFD etc.) but I was able to set recordings on the main box, playback recorded shows (perfectly I might add) and all the regular media management you would do.

Very nice to use, only PITA is having to put the disc in to start it, not a huge deal if it's that box's main task but annoying all the same. For the money it's not bad, especially if you take into account that you don't need to buy a DVD remote, so for $99 if you were planning on buying the DVD remote you could save $50-55 cdn.


Download the codec checker from Microsoft, and see if that helps.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DE1491AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en
I have just changed my codec to PowerDVD et voila, my other HTPC refused to play my recorded files from Media Center and now works.
Happy Days!
In the meantime I have removed the registry entry as it prevented MCE from recording again after suspend.

Okay, so I did some more testing, installed PowerDVD 6.0 Deluxe, and voila, everything works. I was having some other issues that have been resolved as well.

I uninstalled the Nvidia Decoder, uninstalled my old version of PowerDVD. Before this, I had successfully gotten AC3 Filter to produce DD5.1 for divX/XviD files via Media Center only. With Windows Media Player I was only able to pass PCM, my receiver auto-switches when true DD5.1 is coming through. I'd had trouble with WMV-HD outputting 5.1, the receiver lit up, but i realized that DPLII was active on the receiver. Downloaded most of the WMV-HD clips and started testing with those, no luck. Also tried the WMA Pro 5.1 test clip which you can d/l, tried it and no luck.

The next problem I was having was the DVD Decoder error, indicating that the Decoder was not workign properly, this prevented me from watching DVD's with Media Center and with Media Player, no video.

Installed PowerDVD 6, checked the DVD playback, resolved. Checked to ensure that AC3 5.1 was being passed with DivX/Xvid, still working. Launch WMV-HD clips, DD5.1 lights up on my receiver and video plays no problem with 5.1 discreate channels.

I couldn't be happier.

by the way, I'm running a P4 2.0Ghz Dell Dimension 8200 with 1GB RDRAM PC800 and ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB. I'm using a Santa Cruz Turtle Beach sound card for audio. No stuttering on any of the 720p clips at all. I need to order some of these WMV-HD movies now that I've gotten this all working. Time to save for a new processor? Oh man.

Thanks for replying, I hope to contribute as much as possible to this thread.

fish

I have another possible question for the faq:

What is the maximum number of tuners supported by mce 2k5?

Anyone know?

Derek

Originally posted by Derek K.
What is the maximum number of tuners supported by mce 2k5?
Officially, I believe it's 2 analog + 1 ATSC, but I've heard reports of 1 analog + 2 ATSC working fine, though that's not a "supported" configuration.

But 3 analog tuners isn't supported? Bummer, because I really thought 3 tuners would be handy. At least now I don't have to wait until nvidia's dual tuner card is available. :-)

Thanks,
Derek

Originally posted by Derek K.
But 3 analog tuners isn't supported? Bummer, because I really thought 3 tuners would be handy. At least now I don't have to wait until nvidia's dual tuner card is available. :-)
Of course, "not supported" doesn't always mean "won't work". It'd be interesting to try. :-)

Has anyone gotten any of the downloads from www.thegreenbutton.com to work? I've tried the alarm clock, didn't go off. Tried RSS reader, and nothing happens when I launch the .exe.

fish

That's interesting about support for dual ATSC tuners. I would really like to have that confirmed, especially if two ATI HDTV Wonders will coexist in the same pc and work in MCE. I've got one working very well and would add a second if it really works.

On another topic, I had the problem many others report with the eHome Wonder not being seen after a boot, requiring a reinstall then reboot to work. I have switched to an ATI AIW 9600XT as my analog tuner, removing the eHome Wonder, using Kram's drivers from xpmce and that combination with the HDTV Wonder works every time after a reboot.

I searched this thread and skimmed through it regarding pc requirements for MCE 2005 and ATI HDTV Wonder. They differ.
From MS web site http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/hdtv.mspx

Video adapter with 128-MB DDR video memory with 128-bit interface; an AGP8x interface or PCI express; video memory bandwidth of 10 GB per second or greater; support for MPEG-2 iDCT acceleration. You might not find all of this information included in the hardware specification for the video adapter. If that is the case, try calling the manufacturer directly to inquire or contact your PC hardware manufacturer for video adapter recommendations.

• 2.4-Ghz CPU or greater.

From ATI Web site http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2546404
System Requirements
Intel® Pentium® 4, Celeron™, AMD Athlon® or compatible, operating at 1.3GHz or greater
256MB of system memory
Available PCI slot for HDTV WONDER™ card
Graphics card with 64MB or greater of frame buffer and Microsoft DirectX 9.0 support
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
Interactive Program guide requires Internet connection for listing updates
Remote Control receiver requires available USB port
Sound card with speakers
-----------------
Don't want to have to buy a 2.4 ghz box if this would work with a 1.5 P4.
I also searched the ATI HDTV thread and found nothing about requirements for using both. You would think they would coordinate on providing clear minimum requirements for their combined usage.

So why does MCE 2005 ask for more CPU and graphics ram than the ATI HDTV wonder does?
CPU Video Ram
MCE 2.4 128MB DDR
ATI HDTV Wonder 1.3 64MB

Would MCE 2005 work with an ATI HDTV wonder and a video card of of the ATI Radeon 9600 or better flavor with a P4 1.5GHZ?

What is the min CPU anyone is using successfully with this card?
Bryan

Originally posted by bryankeithg
So why does MCE 2005 ask for more CPU and graphics ram than the ATI HDTV wonder does?

Just speculation here, but perhaps ATI is specing the bare minimum just to watch a live ATSC stream, while MCE is specing a system to PVR that ATSC stream, at the same time that it's recording off your analog card, at the same time that an extender or two are streaming video off the PC's hard drive, etc.? Again, just speculation.

In a way I have three tuners working... ehome wonder, HDTV Wonder and my DirecTV STB via the ehome's Svideo input. The MCE guide creates three number ranges for the three tuners so you can decide which tuner to select.

Still waiting on a fix for the eHome reboot issue though... I just de-install it before I do a reboot now...

Does anyone else have to really push the MS remote buttons to get the computer to respond? I can see the IR receiver light flash when I push the button but nothing happens unless I really bear down. Can this be adjusted anywhere?

Don

Sorry, one more thing. While MCE tuner live TV and recorded TV playback works fine, if I pause for a few minutes and then start it up again the video seems to studder and doesn't go with the audio. I have to stop the playback and restart it again to get things back in sync. Has anyone else seen this or have a fix? I have a 2.8Mhz P4, but it's not multithreaded...

Don

Which PowerDVD version are people buying? Sounds like people are buying 6.0 or is 5.0 good enough?

So which version is the best and which is the minimal one that has MCE 2005 support and dolby digital.

6.0 Deluxe
6.0 Standard
5.0 Deluxe
5.0 Standard

Thanks

Originally posted by kolvadw
Does anyone else have to really push the MS remote buttons to get the computer to respond? I can see the IR receiver light flash when I push the button but nothing happens unless I really bear down.
That happened to me; replacing the remote battery fixed it. :-)

I have just tryed to play back a recording on another PC. Cpu to 100%, stuttering like mad (Pentium 3 1Ghz). Will test on a higher spec PC to see if it will help.

Thanks for the thread Gnollo.

1) Wondering if its possible to select a mpg in MCE's My Videos with the remote, then have Zoomplayer play it so FFDshow is used?

