Mark's MCE Blog

If you have not been to my utilites page for a while at http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/util/index.htm you may notice a couple of new things.

First is a new application called Ident Set which is kind of 'run in compatibility mode for Media Center 200x', as close as you can be by manipulating the ident registry key and IE user agents. There is also an auto detect feature to help you find the correct setting for your machine/tell you what version is actually installed.

Earlier this month I put up a beta version of Configuration Reset 2, no angry emails yet which is always a good sign :) The main inspiration for a new version was Vista, although it will work on Media Center 2005. Ironically the beta I put up had to be restricted from running on Vista due to bugs in the current public version when used with it. In 5472 it was a lot better so I am hoping to get a Vista enabled one out for the public RC1.

The Vista betas of Tuner Priority has been out since about April, however that branch is what I am actively developing from now since it also runs on MCE2005. If you run the final v1.02 MCE2005 version and are told that your OS is not valid AND are not using the English Edition of Media Center, please use the Vista beta version as it contains some localisation fixes also.

Tweak MCE was a PowerToy released for Media Center 2005 which allowed access to certain settings which are not exposed in the Media Center UI, and otherwise would require manual registry editing to modify. When Update Rollup 2 came out the existing version of Tweak MCE did not recognise it as a supported version of Media Center since the version number changed from v3.0/v3.1 (Update Rollup 1) to v4.0. In addition to supporting Rollup 2 there are a few extra options included in this version for some of the new features such as My DVDs and overscan.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3400190a-511a-4a3a-9b89-524511a76f58&displaylang=en

Thanks to David for dropping me a line to say that the latest version of the Nova-T (model 909) driver now includes support for Hauppauge’s Media Center DVB-T Radio plug-in. For more details on this driver see http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=709

Hauppauge DVB-T Radio Plug-in (April 2005)

At the moment I am moving my Media Center content from the old Linux mvps.org server over to the newer one (which hosts this blog) on Windows Server 2003. As part of this I've put up v1.03 of my Media Center Reset tool, there are not any major death causing bug fixes in this version from the version that was on last months Windows XP Official Magazine coverdisc (luckily ). But I have made some changes in the area of backing up and restoring the recording schedule which make that work much better. There is also a beta version of my tuner priority setter for Media Center 2005 which is my first attempt at a useful application written in C#.

http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/util/index.htm

This post is a summary of the updates that have been made available in the first 3 months of this year for Media Center 2005. A requirement for all of these updates is that Media Center 2005 Rollup 1 has already been installed.

Windows XP Media Center Edition Update for Standby Mode (895678)

The Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update for Standby Mode helps prevent the black screen that you may encounter when resuming use of the Media Center PC from Standby mode. LINK

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update for Intel 915g Integrated Video Adapter (895198)

This update is only for Media Center 2005 system which use an Intel 915g Integrated Video card. If your system features this video card and you are currently seeing visual artefacts on video playback whilst in windowed mode you should download and apply this hotfix. LINK

The easiest way to check if you have such a video card in your system is to right click on your desktop and select properites. When the display properties window opens select the settings tab and look at the section where it says 'display:' The wording of this area is 'Monitor/Display Device' on 'Video Card'

Update for Conflict Management in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (890760)

The Update for Conflict Management in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 enables improved conflict management for users who schedule TV recordings through MSN Remote Record. LINK

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Zoom Update (890629)

The third mode of zoom does not always work as expected when watching live or recorded TV. LINK
This update also requires the installation of the following hotfix - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;891220

Tweak MCE 

While technically being neither a patch, nor requiring rollup 1 the Media Center 2005 PowerToy ‘Tweak MCE’ is now available as a standalone download from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9c02f0a8-8525-4110-aaa8-36aa8aebf2af&DisplayLang=en

Tweak MCE is a utility which allows you access to some of the more hidden settings of Media Center, which previously required manual changes using the registry editor.

Version 1.01.3 of my Media Center Configuration Reset tool is now available for download. This is essentially my 1.02 version of the program with the ‘backup recording schedule’ feature turned off so that I could put out a version which would support Media Center 2005 with Rollup 1 installed. Once I’ve been able to test 1.02 a bit more it will be up for download. http://mvps.org/marksxp/MediaCenter/util/reset.php