Members Adventures - All Comments

re: So we can't see Internet TV here in the UK?...... well actually...

Fask — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:46:19 GMT

Hello guys, I wrote a guide to Getting Internet TV outside the U.S., just move here.

www.chicchedicala.it/.../come-ricevere-la-internet-tv-al-di-fuori-degli-stati-uniti-windows-7-media-center

leave comments if worked

re: So we can't see Internet TV here in the UK?...... well actually...

Fask — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:45:13 GMT

Hello guys, I wrote a guide to Getting Internet TV outside the U.S., just move here.

www.chicchedicala.it/.../come-ricevere-la-internet-tv-al-di-fuori-degli-stati-uniti-windows-7-media-center

leave comments if worked

re: Multiple tuners, Windows 7 RC and channel merging

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re: Windows Media Center Cumulative Update for Windows 7

tony_park — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:41:05 GMT

Hi,

I don't know if its just my setup, or whether its coincidence, but since I installed this update, I've seen a number of BSODs - up until this point, I'd not had a single one over the 3 months since this setup was created :-(

I may try uninstalling, since it doesn't really offer much in the way of benefits for me.

Tony

re: Windows Media Center Cumulative Update for Windows 7

cw-kid — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:10:02 GMT

I was wondering when the first update would be released. I thought there might have been more bug fixes in it however.

re: CPU and Network utilisation with DVBLink network tuners

JayC — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:43:21 GMT

@Everton - No problem, thank you for taking the time to show your appreciation. Can I also recommend Garry's excellent post here:

thedigitallifestyle.com/.../dvblink-how-tuner-pooling-works.aspx

If you have room in your WHS then the more tuners you add the better, the way DVBLink uses logical tuners (not to be confused with the virtual tuners that get added in device manager) means that the Media Center clients have access to more than 4 physical tuners. That along with the master setting can mean never having no tuner available.

re: CPU and Network utilisation with DVBLink network tuners

Everton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:14:15 GMT

Hi JayC

Registered to say thanks for this. I discovered DVBLink yesterday and it looks like the solution to my scenario - 3 Media Centers without TV cards, including one small dinky one, where I want to avoid buying multiple cards for each machine, wiring up the whole house etc. Now I'm just going to get freesat and slap some cards in my Media Center.

I was worried about CPU usage, whether I'd need a GPU in my WHS etc if I use DVBLink but from your stats I can see I won't and I've just upgraded my WHS to a i3 530 so I have a lot more power than you!

Thanks also for clarifying how the virtual tuners get allocated - I was trying to work out what happened if all were in use and the use of a 'master' client makes sense to me.

re: CPU and Network utilisation with DVBLink network tuners

JayC — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:33:31 GMT

@pawtrski - I'm not sure I completely understand so let me summerise what I think you are saying. You have four network based tuners and two more local tuners giving you six tuners in total. You are recording four shows using the four network tuners. There are two Xbox360's running as extenders to the Media Center PC and they are each watching a show each (so both local tuners are in use).

I think that with a gigabit network only requiring 2% (so 20% of a 100mbit) to record 4 shows it should work fine especially as with the 4 recordings they will be pulling data into the PC and the two Xbox360's will be taking data out.

re: CPU and Network utilisation with DVBLink network tuners

pawtrski — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:46:20 GMT

THis looks fantastic, and would suit my needs perfectly however i do have one concern regarding MCE like the Xbox 360 usage, for instance if your MC has 4 recordings going on at the same time using the DVB link and you are streaming say 2 live tv shows using built in tuner to the MC to an MCE like the 360 do you have any network congestion? Hopefully I am clear on this question.

re: CPU and Network utilisation with DVBLink network tuners

Mynstrel — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:09:09 GMT

Thanks FOr this :-)

re: Why is SkyPlayer PPV content inconsistent across platforms?

JayC — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:30:24 GMT

It would make sense for the SkyPlayer to use the same backend delivery/catalogue system across both platforms. As usual we suffer from the film/TV studios locking away their content while in the US there is full shows available via services like NetFlix, etc.

Even the new video service on PS3 is films only with no TV series available (that I am aware of) so would be an oppertunity for Sony to get one over on Microsoft but I won't be holding my breath.

Now, think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts... :-D

re: Why is SkyPlayer PPV content inconsistent across platforms?

Mynstrel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:47:20 GMT

Jay,

I totally agree, the lack of what i think as decent content on the xbox sky player was the very reason i uninstalled it from my Xbox.

Ed :-)

re: Why all the excitement over network tuners?