2) Can a USB-UIRT be used with MCE instead of the MS remote, and still have all functions?

To all of you who's gotten Fusion HD to work:

Can recorded HD be shared between MCE2005 machines?

Can you watch HD Live from another MCE2005 machine (not extenders)?

Reposting this question.
What is the min CPU anyone is using successfully with ATI HDTV wonder card for PVR functionality on MCE 2005?
Bryan

Another note on MCE, quite a nice feature actually. I switched yesterday from Shaw Cable (both a mix of digital and analog) to Bell Expressvu Satellite (same as Dish network gear). To my PVR I only had Shaw analog going to the MCE box, worked fine but obviously picture quality wasn't ideal on many channels and no digital channels to record.

Well long story short, I pluged in the IR emitter into the MS IR receiver, ran it ot my BEV 3100 SD receiver and went through the MCE TV wizard again, after a couple hiccups with downloading provider data (servers must have been having issues right then) I was able to switch over no problem and have the box controlled properly to boot. The end results, very good picture quality and flawless execution. The really cool thing though, anything I had set to record including series were automatically switched over to the right time and channel. The MCE must work on a show code kind of idea because everything moved over easily, I didn't have to reconfigure my series I had set before. Not a huge thing because I only had 4 or 5 to do it with, but still very nice all the same.

As a result of the switch to satellite I am also rethinking my idea of going dual tuner too. With so many time shifting stations now, I really find very few circumstances where I need to record two different shows at the same time, there is almost always an alternative time. The other upshot is the picture quality now from the MCE2005 improvements, the Nvidia decorder and the switch to Bell make it so I could actually watch Live TV through the MCE and not want to gouge my eyes out. :P

Just another cool thing I thought I'd submit to the faq about switching over from one provider to another.

Originally posted by JackLT
1) Wondering if its possible to select a mpg in MCE's My Videos with the remote, then have Zoomplayer play it so FFDshow is used?

2) Can a USB-UIRT be used with MCE instead of the MS remote, and still have all functions?

I'm wondering the same things. Does anyone have info on either?

I recently change the My Documents location on my MCE to point to the place where all of my media was already sitting. I have everything I use media-wise on my D: drive and was in a folder called storage. Everything was setup great, I had album covers for almost all 700 albums I have, all showed in MCE no problem. Now that I've told my system this directory is where the My Documents folder should point to, the album covers are all not showing up. However, they are all there when I click to go into an album folder, like if I'm playing 1 track, it shows the cover. In the main list however, just that headphone icon.

Any thoughts? I am thinking it has something to do with the metadata information but I'm not sure what to do. It almost seems like I have to play the album before any of the images show up.

fish

poisson-

Drop out of MCE, open WMP10 and tell it to monitor the folder where all your music is. Also, you can run the "find Music wizard" (I think) in WMP10, point it at your music drive and it'll index and find everything.

I had to do the same thing to get my album art to show up and to find all the music. Setting up monitoring on my network drive seems to make my music faster to load everything eventhough its on a network drive.

Robert

FYI I found these keyboard shortcuts if anyone needs them!

Back = Backspace
Help = F1
Fullscreen = Alt + Enter
Close = Alt F4

Play / Pause = Ctrl + P
Stop = Ctrl + Shift + S
Record = Ctrl + R
Rewind = Ctrl + Shift + B
Fast Forward = Ctrl + Shift + F
Mute = F8
Volume Down = F9
Volume Up = F10

TV Page = Ctrl + Shift + T
Audio Page = Ctrl + M
Radio Page = Ctrl + A
Photos Page = Ctrl + I
Videos Page = Ctrl + E

Live TV = Ctrl + T
Recorded TV = Ctrl + 0
Guide Page = Ctrl + G

Hi guys,

I just built myself a MCE 2005 and so far I'm quite happy except I can't get DVD playback to work. I have PowerDVD 5.0 and I can play DVD just fine from PowerDVD interface. However, from MCE interface, it's telling me there's no decoder found?

I have ATI AIW 9800 Pro with the hacked driver to make MCE to recognize the tuner. Not sure if it's something to do with that or I need a newer version of the DVD software.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Simon

Originally posted by Carlton Bale
I'm wondering the same things. Does anyone have info on either?

Installed MCE, found that the USB-UIRT and Girder work OK for it, but looking for a MCE 2005 remote for ease of use.

Originally posted by htsource
Hi guys,

I just built myself a MCE 2005 and so far I'm quite happy except I can't get DVD playback to work. I have PowerDVD 5.0 and I can play DVD just fine from PowerDVD interface. However, from MCE interface, it's telling me there's no decoder found?

I have ATI AIW 9800 Pro with the hacked driver to make MCE to recognize the tuner. Not sure if it's something to do with that or I need a newer version of the DVD software.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Simon

Use the below application to tell MCE which decoder to use
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DE1491AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

Hi gnollo,

Thanks for your information, I checked and it told me it's not perferred decoder and it's not compatible with WM10. I went to CyberLink site and bought PowerDVD6. Seems to be okay now but I wasn't sure if I should go for NVidia decoder instead?

Thanks,

Simon

Nvidia decoder works (I use it), havent tried Windvd or Powerdvd with it, cannot say which is the best.

Thanks, is the decoder used for all movie playback such as recorded video through the guide?

Simon

That is the decoder used for playback and live TV.

I sterted (two weeks ago) with the Nvidia decoders and am now trying out the PowerDVD6 trial. Nvidia is smoother, but softer (by just a little bit). I think colors may be a little punchier from the powerDVD 6 codec. But I've only played around a little.

I am becoming convinced that Digital TV (via the HDTV wonder) is at least using a different Audio codec. Its driving me crazy that I can't get the analog out to work with the Digital stations. SPDIF only for them.

Originally posted by htsource
Hi guys,

I just built myself a MCE 2005 and so far I'm quite happy except I can't get DVD playback to work. I have PowerDVD 5.0 and I can play DVD just fine from PowerDVD interface. However, from MCE interface, it's telling me there's no decoder found?

I have ATI AIW 9800 Pro with the hacked driver to make MCE to recognize the tuner. Not sure if it's something to do with that or I need a newer version of the DVD software.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Simon

Install the DVD decoder that came with the ATI HDTV wonder disc

I see there's an ATI MCE 2005 plugin, can it emulate a true MCE remote such as DVD playback or TV navigation (record, pause/playback)? Obviously I don't have the true MS remote but I do have an ATI remote that came with my AIW 9800.

I also have a CyberLink PowerDVD remote, not sure if that's any good? Friend of mine has MCE 2004 Dell, I wonder if the remote hardware will work with MCE 2005? I might be able to borrow the remote from him for a few days. I'm feeding MCE cable for now but I do have sat service, I guess the MCE remote has IR blaster so it can control the sat box no problem?

Thanks again,

Simon

Okay, now I tried viewing pictures through MCE 2005 but it says there's no pictures in the folder? I have a mixture of JPG and TIF images and these are large format like 2048x1600 or something similar. I'd assume MCE can resize them no problem?

Also, my main music library is Monkey's Audio, what's the best way to import them into MCE? I know there's a plugin for Monkey's Audio but from what I read, it's not very good. How about WMA with lossless compression?

Thanks,

Simon

My MP3's are organized primarily by folder. Although they're all ID3 tagged correctly, I much prefer browsing by folder. Is there any way to do this under MCE?

