Mark's MCE Blog - Media Center 2005

Issues fixed in July 2006 Rollup

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:49:58 GMT

Following up on my previous post on the July rollup, the KB article containing the change list is now online. The following issues are corrected in this release:

Horizontal white line on screen
When you play a DVD video in Media Center, a horizontal white line appears in some dark areas of the screen. For example, when you press the MORE INFO button on the Media Center remote, a white line appears on the bottom of some menu items. Then, when you close the More Info screen, the white line remains on the screen.

• Media Center may crash when you use ListMaker
When you use the ListMaker sample add-in that is included with the Media Center SDK, and you comment out all media types except Pictures, Media Center may crash.

• Media Center may crash when you open a menu page
When you open a menu page in Media Center, the program may crash. You receive an error message that resembles the following:

Program_name has caused an error and must be closed. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. Please tell Microsoft about this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to help us improve Program_name. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous. To see what data this error report contains, click here.

• Black screen appears instead of DVD menu
When you try to play a DVD video in Media Center, a black screen appears instead of the DVD menu. This problem may sometimes occur with some DVD videos if the following conditions are true:

• The Media Center screen resolution is set to 720p (High Definition) or to a higher resolution.
• The DVD video is copy-protected by MacroVision.

July 2006 Rollup Download

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:48:17 GMT

The latest cumulative update since Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005 has been released today. At present there are no details on the bug list as the KB article has not gone live yet, however the download can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22402573-97aa-41be-8090-2ae905802045&DisplayLang=en

Media Player 11 Beta Out

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:49:38 GMT

Today Microsoft shipped a test version of Media Player 11 which will be out for Windows XP later this year and ship with Vista. First impressions have been good particularly in the navigation and search because of the new library database. It also fixed the annoying issue I had synchronising content to my SmartPhone where it would end up as a postage stamp in the middle of the screen. It is a little premature for a review, but it’s well worth taking a look at simply because IMO the experience is much better than Media Player 10.

It should be noted though that the improved library performance does not cross over from Media Player into Media Center. Vista will be the first version of Media Center to take advantage of WMP11 properly because it is being built with it in mind. This beta will only install on the 2005 Edition of Media Center and not 2002 or 2004. You must also pass Windows Genuine Advantage to install it.

Find out more
http://microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx

Download
http://microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/download.aspx

April 2006 Rollup Update (KB914548)

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:02:45 GMT

Today Microsoft has released the latests cumulative update for Media Center 2005 Rollup 2.

Incorrect guide data for ATSC minor channels that you have manually added
After you manually add Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) minor channels and install Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition, the minor channels may not have unique guide data associated with them.

ATSC channels move into a five-digit channel range
When you configure a satellite service provider and an over-the-air ATSC, the ATSC channels may move into a five-digit channel range. Because of this problem, you cannot type a channel number by using the Media Center remote control or keyboard.

Delay when you change DVB-T channels
There may be a long delay when you switch between audio-only and TV DVB-T channels.

Teletext bar remains on the screen after you use transport controls
The Teletext bar does not disappear after you use the transport controls when you are recording a program that has Teletext subtitles.

Teletext blinks frequently

Closed captions do not display correctly
Some closed captioning may not display correctly.

Media Center computer is not suspended after you use the TV tuner
After you install Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition, the Media Center Edition computer is not suspended if the tuner has been used.

DVB-T scanning does not work correctly in the Czech edition of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

You receive a "Unsupported File Type" error message when you burn a DVD video
When you try to burn a DVD video by using the Cyberlink PowerDVD MPEG2 decoder, you may receive a "Unsupported File Type" error message. This problem occurs after you install Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This update adds an additional AC3 decoder to the list of supported decoders.

Tuning information is missing for the 1 MUX on 186 megahertz (MHz) setting in the Italian version of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
The Italian version of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 may be missing tuning information for the 1 MUX on 186 MHz setting. This update also adds the appropriate DVB-T table for Italian versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Download

Updated Tuner Priority for Vista

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:07:28 GMT

I've uploaded an updated version of the Tuner Priority application today, there are no major bug fixes in it. The main aim of it was to work with the Vista beta. If you use it please ensure you have completed the configuration of at least 1 set of supported tuners otherwise you may encounter an error due to registry changes. I am holding off until beta 2 so that the Media Center registry is in somewhat more of a final state before I fix that.

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

Jan 2006 Rollup Patch (KB912067)

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:56:40 GMT

Microsoft has released another rollup update for Media Center 2005 machines running Update Rollup 2. Specifically this update corrects the following issues as well as those contained in all Rollup Updates since Rollup 2.

Video may stutter after you resume the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based computer from standby (S3) or from hibernation (S4).

The Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based computer may take five minutes to resume from hibernation. The computer may appear to stop responding and display a black screen during this time.

Media Center may stop responding when you press ALT+TAB.

Video may stop responding in Media Center if the computer is using certain models of dual tuners. This problem occurs when both tuners are being used or when you are using a Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition.

You do not receive a signal when you use digital TV in the Taiwan region. With this update, Media Center now supports tuners that produce both analog and digital signals for use in Taiwan. The update does not affect digital and analog tuners in other regions.

Download

Converting DVB-T Radio to MP3

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:33:29 GMT

Now that we have DVB-T Radio and recording support in Media Center 2005 UR2 wouldn’t it be good to have it on your MP3 player or Portable Media Center ?

