Ask me your MCE questions.

[Quasmo]

I've been using MCE for over 2 years with, most likely, one of the more advanced setups (I have QAM support with a hack) I've used 4 analogue tuners and 2 digital. I know how it works with the Xbox 360. Just ask away and I'll answer as best I can.

 

[venkman]

Is there a way to get an ATSC tuner running on Windows XP MCE without installing an SD Tuner? It works GREAT on Vista MCE, but I would like it working on an other XP Box. The Tuner in question: WinTV HVR-950 USB

 

[Quasmo]

As of now there is no work around for the digital without analoge problem. This guy found a work around with the ATI HDTV wonder, the same solution might work for you. http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/post/17668.aspx

 

[Kaido]

What is a good dual-tuner card for SDTV for MCE 2005? And you have to answer in "the voice" 😀

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: Kaido
What is a good dual-tuner card for SDTV for MCE 2005? And you have to answer in "the voice" 😀

I really liked my MCE500 from Hauppauge. It worked really well, and I reguard it highly. Get on vent to hear the voice.

 

[tomt4535]

Why do I get a "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer" Error message on 2 of my channels? It happens if I watch live tv on the channel or record a show on the channel.

 

[secretanchitman]

can you get divx and other types of movies to play in mce, or is it just limited to wmv and avi? (at least for me it is)

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: tomt4535
Why do I get a "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer" Error message on 2 of my channels? It happens if I watch live tv on the channel or record a show on the channel.

What channels, is it a diigital tuner?

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
can you get divx and other types of movies to play in mce, or is it just limited to wmv and avi? (at least for me it is)

I don't have any problems playing xvid, divx movies in MCE. Are you sure you have the right codec's installed. I know you can't play them with the 360 streaming over the network, but on the PC itself you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[tomt4535]

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: tomt4535
Why do I get a "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer" Error message on 2 of my channels? It happens if I watch live tv on the channel or record a show on the channel.

What channels, is it a diigital tuner?

On an SD tuner. Channel 56 (fuse) and Channel 42 (We)

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: tomt4535

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: tomt4535
Why do I get a "Restricted Content: Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit playback of the program on this computer" Error message on 2 of my channels? It happens if I watch live tv on the channel or record a show on the channel.

What channels, is it a diigital tuner?

On an SD tuner. Channel 56 (fuse) and Channel 42 (We)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913800

 

[Kaido]

Can you stream ISOs to MCE2005?

 

[Sav]

I am interested in ripping my DVD library to my comp using AutoGK. Do you have any advice on how to upscale/catalog my movies and tv series in MCE? I have Vista

Also, I would like to game on my HTPC is there a good desk type thing so I could use a keyboard/mouse on my sofa?

Thank you very much 🙂

 

[loup garou]

Hey Quasmo, maybe I can help as well.
Also, people need to specify if they're talking about XP or Vista (although most info is the same for both).

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
can you get divx and other types of movies to play in mce, or is it just limited to wmv and avi? (at least for me it is)

I don't have any problems playing xvid, divx movies in MCE. Are you sure you have the right codec's installed. I know you can't play them with the 360 streaming over the network, but on the PC itself you shouldn't have any problems.

Check this thread if you have Vista.

Originally posted by: Sav
I am interested in ripping my DVD library to my comp using AutoGK. Do you have any advice on how to upscale/catalog my movies and tv series in MCE? I have Vista

Also, I would like to game on my HTPC is there a good desk type thing so I could use a keyboard/mouse on my sofa?

Thank you very much 🙂

My Movies for ripped DVD management.
If you are using dvi/hdmi into your tv, mediacenter will upscale your content, but not very well (no filtering, etc). You can rig up My Movies to call TheaterTek DVD decoder for DVD playback/ripped DVDs and have FFDShow do processing. I'm not very experienced with it though, poking around the MyMovies forum & TGB may yield more info.

Oh yeah, and if they ever release it, the Phantom Lapboard would be what you're looking for for couch-based PC gaming. 😉

 

[jkresh]

I will help out as well (I haven't used qam in mce, but i do have it connected to my hd-dvr though firewire ) and you can use transcode 360 to stream avi's/xvid... to a 360 (it does real time transcoding to wmv and works pretty well on a moderately fast pc (you don't need anything close to the specs I have)

 

[Chapbass]

other good upconverting software is Zoomplayer with nvidias Purevideo, if your using the right video card (6600 and newer geforce series...dont think the 6200 has it).


zoom player + purevideo + FFDShow = amazing.

 

[markgm]

Can I record to a NAS device in Vista, or better yet, what's the hacks to record to a NAS device in Vista?