As a sidenote, anyone know how to display more songs/playlists/albums per screen? The font MCE uses is HUGE and I would really like to be able to get more on screen.


edaly

Originally posted by JackLT
Installed MCE, found that the USB-UIRT and Girder work OK for it, but looking for a MCE 2005 remote for ease of use.

Thanks for the feedback. Can you give a little bit of detail on what you did to get the setup working? I'm guessing Girder needed the Media Center plug-in and the USB-UIRT plugin? What remote codes did you use?

Thanks for any info. I purchased MCE2005 without the remote, have a USB-UIRT and a Pronto remote. This is the configuration I'd prefer to use since it's already paid for.

Originally posted by Carlton Bale
Thanks for the feedback. Can you give a little bit of detail on what you did to get the setup working? I'm guessing Girder needed the Media Center plug-in and the USB-UIRT plugin? What remote codes did you use?



I just used the USB-UIRT plugin, and a MCE gml file.

Is anyone using MCE 2005 with the ATI HDTV card for PVR functionality that can tell me what CPU speed they are using?

Perhaps this is the wrong thread, if so let me know.
Bryan

I'm using a 3.4Ghz P4. Have recorded an SD show/HD Show and watched a recoding of an SD show simultaneously. No hiccups anywhere. Machine is a Dell XPS Gen3 w/ 400gb SATA and 1gb memory and an X800 PCIe card.

Help?

Curious to know if anyone has the Xbox MCE extender and if you do, how do you like it? Eventually I'd like to be able to watch any recorded materials from a set top box anywhere in the house from the MCE computer. Xbox extender sounds like a good idea and not too expensive to make it happen.

Thanks,

Simon

Well, finally broke down... created a partition and set it up.... WOW!.... I'm impressed.... I like it very much but it has 2, maybe 3 big cracks in the dam right now.... I need:

1) ASIO support or a fix for kmixer
2) I REALLY miss my RPTV's "Smart-Stretch" on SDTV.... since I have my vid card set to output 1080i to my RPTV's component inputs, watching SDTV at 4:3, not filling the screen, is a deal breaker....
3) FFDshow in the DVD chain would be really nice, but I can live without it for casual DVD viewing...

any thoughts?

:cool:

Originally posted by jimwhite
2) I REALLY miss my RPTV's "Smart-Stretch" on SDTV.... since I have my vid card set to output 1080i to my RPTV's component inputs, watching SDTV at 4:3, not filling the screen, is a deal breaker....

any thoughts?

[/B]

If you right mouse click on the screen there is a zoom menu option. MCE has 3 or 4 zoom levels and work great. The zoom levels wok for me just fine. It seems to remember the zoom levels for the content delivered. So if you last set the zoom level for SD content to zoom level 2, then it remembers that for the next SD feed, but for the HD feed it does not zoom.

David

Originally posted by htsource
I see there's an ATI MCE 2005 plugin, can it emulate a true MCE remote such as DVD playback or TV navigation (record, pause/playback)? Obviously I don't have the true MS remote but I do have an ATI remote that came with my AIW 9800.

I also have a CyberLink PowerDVD remote, not sure if that's any good? Friend of mine has MCE 2004 Dell, I wonder if the remote hardware will work with MCE 2005? I might be able to borrow the remote from him for a few days. I'm feeding MCE cable for now but I do have sat service, I guess the MCE remote has IR blaster so it can control the sat box no problem?

Thanks again,

Simon

The ATI Wonder Remote works great (make sure to get the plugin - http://remotew.free.fr/plugins.htm#MCE).

Things that are missing:
1) The green button - which would take you to the home page
2) The back button does not work to take you back pages - just works within a page
3) The zoom button

But the mouse part of the wonder can make up for most of these issues

Originally posted by jimwhite
Well, finally broke down... created a partition and set it up.... WOW!.... I'm impressed.... I like it very much but it has 2, maybe 3 big cracks in the dam right now.... I need:

1) ASIO support or a fix for kmixer
2) I REALLY miss my RPTV's "Smart-Stretch" on SDTV.... since I have my vid card set to output 1080i to my RPTV's component inputs, watching SDTV at 4:3, not filling the screen, is a deal breaker....
3) FFDshow in the DVD chain would be really nice, but I can live without it for casual DVD viewing...

any thoughts?

:cool:

Are we actually sure that Kmixer is in use in this version of XP?
I have optical in from my HPTC into a Denon AVR 1705. Sounds pretty good to me. But then again, I have converted all my ape files to mp3s (getting ready for an IPOD). [I know, shock horror]

Here is something interesting that I got it to work without another analog tuner card.

1. Install MCE2005
2. Install all drivers (sound, lan, etc) EXCEPT for the video card and ATI HDTV Wonder.
3. Install the rollback update for MCE to use a digital tuner for HDTV
4. Now install the Video Card and HDTV Wonder drivers. Use the Kram hack driver. Don't worry if MCE can't detect the HDTV card.
5. Get a cheap tv analog tuner. I used the ATI TV Wonder VE ($49.99).
6. Install the TV Wonder VE driver ONLY. Download the E-Home Wonder Driver and install it too.
7. Reboot
8. Start MCE and start your TV config.
9. Shutdown and take out your TV Wonder VE card.
10. Boot up with only the HDTV wonder card. Make sure that you connect the antenna and cable to get some signal.
11. Go back to MCE again and do the automatic TV setup to get your signal.
a. It will detect the cable or satellite signal that you put in the analog signal.
b. Once that is done, it will configure your DTV signal.

PC setup:
ATI 9600xt
ATI HDTV Wonder
Microsoft Media center remote with IR receiver.
ASUS with Athlon 64bit 2800+
512 RAM
120 HD
ATI TV Wonder VE ($49.99)

--------------

Is there a way to get MCE2005 without having the IR hardware when you first try to configure the TV signal?

somewhere I saw mention of a downloadable app which allows you to select which decoders MCE will use.... anyone have a link?.... I searched but couldn't find it....

:confused:

Originally posted by jimwhite
somewhere I saw mention of a downloadable app which allows you to select which decoders MCE will use.... anyone have a link?.... I searched but couldn't find it....

:confused: It's called DecCheck and you also get to (optionally) let Microsoft check out your XP licensing before you download:

Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=de1491ac-0ab6-4990-943d-627e6ade9fcb&displaylang=en)

MCX (Media Center Extender) Experiences yet?

I couldn't pass up the rebate deal on the Linksys Extender at Best Buy (nice to be able to easily return things!). Brought it home, hooked it up, like it (its hooked to a bedroom TV-a semi new 27" SDTV).

Impressions:

1. It didn't want to find my network (wireless-G, Netgear Router) until I turned on UPnP on the router-which I had turned off when I had some issues with the SP2 Firewall and my network.
2. PQ on an SD set is really, really good. I cannot tellit from the native D* signal from the STB.
3. A cheap wireless G router will work-or seems to. I've done a few short wireless downloads tonight from my laptop and no hickups playing back a recorded show on the extender. If you've got a lot of wireless stuff in the house, you might want the A/G router that MS recommends.
4. I'm not sure I like the Linksys remote-why can't they make them all the same? its gotall the same buttons, but they are all in slightly different places.

Long term, Imay go wired in the bedroom-its the only place I didn't carry cat5e when I did my Sat antenna and network wiring before-a dumb mistake. but my network is not exactly stressed. We'll seee what happens when my wife cranks up her VPN connection wirelessly.

