Windows Media Center Edition (June 16, 2005)
Published: June 21, 2005
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Introduction
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Hi everyone, and welcome to the Media Center chat!
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Now, I'll have our hosts for the chat today introduce themselves:
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
I'm Andrew Brown, and I'm the MVP Lead for Media Center, and the moderator for this chat.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Hi everyone! My name is Andy Vanosdale, an intern at Microsoft and an MVP for Media Center.
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Hi, My name is Ed Rich, Lead Program Manager on the Windows eHome Team
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Hi, I'm Robert Schlabbach, Windows XP Media Center Edition MVP from Berlin, Germany!
Todd_MS (Expert):
Hi, my name is Todd. I am a program manager working on Media Center Extender technologies for Xbox 360 and beyond.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
I'm Justin Harrison and I've been a Media Center MVP since the beginning of time...I also write Expert Zone columns.
Michael Creasy (Expert):
Hi, I'm Michael Creasy, I'm on the Media Center team and work on the Media Center SDK
MarkS_MVP (Expert):
Hi Everyone I'm Mark Salloway, an MVP for Media Center based in England.
Joe [MS] (Expert):
Hi, I’m Joe and I am a developer on the Windows Media Center TV team.
Peter Near (Expert):
Hi, I'm Peter Near Media Center MVP. Glad to be here today!
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Go ahead and begin sending us your questions, and we'll get the chat underway.
Start of Chat
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Hey Guys, Does MCE support dual displays? i am trying to use my standard monitor for normal computing and my component out (6200TC) for using Media Center on my HDTV. Once i enable dualview, the Media Center says the decoder has malfunctioned.
A: Media Center Edition 2005 does support dual displays. If you enable dualview (meaning two monitors showing the same thing), you shouldn't have an issue. If it is a secondary monitor, then the graphics card may limit the power and functionality of the second monitor.
Peter Near (Expert):
Q: My dualview(not cloned but two seperate displays) works great, thing is, whenever i want to watch TV, I get a decoder malfunction no matter what display i put it on. As soon as I turn off the dualview, the decoder works flawless and I get instant TV
A: I've not tested with dualview, but it is a mode specific to the video driver. With that in mind, I would test with a few different decoders to see if that helps.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Is Dualview not a typical setup for MCE? do most just eithr use just their TV for the display or jsut the Monitor for the display? I would think that using Dualview would give youi the best of both worlds, monitor for computing, and TV for Media
A: I use a multimonitor setup at home. I have an NVIDIA 5600 and an ATI graphics card in my system. Since the 5600 is my AGP card, I have it run as the primary and the main Media Center monitor. It works quite well.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: You really dont use the ATI at all? or you use the ATI for your monitor, and the 5600 (same as my other rig's :) ) for the Media center as primary?
A: I use the ATI for other things... The PCI just isn't as powerful for graphics as AGP or PCI Express. So, I would keep it on the primary and just do a multimonitor scenario. My ATI is not that high quality so it won't even display the interface.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Maybe you can give some information about what the file EHSHELL.EXE is used for? Can you suggest resources for information on "how to" and "what can be done" by changing some of the parameters for the EHSHELL.EXE file.
A: What are you trying to accomplish? The EHSHELL.EXE process handles the 10' interface that you see.
Peter Near (Expert):
Regarding the ehshell.exe question, I've put the command-line switches up here on my blog. http://www.thenears.com/?p=72
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: Are there any announced plans to provide mobile access to the content and tuners on the Media Center server from Internet-connected devices (along the lines of Orb)
A: Microsoft has not announced any plans about mobile access to Media Center content and tuners. On the other side though, a lot of content available in Media Center is also available through other sources. For example, MSN Video at http://video.msn.com provides a lot of content, and much MSN content is also accessible via Online Spotlight in Media Center. You can also use MSN Remote Record to remotely access guide data from your Media Center PC.
Joe [MS] (Expert):
Q: Thanks for putting the chat together every month. It's very informative. When I'm watching anything on MCE 05, it is interrupted every 15-30 min by the main menu screen popping up. How do I go about fixing this?
A: Glad you enjoy the chats. The back paging issue is a know issue in Windows Media Center 2005. We're aware of the issue and are looking into it. Thanks for the feedback.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I have a question about my Media Center and ATI X700Pro, I get a VPU error messsage, I try to run programs and I get the VPU error message.
A: The graphics card is a supported graphics card. I would recommend two things: 1. Uninstall and reinstall the ATI drivers. 2. Try to get the graphics card replaced (could be an bad VPU).
Michael Creasy (Expert):
Q: I understand you can use it to change the start up behaviour of MCE. Can it also be used to add items to the menus? I'd like to know more about the 'how and what' that can be done with this file and it's parameters.
A: In Media Center 2005 you generally can't add programs to the Media Center menu (there are some options to do this for OEMs, but it's pretty complex), however the most recently used programs will show up as icons next to More Programs on the start menu
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there a way to access my Media Center remotely from my laptop or pocketPC
A: You can remotely access any Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows XP Professional Edition PC using the Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP. You can not watch television in Media Center over Remote Desktop or have as nice of an experience as you would if you were local, though. If you're just looking to remotely access the Guide feature, try MSN Remote Record.
