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Custom HT Intros

post #1 of 39
6/19/06 at 8:41pm
Thread Starter 
Hello, I am looking for software (preferably for MCE 2005) that would let me take multiple custom home theater intros (Like the ones from theaterintros_com), store them on a hard drive, play them , then automatically kick off the movie, be it a DVD or DVD files stored on a hard drive.

Anyone know of such of thing, I have searched the archives but can only find info about the intros themselves
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post #2 of 39
6/19/06 at 9:29pm
try searching for pre movie manager.

let's you run pre-movie slide shows, music, then previews, dolby cut's, and custom intro's.

I've never used it with MCE
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post #3 of 39
6/20/06 at 3:01am
? I don't get it?

Is this for custom home movies or Like a business thing? Just curious.
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post #4 of 39
6/20/06 at 4:31am
Thread Starter 
It is to recreate the movie going experience you know like a regular theater, not a biz for me but I am look to purchase something like this
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post #5 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:05am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the tip on pre movie manager I found the software, unfortunately it is a meedio plugin, and yahoo has purchased meedio, so it is pretty much dead in my mind since that is usually what big companies do when they swallow little companies

I may try and post to the green button dot com to see if some developers may want to develop something for mce or sagetv even
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post #6 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:11am
It's not dead. The author made two versions - a meedio plugin, and a stand alone application.

Look for the stand alone application. I use it, and it's quite good, although a bit complex. If you can't find it, post back here, and I'll upload my version. I've used it with xlobby, mainlobby and sagetv..... just not mce
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post #7 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:13am
Ok,

You suckered me into it...


Ron's download site for the "StandAlone" player:
http://www.dvdlookup.net/pMMv2-standalone.exe
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post #8 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:34am
Do you have any instructions on setting up Pre Movie manager to work with MCE. I have worked with it in the past in Meedio but did not have anyluck with MCE.


Thanks,
Jack
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post #9 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, I just downloaded it and will give it a try and let you all know how it works
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post #10 of 39
6/20/06 at 5:33pm
Thread Starter 
One more thing one of the old threads you sent me to they had a ton of old drive-in intros, very hokey but kind of cool for an old guy like me who used to love the drive in . Thanks so much!
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post #11 of 39
6/20/06 at 8:08pm
Thread Starter 
Found this by the author of the software, however I cannot get it to work, so anyone want to elighten me , it would be most appreciated:

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject: pMM v2.0 Trivia, Demos, Trailers, Girder/X10 - 2/17/05 BETA

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

I have release the next beta of pMM(preMovie Manager) v2.0.

These ARE required...
Windows Media Player 10
MS .NET Framework v1.1

-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO REPORT A BUG/FEATURE

All,
As an effort to help track bugs and resolve them efficiently, I have setup a bug tracking system on my website. Please report all bugs through this mantis so they can be tracked and resolved easier. Any bugs reported here might be over looked and never resolved.

Please go to the following address and sign up for a mantis account. All the account consists off is a simple username and password. An email address is used for confirmation.

http://www.gotchacoveredonline.com/mantis

Thanks,
Ron
-------------------------------------

There are now 2 flavors of pMM. A stand alone(like the original pMM) and the integrated Meedio plugin.

I still don't have documentation, but most of it should be easy to figure out. Please search for the other pMM threads to bring you up to speed if you are new to pMM.

Download: http://www.dvdlookup.net/pMMv2-standalone.exe Stand Alone
Download: http://www.dvdlookup.net/pMMv2Meedio.exe Plugin(Install in Meedio Essentials folder)

It should be fully functional except for the following....(unless I missed something...)

1) Event Conditions do not work although events are fully functional
2) Video Events are not turned on yet.
3) Trailer Filters are not enabled yet.

You can download a sample screen file from http://www.dvdlookup.net/media-movie-pmm.zip . Set this screen file to your Media Module's details screen and you should see a pMM button. Click that and the pMM session should start.

Everything else should be ready to test. There will probably be some bugs, so please report anything you find. Please provide the following when reporting a bug. The PMM.LOG file, your config.xml file, and a description of your problem.

To stop the trivia early, press the stop key in Meedio. To stop the stand alone early, press CTRL + Q. This will stop pMM after the trivia sequence finishes.

CTRL+N will end the trivia at the end of the current slide.

The stand alone pMMv2 needs to receive 2 command line parameters to run. One is the configuration file to use and the other(s) are the files to be played(Feature Movie) enclosed by double quotes(") and separated by a space. An example is below.

RUN "C:\\Program Files\\preMovie Manager\\pMMv2\\pMM.exe" config=props.xml "D:\\movies\ hemovie1.mpg" "D:\\movies\ hemovie2.mpg"

NOTE: the config=props.xml parameter is now optional. You can either specify the config file to use or not. If you don't specify the file to use, it will default to props.xml.

That would use config.xml file as the configuration file and then play themovie1 and themovie1 as the features.

Please play with it and let me know of any issues you have and have fun!

This version should support many external players(winDVD, TT, WMP, Zoomplayer...ect). If you can't get your player to work, please let me know.