Unfortunately the radio stations are recorded as audio only DVR-MS files, a format which fails to play on a Portable Media Center (after being synced to the My TV folder), and will not sync to a player such as a Creative Muvo because it is not a device that supports video formats (Media Player is set up to expect that this kind of file is TV).

If you want to extract the audio a ‘simple’ way to do it is to use an application called graphedit. This exists as part of the DirectX programmers SDK and can be used to create a graph which opens the dvr-ms file and writes it as an MP3. To do this

1. If you don’t have GraphEdit download a copy here (The latest version from the DirectX 9 SDK is not absolutely required for this)

2. Extract the files to a sensible location (i.e. c:\graphedit rather than your desktop) and register dump.ax by going to Start > Run and entering regsvr32 <path>\dump.ax

3. Run GraphEdit and go to File > Render Media File

4. Navigate to the Recorded TV, for types of file select ‘All Files’ and select the radio DVR-MS file.

5. This will automatically create a graph, since we only care about the Audio select ‘Decrypt/Tag0002, your video decoder (e.g. ‘NVIDIA Video Decoder’), Video Renderer and press delete. Also Select the ‘Default DirectSound Device’ filter and press delete.

6. Select Graph from the menu and select Insert Filter.
7. Expand Audio Compressors and select ‘MPEG Layer-3’ followed by Insert Filter.

8. Move down the filter list and expand ‘DirectShow Filters’, from this group insert ‘Dump’ into the graph (will not exist unless dump.ax is registered). Upon doing this a dialog window will be shown saying ‘select an output file for this filter to use’, select a folder and then call your file Something.mp3, close the filter insert window.

9. Two new filters will now have appeared on your graph called ‘MPEG Layer-3’ and ‘Something.mp3’. Drag from the ‘Audio Output’ pin of your MPEG Audio Decoder (e.g. ‘NVIDIA Audio Decoder’) and connect it to the Input of ‘MPEG Layer-3’.

10. Next connect the output of ‘MPEG Layer-3’ to the Input of ‘Something.mp3’

11. Hit the play button below the options menu to start, depending how large the file is this may take some time.

Now unfortunately the MPEG Layer-3 filter we’ve just used is limited to producing MP3s at a maximum of 56kbit/sec, which unless you are listening to speech isn't really good enough. What we could do is swap out the MPEG Layer-3 filter for something a little less restrictive, such as a version of the LAME MP3 encoder that has a DirectShow interface. Alternatively you can choose another codec entirely provided you have suitable DirectShow filters.

sample.mp3 (75.86 KB)

KB910393 Update for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 20:57:58 GMT

Microsoft has released an update for Media Center 2005 machines running Update Rollup 2 to prevent Windows Media Player 10 setup from overwriting digital rights management (DRM) files installed by Update Rollup 2. After the launch of UR2 this led to some users experiencing problems trying to use protected content.

At the time of writing the KB article for this update is not yet live

Download Link KB Article

Tweak MCE PowerToy Update

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 18:21:08 GMT

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

Q908250 Update for Media Center 2005 Rollup 2

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 17:02:14 GMT

Along with Rollup 2 Microsoft has also released Q908250 which is mainly an update for the non US technologies used in Media Center (DVB-T/Freeview, Teletext). For DVB-T especially this is a very important update.

The fixes included in this package are:

Electronic Program Guide shows scrambled DVB-T channels.

In regions where the Terrestrial Digital Broadcasting Services (DVB-T) signal is offered, an issue was identified with scrambled channels in the Electronic Program Guide. This issue is fixed by this update. If you download the Electronic Program Guide before you install this update, you may have to apply this update, rescan channels, and then download a new Electronic Program Guide.

DVB-T services are not found.

In regions where the DVB-T signal is offered, an issue was identified where TV services were not found after users selected DVB-T as the signal type. This update resolves this issue.

Teletext subtitles disappear after you use transport controls.

In regions that support Teletext, an issue was discovered where Teletext subtitles disappear when users use transport controls such as pause, fast forward, rewind, or play. This update resolves this issue.

A playback initialization error occurs on resume when you suspend or hibernate a computer that is playing a DVD.

On some computers, when you suspend or hibernate the computer that is playing a DVD, you receive a playback initialization error on resume. This update resolves this issue.

Interoperability with some third-party TV software.

Additional third-party TV software is included with some computers. This update enables third-party TV software to work better with Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Support for additional optical media drives.

With Update Rollup 908250 installed, Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 supports Matsushita DVD RAM UJ-846s drives.

The Media Center, formerly Codename Emerald

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:59:36 GMT

Finally the big day has arrived! This year Microsoft has chosen to go with an update to Media Center 2005 rather than putting out a whole new version and branding it MCE 2006. The update goes under the name ‘Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005’ and is available free to all legally licensed MCE 2005 owners from Windows Update.

This update does put in place some changes for the Xbox 360 specifically but the update as a whole does have quite a lot of scope beyond that. The .net portions of Media Center now run through version 1.1 SP1 of the .net framework rather than 1.0 SP3. This in itself brings speed improvements.

With Rollup 2 Media Center is moving into 20 new countries this year (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey), with 11 new languages.

In the USA the supported tuner number has been raised to 4 (comprised of two NTSC and two ATSC tuners), however for all other regions this has not been changed.