Todd_MS (Expert):
Q: what about file transfer - for say music or photos?
A: Absolutely - if you share your Media Center’s music and pictures folders out using Windows file sharing, you can access that content from another PC. Also, you can view photos and listen to music within a Remote Desktop session as recommended by Justin.
Todd_MS (Expert):
Q: What are the recommended ways to gather diagnostic/troubleshooting info related to Media Center functionality? For example, I've had numerous "tuner failure" errors, and scoured the Event Logs & MCE History log, but I need further info to self-diagnose.
A: The diagnostic steps will depend quite a bit on the specific behavior that you’re seeing. For this type of question, it’s probably best to post it to the Media Center newsgroup (Microsoft.public windows.mediacenter) so that we (fellow Media Center users) can dig more into your particular configuration and the issue you’re seeing.
Todd_MS (Expert):
Q: Thanks, I'll do that as well. Can you suggest off the top of your head some common locations/files/configuration settings to get frequently-used diagnostic/troubleshooting information (other than Event Log & the default History log)? Favorites?
A: The two logs you’ve noted are the best places to start for general troubleshooting. Beyond that it really is dependent on the specific issues you’re seeing.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there a best practice for managing the hard drive after recording shows and burning personal video, etc. I would imagine creating and deleting these files will fragment your drive quickly. Is Windows Defrag enough?
A: There are many advanced techniques and third party utilities that improve the Windows XP Media Center Edition experience. Some Media Center users have written applications that convert DVR-MS files to WMV files, which saves a lot of hard drive space. The same thing applies to defragmenting harddrives. The defragmentation utility that comes with Windows XP is functional, but if you're looking for a better experience, there are many other third party utilities that do the job too. Check out Windows XP Media Center Edition Community Sites and the Media Center newsgroups for additional resources.
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: I have a Sony WEGA 42" LCD TV. When I use MCE for Live TV, the resolution is not as good as it is going through my regular digital cable box. It also doesn't show in wide format. Is that normal?
A: I figure you are talking about _HDTV_ programming? In that case, yes, that unfortunately is normal. MCE can only receive SDTV over cable. The only way to receive HDTV is from OTA (ATSC Terrestrial), not from cable or satellite.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: If you can change the parameters to EHShell to modify the startup of MCE such as bringing up the Guide at startup, does MSDN or another source have more information?
A: MSDN has an entire section dedicated to Media Center Edition. You can find it at http://msdn.microsoft.com/mce.
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Q: When will next MCE 2006 beta program start?
A: Thanks for the question. There are no announcements about future betas at this time.
Joe [MS] (Expert):
Q: I wanted to add a recording from the Guide and mistakenly type "#D" keyword from remote number pad and Guide crashes. After that, Guide data is corrupted. I have to reboot the machine to to setup Guide again. Why is guide so fragile? Any fix for this?
A: I'll pass this on to the right people on the team to take a look at this. Thanks for the feedback.
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there any way to get frame rate information to help me diagnose HDTV 1080i stutter playback problem?
A: Not built into MCE, unfortunately. But if you're using the NVIDIA MPEG-2 decoder, it has an undocumented registry setting which adds an extra "Statistics" page to the NVIDIA decoder properties, which displays the number of frame drops (among other statistics). I don't have that setting at hand right now, so if you're indeed using the NVIDIA decoder, please ask in the newsgroup about the registry setting.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: What MCE forum do Microsoft monitor? Is thegreenbutton.com the official channel?
A: TheGreenButton is a community site ran by Media Center enthusiasts. Media Center team members check many forums, including the Microsoft Media Center newsgroups, enthusiast websites, and more. The Microsoft Newsgroups are the official channel.
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there any way to get frame rate information to help me diagnose HDTV 1080i stutter playback problem?
A: Addition: I found the NVIDIA registry setting: Start REGEDIT and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Filters\Video, add a value of type REG_DWORD and name it "EnablePropPage" and set it to 1. Then reboot to put it into effect. After the reboot, start HD playback then locate the NVIDIA decoder icon in the taskbar, right-click it, select "Properties" and go to the "Statistics" tab.
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Q: One problem with my system. Everything works except for playing DVD's. All I get is a blank screen. I reinstalled my codecs, which are MCE certified, but my screen goes blank when I try to play a DVD. Windows Media player and Win DVD play fine. Any ideas?
A: This may be caused by a DVD that has Interactual on it. Try holding down the left shift key when inserting the DVD. Keep the left shift key pressed down for at least a minute until the title launches. Let me know if that resolves the issue.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: I have been getting frequent errors while burning DVDs in “Create DVD.” Mode. The error states: “AuthoringServerExe.exe has encountered a problem and must close.” It also mentions, “Version 2.3.1.11100, Sonicmpegaudio.dll.”
A: Unfortunately, none of our Experts here today have seen this issue. You may wish to post this question to the Media Center newsgroup. A list of all Microsoft-hosted support newsgroups is here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/default.asp
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Why do some TV shows not "collapse" into a single entry in "Sort by Title", and what can I do to correct it? e.g. I have three listings for South Park in "Sort by Title", which collectively list about 15 shows.