Oh, I purposely rebooted my router in the middle of playback-the extender blackscreened, then recovered to the start menu-when I went back to the recorded show, it let me resume playback at almost the correct spot-not bad.

Unfortunately, the MCE box lost all my Digital channels as of this morning. A qick reboot disn't bring them all back. regualr channels and all other functions are working fine. If I can ever get some tiny kinks out, this system will work wonders. For anyone still on SDTV only-get an MCE box or build one with dual tuners and you'll have a really nice set-up. All of my subtle problems so far I can pretty much trace to the slapped together nature of the HDTV support and/orhardware.

Okay, so I just have a some questions regarding the difference between some of the PRV capabilities, and the TV Tuner cards. Perhaps someone can provide a short comparison of what they will do.

I have directv and want to incorporate this into my MCE so that I can PVR programming. I would also like to connect analog coax cable, I live in Canada so we get about 100 channels via coax, and an HDTV Tuner card.

Can this be done with just the ATI-HDTV tuner?
What exactly is the ehome wonder used for?
Do I need a second tuner in addition to the HDTV one?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

fish

I'm trying to set up my new MCE. I would like to know if its possible to close MCE with the press of a remote button (ALT F4) Is there any way to edit a remote control file to add that feature? or some other trick

Originally posted by phantomfsoc
I'm trying to set up my new MCE. I would like to know if its possible to close MCE with the press of a remote button (ALT F4) Is there any way to edit a remote control file to add that feature? or some other trick

Yeah what's up with not having a way to shut down MCE with the remote? Bizarre.

Installed MCE this weekend and noticed right away that the volume control and mute buttons on the Microsoft remote don't seem to have any effect on the SPDIF output.

Is anyone here using SPDIF output and can adjust the volume with the remote?


edaly

The volume control buttons are programable. I have prorgam them to the volume bottons of my receiver. You can program also the power botton but not the mute.

stef_nl

Originally posted by edaly
Yeah what's up with not having a way to shut down MCE with the remote? Bizarre.

I can shut down MCE (or the computer) using the remote. I'm at work right now and can't remember which button, but I think it was using the green windows button when in the main menu and then the up arrow to get to the shut down, etc. options.

CJ

From menu, left arrow over and it places you on the icon/time button. Button then changes to Shut down options to shut down media center,
logoff, restart computer, stand-by,etc.

Originally posted by stef_nl
The volume control buttons are programable. I have prorgam them to the volume bottons of my receiver. You can program also the power botton but not the mute.

stef_nl
How do you program the power button and the volume control to operate the amplifier? I have searched for the info but was not able to find it..

Hi, quick question for Rlundy since you have the Linksys extender, or anyone else. Can you use the extender to watch a DVD playing from the DVD-drive of the main PC (as opposed to one ripped to the harddrive)? I assume so, but I've found assuming things is the path to disappointment with HTPC! If you can, are there any restrictions - I think I read the extender can only output 480p via the component outs, but are there any other wierd things?

Thanks, Mark

Originally posted by stef_nl
The volume control buttons are programable. I have prorgam them to the volume bottons of my receiver. You can program also the power botton but not the mute.

stef_nl

Yes but why can't it just adjust the volume over the SPDIF output? WinAmp can do this no problem, as well as mute.

Coming in Media Center Edition 2006 - Muting technology!


edaly

I can say that the Xbox Media Center Extender does not allow for DVD playback from the main PC.

Originally posted by cowtown
I can say that the Xbox Media Center Extender does not allow for DVD playback from the main PC.

That seems kind of dumb to me. I hope the same is not true for the Linksys extender, but maybe someone can confirm? The extender can play dvd files ripped to the harddrive, correct?

Originally posted by gnollo
How do you program the power button and the volume control to operate the amplifier? I have searched for the info but was not able to find it.. To program buttons on the remote control using the learning feature

1. Place the remote control for Media Center PC head to head (2 to 3 inches apart) with the remote from which it is learning.

2. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and hold the DVD MENU and OK buttons at the same time until the remote control lights turn off (2 seconds).

3. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and release the TV, VOL+, or VOL- button, depending on which command you want it to learn.

4. On the remote control that is teaching the command, press and hold the button that you want the corresponding button on the remote control for Media Center PC to learn.

The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm the selection.

If the remote did not learn the command, the lights blink quickly four times. To try again, repeat steps 1 through 4.

To restore the default remote control settings

1. Press and hold the DVD MENU button and the LEFT navigation button at the same time until the remote control for Media Center PC lights turn off.

2. Press the OK button.

The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm that the buttons have been reset. The TV button will have no command assigned to it and the VOL+ and VOL- buttons will adjust the Media Center PC volume.

Any one care to touch my earlier post? Does the HDTV Wonder allow you to use it's analog tuner? Or if you're using it for HDTV, is the analog tuner useless? The ATI website indicates that in order to have the analog tuner working you would need an additional Ehome Wonder for analog cable and directv.

I've searched but haven't been able to make heads or tales of all of the different configurations people have come up with.

fish

Originally posted by poisson
Any one care to touch my earlier post? Does the HDTV Wonder allow you to use it's analog tuner? Or if you're using it for HDTV, is the analog tuner useless? The ATI website indicates that in order to have the analog tuner working you would need an additional Ehome Wonder for analog cable and directv.

I've searched but haven't been able to make heads or tales of all of the different configurations people have come up with.

fish

The ATI Wonder's analog tuner is not usable with MCE, since it is a software based encoding card. Perhaps with some hack you can (e.g. the way people got the ATI all in wonder cards to work in MCE), but I'm not sure.

Regardless, to get the HD tuner working you need a hardware encoding tuner.

Dalbrit-

No, the extender cannot play a disk in the MCE Computer's DVD drive-apparently a copyright violation of some kind. If you want to use a single device, the xbox with the extender kit is the best bet, since it can also play DVDs. I have several DVD players so it wasn't an issue.

Robert

thanks Rlundy for the clarification. Do you know if the extender can play dvds that have been previously ripped to the harddrive? According to the FAQ on Microsoft's Web site the extender can play MPEG-2 files from the parent computer, so I am assuming this means it can play DVDs that have been ripped.

Cheers, Mark

In my experience, the extender cannot play .TS or .ISO files. It also will only output a 4:3 aspect ratio. I don't think it can do anything except stereo audio. I am using mine to play children's DVDs that I have ripped into MPEG2 with stereo audio and it works fine, but I don't think I could play a full 5.1 audio track of a ripped movie. If you are looking to use an extender to watch a full quality DVD with multichannel audio, I don't think it's possible right now (maybe not ever).

Originally posted by Steve Schauer
To program buttons on the remote control using the learning feature

1. Place the remote control for Media Center PC head to head (2 to 3 inches apart) with the remote from which it is learning.

2. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and hold the DVD MENU and OK buttons at the same time until the remote control lights turn off (2 seconds).

3. On the remote control for Media Center PC, press and release the TV, VOL+, or VOL- button, depending on which command you want it to learn.

4. On the remote control that is teaching the command, press and hold the button that you want the corresponding button on the remote control for Media Center PC to learn.

The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm the selection.

If the remote did not learn the command, the lights blink quickly four times. To try again, repeat steps 1 through 4.

To restore the default remote control settings

1. Press and hold the DVD MENU button and the LEFT navigation button at the same time until the remote control for Media Center PC lights turn off.