DVB-T/Freeview Radio is supported in Media Center now, and you can record it as well but on Media Center the radio does not ‘look’ the same. Media Center still does not support MHEG-5 (Standard used for ‘Enhanced Interactive Services’) so Media Center constructs a graph that only connects to the MPEG audio and displays a Media Center ‘Digital Audio Service’ Message on screen. In the UK the radio is delivered as ~64-192kbit. I was actually quite surprised when Hauppauge announced their own DVB-T radio plug-in since I’m sure they were aware of this feature (which is not tuner specific) being present in the update even when they first announced their beta. AC-3 audio over DVB-T is now also supported.

The UK channel exclusion list for DVB-T has been adjusted to remove E4 from the list. After upgrading to Rollup 2, E4 should be detected by simply performing a digital service scan. This avoids the unpleasantness required previously of diving into the registry and manually changing this.

A new power mode called ‘Away Mode’ is also introduced. This relies on support from the motherboards BIOS and as such is not going to be supported by all Media Center PCs (new machines). Essentially Away Mode shuts off audio and video but unlike other power modes it is able to respond to USB events and still perform tasks like recording TV in the background.

The updates to the DVD burning function are quite nice. The major feature being pushed on this is that you can now burn some HDTV shows with Media Center to produce a Standard Definition DVD (Should you have the Sonic Encoders installed). However something I think is probably one of the more useful fixes here is that the Sonic DVD engine should no longer die if it hits a discontinuity in the dvr-ms file (either broadcast related by not receiving data for that specific part of a show, or man made by using dvr-ms editing tools). The number of pictures you can have in a DVD slideshow has been increased from 99 and the ability to add content from other machines has been added.

An optimise feature has been added which will restart key Media Center services at a set time each day if Media Center is not in use. While it does allow better performance if you keep the system running day after day, the very inclusion of such a feature would seem to represent a quick fix to a larger problem in Media Center 2005.

With suitable hardware such as the Niveus Ice Vault a new feature called My DVDs becomes available which allows Media Center to work directly with a DVD Changer. When you then go to My DVDs on the main menu you are shown a list of all the films in your changer with names, cover art and other information which the machine will automatically fetch from the internet in the same way track information is fetched for Audio CDs in WMP.

An open letter to Media Center users from Joe Belfiore

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 14:54:56 GMT

Happy Third Birthday, Windows XP Media Center Edition!

An open letter to Media Center users, customers and partners

Joe Belfiore, General Manager, Windows XP Media Center

'My son just turned two years old. For his entire life, the TV set in our family room has been a magic box that constantly offers him reminders of his childhood — a photo slide show of his cousin Serena visiting from Florida; “The Hoppity Song,” perfect for jumping and dancing at a button-press; videos that Dad took of him first walking, or swimming, or even being a goofball and kissing his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Sometimes in the middle of the night when he wakes up, my wife or I sleepily bring him into our bedroom and let him watch a video to calm him down — he long ago learned which icon next to the My Videos folder on the screen he should point to so that we would cue up the right one, completely on demand.

Alexander will never know a world without being completely surrounded by digital images of his life, or where every TV set in the house doesn’t instantly give him access to the music he wants to listen to — any song in the world — or the TV show he wants to watch, someday even any show in the world. And thanks to all of you who have worked with our team at Microsoft to make this vision a reality, there are 4 million households right now around the world that will enjoy the same “digital life” that my family does every day.

This month, Windows^® XP Media Center Edition turns three years old. It was just three short years ago that the first PCs became available in the U.S., Canada and Korea with Media Center Edition and since then a HUGE amount of terrific stuff has happened with Media Center — and I am writing this letter to say an enormous, resounding THANK YOU to all the enthusiastic users and highly engaged partners who have been part of the community which is making this happen. (Shoot, in some parts of Europe and Asia, Media Center isn’t even two yet!)

2005 has been a giant year for Media Center:

· 130 PC manufacturers and more than 7,000 system builders around the world are shipping PCs with Windows XP Media Center Edition, with prices that range from more than $5,000 to under $500, in form factors that you can carry, that you can put next to your TV or that you might keep in a closet. These PCs have a huge range of features, from a terabyte or more of storage to learning remote controls, DVD changers, “instant-on” capability and support for voice control. The innovation is staggering.

· Media Center Extender has hit its stride and is about to explode. Linksys and HP have both successfully introduced the concept of an inexpensive and quiet device that gets you all the value of Media Center in every room of your house, and on Nov. 22 Xbox 360™ will be launched around the world to enable the world’s first integrated, high-fidelity, high-definition extender experience to end up in the hands of literally MILLIONS and MILLIONS of consumers. Undoubtedly, we will look back at this as the “Year of Media Center and Xbox 360.”

· More than 40 companies are offering hundreds of hardware products designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition. These include TV tuners, wireless networking equipment, keyboards, remote controls, portable video players and much more. All these things are designed to work specifically with Media Center Edition and to let people upgrade and add on to their experience.