JayC — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:23:11 GMT

Hi Ed

I'm planning on doing a follow up post on CPU & bandwidth use, but so far I've not had a chance, so apologies if I don't answer that here. I will say that it isn't an issue. I'll get that post done soon I hope, just need to work around family and our recording schedule.

No, Windows Home Server does not have any Windows Media Center components. The only additions are the tuners and the DVBLink server software. All WMC software is on the Windows 7 clients so recording and watching TV works as before except that there are no local tuners (they are in the server).

Jason.

re: Why all the excitement over network tuners?

Mynstrel — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:39:25 GMT

HI JayC

How much CPU/Memory load is this putting on your machine with the tuners in it?

Is that machine runnign a version of windows media center?

CHeers

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

JayC — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:55:35 GMT

@dogged That is a good suggestion and I've read about people doing this before. I think that it comes down to individual needs and how much you rely on the HTPC.

In our household Media Center is everything to us and does all our recording so if it suffers a hardware failure or the OS gets corrupted and needs restoring I need to be able to do this quickly and easily from the WHS.

The issues with such a setup would be that should I need to restore the HTPC that I'd first have to move the virtual machine somewhere else (assuming I could and the hard drive hasn't failed completely).

Now there are ways around that, there are ways to backup and restore the WHS backup database, but for me the risks are too high. That isn't to say that this wouldn't work or that it isn't a solution for some.

@Garry Yes the recording was fine apart from some break up of picture which I don't think is related to the signal but possible network related. This certainly wasn't so bad that I'd turn back from using network tuners. The other real test was could the desktop wake from sleep and record without tuner issues which I'm happy to report it could.

I'm going to be moving the 2nd Nova-T-500 card from the HTPC into the WHS very soon and see how things work out. I plan on doing another follow up post showing CPU and network stats when recording 1, 2, 3 and 4 streams.

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

Garry [WMA] — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:29:01 GMT

@dogged I also suggested that and I believe the concern is recovering WHS if there is a failure

@Jayc see you tweeted that recording works pretty well which is really good news

re: Mediaportal V Media Center? Which to choose?

Dodobird — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:08:59 GMT

Dear Mr. Jones :)

I confess, I signed up just to thank you for this fantastic blog post. I have been scouring the net for hours trying to decide between MediaPortal (MP) and 7MC. I don't use a separate HTPC so the ability to configure MP on my computer screen is actually a plus for me. Even when I install a network I still would rather do it with a keyboard! (old habits die hard!)

You list MP 1.0 as the version you tested? I understand MP 1.1.0 is in Beta release and their site says RC will soon be released. I wondered if you have tried this out yet and if it has improved the TV functions at all?

Also, do you know if both apps support DRM, Blue-ray, digital audio, OGG, FLAC etc., and full network support to stream all TV, Music, Videos and Radio to all client PCs? I am considering that when I upgrade my system.

Which one has more flexibility for adding features?

I have to say that I am surprised that a little open source software like MediaPortal can compete even that well with the great MS! It's like David and Goliath! And of course MP is free, which is a plus for me!

Thank you for one of the best articles I have read out of about a hundred or so.. and counting (my head hurts!)

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

dogged — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:59:02 GMT

Out of interest - and apologies if there's an obvious reason why not - but have you considered reversing your config?

In other words, a Windows7 HTPC as the physical box running WHS in Virtual PC? That way, your tuners resolve directly to the HTPC and you bypass the problem of taking a feed into your virtual HTPC from WHS while trying to push to an extender. You should in theory at least halve the network traffic.

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

Ian Dixon — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:08:16 GMT

great post, this is a great project

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

JayC — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:07:28 GMT

That might be an option. I will try and test that out to see if recording does work. Just copying the VHD over to my desktop to give Virtual PC a try.

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

Dean Cairns — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:01:17 GMT

One use for this as it stands: Run a virtual HTPC on your WHS solely for recording purposes.

re: Can network tuners make a virtual HTPC possible?

Garry [WMA] — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:55:53 GMT

Great post Jason

re: What Windows7 Media Center Plug-In items do you use ??

Mark Williamson — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:39:22 GMT

Hi Im in the U.K and use

Tuner Free MCE ( Must have but hate the way it works with Flash)

My Movies 3

Slysoft Any DVD

Blackgold 6 in 1 DVBS/ DVBT tuner

Gyration RF Media Center Remote control and airmouse.