2. Press the OK button.

The remote control for Media Center PC lights blink twice to confirm that the buttons have been reset. The TV button will have no command assigned to it and the VOL+ and VOL- buttons will adjust the Media Center PC volume.

Mmmh, worked for me after many attempts.... is the mute supposed to be programmable?

Originally posted by gnollo
mmmh, doesnt seem to work for me.... nothing happens if I press DVD Menu and OK. I see some flashing activity when I press DVD Menu and Left, but that is it....

It worked for me, but took two tries..shrug. (Specifically, I programmed the TV button to my LCD's power button)

Thanks Genro, worked for me after a few attempts and tilting the remotes at impossible angles.
I have my power button controlling the amplifier. Since a friend of mine's appartment went up in flames because his TV decided to sizzle up while on standby, I always power off the TV completely. For the time being I have a CRT in my front room. [sorry going off topic here]

Originally posted by gnollo
is the mute supposed to be programmable?

According to stef_nl, it is not programmable.

CJ

I have scanned through the thread, but couldn't see a definitive answer.

I have a Dell 400SC 2.8GHz/800MHz server running a Hauppauge PVR-250 MCE, MCE 2004, and an AIW 9800 Pro. On the AIW I have the tuner, etc disabled in Device Manager.

If I get a copy of MCE 2005, can I now use my AIW 9800 Pro without trying to get into ATI's beta program, if that even exists anymore?

Will both tuners work, Hauppauge and the ATI AIW? I plan on connecting them both to analog cable feeds, as I am not worried about the digital channels. As a matter of fact, I don't even have my Time Warner STB integrated with my MCE 2004 setup.

Originally posted by jeepman
I have scanned through the thread, but couldn't see a definitive answer.

I have a Dell 400SC 2.8GHz/800MHz server running a Hauppauge PVR-250 MCE, MCE 2004, and an AIW 9800 Pro. On the AIW I have the tuner, etc disabled in Device Manager.

If I get a copy of MCE 2005, can I now use my AIW 9800 Pro without trying to get into ATI's beta program, if that even exists anymore?

Will both tuners work, Hauppauge and the ATI AIW? I plan on connecting them both to analog cable feeds, as I am not worried about the digital channels. As a matter of fact, I don't even have my Time Warner STB integrated with my MCE 2004 setup.

I had both a 250 and the AIW recording for some time - but took out the 250 - because I got the HDTV.

Anyway follow the steps I outlined within this thread - it works, the most important part is to get the kram hacked drivers for the AIW card from the following site:

http://www.xpmce.com/forum/ftopic88674.html

I've read this thread, searched the forums here and at TGB but haven't found these answers. I've been dabbling with XLobby, Mainlobby, etc. and I'm hoping to have a touch screen setup with the GUI and the dvd, HD, pictures, etc. on my main Pioneer display. But I have not seem much about dual displays. Is this at all possible? Running the gui in one display (possibly controlled via remote desktop) and the output of the dvd player going to the second? This is definitely possible with the other software.

Second question - do I understand I can't use my USBUIRT as a blaster? So the only blaster is the MS packaged one? I could live with that if it works and I can program on or off macros, etc. Say I want to watch satellite, it tunes the receiver, changes tv and receiver input. Want to watch dvd - switch inputs and turn on my changer. Or am I asking too much of MCE here?

I'm afraid, in my reading, that this is all remote driven and the power button will turn on only one item. No macros. No dvd jukebox controlling, no input changing, etc. If so, then I'm likely stuck back with Mainlobby and it's price tag. It works fine with one dvd library having some ripped and others in the mega changer. It takes a little doing to get it setup, but it's sweet when it's there.

What are the thoughts on these items?

Thanks!

Is it possible to play .ts/.tp transport streams in MCE (I have some recorded stuff from my MyHD card)? I have the NVidia decoders installed that are supposed to be able to handle it, but when I browse to the folder via "My Videos", it tells me there are no files that can be played in the folder.

-pischke

Anyway to change the mpg splitter used by MCE or WMP ?

MCE 2005 ATI HDTV fix for analog tuner lost

For those who have MCE 2005 + ATI HDTV + another analog tuner with the analog tuner disappear everytime you reboot the machine. Here may be the fix for you, this requires you edit the register, so be extremely careful.

Change the dword value 'Disable' under the following key from 0 to 1

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentV
ersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners\{A799A800-A46D-11D0-A18C-00A02401DCD4}\{A713877B-D9DE-478B-AA3F-80A370BF5F1E}

Double check that the DevName = ATI DTV Wonder Analog TV Tuner.

This fix works for me and I hope it works for you too.

Regards, Hien.

Originally posted by kolvadw
In a way I have three tuners working... ehome wonder, HDTV Wonder and my DirecTV STB via the ehome's Svideo input. The MCE guide creates three number ranges for the three tuners so you can decide which tuner to select.

Still waiting on a fix for the eHome reboot issue though... I just de-install it before I do a reboot now...

Don

I was under the impression that MCE2005 would not support ATSC+NTSC+Svideo. Only ATSC+Svideo+Svideo OR ATSC+NTSC+NTSC.

Someone please tell me I'm wrong. This was the only reason that I hadn't already ordered it.

kolvadw, does this require some sort of hack??

Hi,

I borrowed the MCE 2004 remote and IR receiver from buddy of mine to try out on my new MCE 2005. Remote is working fine but according to the TV setup, I can't get pass the sat. screen, it complains about the IR blaster not found? I didn't have the IR emitter plugged into the receiver, but is the software that intelligent to tell the IR emitter is not there or I need to get MCE 2005 remote?

Thanks,

Simon

Originally posted by pischke
Is it possible to play .ts/.tp transport streams in MCE (I have some recorded stuff from my MyHD card)? I have the NVidia decoders installed that are supposed to be able to handle it, but when I browse to the folder via "My Videos", it tells me there are no files that can be played in the folder.

-pischke

I believe I got this to work by simply assigning the .TS extension in file associations to Media Player 10, OR I might have changed the extension to .mpg -- I cannot remember.

HOWEVER, for me this was still useless, since, similar to WMP10, I cannot find any way to tell playback to use a different PID (program stream), so for my recordings I end up getting the default PID played back, which on my local TV broadcasts is usually the SD feed not the HD feed.

If someone knows how to change this, I'm all ears!

-Jon

Hello all. I couldn't find the answer to this question anywhere in the FAQ, so I was wondering if someone could quickly answer this:

I would like to reformat my machine and install the OEM version of MCE today. I have purchased an MCE remote, but will not have it until next week. Will I be able to complete the MCE install without a remote, then set it up at a later time?

I would hate to reformat my machine and then not be able to get through the installation, leaving my machine pretty much useless until next week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Ripley29

I did an install of MCE2005 with just the CD's and no MCE hardware.

Wow. Thanks for the quick reply! Much appreciated.

-Ripley29

Originally posted by Ripley29
I would like to reformat my machine and install the OEM version of MCE today. I have purchased an MCE remote, but will not have it until next week. Will I be able to complete the MCE install without a remote, then set it up at a later time? The install doesn't need the remote at all, except when/if you are setting up the IR blaster for controlling a cable or satellite set top box. You can skip by that part and rerun it when your remote shows up, or go ahead and go through the IR setup and just lie when it asks you if channel changing etc for the set top box is working. Everything will work fine with just the mouse.