· More than 75 companies around the world are offering terrific on-demand content, services and applications for Media Center through Online Spotlight, written to the world’s best platform for “10- foot” experiences designed to be displayed on TV and navigated with a remote control. These services deliver engaging scenarios ranging from MTV Overdrive’s new music videos on demand to Discovery Channel’s previews of upcoming shows. Other services providers in the U.S. include America Online Inc., Discovery Channel, Fox Sports, Movielink LLC, MSN^®, Napster LLC and more. And Online Spotlight is now available in many countries around the world where Media Center is shipping. Did you realize that in 2004, ABC Enhanced TV won an Emmy Award (for Advanced Media Technology) for the Media Center version of its hit show “Celebrity Mole: Yucatan ”? Interactive TV is actually happening today on the Media Center platform — not bad for a platform that is just three years old.

And, besides these large companies, a thriving community of individual developers is also creating cool add-ons, such as support for eBay auctions, Netflix rentals and Skype phone calls all on your TV set; remote-control software that runs on your cell phone which allows you to control Media Center Edition, contacts, e-mail, weather, traffic, lottery results and much, much more. (Check out http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/mediacenter or search for “Media Center” on Download.com to explore the possibilities.) It’s amazing to all of us working on the software how far these folks have taken it, and you can bet we’ll keep working to make this platform better and better so that the innovation continues to grow.

· We’ve had terrific collaboration with broadcasters and other folks in the TV industry, and some of the results from these collaborations have already started to become visible. In Europe just a few weeks ago, we announced an alliance with Nagra, one of the world’s leading producers of conditional access technology that’s used by cable and satellite operators to protect premium digital TV broadcasts. Together with Nagra and Canal+ Group (a French satellite service), we demonstrated a tuner device that enables Media Center to deliver protected digital content not just on the Media Center PC but also to extender devices around the home network. This technology isn’t yet ready to be shipped in products you can buy, but the prototype device gives you a glimpse of a near-future where Media Center works with these types of services. In the here and now, of course, this fall’s update to Media Center Edition includes support for high-definition (HD) over-the-air broadcast in the U.S. (with dual-HD tuners), and can enable you to watch that HDTV on your Xbox 360!

It’s very exciting for me to look around at all the enthusiasm out there for Media Center, and once again I say thank you. There’s something special about the PC industry and the fact that it openly encourages partners of all kinds to innovate and ship creative solutions — it’s hard to keep up with! There’s definitely a buzz within the development team at Microsoft as, every day, posts from blogs are forwarded around our group — maybe something about the next cool new Media Center PC, or the latest speculation or wishes about features in the next year’s upcoming release. (I’m personally a fan of Thomas Hawk and Ian Dixon — thanks for your ideas and suggestions!) We love hearing from all of you and are doing our best to listen and keep the right new features coming.

It’s not very often that a “professional job” gets to be as exciting as mine has been — I know that I’m very fortunate to be at the center of an incredibly exciting time in history, working on a product and technology that I’m very proud of, and — in particular — surrounded by the support of a wide array of talented and capable partners and users here in our Media Center community. It blows my mind that we’ve seen Media Center go from 0 to 4 million in just three short years. (Consider this: According to Strategy Analytics, in the first three years, only 2 million stand-alone DVRs were sold worldwide!)

As I look forward to the future, I can’t help but be excited about the terrific stuff we have in mind and in store for all of you. Our team is already hard at work on the Media Center software that will be part of Windows Vista™, and I’m certain you’re going to love it. It won’t be TOO long until you’ll get to see screenshots, demos and beta releases — so sit tight, and once again I’ll say THANK YOU for all the work and support in these years.

Happy Birthday, MEDIA CENTER EDITION!

Joe Belfiore
General Manager, Windows XP Media Center'

Xbox 360 Pricing Announced

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:25:23 GMT

This week Microsoft has made an official announcement about the pricing and details of the packages that will be on offer. This time around there is a base Xbox 360 Core System ($299.99 U.S./€299.99/£209.99), and also a premium package ($399.99 U.S./€399.99/£279.99)

“This premium edition — distinguished by signature metallic detailing on the console itself — comes fully loaded for the ultimate gaming experience, with components and accessories that would cost more than $200 if sold separately:

Xbox 360 console. Sexy styling that packs a punch — three powerful core processors are poised to pump out 720p/1080i output, 16x9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound and DVD playback right out of the box.

• Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 GB). 20 GB and detachable, the hard drive allows gamers to store their games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace.

• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller. Hassle-free high-performance precision wireless gaming features the Xbox® Guide Button for quick access to digital movies, music and games libraries as well as a range and battery life of up to 30 feet and 30 hours of life on two AA batteries.

• Xbox 360 Faceplate. The removable Faceplate comes in stylish “chill” (white) and can be swapped out with custom Faceplates to reflect gamers’ personalities or decor.

• Xbox 360 Headset. This lets gamers strategize with teammates or trash-talk opponents while playing games on Xbox Live.

• Xbox 360 Component HD-AV Cable. This connects gamers to the world of Xbox 360 games and graphics through high-definition and standard-definition connections.

• Xbox Live Silver membership. With this, gamers can chat with friends online, send and receive voice and text messages, and access new content from Xbox Live Marketplace demos such as trailers and casual games from Xbox Live Arcade .

• A bonus Media Remote: Included for a limited time, the integrated control center for the entire digital experience lets consumers play DVDs, movies and music, as well as access their Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PC's controls with a single remote.

The Xbox 360 Core System comes standard with what consumers need to jump right into next-generation games and media, and is fully expandable to the complete Xbox 360 experience:

• Xbox 360 console. As with the premium edition, three powerful core processors pump out 720p/1080i output, 16x9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound and DVD playback right out of the box.

