Windows Media Center Tips and Tweaks

ZuneTVWatcher Helps Zune To Play Nice With Media Center

2007-03-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

ZuneTVWatcher | A new program out today, ZuneTVWatcher kind of starts to pick-up where Microsoft left off with lame Media Center and Zune integration. It will automatically monitor your Recorded TV folder, and then convert your recordings to go on the Zune.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Zune, Windows, MCE

How to change the video decoder in Windows Vista

2007-02-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

If you ever need to change the video decoder in Windows Vista, there is a tool called Vista Media Center Decoder utility. This utility will show you the current default decoders, let you select an alternative from a list of installed decoders and by pressing Set Default change the defaults.
Tags: windows, vista, media center, mce, vmcd, decoder, utility, how to

Issues with MCE in Vista?

2006-12-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

I'm using Vista Beta RC2 Build 5744 on an old P4 laptop with 1GB RAM and have no issues with speed. Sure, I don't get Aero Glass but no big deal. Works as well or better than XP in my opinion.
Now, media center is another issue. I really hope MS gets this figured out. I have a MCE 2005 desktop that I use and was planning to build a Vista Media center for my living room but I'm holding off based on all the comments thus far.
Matt Goyer, formerly of Microsoft, is not happy with MCE in Vista. I think it is a driver issue and I really hope vendors and everyone gets this worked out before the consumer release next month.
Have you tried Vista's media center? What are your experiences so far?
Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, media center

HDTV FAQ

2006-11-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

Confused by all those HDTV terms? You need this info before you head out to the electronic store! Titan TV has put together a nice Digital/HDTV Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list:

What do 1080i and 720p mean?

What is 1080p?

What is the difference between Digital Television (DTV) and High Definition Television (HDTV)?

Is all digital programming in high definition?

What are the advantages of High Definition Television?

How can I find out what programs are broadcast in High Definition?

What do I need to start watching TV in HD?

What types of HD sets are there?

What is the difference between LCD and Plasma TVs?

Is there a cut-off date by which broadcasters must be broadcasting in digital?

What is multicasting?

Why do digital stations sometimes have two channel numbers?

How do I know if a station is multicasting?

What types of information (programming) is typically multicast?

Why do stations use their digital spectrum to multicast?

What is datacasting?

What stations are datacasting?

Why would a broadcaster choose to datacast?

How can I as a consumer benefit from datacasting?

Glossary of HD Terms

Tags: faq, hd, tv, hdtv, digital, television, help

Keyboard shotcuts for Windows Media Center

2006-11-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

Keyboard shortcuts to speed things up in MCD. Lists for various editions of Windows Media Center:
* List of keyboard shortcuts for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
* List of keyboard shortcuts for Windows Media Center in Windows Vista
Tags: microsoft, windows, media center, keyboard, shortcut, mce
[via: Aaron Stebner]

MCE 2005 October 2006 Update Roll-up available

2006-10-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Microsoft released today October 2006 Update Rollup for Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media center, mce, 2005, update, october

Sony DVD Changer Only $300

2006-09-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Matt Goyer points to the 200 disc DVD changer from Sony:

A friend at Microsoft pointed out that the Sony DVD changer is now in the top 10 list for computer hardware on Amazon. Most likely because it’s dipped down to $300. A price now competitive with traditional CE DVD changers. The funny thing is that we originally paid $3000/each for PowerFile R200DL units to develop the software side of this changer :).

Nice.
Tags: sony, dvd, changer, bargain

ATSC HDTV Resources for Media Center Edition

2006-09-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Handy links for getting up and running with ATSC High Definition in MCE. Get Started with HDTV in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
A Brief History of ATSC in Media Center
My (Bryan Socha - Medai Center MVP) Guide to HDTV in MCE
How to use a DVB-T Card (ATI HDTV Wonder) in CANADA
OTA HDTV in Canada on Vista betas
Troubleshooting ATSC Issues in MCE
Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Media Center, MCE, HDTV, ATSC, Canada, Vista
[via:Jason Tsang]