While it is possible to use MCE 2005 without a remote, I didn't find it pleasurable. I ordered the software 2 weeks ago to convert my unofficial mediacenter in to the real thing and figured that (since I have a working wireless keyboard and wireless mouse) I "didn't need no stinkin' remote". After installation, I was able to use MCE just fine, but I felt like something was missing, so I ordered the remote!

Everything works A LOT smoother with the remote instead of no remote. Clicking with the mouse on the on-screen play and ff/rw buttons that popped up was sluggish for me and sometimes crashed the computer if I clicked more that 3 times quickly in a row. I also could not scroll completely up and down. For instance, to play a dvd, I could see the button for it at the very top, but I'd have to click on online spotlight first, then go back and then click on play dvd.

Since I got the remote, MCE feels as polished as a "Lexus" {insert your idea of a luxury car here}.

I love the Media Center remote much better than my old ATI Remote Wonder. I'll take the IR over the RF any day. The IR receiver it comes with has a great line of site angle. At times the RF of my remote wonder wouldn't work and I'd have to hit the buttons several times, not so with the MCE remote. The backlight is also real nice and it has a better quality feel vs the remote wonder. I'm really liking MCE 2005 and I've barely even scratched the surface yet.

I was having a look at the RME website (soundcards).
I was looking at the digi96pa.
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/digi96/digi96pa.htm
As you can see below, the drivers of the RME seem to support Asio native in the driver properties window.
I really would like ASIO over SPDIF as that is how I am currently playing my music via MCE. Can anyone confirm that using the digi96 pad you could bypass the kmixer using the Asio functionality of the driver, giving a more accurate and musical passthrough?

http://www.rme-audio.com/images/digi96/set_96pa.gif

In the UK, it is for sale at 280GBP, in the US (http://www.doctoraudio.com/digi968pad.html) as usual, available @ 299 USD. RIPOFF BRITAIN!

According to comments I found here (http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-76674.html), RME cards bypass the KMixer by default. Which is why it is very difficult to hear the difference between Waveout and ASIO.
So maybe the whole ASIO effort would be useless with RME?
Should I just get this card and forget about Kmixer and Asio, to play back music over SPDIF (optical connection)?

According to Branxx in this thread (http://www.avforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-62988.html), "There are two sound cards that are known to have drivers written to avoid KMIXER issues. They are: STAudio DSP24 (http://www.staudio.com/products/dsp24/index.html)(or Mk II) RME DIGI96 Series (http://www.rme-audio.de/english/digi96/digi96pa.htm) (PAD or PST)
STAudio card is hardware almost identical to M-Audio delta series (to the degree that STAudio Windows XP driver can be used with M-Audio Delta cards). This card is also the cheaper. If money is no object, going for RME is almost sure winner.
STAudio uses RCA jacks for analogue out, while RME uses a single ¼” jack"

Hi,

For my music collection, I store them in this order:

Artist - folder
CD Album Title - folder
mp3 songs under CD title

MCE seems to pick them up just fine, however, I get no CD cover image. For every CD I have, I store an image called "Album Cover.jpg" within the CD album folder. Not sure how MCE retrieves cover images?

Also, for some strange reason, I can't browse any of the pictures through MCE. It comes up empty. These are TIF and JPEG files.

One final question, I don't have the IR blaster yet but when I select SAT for TV source, I can't complete the wizard as it complains about the IR is not present, NEXT button is GRAYED OUT. Any way to bypass this?

Thanks,

Simon

They need to be named "folder.jpg"

I renamed all of my covers "folder.jpg", but it MCE still downloads some of the covers... I have a feeling that there is a minimum file size or resolution that is required to stop MCE from downloading the covers from the internet... I will test tomorrow.

Anyone know why I can't see .avi files using MCE 2005? I have the proper codecs installed to play it in WMP10, but if I try to browse to the files using MCE, it just says that the folder they are stored in is empty.

Thanks,
CJ

New, unexplained behavior:

I popped in one of my WMVHD Disks (Step Into Liquid) to make sure MCE could acquire the license ans see if playback looked any different from my old HTPC-also, wanted to hear what WMAPro sounded like over the anolog outs (old HTPC was Soundstorm equipped). Here are the oddities:

1. Once the movie starts, I lost all access to any menus-mouse or remote. In fact, to stop the movie I had to do a hard reboot.
2. I get nothing across the analog out puts of the soundcard (Audigy2ZS)
3. From SPDIF, I get DD5.1? This is what my recevier is telling me. Running the sound set-up from the WMVHD disk seems to bak it up-but it seems like its doing this in software-there are a few seconds at start-up with no sound then the sound "catches-up". So there are no synch problems once you get going. It sounds good-but why the lack of WMAPro across the analog outs?

Any ideas about this behavior (especially #1)? If anyone else has different sound hardware, I'd be interested to hear your results.

I'm using the PowerDVD decoders, but wouldn't they be bypassed for WMV-HD content? Or is the PowerDVD Audio decoder doing the DD5.1 encoding?

Interesting.....


Robert

CJO,
What codec are you using for avi's? MCE is very picky about codecs. Try using just the Xvid one, or FFdshow.

3Rob3,

How is your Fusion doing? I can tune digitalstations with it but the playback is very jerky in MCE, not in the Fusion app. I'm using the DVICO app.

My Fusion card works great on all stations but one (my local CBS affiliate). It is jerky on that channel. I'm not sure if they are broadcasting differently, or it is just because it is my weakest signal. The weird thing is if I switch to the Fusion app it is very smooth. At least now it seems I won't have to kill all the MCE processes to run it (their latest driver claims to fix this, haven't tried it yet though).

My Fusion card works great on all stations but one (my local CBS affiliate). It is jerky on that channel. I'm not sure if they are broadcasting differently, or it is just because it is my weakest signal. The weird thing is if I switch to the Fusion app it is very smooth. At least now it seems I won't have to kill all the MCE processes to run it (their latest driver claims to fix this, haven't tried it yet though).

Originally posted by 3rob3
CJO,
What codec are you using for avi's? MCE is very picky about codecs. Try using just the Xvid one, or FFdshow.

Thanks- don't remember off the top of my head (I think I used ace's mega pack to get all the codecs), but I'll change it to ffdshow if that's not what is being used now.

CJ

Yeah, definately steer clear of the mega packs.

"Everything works A LOT smoother with the remote instead of no remote."

Agreed, I am very glad I picked it up.

I am just about to build my own MCE2005 system and I have a question -- I have an ATI 9800 Pro All-In-Wonder and I know I can't use it for MPEG encoding (I plan on using a Hauppauge PVR 150MCE), but I was hoping I could still use it as my video card, and also for video encoding outside of MCE. Will this work?

Thanks,
Steve

Originally posted by 3rob3
My Fusion card works great on all stations but one (my local CBS affiliate). It is jerky on that channel. I'm not sure if they are broadcasting differently, or it is just because it is my weakest signal. The weird thing is if I switch to the Fusion app it is very smooth.I might have to doublecheck all the stations, but interestingly enough it was a football game on CBS I was watching. Same symptoms as you. At least now it seems I won't have to kill all the MCE processes to run it (their latest driver claims to fix this, haven't tried it yet though). Yes, you can run the Fusion app now without killing all the eh*.* processes first.

Originally posted by sfisher64
I am just about to build my own MCE2005 system and I have a question -- I have an ATI 9800 Pro All-In-Wonder and I know I can't use it for MPEG encoding (I plan on using a Hauppauge PVR 150MCE), but I was hoping I could still use it as my video card, and also for video encoding outside of MCE. Will this work?

