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Windows 7 Media Center : Setup Guide, Knowledge Base & Support

816K views 5K replies 529 participants last post by  Postmoderndesign 
#1 ·
Custom Installation Service / Live Tech Support.
For donators of 20$ or more, i offer custom Windows 7 MEdia Center installs (everything in this guide) or live tech support via a remote desktop client ( TeamViewer ) over the internet. You can email me on my personal email adress for more info or so that we can schedule an appointment:

Since updating and offering troubleshooting support for this guide takes up time, if you find this guide & the support provided useful & want to help out the author, any donations are very welcomed :



Main Menu
I. Starting up
  1. Introducing Windows Media Center 7
  2. HTPC Basics : Audio-Video
II. Organizing your Movie/TV Show libraries
  1. Media Center Master - Automatic Movies/TV Shows library organization
II. The Frontend - Windows 7 Media Center
  1. Blu Ray & MKV playback
  2. Configuring an external player for playback (Media Player Classic Home Cinema)
  3. Media Browser
  4. Advanced Media Browser theme customization (Subdued theme)
  5. Windows 7 Media Center Themes
  6. Media Center Plugins & Addons
  7. AirPlay Client support for 7MC
  8. Blu Ray/DVD ripping from within Media Center







Tehnical specifications


Supported containers
  • MKV*, M2TS/TS, VOB, MPG, M4V, AVI, ASF, WMV, MP4, MOV, DVD disk
  • Physical Blu Ray disk, Blu Ray Folder Structure & Blu Ray ISO playback requires Total Media Theatre or Power DVD

Supported video decoders
  • H.264, VC-1, MPEG2,Xvid, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV 9

Supported audio decoders
  • Dolby True HD*, DTS, Dolby Digital (AC3), LPCM, AAC, MP3, FLAC*, APE Audio, Vorbis

Audio passthrough (bitstreaming)
  • DTS-HD Master Audio*, Dolby True HD*, DTS*, Dolby Digital*, Dolby Digital Plus*, LPCM

Photo Formats
  • JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF

Subtitle Formats
  • PGS, SRT, SUB/IDX, SSA

Hardware decoding on the GPU
  • Windows : DXVA (compatible with Nvidia/Ati/Intel graphic cards)

*Note : Requires Shark007 codec pack, installation instructions included in the guide

Interface (skins)
  • 15 beautiful themes (Subdued theme shown in the screenshots) for the Media Browser plugin, and 9 themes for the Media Center interface



Live TV support (PVR/DVR)
  • Best in class Live TV implementation
  • Wide array of tuner support, including support for the Ceton Cable Card tuner

Addons
  • A small selection of 3rd part addons, including Weather, Youtube, Email checker, Outlook, Remote Potato
  • Built in Netflix addon


Operating Sistem support : Windows 7

Windows 7
You can find and download the official Windows 7 ISO images directly from the MS Store, using these links. These ISO images are perfectly legal since they do not include any type of serial key.
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit : download
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit : download


The Windows 7 USB Tool from and use it to create a bootable USB drive ( a 3GB or more USB thumb drive is required) from which you can install Windows 7.

Drivers :


ATI/AMD : ( download )

NVIDIA : ( download )

Intel :
 
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#2,182 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by gchuva
I just wanted to report on my experience with GreenEyez's installation service.


Executive Summary - It was fantastic!


Review

GreenEyez took a brand new Dell 580s computer and installed everything I needed remotely. He offered great advice on a variety of topics (adding avast as anti-virus software) and put in a great deal of time (I think 3-4 hours so far). For example, he suggested adding a partition to my hard-drive, which resulted in the need to reinstall windows, which took an inordinate amount of time for a variety of reasons. But he walked me through step and we got it done.


I have yet to test the computer on my main HT system, but everything looks fine and GreenEyez was very professional to work with. I recommend him to any non-computer genius who wants a smooth running set-up done right the first time. I could not be happier.


Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions about my experience. It was a true pleasure.
Has anyone heard from GreenEyez? There is some follow up work that I need done on my HTPC but he has not been responding to my emails. Thanks
 
#2,185 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shark007 /forum/post/19491834


On the Help TAB, choose to use the Filetypes Associations button.

On the MKV TAB, disable the DivX MF splitter in the 64bit application.

I think I will have to do this. I have been having so much trouble with this issue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gchuva /forum/post/19499338


Has anyone heard from GreenEyez? There is some follow up work that I need done on my HTPC but he has not been responding to my emails. Thanks

I as well have been waiting for a follow-up. My PC sits "half" done.

  1. One example is my inability to play DVD fiiles in Video_TS format.
  2. True audio as encoded to pass through to my receiver.
  3. I have subtitles on all the time and they will not turn off.


If anyone can provide some help I would appreciate it.
 
#2,187 ·
Hoping someone could help....(GreenEyez are you there man? Hope all is OK)


The back story......I was speaking with GreenEyez a while back about how I like to watch all my Recorded TV in ff (1.5 x speed I think??). With skipping adds it gets a 1 hour show finished in 30 minutes. Anyway, I was asking him if there was a way to do this with .avi files. I told him this wasn't urgent and not to waste any time on it for the time being.