• Xbox 360 Controller. This wired controller features an extended nine-foot cable and a comfortable, enhanced ergonomic design.

• Xbox 360 Faceplate. Like no other console before, the Xbox 360 console allows customization and a removable Faceplate that comes in stylish “chill” (white), which can be swapped out with other custom Faceplates to reflect gamers’ personalities or decor.

• Xbox 360 Standard AV Cable. This connects gamers to the world of Xbox 360, delivering great next-generation graphics and games using standard-definition connections. “

For more details see:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-17EuropeNA360PricePR.mspx
http://www.xbox.com/en-gb/cultureSelectLanding.htm

The Xbox 360 in addition to being a games console can also act as a Media Center Extender which allows you to stream standard and HDTV television, videos, movies, music, and photos from your Media Center 2005 PC. All Xbox 360 consoles will come with this feature out of the box (though core does not include a remote control). If you don’t have a Media Center 2005 machine (or have more than one PC) it will be possible to access photo’s and music stored on other Windows XP machines through the Xbox’s ‘Media Blade’. The Xbox 360 Extender requires an update to Media Center which will be available free for Media Center 2005 owners to download before the end of the year.

Cyberlink announces Media Center software encoder

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:14:20 GMT

“CyberLink Corp., a leading developer in providing integrated solutions for the Digital Home, announced the development of an MPEG-2 software encoder plug-in for the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (MCE) and its upcoming Update Rollup 2 version. This plug-in drastically reduces costs for tuner card manufacturers by avoiding reliance on hardware chipsets when recording TV content with MPEG-2 video and audio quality.

The major trend in the consumer PC market is the ability to record live TV content. Previously, TV tuner cards utilized hardware encoding due to insufficient chipset speed and computing power, which curtailed demand and lowered margins for manufacturers and system integrators. However, CyberLink has developed an alternative and cost-effective solution for hardware manufacturers and system integrators the MPEG-2 video and audio software encoder plug-in for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This software solution drastically reduces the dependency on costly hardware encoding chipsets.

As computing power increases, reliance on powerful, quality, but yet inexpensive software applications and encoders - such as CyberLink's MPEG-2 encoding solution - will exponentially increase," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "CyberLink's expertise and specialization in digital video software technology puts us at the forefront of digital TV recording and playback technology, ensuring our OEM partners have the most cost-effective yet quality solutions for adapting to the industry's current and foreseeable demands. End users will also greatly benefit from the superb reliability and performance of CyberLink's MPEG-2 software encoder."

It will be interesting to see how well Cyberlink’s encoder actually works in practice and what their minimum system requirements are. Pricing on this will be an interesting angle. If you buy a TV card for ~£40; and then buy this encoder which will probably be in the £10-20 range (I'd expect, price TBA) …you are approaching the cost of a Hauppauge WinTV PVR150 hardware encoder card. Personally I would consider the £10-20 extra for a hardware encoder money well spent, but I can see why this would be attractive to system builders. Particularly so if you could reasonable handle dual tuners (since it defiantly would be cheaper than a hardware solution).

The Media Center Keyboard

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:01:42 GMT

Now this does look kind of cool. Coming in September Microsoft are planning to release a 3-in-1 keyboard for Windows XP Media Center 2005. It combines a 116 key keyboard, with the functions of the Media Center remote and a thumb mouse. In addition to this it is also able to control the volume and power of a TV Set.

> >

As expected you also have the short cut keys for Media Center functions which appear on the remotes such a My Music, Live TV and More Information. The Media Center ‘remote keys’ on the left and right side of the keyboard will also light up when one is pressed to provided easy access in low light conditions. A key lock is also included to prevent inadvertent keystrokes when it is not in use (which helps to avoid draining the 4 AA batteries needed to power it). The Media Center Keyboard works at a distance of up to 30ft over IR, using the existing* Media Center Infrared Receivers used today for the remote controls.

The expected retail price around $105 USD (equivalent to £60GBP/87 EUR), although BestBuy are currently listing it at $99.99 upon release.

* To use this keyboard you will need a PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and a Media Center Infrared Receiver which has been updated with KB888795. This keyboard cannot be used with a Media Center Extender, which is a bit of a shame really as the intended usage areas for these products do overlap.

Microsoft Hardware Homepage:

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=040

Large Image:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/gallery/hardware/RemoteKeyboard_lg.jpg

Nova-T Driver update to support Hauppauge DVB-T Radio

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 18:27:15 GMT

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)

E4

Sat, 28 May 2005 12:08:43 GMT

Yesterday E4 on UK digital terrestrial changed from being a premium channel under TopUp TV to being a part of Freeview. Which is going to be fantastic once Big Brother is over J It did however cause a problem for Media Center . When Media Center does a digital channel scan it can tell what kind of service each channel is, some instantly get blocked when they are identified as unsupported services (i.e. Radio). Others don’t always line up correctly, so Media Center has a kind of ‘Block These’ list tucked away in the registry which will knock out BBCi, BBC Parliament, Bloomberg and E4. And this is where the issue is, although E4 is now free it is still on the hard coded blacklist.