Thanks,
Ron
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post #12 of 39
6/21/06 at 4:40am
trunion,

what exactly are you having problems with?

Here's a link to the premovie manager discussion on the cinemar mainlobby forums. This may help you:

http://forum.cinemaronlineforums.com...949693e710fb88

From what I've read in the past,

the majority of MCE users that also used premovie manager were using with the MCE addon "MyMovies" When they clicked on their movie in my movies, it would kick off premovie manager that would start the trailers then movie.

Here's a link to a small MCE / mymovies / pmm guide:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archi.../t-576102.html
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post #13 of 39
6/21/06 at 9:42am
w)en I try to run the PMM config I am getting the following error

Application has generated an exception that could not be handled. (
Process id=0xb74 (2932), Thread id=0x574 (1396)

I just downloaded the stand alone version of PMM2 Is this what everyone is using or is there another version.

Thanks

Jack
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post #14 of 39
6/21/06 at 10:17am
Thread Starter 
I am trying to set an icon or a short cut with

RUN "C:\\Program Files\\preMovie Manager\\pMMv2\\pMM.exe" config=props.xml "D:\\movies\ hemovie1.mpg" "D:\\movies\ hemovie2.mpg"

is that how you set yours up? I thought I would create an icon then put this string in, and substitute my directory info but no go.
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post #15 of 39
6/23/06 at 8:37am
any ideas
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post #16 of 39
6/23/06 at 9:52am
Thread Starter 
I have been playing with it but cannot get it to run. I found a link that talked about setting it up with My Movies. The instructions on that forum talk about editing a config file in mymovies but it is a year old and I think mymovies has changed how things are done , because for the life of me I cant find a config file.

I did download mymovies and it is a relly cool program , if seems like this would be the best way to use PMM since apparantly you can setup the program to launch pmm right from within mymovies and MCE.

I saw on the mymoives forum someone asked that this functionality be built into mymoives but I dont think the coder who built mymovies really understood what the person was looking for.

I just ordered a custom intro ,some old drive movie trailers , and some really cool THX and DOLBy clips so I cant wait to get this going to really have a genuine theatre experience.

I put in some posts on the greenbutton dot com, but never even got a response there.

I was getting the same error you were but kept playing with the string and got that to go away, I just cannot get the darn thing to run with the run command.
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post #17 of 39
6/23/06 at 9:53am
Thread Starter 
Oh yeah here is the link to the mymovies conversation:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archi.../t-576102.html
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post #18 of 39
6/23/06 at 11:40am
Sorry for abandoning the thread - work is killing me :>

I'll post up how I use it (with dvdlobby), to see if this helps you. I don't use MCE, so I have no idea how you start a movie with MCE.


I do know that zoomplayer does have this functionality built in (there is a trialers.ini file to edit), and the next version of theatertek will have this functionality (according to the programmer on their forums....).

What I REALLY like about PMM is it's random jpeg / backround music with time-based events . I have an announcer's voice say "5 minutes until the movie begins" for example, with random movie based music (star wars theme, etc...)
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post #19 of 39
6/29/06 at 8:35am
Still looking for any help on this app with MCE.
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post #20 of 39
6/29/06 at 7:33pm
Thread Starter 
I got the intro to work with theater tech, it is pretty to set up , although you could set it up from within the database in mymovies , that just seemed like allot of effort.

I created some duplicate icons on my desktop and then edited the command line with the commands I found. I have on setup to play the intro and then go play the dvd, and I have another setup to play the intro and go to a file on my hard drive that I specify.

Here is the link to the command lines if you want to try it:
http://www.theatertek.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=4826


It would be nice to get one of the developers to develop something that is automatic that can be defined from within MCE and easily setup and run.
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post #21 of 39
7/8/06 at 12:14am
orbitzboy, the link you provided for mce and pmm doesn't seem to work and I can't seem to find anything. Can you repost this link?
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post #22 of 39
7/8/06 at 4:23am
Latest version of Theatertek has support for random x number of trailers, slideshow, etc. before the main movie plays. Accomplished via a simple text file playlist. Check out the TT website forum for details.
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post #23 of 39
7/9/06 at 12:16am
IVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THIS ALL THE TIME EVER SINCE I BUILT MY DEDICATED THEATER AND I REALLY WANT TO MIMIC THE CINEMA EFFECT.

YOU CAN TRY MEEDIO AND USE THE PLUGIN, PLAYMEE (MEEDIO IS DEAD THO)

THEATERTEK CAN WORK IN MCE IF YOU INSTALL BINNERUP'S MY MOVIES BUT HOW CAN YOU ASK MCE TO USE THE PLAYLIST FEATURE? TOO MUCH WORK EH?

THIS ONE WORKS FOR ME!

1. Install and run MCE

2. Install Brian Binnerup's My Movies (www.mymovies.name)

3. On each folder of your movies, place a copy of your custom intro (If Windows media plays it, then MCE can play it) and you can add HD trailers or any file you want to add. It doesn't matter whether its an .mpg, .mov, .ts, .vob's as long as Window's Media or Theatertek can play it. My Movies works for both player.