And now.....Well the other day I needed to watch an mkv in VLC Media Player as it wouldn't play in 7MC for some reason. As a test I tried ff and sure enough it worked - I got 1.5 x playback speed with audio. As another test, I tried it with an avi file, and this too worked. Side note - there is actually a slider which lets you select a whole range of playback speeds.


So, is there a way to select what ever codec VLC is using for .avi's, to be the codec 7mc uses to playback .avi's? Will simply just doing that give the same functionality? And how do I work out what codec VLC is using?


Thanks for any advice/feedback anyone can give.
 
#2,188 ·
what is wrong with media browser?


all cover arts, backgrounds show up, but when i get to the part where i have to press play, synopsis, overview, it does not show up. i just get the refresh sign and nothing. it's like it's loading forever. on some movies the ones i've added show up ok but majority does not.


i've cleared all cache in media browser config and even in cover art. also tried removing and adding the media folders in the media configurator and still the same. very frustrating!
 
#2,189 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19511790


what is wrong with media browser?


all cover arts, backgrounds show up, but when i get to the part where i have to press play, synopsis, overview, it does not show up. i just get the refresh sign and nothing. it's like it's loading forever. on some movies the ones i've added show up ok but majority does not.


i've cleared all cache in media browser config and even in cover art. also tried removing and adding the media folders in the media configurator and still the same. very frustrating!

movie files with m2ts formats can no longer be read and played by media browser. if i click on the album art it goes in as if the folder is empty. all other formats ie. mp4, mkv, blu-ray rip folder structure, ISO are ok. MPC-HC can play the m2ts folder outside media browser. i have m2ts, ts in media browser config utility and this used to work before. anyone else experience this?
 
#2,190 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by njdiver85 /forum/post/19509099


This is a great thread! I am just getting started and noticed that the current version of tmt is tmt5? Is tmt5 what people are using now or is it better to look for a version of tmt3 - I think NewEgg still sells it.

I just downloaded the trial of TMT5 and am having difficulties getting it to launch properly from Media Browser


Turns out there is a hotfix here but still some issues:

http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_p...-for-tmt-50180
 
#2,191 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19511790


what is wrong with media browser?


all cover arts, backgrounds show up, but when i get to the part where i have to press play, synopsis, overview, it does not show up. i just get the refresh sign and nothing. it's like it's loading forever. on some movies the ones i've added show up ok but majority does not.


i've cleared all cache in media browser config and even in cover art. also tried removing and adding the media folders in the media configurator and still the same. very frustrating!

Are you using Media Browser to gather your metadata or are you using a third party program?
 
#2,192 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19512155


movie files with m2ts formats can no longer be read and played by media browser. if i click on the album art it goes in as if the folder is empty. all other formats ie. mp4, mkv, blu-ray rip folder structure, ISO are ok. MPC-HC can play the m2ts folder outside media browser. i have m2ts, ts in media browser config utility and this used to work before. anyone else experience this?

Can you confirm, you are trying to play your m2ts files using the internal WMC player? It worked previously and just stopped working?
 
#2,194 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjimmyjones85
well it loooks like this is how my system was already setup. Any other ideas ?
I'd uninstall Shark 32bit and 64 bit (do that on the Help tab) then reinstall using *full* installation option and then check the recommended settings (which registers stuff in the registry and so forth). That should get you going out of the box with no other tweaking in most situations.


I'll be frank but the install of Shark recommended in this thread leaves you "broken" in ways, especially if you happen to need a particular setting that was never installed because you didn't do a full install. GreenEyes calls it "bloat" but who cares if a small file is installed even if you don't use it. As we see over and over in this and other threads and in my own experience I end up using a setting or a codec I never thought I would and if I had never let the installer install it then I'm up a creek. I think the point of the Shark pack is that it installs everything someone might need and isn't bloat and it won't puke all over your system and will full uninstall itself if needed, unlike most other codec packs.
 
#2,195 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026
Can you confirm, you are trying to play your m2ts files using the internal WMC player? It worked previously and just stopped working?
Hi dbone, my m2ts files are no longer recognized by MB hence i can not get to the part to press "play" and watch it. this is the window where you see play, cast, overview buttons. Now it's empty as if trying to load, for other file types (blu-ray folder, mp4,mkv) this window is populated and works fine, i could see cover art folder, backdrop etc.


Before, i can have either internal WM7 player or MPC-HC play the M2TS movie file. Also, the m2ts file is in it's own movie folder not inside the blu-ray folder structure and MB recognizes it and MPC-HC plays it fine before. Now MB won't detect or recognize it.


I'm guessing MB changed how to it recognizes M2TS file thinking it should be in a blu-ray folder format. Need help. thanks.
 
#2,197 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610
Hi dbone, my m2ts files are no longer recognized by MB hence i can not get to the part to press "play" and watch it. this is the window where you see play, cast, overview buttons. Now it's empty as if trying to load, for other file types (blu-ray folder, mp4,mkv) this window is populated and works fine, i could see cover art folder, backdrop etc.


