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/m...ation/faq.mspxhttp://www.thegreenbutton.com/kb/def...&pNodes=7W5L0UQ. Which components (hardware and software) should I use with MCE 2005?http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...erlisting.mspxQ. What remote can be used with MCE 2005?
A. Microsoft Media Center Remote Control Inc Reciever OEM
example link
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=77109Q. 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 threadQ. 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 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.
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/d...displaylang=enhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=enQ. 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.
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 .
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\\Med ia 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, 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.
Q. Is there a thread of feature requests so I can add mine?
Yes, you can find it
here.Q Is there a list of ideal components for a MCE HTPC?
Yes, you can find it
here.
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
https://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=496948Q. 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 , 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.
[b]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 and it works fine on my setup.
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 /
- 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 hereQ: How do I achieve Bit-perfect Audio using MCE 2005?
A: Interesting experiments in this thread
https://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post7200938