Using Windows Live to Schedule Media Center Recordings

2006-09-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

There is a new little application from Casey Chesnut, Media Center MVP. It's called /mobileRecord. It's a bot that you run on your Media Center computer that works with the MSN/Windows Live Instant Messenger network. It lest you use a mobile device or anything with the right IM client to schedule recordings on the MCE machne.
Have a look at the /mobileRecord page for more info on getting everything up and running.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media center, mce, mobile, schedule, live, windowslive
[via:Jason Tsang]

Problems synching Windows XP and an intenet time server

2006-09-10T00:34:00.000-07:00

There are certain scenarios that could cause and XP box to not synchronize with an Internet time server even though it is set to automatically synchronize.
This problem may occur in the following scenario:
• A scheduled task automatically resumes the computer from standby or from hibernation.
• The computer automatically goes on standby or into hibernation again.
For example, a computer that is running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 automatically resumes from standby to record a scheduled show. Then, the computer automatically goes on standby after the recording has finished. In this example, the computer may not synchronize the clock with an Internet time server until the computer restarts.

Fortunately, there is a hot fix available: KB909279
Tags: microsoft, windows, xp, media center, mce, time, synchronization, sync

Problems with AMD Dual Core and MCE

2006-09-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

Some users have reported problems with glitching when running Windows Media Center on AMD dual core. If you are one of those, what you need to do is update your driver. You can get it right from AMD:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/amdcpusetup.exe

Tags: microsoft, windows, media, mce, amd, dual core
[via:Aaron Stebner]

Hauppauge WinTV support for Windows Vista

2006-09-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hauppauge is developing support for Windows Vista on many of its WinTV products. The testing was done using the Vista Media Center application for TV watching and recording. The Hauppauge WinTV application is not yet supported under Vista.
List of Hauppauge products which run under Vista
Tags: Hauppauge, wintv, microsoft, windows, vista, support, tv, driver

Ask the Program Managers

2006-08-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

Starting next Tuesday (22 Aug 06), Windows Media Center Program Managers will be participating in the Windows Vista Beta Program Media Center newsgroups for a week. Get out your list of burning questions and get them answered by the people who know.
Point your news reader at: microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter (or just click the link to go to it via Google Groups)
Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, media center, mce
[via WindowsVistaTeam]

Vista: Windows Media Center Experience

2006-08-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Barb Bowman has a nice write up on the Media Center included in Vista Beta 2. She includes some times on the new features. Worth checking out.
Community: Windows Media Center
Tags: windows, vista, mce

Windows Vista needs more time

2006-07-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ed Bott: "If management insists on hitting an arbitrary January ship date, the results will be disappointing at best, and potentially nightmarish."
He links to an interesting article by Robert McLaws: Vista Needs More Time: The Entry I Didn't Want To Write
Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, beta

Here's a quick way to tweak mini-guide behavior in Windows Vista Media Center

2006-07-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

The are is a mini guide in Windows Vista Media Center that appears as an overlay while you are watching live TV so you can quickly browse details of other shows on other channels. Slightly annoying however is that it is abit counter intuitive. The up arrow goes down in channel numbers while down arrow goes the opposite direction.
Fortunately, Aaron Stebner has posted a reg hack for this:

1. Click on the Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator
3. Click Allow to launch an administrator command prompt
4. Run reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings" /v ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
5. Close and re-open Windows Media Center for the change to take effect

If you want to change the mini-guide scrolling behavior back to the default (which will make it scroll the opposite direction of channel up/down scrolling), you can use these steps:

1. Click on the Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator
3. Click Allow to launch an administrator command prompt
4. Run reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings" /v ChannelBrowserArrowUpMeansChannelUp /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, media, center, registry, hack, mini guide, mce

Post Windows Vista Beta 2 improvements to MCE

2006-07-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Enhancements made since Windows Vista Beta 2:
Windows Media Center:

Tuned overall Windows Media Center performance. You should see some fairly substantial gains in the post-Beta 2 builds

Reduced the number of reliability issues. Fewer crashes and great video playback -- who wouldn’t want that? J