To remove E4 from the list
1. Go to Start -> Run and type in regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MediaCenter\Service\GLID
3. Double click on ‘ExclusionList’ in the right divide.
4. Delete the E4 line entirely but leave the other 3 channel names in place, these channels make use of technologies unsupported by Media Center.
5. Reboot the Media Center PC.
6. Start Media Center and go to Settings > TV > 'Scan for more services' to perform a channel scan.

If you do not want to edit the registry manually to do this you can use the attached e4.reg to make those changes.

e4.reg (.66 KB)

If this is done on a system which has not yet run 'Set Up TV Signal' or is running the release version of Media Center 2005 the above 6 steps should allow Media Center to see E4 when a scan is performed. Sometimes this may not be the case, particularly on systems which have had Media Center 2005 rollup 1 (KB873369) or later installed and where 'Set Up TV Signal' has already been run.

If ‘Scan for more services’ fails to detect E4
1. Go to Settings > TV > ‘Set Up TV Signal’. Use this wizard to configure your TV type and guide again. When a service scan is made during this wizard E4 should be detected if no restriction exists in the registry and you have a strong enough signal from your local transmitter.
2. If you have previously setup manual guide associations for channels you may need to make these again through Settings > TV > Guide > Add Listings to Channel. You should also verify that your upcoming recording schedule is correct after making these changes.

Updated: 13/06/2005

Setting time limits on Media Center Extenders

Wed, 18 May 2005 22:21:30 GMT

One of the good things in terms of fiddling about with the Extenders is that they use Windows user accounts to run each devices session under (MCX1-5 for each device). This has been useful as it allows you to use logon scripts to allow the extenders session access to network resources.

This also means that you can set allowed time Windows unique to each extender using the the ‘net user’ command as you can for any other account. You can see the details on the syntax of this on my XP site at http://mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/userhours.php

If someone tries to start up an extender which has had its logon hours limited, they won’t actually be told they’ve been blocked. A more generic, ‘There was a problem contacting the Media Center PC’ message will appear.

Unfortunately net accounts /forcelogoff does not appear to be effective against an extender session, so forcing the session to end when the time expires isn’t that simple. A very dirty method of kicking off your extenders would be to setup a time limit, copy the following into a .cmd file and setup a scheduled task event to run the cmd file at the time you want.

tsdiscon 1 /v

tsdiscon 2 /v

tsdiscon 3 /v

tsdiscon 4 /v

tsdiscon 5 /v

tsdiscon 6 /v

However doing blanket in the dark disconnects, isn’t a particularly good idea if you have more than one extender. This makes no distinction between Extenders, or PC remote desktop sessions. If the session is holding the lucky number, it gets booted. If you want to be a little more precise over what you disconnect, the console command ‘Qwinsta’ allows you to see all sessions active on the local machine. You could match the Extender username to a session ID and disconnect it by typing in tsdiscon x /v (where x is the session id), but that would have to be done manually since things can move around depending on what’s going on.

Hauppauge DVB-T Radio

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 17:06:49 GMT

One thing has been sorely missing since Media Center first became available in Europe back in 2003. That was DVB-T radio channel support, as right now Media Center isn't setup to be able to handle the data coming from these channels so they get blocked out during the channel scan. In Media Center 2005 the way tuner cards were handled changed. This allows them to be put into use when live TV or a recording is not in progress (where as 2004 'locked' onto the card for itself). This has opened up the TV Tuner hardware to 3rd party applications, and Hauppauge have released a beta application which allows access to DVB Radio services. The downside however is that currently only the WinTV Nova-T USB2 tuner is supported, although Hauppauge are expecting to add support for the rest of their DVB-T hardware in the coming months.

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_mce.html

Sony to offer update to Media Center 2005

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:36:44 GMT

Good news if you own a Sony PCV-RZ4x, PCV-RZ5x or VGC-RA series Media Center 2004 PC! Sony has announced that they will be offering an upgrade to Media Center Edition 2005 for $9.99. This is a time limited offer, so if you wish to take advantage of it, be sure to get in before May 31, 2005.

http://esupport.sony.com/info/winxpmceoffer.html

Post Rollup-1 Patches for MCE 2005 (JAN-MAR 05)

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:31:12 GMT

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.

New Year’s blog rollup 1

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:30:46 GMT

Hi Everyone

Hope you all had a good new year. Just a few updates since I didn't post anything here while I was out for Christmas.

Finally I posted the v1.02 version of my reset utility for Media Center yesterday, but handily I managed to break the CSS on the download page in my haste - so I will need to take care of that at some point. However the download link is currently fully working.

New in this version:

v1.02 Compiled 2nd January 2005, Released 16th January 2005

New: Companion application to restore recording schedule

New: Detects Media Center Extender

Change: Backup recording schedule now enabled in main application

Fix: Media Center 2004 Reset now allows selecting another TV type during first run

Download: http://mvps.org/marksxp/MediaCenter/util/reset.php

In Late December, Microsoft also released a patch for the HP and Linksys Media Center Extender devices to allow them to playback content which is Protected by the CGMS-A broadcast flag. The update is for each specific device so be sure to choose the correct one for your hardware.

Update Rollup 1 for Linksys Media Center Extender with CGMS-A Support

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=85bb96a5-3b50-4071-9a2a-8774b3104f6a&DisplayLang=en

Update Rollup 1 for HP Media Center Extender with CGMS-A Support

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=930d322b-f76d-4fd9-9492-0ef50285ff8a&DisplayLang=en

An updated version of the Extender Software is due soon for the XBox version of Media Center Extender.