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: markgm
Can I record to a NAS device in Vista, or better yet, what's the hacks to record to a NAS device in Vista?

As far as I know in MCE2005 you just list a drive letter for where you want your data stored. I would suggest trying it out, if it's just listed as a drive (try mounting the drive), you should be able to use it. I would mke sure your network is strong enough to handle the bandwidth (Recording 4 shows at once would certainly kill my network.

 

[markgm]

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: markgm
Can I record to a NAS device in Vista, or better yet, what's the hacks to record to a NAS device in Vista?

As far as I know in MCE2005 you just list a drive letter for where you want your data stored. I would suggest trying it out, if it's just listed as a drive (try mounting the drive), you should be able to use it. I would mke sure your network is strong enough to handle the bandwidth (Recording 4 shows at once would certainly kill my network.

I don't think it works with drives that aren't local by default. I only have 4 SD tuners, so it should be okay until I go HD. Bah, I have to add a few more terabytes soon anyway.

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: markgm

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: markgm
Can I record to a NAS device in Vista, or better yet, what's the hacks to record to a NAS device in Vista?

As far as I know in MCE2005 you just list a drive letter for where you want your data stored. I would suggest trying it out, if it's just listed as a drive (try mounting the drive), you should be able to use it. I would mke sure your network is strong enough to handle the bandwidth (Recording 4 shows at once would certainly kill my network.

I don't think it works with drives that aren't local by default. I only have 4 SD tuners, so it should be okay until I go HD. Bah, I have to add a few more terabytes soon anyway.

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/190172/ShowThread.aspx

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Hey Quasmo, maybe I can help as well.
Also, people need to specify if they're talking about XP or Vista (although most info is the same for both).

Originally posted by: Quasmo

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
can you get divx and other types of movies to play in mce, or is it just limited to wmv and avi? (at least for me it is)

I don't have any problems playing xvid, divx movies in MCE. Are you sure you have the right codec's installed. I know you can't play them with the 360 streaming over the network, but on the PC itself you shouldn't have any problems.

Check this thread if you have Vista.


we should specify if we're running xp or vista mce. im running xp mce btw....with all the windows updates and the combined community codec pack.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

OK. I have an old(er) PC. Looking to make it into a MCE box. Can someone point me to a list of what you need?

In regards to my OS...I am running XP SP2 right now, I guess I'll have to buy XP MCE...since its old, I wouldn't want to venture running Vista on it. Can anyone recommend the best/cheapest place to get XP MCE? There's no way around having to buy that right? I can't use my SP2 key...or download something that will make mine work for media center, right?

 

[Quasmo]

You have to buy MCE, at the moment I would buy MCE 2005. I'd atleast have a pentium 4, 3 ghz system, a gig of ram, and as much hard drive space as possible. Plus you have alot more freedom in 2005.

 

[nullpointerus]

Quasmo, have you ever heard of a decoder interfering with VMC recordings?

I'm having this problem (rig in sig) where the card's driver goes crazy at some random point after booting. Sometimes this problem will occur right after booting; sometimes it may take hours or days to occur. It seems random. But when it happens, recordings will fail (i.e. 0 MB files) with periodic CPU spikes to 100% every two seconds or so, and live TV will display at like 1 fps with massive audio/video distortion including some frames that are entirely green. Rebooting almost always fixes this problem.

I just did a clean installation of Vista Home Premium x64 Edition, same problem. All Hauppauge drivers I've been able to install have the same problem, including the default driver from the Vista setup DVD. However, if I go into the BIOS and disable memory remapping, suddenly the computer will record flawlessly no matter how many times it's rebooted and how long it's up.

Vista x32 never has this problem, but I'd rather not lose ~768 MB of RAM.

Hauppauge support is telling me to get some DVD software and switch decoders...but this sounds like nonsense. How should I go about troubleshooting this? I really don't want to make any changes to my rig now that the OS is cleanly installed. I've searched the Internet several times during the last few weeks, but no luck so far. It's like no one else is experiencing this problem.

 

[Fraggable]

I have a Vista Home Premium media center set up and working great, but the setup bugs me.

I use a Theater 650 tuner. I have Dish Network TV with no HD subscription. I currently use the S-video out from the STB to the S-video in on the 650 and it works fine, image quality is as good as SDTV gets. But the HD tuner just sits there, and I know I get about 12 HD channels locally. Is there a way to get Vista to use both inputs and list channels on both in the guide? I have a feeling the answer is no, but as long as you're taking questions, there you go.

One more thing, we subscribe to local channels over the Dish, but Vista doesn't list channels below 100 in the Guide since during setup I told it it was satellite. Any way to add those local channels?