Tweaked a lot of little UI elements for better usability

Using an Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender, the remote experience is now full-fidelity. It looks and performs exactly like you’re using the PC.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, center, vista, improvements
[via: Vista Horizons]

ATI - Catalyst 6.7 and Theater 550/660 drivers updated

2006-07-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

ATI has updated Catalyst and Theater 550/660 drivers.
* Catalyst 6.7 Windows XP Media Center Edition - Driver Download
* THEATER 550/650 PRO TV Tuner Drivers - 6.14.10.175 *note that for Media Center users, you only need the drivers, you don't need the other files at all (i.e. the Control Panel/Visual C patch)
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, center, 2005, ati, catalyst, theater, drivers
[via: Jason Tsang]

Help for mce update rollup 2 setup failure

2006-07-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

When you read through some of the forums and Google groups you start to notice a recurring issue with people trying to install Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 that is related to the Windows Media Player 11 beta.

Aaron Stebner has noticed this a well and has posted a work around:

In the cases I have seen so far, uninstalling the Windows Media Player 11 beta and then attempting to reinstall Update Rollup 2 has proven successful. The following steps can be used to accomplish this:
1. Click on the Start menu, choose Run, type appwiz.cpl and click OK to go to the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel
2. Check the box labeled Show updates in the top middle of the Add or Remove Programs window
Locate the item named Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 and choose to uninstall it
3. Attempt to install Update Rollup 2 again by returning to Windows Update or running the setup package located here
4. After successfully installing Update Rollup 2, re-install the Windows Media Player 11 beta

Aaron has further information on how to determine if this is an issue on your system.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, center, mce, 2005, roll up

Extenders and Microsoft anti-spyware

2006-07-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

I learned tonight via the google group that if you are having trouble getting extenders to work in your MCE setup, make sure you have real-time scanning turned off is you run Microsoft anti-spyware.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, center, mce, anti-spyware, extender, xbox, xbox360, 360

Video of Vista Extender

2006-07-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Ian Dixon has a post with video about using the Windows Vista version of MCE through his XBox 360, Running Vista Media Center on my XBOX 360 (with Video).
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, center, mce, xbox, 360, xbox360, video
[via: Matt Goyer]

July 2006 Update Rollup for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

2006-07-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

The July update rollup for MCE 2005 was released today.
Install this update to get the latest updates for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This update supersedes all updates since Update Rollup 2 (KB900325) for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
For more info and download go to: KB919083
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, mce, rollup

Media Center 2005 vs. Domain Support

2006-07-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

Jason Tsang outlines why you can't join your Windows Media Center 2005 to a domain.

1. Feature differentiation between the Windows XP Media Center and Windows XP Professional so that a new price point could be created.
2. Support for Media Center Extenders required Fast User Switching, something that could not be done when a computer is joined to a domain.

He also outlines ways people have been able to get around these issues (to varying support from Microsoft). These instructions show you how to hack your installation and join a domain but you won't be able to use extenders so figure out if that trade off is worth it: Joining a domain within Media Center 2005
Windows Vista (Ultimate) will have these problems fixed and allow domain joining.
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, mce, domain, vista

Media Center Control Server

2006-07-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Media Center Control Server: MCE Control Server will enable OEMs, software developers and professional integrators to rapidly deliver products that provide two-way control and feedback with Media Center Edition and Vista computers.
Highlights:
* Provides Two Way IP Control Protocol.
* Controls Media Center Extenders
* Browse & Search Media Library
* Live Transport and Navigation Feedback
* Display Album Art
* Random Access MCE Interface Navigation
* Issue IR-Remote Commands
* Ultra fast and reliable operation
* Works with Windows XP and Vista
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, mce, control, server
[via:Matt Goyer]

New utility for managing your recorded tv dvr-ms files

2006-07-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Recorded TV Manager: Recorded TV Manager provides a familiar and convenient user interface to manage your collection of television programs recorded by Microsoft Media Center Edition.
$24.95US via pay-pal
Tags: microsoft, windows, media, mce, tv, record
[via: Matt Goyer]