And finally some information which was posted to the public newsgroups...

'Subject: Microsoft is looking for prospective candidates for an upcoming beta program.

Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter

Date: 2004-12-27 11:51:26 PST

Microsoft is looking for prospective candidates for an upcoming beta

program. The program will introduce you to a set of technologies providing

new digital media experiences on Windows consumer PCs.

Please respond to this invitation using the registration instructions below.

Eligible beta testers will be selected based on data collected from those

who fill out the questionnaire at Microsoft BetaPlace.

The beta testing process is very important because it helps ensure that we

release the best possible product. If you are selected to participate in

the beta program, you will be asked to install the product and report your

testing experiences to Microsoft. Reporting will include installation

surveys, bug reports, and other means as required by Microsoft.

To RSVP and become a candidate for this beta program, go to

http://beta.microsoft.com and sign in using a Passport account and the Guest

ID below.

If you are new to BetaPlace, you will be asked for a beta ID or Guest ID

after logging in with Passport. Please log in using the Guest ID below.

If you are a current Microsoft beta tester, you will be taken to your

personalized Microsoft beta web site after logging in with Passport. On your

personalized site, click on the link "Sign in as a Guest" in the upper right

side of the page.

When you are prompted for a Guest ID enter the following:

Guest ID: MS_BetaApp

Please note, if you are currently an active tester on other Microsoft beta

programs but have received this mail, you still need to go to the site and

RSVP by filling out the entire survey to be considered for this new beta

program.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!'

Sign up for the MSN Remote Record Beta

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 21:35:28 GMT

The MSN Remote Record Service allows you to remotely schedule programs to be recorded on your Media Center 2005 PC. A Public Beta is now available but only to users in the United States and Canada . To join the beta...

Go to http://beta.microsoft.com
Sign in with your Passport ID
At the top of the Beta Place page you should see:

"If you were issued a Guest ID by Microsoft, you can sign in by clicking
here."

Click on "clicking here"
Sign in with guest ID: myshows (all one word, all lower case)
Click on "MSN Remote Record Service Beta"
Click on "survey" on the left side of the MSN Remote Record Service Beta
Program page
Click on "MSN Remote Record Beta Nomination Form"
Fill out the form and submit.

All valid nominations will be approved. Once approved, it takes about 24
hours for the information to get through the Beta Place system and testers to have access to the Beta program

A Quick Update: Media Center Configuration Reset 1.01.3

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:57:52 GMT

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

NVIDIA DVD Decoder for MCE 2005 Released

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:47:35 GMT

‘Millions of end users are harnessing the power of the PC to bring photos, videos, music, multimedia and DVDs to life in their living room, on their desktop and on the road. The NVIDIA® DVD Decoder combines the industry’s highest quality DVD and MPEG-2 playback with rich surround sound audio and provides the best experience with Microsoft® Windows® Media Player and Windows Media Center Edition.

Featuring Dolby® Digital surround sound audio and hardware-accelerated video on all Microsoft DirectX® compatible graphics processors, the NVIDIA DVD Decoder delivers unmatched color fidelity and smooth DVD, video, and TV viewing.

The NVIDIA DVD decoder is the first software decoder to receive the “Designed for Media Center Edition” certification, ensuring that it will deliver premium video quality and unmatched performance for Media Center PCs. In addition, the NVIDIA DVD Decoder is designed to work with Portable Media Centers allowing users to take their recorded TV shows with them on the road.’

Features

Enables DVD viewing with Microsoft® Windows Media® Player or Microsoft Windows® Media Center Edition*
High quality MPEG-2 decoder supports any third party software application based upon Microsoft DirectShow®
Dolby® Digital** surround sound decoding
Minimizes CPU utilization by offloading the MPEG-2 decoding onto the graphics processor
Enables advanced de-interlacing
Decodes high-definition MPEG-2 streams for ATSC tuners
Supports Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Centers allowing end users to transcode MPEG-2 content into Windows Media Video 9
S/PDIF pass through for external decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS (compatible hardware required)

Technical Specifications

Fully compliant ISO MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video and audio decoder
MPEG-2 acceleration for inverse quantization (IQ), inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT), and motion compensation (mo comp)
Microsoft DirectShow support
Microsoft DirectX video acceleration support
Microsoft Video Mixing Renderer 7 and 9
Overlay support
Sub-picture support

System Requirements

Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Home Edition
DirectX 9.0 or higher
Windows Media Center or Windows Media® Player 9.0 or higher for DVD Playback
DirectShow compatible software for MPEG-2 file playback
DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) compatible graphics processor supports, such as NVIDIA GeForce4™ Series, GeForce FX Series, or GeForce 6 Series.
DVD-ROM drive required for DVD viewing

Currently only CyberLink Power DVD 5.0.2027C and this are the only DVD Codecs which have the ‘Designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition’ logo.

If you’ve been waiting to sell OEM systems based on Media Center 2005 this is a good codec to go with, at $19.95 it’s not a bad deal. https://www.dvd.nvidiaproducts.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

The ‘Designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition’ logo is particularly handy when searching for Media Center Compatible hardware as a product with this symbol has passed Microsoft's testing to attain it.