4. Brian made this plugin to play several files on each folder. Rename your intro to A or B or whatever letter you want as long as it is in alphabetical order based on which file you want to be played. Let say you want to include trailers before the intro, you can rename the intro as A, then the trailers B, C and so forth. You can then rename your movies whether ripped or on a dvd folder with the last letters, here's an example:

Rename :

A for custom intro
A1 for an intermission movie
B for trailer 1
C for trailer 2
etc
F for your ripped movie (Never tried on a drive since all my movies are ripped and stored in a NAS)

Now you can be creative if you want to add commercial or small clips before the movie, Im working on making a dvd slideshow from Steven's Coke slides with background music then save it as an mpg or divx. I can then configure that to play as the first file then followed by an intro and trailers. I really dont care if this eats up my whole drive, this I think is the best solution for this setup.


I just discovered this tonight and Im still playing around with it. I can play HD trailers on Windows MCE (I renamed all my HD trailers to .avi ) after configuring it with the Haali splitter and ffdshow video and audio as my decoders.



THIS IS SO PERFECT AND MUCH EASIER TO SETUP THAN DOING ALL THE VARIOUS CODING! I CANT WAIT TO BRING ALL MY GUESTS HERE! I ALSO GOT A NEW WAF SO I CAN BUY MORE GOODIES FOR MY THEATER!





Josh



PS

BRIAN BINNERUP YOU ROCK!

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ __________

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed herein are my own and is not responsible for errors that you encounter. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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post #24 of 39
7/9/06 at 12:39pm
so this works without theatertek? mymovies will automatically play movies in the folder in alphabetical order? I don't have to configure anything in mymovies, just name the files in alphabetical order?

this is great news if it works, I will try it out.
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post #25 of 39
7/9/06 at 2:40pm
Yes it does! Just name the files alphabetically. I used theatertek with the intro and movie only and it worked. I did use the custom intro and 5 trailers with the internal player (I have Windows Media 11) in My Movies and it was amazing!
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post #26 of 39
7/9/06 at 9:35pm
holy crap, you're right!!! it works. How come this isn't known knowledge?
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post #27 of 39
7/9/06 at 10:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by krboo View Post

holy crap, you're right!!! it works. How come this isn't known knowledge?

I knew it! I also didn't notice any flicker from each transitioning. I can even play around like adding a blank video for some lead-in silence. I maybe able to use Windows Movie Maker to make trivia slides and save it as mpg and then place it on top of the playlist. I think this will work for everyone. Ive added some dolby and thx intros on the playlist and im telling ya, I feel like inside one of our neighborhood theaters hehe.
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post #28 of 39
7/9/06 at 11:01pm
If you need a movie catalog / launch app for MCE2005, Cinemar will soon release the DVDLobby MCE Edition version. This is a modification of the DVDLobby TV version that now is launched from within MCE and doesn't require MainLobby. It does require and use MainLobby Server3 so you can leverage all of the automation capability that MLS3 now has. There is also a brand new TheaterTek plugin for TT 2.4 that allows for control over TT user interface from one PC to another. Since TT now supports random trailers etc, this is now part of the DVDLobby experience. And Ron's PreMovieManager still works with DVDLobby as well so you have that option too.
You can use this as a stepping stone to the full MainLobby suite that ultimately replaces MCE2005 app (but runs on the MCE OS). This allows for full customization of the user interface and full automation capability as well.
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post #29 of 39
7/9/06 at 11:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smoothtlk View Post

If you need a movie catalog / launch app for MCE2005, Cinemar will soon release the DVDLobby MCE Edition version. This is a modification of the DVDLobby TV version that now is launched from within MCE and doesn't require MainLobby. It does require and use MainLobby Server3 so you can leverage all of the automation capability that MLS3 now has. There is also a brand new TheaterTek plugin for TT 2.4 that allows for control over TT user interface from one PC to another. Since TT now supports random trailers etc, this is now part of the DVDLobby experience. And Ron's PreMovieManager still works with DVDLobby as well so you have that option too.
You can use this as a stepping stone to the full MainLobby suite that ultimately replaces MCE2005 app (but runs on the MCE OS). This allows for full customization of the user interface and full automation capability as well.

The TT feature in version 2.4 that plays trailers only work when you open a playlist file or .plt extension. MCE doesn't recognize a .plt file. I haven't used MainLobby but I was wondering whether it has the sleek animation of MCE when browsing the different activities? Don't forget that I have to shell out $109.00 to install another front-end operating system for my htpc. I have a dedicated HT with a single PC so the Mainlobby server functions doesn't serve its purpose based on my setup. Can you run HD trailers on pMM? The objective is to simplify this process so if that version of the Mainlobby suite can answer our needs then maybe It can really give us that pre-movie experience but for now mymovies is doing pretty good and perfect in my current setup.
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post #30 of 39
7/22/06 at 11:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lawdawg View Post

Latest version of Theatertek has support for random x number of trailers, slideshow, etc. before the main movie plays. Accomplished via a simple text file playlist. Check out the TT website forum for details.

Can you send a link? I have searched the TT forum and cannot find it?
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