Stability is generally O.K but still get the occasional unknown sluggish behaviour.

re: What Windows7 Media Center Plug-In items do you use ??

dunks517 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:40:00 GMT

My Movies 3

Any DVD

Heatwave

Tunerfree MCE

Medi Center Studio

My channel logos

Total Media Theatre 3

DVD Shrink

Avermedia Hypr X tv card

TMT extreme

DVB Link

Air Mouse

re: What Windows7 Media Center Plug-In items do you use ??

mark1234 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:28:06 GMT

I run Windows 7 in the UK and for plugins I install:

Media Browser (but don't use it very often)

iPlayer plugin

YAMMM (truely brilliant metadata collection tool for 7MC Movie Library)

I don't mess around with codecs as the built in ones work perfectly fine for me.

re: No X10 remote control in Windows7

gadget — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:35:55 GMT

Hello Vlad

I dont believe the remotes are sold seperately, they come with the Pc

The link supplied shows the driver is for

Windows XP, Vista 32/64 bit, Windows 7 32/64 bit

Version 3.239

re: No X10 remote control in Windows7

vlad — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:10:29 GMT

Hi,

can you please tell me where to buy this remote control? Been looking everywhere for it, but can't find it anywhere!

I see that http://x10europe.com has got 1 MCE remote listed, but that's from all the way back in 2006, so I guess the one you've got is newer?

All help greatly appriciated! :-)

re: My Set Up and Backing Up DVD's and Blu Ray to MP4 or MKV

mark1234 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:07:53 GMT

+1 for Handbrake here. I use it to convert DVDs to h.264/mp4 for use with 7MC and also to convert recorded TV to h.264/mp4 to play on my mobile whilst on the bus. (I convert the wtv files to dvr-ms first using the built in Win7 feature to do this)

There has also been a new version of Handbrake (0.9.4) released within the last couple of weeks.

re: SkyTV Sky Player Integration Within Windows7 Media Center ... hmm

mmillmor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:52:33 GMT

Good article. It seems doomed to failure to me unless sky make it much easier for non-subscribers to buy programs, and for subscribers to get access to what they have already paid for. Shame, because I think it will put other broadcasters off the platform.

re: The definitive guide to creating an audio library across Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, ITunes and the iPod.

danabu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:56:25 GMT

Thanks for this. It turns out that Windows Media Center (or Windows Media Player, which it uses) only handles mp3 tags of version ID3v2.3 UTF-16. It cannot handle the newer ID3v2.4 UTF-8 tag, while iTunes can. I use MP3tag to do my tagging, and fortunately it has a way to set which tag versions it uses, but until I limited it to saving in the older format I could not get Windows to see the tags, even though iTunes was fine.

So one more tip - make sure you save in v2.3, not v2.4.

re: Sky Player in Windows Media Center

Garry [WMA] — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:19:17 GMT

Nice links missed them completely

re: Sky Player in Windows Media Center

dunks517 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:36:40 GMT

Indeed Mark, I do hope Adam and Josh have noticed!

re: Sky Player in Windows Media Center

mark1234 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:28:03 GMT

I've seen a few posts now forcefully making the point about the correct spelling of "Centre". I approve!

re: .wtv To .dvr-ms Command Line Conversion

pbruce — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:50:20 GMT

I don’t know if this will help you, but I ran into the same problems. I wrote a utility to automate the built-in wtvconverter.exe program. You can check it out at:

wtvwatcher.codeplex.com

re: Video skip feature in Windows 7 Media Centre

TheChief — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:13:19 GMT

Brilliant. I'll give that a try later. Thanks :)

re: Video skip feature in Windows 7 Media Centre

FrankinNoHo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:15:34 GMT

I heard this when they read your email on E2.0 and I thought, no way, it can't be that simple.

Yes way! Thanks.

re: Adding Freesat (and Freeview) to Windows 7

Olaf the Viking — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:05:06 GMT

anyone know where to source a pinnacle card now? can't find a 7010ix or 3010ix anywhere! pinnacle system's website is just about software and movie editing hardware.

re: So we can't see Internet TV here in the UK?...... well actually...

jem101 — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:13:33 GMT

Which is precisely what I found, but as soon as you add a tuner and tell it your true region so as to download the guide data, you will lose the tile for Internet TV from the extras strip. You will need this 'hack' to get it back.

re: Questions to DrFlick

gadget — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:47:16 GMT

the 5800 was not good Derick and is awaiting collection for return

re: Questions to DrFlick

DrFlick — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:17:14 GMT

Unfortunately, I do not see the 5800 as a certified DLNA device either.

=D-