Before, i can have either internal WM7 player or MPC-HC play the M2TS movie file. Also, the m2ts file is in it's own movie folder not inside the blu-ray folder structure and MB recognizes it and MPC-HC plays it fine before. Now MB won't detect or recognize it.


I'm guessing MB changed how to it recognizes M2TS file thinking it should be in a blu-ray folder format. Need help. thanks.
You got me on that one. I just tested on my system and for the few m2ts files I have (just as standalone in their own folder, not BR structure) Media Browser sees and plays them fine. Here is a shot in the dark, how many m2ts files do you have in that virtual folder? I know there is an issue if you have under 3 files of a specific file type Media Browser would not show t hem correctly (this was a while back, no clue if it was ever fixed)
 
#2,199 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/19513687


You got me on that one. I just tested on my system and for the few m2ts files I have (just as standalone in their own folder, not BR structure) Media Browser sees and plays them fine. Here is a shot in the dark, how many m2ts files do you have in that virtual folder? I know there is an issue if you have under 3 files of a specific file type Media Browser would not show t hem correctly (this was a while back, no clue if it was ever fixed)

Thanks dbone, but I only have one movie file under one movie folder.


ie. H:/HD Movies/Toy Story/Toy Story.m2ts
 
#2,200 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/19513693


So would you say it sounds like Media Browser is constantly re-caching everything?

i don't think so. if this is the case this should affect the other movie file types, right? also, majority of my m2ts files are from awhile back and already have all the backdrops, folder, mymovies etc. loaded up and was working fine before. also, i don't have MCM running in the background, i close it once it has downloaded all movie info.
 
#2,201 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19513733


Thanks dbone, but I only have one movie file under one movie folder.


ie. H:/HD Movies/Toy Story/Toy Story.m2ts

Maybe not optimal, but can you copy that m2ts two more times (just make up fake movie names)



H:/HD Movies/Toy Story/Toy Story.m2ts

H:/HD Movies/My Story/My Story.m2ts

H:/HD Movies/Your Story/Your Story.m2ts


After you do this go back into Media Browser and see if it recognizes (if it does it would be because of the 3 file issue I was telling you about)
 
#2,202 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/19513755


Maybe not optimal, but can you copy that m2ts two more times (just make up fake movie names)



H:/HD Movies/Toy Story/Toy Story.m2ts

H:/HD Movies/My Story/My Story.m2ts

H:/HD Movies/Your Story/Your Story.m2ts


After you do this go back into Media Browser and see if it recognizes (if it does it would be because of the 3 file issue I was telling you about)

Ok thanks. I'll give it a try.
 
#2,203 ·
i got advise from media browser community about checking registry if .m2ts is still perceived type as "video". i checked it and .m2ts shows nero media hub. how do i change this back to video? sorry i don't really edit registry a lot. also do i also change the ones for .ts??


i tried copying the .m2ts and renaming, still was not detected.
 
#2,204 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19517016


i got advise from media browser community about checking registry if .m2ts is still perceived type as "video". i checked it and .m2ts shows nero media hub. how do i change this back to video? sorry i don't really edit registry a lot. also do i also change the ones for .ts??


i tried copying the .m2ts and renaming, still was not detected.

I use MB and MCM with M2TS as well but I do use MPC-HC to play the M2TS files (does a much better job than the internal player IMHO).


If I was fighting this I would:

1) Check the config settings to make sure the option to jump into play mode for a single movie is not checked.

2) Check the config settings to make sure the option to to use the online media provider is unchecked.

3) Delete any xml files or any other files other than the movie file in the movie folder.

4) Use MCM to generate a default XML file. Based on your description of your directory structure, this will probably not find a match in imdb but that's ok for now


Try it again. Even on files that I could not play, I would get either the folder art or the standard blue film icon. Movies that would not play still had the standard navigation within MB. Even folders that contained just the shell of xml information will show up in MB just fine; they just don't have the meta data for the movie showing.


MB does not have a concept of what 'it' can play or not play. MB does not play anything. It is a framework that supports players both internal and external and they play the movie not MB. For MB not to be able to jump from the folder art to the detail suggests something is seriously mucked with either the folder structure or the XML file.. Rename the folder to the standard movie_name (year of movie).M2TS to avoid any issues along these lines..


One of the biggest things that seem to impact MB and MCM is the naming convention used on the folders and xml files that get wigged out for whatever reason...
 
#2,205 ·
i finally got it to work. the ultimate fix, system restore! i had to restore 5 times, re-install my bluetooth keyboard, and 2 nights of agony. stupid nero messed it up for me, i've unistalled it for now. all m2ts files are now recognized by MB and plays perfectly. thanks for all the help.
 
#2,206 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexb610 /forum/post/19517585


i finally got it to work. the ultimate fix, system restore! i had to restore 5 times, re-install my bluetooth keyboard, and 2 nights of agony. stupid nero messed it up for me, i've unistalled it for now. all m2ts files are now recognized by MB and plays perfectly. thanks for all the help.

The key, if this is just to be used as an HTPC don't install any unnecessary software or use it for a testing ground as almost always something gets messed up. Glad to hear you got everything working
 
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