Thanks,
Steve

Please look at my listing:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=465419&perpage=20&highlight=roguewarrior&pagenumber=5

It talks about the ability for you to record with the AIW and display as well.

Hey guys,

Does MCE allow you to define a disk per tuner? Since I have two tuners - I would love to be able to define that tuner 1 - records to c:\ and tuner 2 - records to d:\ (C and D are different physical drives)

Thanks!

Hi guys,

So far I have AIW 9800 Pro working with MCE 2005. I wonder if the Hauppauge WinPVR 350 would work along with AIW 9800? This way, I can have a dual tuner set up as well as listening to radio stations.

If it's possible, do I need to download any hacked driver for PVR350? Thanks for your help,

Simon

Originally posted by gnollo
I was having a look at the RME website (soundcards).
I was looking at the digi96pa.
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/digi96/digi96pa.htm
As you can see below, the drivers of the RME seem to support Asio native in the driver properties window.
I really would like ASIO over SPDIF as that is how I am currently playing my music via MCE. Can anyone confirm that using the digi96 pad you could bypass the kmixer using the Asio functionality of the driver, giving a more accurate and musical passthrough?


You cannot use ASIO in MCE, since MCE uses WMP and WMP does not support ASIO. Nevertheless, you can get bit perfect through MCE, here is how, straight from an email I got from RME:

"The Kmixer is active, Volume and EQ settings inside the WMP can not be
"bypassed", these take place before the signal is passed on to the
sound card
driver. So moving the volume slider in WMP will in fact change the
output
volume...

But if the maximum volume setting in WMP is precisely 0 dB with no
alteration of
the volume at all, and if no EQ is applied, audio should by all means
be played
back bit-accurate.

A quick experiment with a test tone seems to confirm this (using WMP
8). With
the volume fader at max, the test tone generated in Cool Edit (a sine
wave at
-1.4 dBFS) plays back at precisely -1.4 dBFS in WMP (measured with
Digicheck).
That may not *guarantee* total bit accuracy yet (more detailed testing
would be
required), but it does seem to be the case indeed. If not, it would be
a WMP
issue..."

BTW, RME is worth every penny (I use it for analog stereo out only, fed throught a passive NHT volume control to a Class A stereo amp and it sounds fantastic).

Has anyone out there tried a 9600XT on MCE2k5 @ 1920x1080i resolution with the latest ATI/MCE Drivers?

I gave it a whirl today and playback from the HDTV Wonder was far from smooth. Compared to a NV 5900XT, the performance was horrible.

Thx,
Vidkidd

I run a 9600 (non pro) with 128MB @ 1776x1000i and it works fine for HD playback. I don't use the latest ATI drivers though, I think I'm 4.6 or 4.7 as those have been the most stable/performing for me. I use the DVI to Component dongle and I always ensure Fast Writes are on.

What's the rest of your specs?

Hey cowtown....

System Overview:
P4 2.6Ghz PC. MSI Motherboard with Intel 865PE Chipset
512MB Ram
MCE 2k5 OS with all patches applied
ATI EHome Wonder (latest drivers from 11/18/04)
ATI HDTV Wonder (latest drivers from 11/18/04)
NVidia 5900XT Video card or 9600XT

I can run 1920x1080i on DVD's without a problem on my WinPXP Pro installation. HDTV playback is what's studdering unde MCE.

Any thoughts?

Thx - Vidkidd

vidkid

If you are using nvdvd 4.058 decoder, try change deinterlace control to Film.

Under MCE, I have to switch to Film for HDTV for and Auto for STV. I hope nvidia fixes that in the next update.

Also, there is a MS bug too
h**p://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885354

Regards, Hien.

Originally posted by jpk
Looks like the AVSForum folks were right. There wil be an updated DTV Wonder driver posted to Windows Update shortly. It may take a few days to propagate through to the website.

I notice that MCE2005 seems to have difficulty with the FusionIII-T's ability to tune ATSC QAM256 signals. That's annoying all by itself.

But because MCE will not handle a mixture of a set-top box and tuner card (has to be either 2 STB or 2 tuner cards), I have to let the PVR-250 do direct tuning of non-encrypted signals from analog cable (missing all the premium channels I pay for that require STB decoding) and use poorer-quality OTA Fusion III-T signals instead of the high-quality QAM256 signals.

I would much rather be able to import my NTSC signal through my digital cable box (as my Replay easily does, via Svideo & stereo audio) as well as use the QAM256 signal my cable company supplies me in an unencrypted form via the Fusion card.

Does MS have any plans to:
a. allow for two non-similar sources as above
b. handle the Fusion III-T's ability to tune QAM256 HD signals?

I posted this question on the MCE Community board on Microsoft's website a few days ago, but MS' folks didn't reply to it.

neihn,

Where do you change the NVidia Decoder settings?

Thx,
Vidkidd

Hi vidkidd,

Run MCE in a window, right click on the nvdvd icon in the system tray. Nvidia states that they will provide a nvdvd MCE interface in their next update.

Hien.

Originally posted by 3rob3
CJO,
What codec are you using for avi's? MCE is very picky about codecs. Try using just the Xvid one, or FFdshow.

I tried using the xvid codec last night and MCE still doesn't show my .avi files. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
CJ

vidkidd,

I have a similar setup as yours and got rid of all of my HDTV stuttering by bumping my ram up from 512 to 1Gig.

Originally posted by HeinePaul
I notice that MCE2005 seems to have difficulty with the FusionIII-T's ability to tune ATSC QAM256 signals. That's annoying all by itself.

But because MCE will not handle a mixture of a set-top box and tuner card (has to be either 2 STB or 2 tuner cards), I have to let the PVR-250 do direct tuning of non-encrypted signals from analog cable (missing all the premium channels I pay for that require STB decoding) and use poorer-quality OTA Fusion III-T signals instead of the high-quality QAM256 signals.

I would much rather be able to import my NTSC signal through my digital cable box (as my Replay easily does, via Svideo & stereo audio) as well as use the QAM256 signal my cable company supplies me in an unencrypted form via the Fusion card.

Does MS have any plans to:
a. allow for two non-similar sources as above
b. handle the Fusion III-T's ability to tune QAM256 HD signals?

I posted this question on the MCE Community board on Microsoft's website a few days ago, but MS' folks didn't reply to it.

I just participated in a MCE Hardware Live Meeting seminar where the two Microsoft experts said they had never heard of the Fusion III-T card, and when I mentioned QAM256, they asked me to "take this private." It also seems as if there are no immediate plans to be able to handle a mixture of sources, such as one set top box and a tuner card. They suggested getting a SECOND set top box. <sigh> Guess they forgot that HDTV set top boxes won't import into MCE.

Ok, I gave them a shot. Let me know when MS is ready for primetime. 2006?

Hey barhoram....

Ill grab a stick of 512 from my desktop and drop it in the HTPC. My NVidia 5900XT has no stuttering at any resolutoin yet the ATI has massive problems. I seem to prefer NVidias drivers to ATI's so last night my 9600XT went back into the spare parts box. I ordered a 6600GT for kicks and will see where that takes my next...