A list of certified products can be found at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/partners/dfw/partnerlisting.mspx

Media Center 2005 Rollup - 1

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:45:27 GMT

This was released on the day Media Center became available but it is worth making sure that you have this update as it addresses the following known issues in Media Center 2005.

Under certain circumstances, when you watch Live or Recorded TV, the audio and video may not be synchronized correctly.
When you press the Live TV button on the remote while you are watching Recorded TV, a video, or a DVD, a black screen or an error may sometimes occur.
If you try to watch Live TV immediately after you complete the First Run Wizard in Media Center , a video error may occur.
When you use a Media Center Extender to try to view expired media content, the extender device may stop working correctly until it is restarted. If you install this update and then try to view expired media content on the extender device, an error message will occur, but the extender device will continue to work correctly.
After you install this update, the response time for changing or for scanning FM radio stations is much faster.
After you install this update, the performance for certain PAL TV playback hardware configurations is much improved.
When you try to change channels in the Program Guide while both NTSC (National Television Standard for Communications) tuner streams are being used by Media Center , an error may occur or Media Center may stop responding. When this problem occurs, you must restart Media Center . For example, this problem may occur if you try to change channels in the Program Guide while two programs are being recorded. This problem may also occur when one program is being recorded and another program is being sent to another location by using a Media Center Extender.
For U.S. versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition, this update also provides HDTV support for Media Center Edition 2005 computers equipped with an Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) tuner card.

This update can be downloaded from the Microsoft Windows Update Site.

Media Center 2005 now available through OEM’s and MSDN

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:29:41 GMT

Following yesterday’s launch of Media Center 2005 it has been posted on the MSDN Subscriber Downloads site in English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. This download is available to all current MSDN Universal, Enterprise , Professional, Operating Systems, MSDN Academic Alliance and MSDN for Microsoft Certified Partner subscribers. Although this download is present in MSDN Academic Alliance this subscription level only includes product keys for Windows XP Professional. Upgrades for existing Media Center users depends very much on the manufacturer of your Media Center PC, you should contact them directly regarding upgrades rather than Microsoft. HP is already taking orders for their existing machines at http://h30237.www3.hp.com/mce2005upgrade/ for a small amount ($9.95). Some OEM’s may need to include new versions of DVD decoders which would bump up the cost.

If you are interested in developing for Media Center the 2005 SDK has already been posted at

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=33839D15-FD6E-46BE-A3B3-EEB7A62D1B20&displaylang=en

The MCE section of my site is currently in a bit of disarray, I’m currently working on organising my current pages a bit better and getting an ‘Introduction to Media Center 2005’ page up. The versions page has already been updated for MCE2005 and contains a few navigation links which do not exist yet, so apologies if you are ever forwarded to ZoneEdit on your travels. I’m also working to get v1.02 of my reset tool up for Media Center 2005, though the version which is currently up should work properly with it.

Hauppauge announces new Tuners for Media Center 2005

Sat, 09 Oct 2004 12:54:18 GMT

As Media Center 2005 rolls into view, the hardware vendors are preparing their latest offerings, Hauppauge specifically have 2 new cards and another 2 revamped ‘MCE’ editions.

‘The WinTV-NOVA-T-MCE is a digital TV receiver which receives television on the DVB-T format, and can be used to watch and record digital TV shows under Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.’

What this offers you essentially (providing you have a good quality signal) is up to DVD quality TV pictures and higher quality sound than analog TV (as there is no analog to digital conversion when the signal gets to your MCE PC). Several cards have offered this functionality since last year, such as the GDI Black Gold and several OEM only cards such as Emuzed. The vanilla Nova-T has been used with Media Center 2004 for DVB-T, but it did involve some work to obtain drivers compatible with the particular chipset used by the different versions of the card (from 3^rd parties). This –MCE edition should simplify this as it will be shipped with drivers for both Windows XP and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The downside with digital TV is that you do need a good percentage of the signal or you will see nothing on screen, so if you do invest in some DVB-T hardware its always worth borrowing a set top box from a friend to checkout how well you're antenna is doing.

Hauppauge also have three new analogue tuners, the PVR150MCE, PVRUSB2-MCE and PVR500MCE. The 150 is a new lower cost version of the PVR250MCE (same video quality, but lacking hardware Video CD encoding). The PVR500MCE is an interesting beast; it offers the same features as the current 250MCE but has two TV tuners and two hardware video encoders on a single card which could be handy in small systems with limited PCI slots. However Media Center 2002/2004 does not support dual tuner functionality, and no announcement has yet been made regarding that feature in Media Center 2005. Though reading the Hauppauge page for the card it does infer that 2005 will support this.

To compare the WinTV PVR Products see http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/compare_pvr.html

(Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) is digital TV format used in the U.K (‘Freeview’), parts of Germany , Australia and Taiwan . This format is not used in the United States , which currently uses ATSC for higher definition digital broadcasts.)

Away for a few days

Thu, 16 Sep 2004 21:09:27 GMT

Hey Guys

I’m getting ready to leave for University on Saturday so this may be my last blog entry for a week or so as I need to get everything boxed up, get myself setup at the other end, and I’m sure there will be things to keep me busy next week. One last thing before I go, if you are an MSDN subscriber its not that long until you will be able to get the next version of Windows XP Media Center

Expected Ship Date to MSDN: November 2004
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (English)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/new/default.aspx

Cya soon

Mark