A: More than likely, this is a problem with the guide listings in them listing the Series title the same but the underlying identification number differently. To report this issue, please use this online submission form: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/reporting/epg.aspx. Thanks!
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: 1080i + closed caption still cause stutters in my setup. 720p+CC is fine. Are de-interlace and CC decoding both being done in MPEG2 decoder? Are they being done in CPU or GPU ?
A: CC decoding is done by an MCE component, but deinterlacing is up to the MPEG-2 decoder. Typically, the MPEG-2 decoder will either take advantage of an advanced hardware deinterlacing, or just fall back on simple BOB for deinterlacing. If 1080i isn't working nice on your machine, maybe your graphics card doesn't have the horsepower to decode and deinterlace 1080i?
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: My system play 1080i nicely WITHOUT CC. Only when I turn on CC on 1080i does stutter happens. It sounds to me MCE's CC decoding is not very good?
A: Turning on CC adds another component to be added to the display output, doesn't it? This extra video mixing step may just be what pushes your card over the edge. It might also simply be a bug in the display driver. Are you using the latest version from the manufacturer, preferably labeled MCE-compatible?
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: I have AIW9700 Pro with the latest Catalyst driver. 720p supposed to have heavier video mixing than 1080i since it's progressive. Are you suggesting that 1080i + CC decoding turns video mixing to 1080p behavior?
A: The ATI 9700 series is not on the MCE compatible list found at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/partners/dfw/partnerlisting.mspx - Maybe the reason for that is that it is not quite powerful enough for a fully satisfactory HDTV experience... You should consider replacing your card with one found on this list.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I continue to get the error "Media Center Receiver Service has encountered a problem and needs to close." on startup. This started occuring after installing WinTV-500 MCE but it seems to be a MCE error since it references ehRecver.exe as the fault.
A: Usually, this is due to bad drivers or the tuner card not being supported. The tuner card is supported so it may have been a fault with installing the drivers. I would recommend that you uninstall and reinstall the drivers for the tuner card.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Done all that several times with no luck. ehRecvr.exe and iviaudio.ax with the fault add. 0x00053e26
A: You should try to uninstall and either reinstall or try a different DVD decoder. It looks like you have the InterVideo so you may try NVIDIA or Cyberlink.
Joe [MS] (Expert):
Q: What is the max & min resolution available for encoding in MCE 2005? And why were the resolution defaults changed for "Better" from 2004 to 2005?
A: The resolution is determined by the source (Analog/DVB-T/ATSC) and is not configurable. The recording quality setting for Analog do not modify the resolution - it modifies bitrate.
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
Q: I forgot it was bitrate not resolution. Same question then - what are the min/max bitrates, and why was the default "better" (and others?) bitrate changed from 2004 to 2005?
A: The video bitrates are 2.5, 3, 4.5 and 6Mbps, respectively, at the various quality settings. The audio bitrate is 384kbps at all quality settings. As to why it was changed, no idea.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: I have my MCE behind a Microsoft broadband home router, and I can't get Remote Record to contact the MCE computer. I suspect I need to open a port in the router's firewall - what port do I need to open?
A: You should not need to forward any ports to make MSN Remote Record function unless you have an incoming/outgoing firewall installed on your PC that is actively blocking it. If you have a firewall installed (not by the router, but on your PC), you will need to configure it. Otherwise, MSN Remote Record should work fine through a Microsoft router.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Q: Is there anything I need to do to Windows Firewall to allow Remote Record to contact my PC? And are you implying that Remote Record "polls" the MSN TV service, and doesn't just passively listen for incoming connections?
A: As long as UPNP is enabled on the Microsoft router (I do not think that you can turn it off), even with Windows Firewall, you should be okay. As far as I know, Remote Record initiates an outgoing connection. There is no listening for incoming connections.
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Q: With two tuners, how can we specify which one is used first for recordings?
A: Hi Mike. This is not user configurable. You might want to ask this question in the public newsgroup
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Q: Will there be an MCE 2006 upgrade path? Will the platform stay at XP Home or go back to XP Pro?
A: We have always provided an upgrade path to the PC Manufacturer for every release of Media Center Edition. Media Center is based on the Windows XP code base but is in fact a seperate Windows product.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
This concludes our Media Center chat for today. Thanks for coming, everyone!
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Please feel free to stay and continue to chat about Media Center or other Windows topics.
AndyV_MSFT (Expert):
Thanks folks! This was a great chat! See you next month!
Todd_MS (Expert):
Thanks everyone for joining in today.
Justin_Harrison_MVP (Expert):
Farewell.
RobertSchlabbach-MVP (Expert):
See you next time!
Peter Near (Expert):
Goodbye everyone, see you in the newsgroups!
Ed Rich_MS (Expert):
Thanks all for the great questions and I hope you will join us in a future chat. Ed Rich
Joe [MS] (Expert):
Thanks for coming everyone - see you next month!
MarkS_MVP (Expert):
Thanks for coming today everyone, see you next time :)