Thx,
Vidkidd

Two new plugins
- webradio (http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=75086)
- Dcut (http://www.inseattle.org/~dan/Dcut.htm) to cut commercials out of movies and encode them to wmv using the remote through the MCE interface

Hi guys,

I can't be happier with MCE 2005 and ATI AIW 9800. I'm using the hacked version 4.10 and it's been beautiful. It's running very solid and the ATI driver allows custom resolution so I get no overscan at all with my RPTV. This is much better than playing around with Powerstrip.

However, I do have one problem I can't figure it out. I can't seem to play any pictures in my Pictures. It shows all folders but it tells me they're empty. I have no idea what's going on? I did search around and I was told if I un-install J River Media Center 10, it may help. I do have MC 10 for MusicLobby but I don't want to unload it for the computer.

So if anyone happen to have J River playing fine with MCE 2005, please let me know if you have any problems viewing pictures. Thanks for your help,

Simon

Gnollo did you install the dCut plug in? I understood up to step 3 which states:

3. Open a CMD window. From within the CMD window, go to your dCut install directory, and then run install.cmd. This will install the necessary dlls and registry settings. Click yes when you are prompted to install registry settings.

Im lost and do not know exactly how to accomplish the stated instruction. I know I can go to run and type in CMD, but what to do while in that MSDOS prompt Im not sure.

Well hopefully you or another member can give me a hand! It will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers, Paul

Originally posted by jon_rhees
I believe I got this to work by simply assigning the .TS extension in file associations to Media Player 10, OR I might have changed the extension to .mpg -- I cannot remember.

HOWEVER, for me this was still useless, since, similar to WMP10, I cannot find any way to tell playback to use a different PID (program stream), so for my recordings I end up getting the default PID played back, which on my local TV broadcasts is usually the SD feed not the HD feed.

If someone knows how to change this, I'm all ears!

-Jon

Jon,

I use a version of hdtvtompeg2 (1.10b) to strip out the unused pids. Not only does it make the files smaller but you can have it strip out the null packets as well. The other thing that it does that may be of interest is that if you use it to strip out the commercials and other pids the file (I have the system join all the files into one .ts file) can then be run back through the program and converted to a .mpg file without having problems with the audio. I've fed the mpg files to several DVD producer programs without a hitch. Now if I could only figure out a way to integrate the MyHD board into MCE...

Paul,

Go to Start Menu>Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt

In the command window that opens, type "cd\dcut" then hit enter, to change to that directory, assuming that's where you installed dCut. Then type "install" then hit enter and the install batch file will run. Answer yes to all the prompts and your done. Then carefully edit the registry as explained.

I guess I'll have to give in and buy an analog tuner card, so that I can use my ATI HDTV Wonder in MCE 2005. Is there a list of analog tuner cards that will work in MCE 2005? I will not actually use this tuner, as I only want to get the HDTV wonder working, so cheaper is better. I noticed that there are a few on Newegg for less than $35! Any suggestions?

If you only want to use the HD tuner, then you can use Kram's hacked drivers at xpmce.com to get the HDTV Wonder analog tuner recognized using ATI software mce encoder. There's info in this thread and others about it. The only downside is you can only record from one tuner at a time but in your case that's not a problem.

Originally posted by djg
If you only want to use the HD tuner, then you can use Kram's hacked drivers at xpmce.com to get the HDTV Wonder analog tuner recognized using ATI software mce encoder. There's info in this thread and others about it. The only downside is you can only record from one tuner at a time but in your case that's not a problem.

I thought the hacked drivers were for the All in Wonder graphic/tuner cards, not the HDTV Wonder tuner card? I thought I was keeping up with this thread, but maybe I missed something. I'll search through again.

They work for both AIW and the HDTV Wonder. The part you want is the mce encoder under custom install.

Sorry if this has been asked, I see the first post hasn't been updated in a little while...

Can I start playback of a show while it is still recording? I played a show tonight while it was about halfway done recording, and it looks like it stopped recording it. On the Recorded TV screen it shows the complete 1 hour length, but the file ends at the 35 min mark. During the playback of the show I had minimized Media Center and the systray icon was there saying it was recording it. The file size on the hard drive is definitely only 35 mins of it though.

Brian

Yup, I normally play a file while I am recording it, no problems here.
How did you play the show? I go to Recorded programs, and open up the file THROUGH the Media Center interface.
I am not sure if you double click on the file using Windows Explorer if that is going to have a negative impact on that...

Hmm, I did play it through Media Center, from the Recorded TV page. It was an HD show, so it could be something with the Fusion drivers. I will have to give it a try with a SD show and see if that works.

I record HD with the Fusion and start watching it while it is still recording with no problems.

What drivers are you using? I am using the latest beta drivers with the hotfix.

Did a search on the USB-UIRT and came up with not many answers. Couple questions for anyone that might know.

1. Can the mce 2k5 setup be completed w/o an actual mce remote control (if you go the digital cable box/satellite route)? Is there another way to get around this by maybe saying you have no cable box but later changing the option?

2. It looks like the USB-UIRT and girder will work fine for controlling mce 2k5 based on some of the research I have done but I havent gotten deep enough in to know exactly how to do this. Does anyone have experience getting this up and running and how difficult is it?

Basically I have a USB-UIRT and Home Theater Master MX-700 I would like to use to control MCE but cant get through tv setup. I am pretty sure I can download a preconfigured file for my remote to use it as an mce remote so it seems silly to have to buy the remote even if it is only $35 bucks.

Elvislives,
I am also using the latest beta drivers and hotfix. Are you using NVDVD? If so try turning off the hardware acceleration setting in there.

3rob3, yes I am using NVDVD. I have been playing around with the hardware setting in it and am pretty sure that it was turned off when I started playing back. Hmmm, I did turn it on during the playback/recording, maybe that's what messed it up. I will have to play around with it some more tonight, thanks for the tip.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, but has anyone else noticed blurry FBI/Copyright Warnings when first accessing a DVD for playback within MCE? I'm using the 1.00.58 nVidia decoders exclusively on my MCE setup and whereas my DVDs play fine with external software players (WMP10 and ZoomPlayer), once I go into MCE, I get the blurry warnings and a slight stutter. If I play and then immediately restart the DVD in MCE, things usually work okay, but that work-around isn't a 100% fix.

I'm more concerned with the stutter than the blurry warnings that I'm able to skip through anyway ;), but perhaps the two effects are related somehow? How are DVDs playing for the rest of you? I should mention that I'm playing from an actual disc and not the hard drive at this point.

HTPC specifications:

Athlon XP 3200+
1GB Corsair Memory
DFI Infinity nForce2 Ultra w/Soundstorm (for games)
M-Audio Delta 410 (for movies and music)
eVGA GeforceFX 5700
Hauppauge PVR-250MCE
80GB Samsung HD
Pioneer A07 DVD+/-RW
MCE 2005

All drivers are up-to-date.

I have a problem.

My MCE2005 will not detect my Hauppauge PVR-250. I have all the current drivers, and the software that comes with my hauppauge (wintv) works fine, I can view all my channels. But when I try to view channels with mce2005, I get the message "card not found".. Any ideas...

Try the MCE ones from:
www.shspvr.com

Well I tested a bit just now by recording an SD and an HD show at the same time and jumping playback back and forth between them while recording. Everything worked well, the complete shows were recorded. I even switched on hardware acceleration in the NVDVD control panel, trying to break it. Managed to hang Media Center a couple times but the shows kept on recording. :) Not sure if last night was just a glitch or what but it looks like it's all good for now.