Windows XP Media Center Edition Chat
Published: March 24, 2006
Chat Topic: Media Center Edition web chat 11am--12pm
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2006
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Hi everyone, and welcome to the Media Center chat!
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Today we are answering your questions about Media Center.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Before we begin, I would like to begin by posting the chat rules and instructions for customers:
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
1. This chat will last for one hour. During this hour, our Experts will respond to as many questions as they can. Please understand that there are some questions we cannot respond to due to lack of information or because the information is not yet public.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
2. We encourage you to submit questions for our Experts. To do so, type your questions in the send box, select the Submit a Question radio button and click SEND. Questions sent directly to the Guest Chat room will not be answered by the Experts, but we encourage other community members to assist.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
3. We ask that you stay on topic for the duration of the chat. This helps the Guests and Experts follow the conversation more easily. We invite you to ask off topic questions after this chat is over, but not during.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
4. Please only submit your question once. Submitting your question more than once is against the Chat Code of Conduct.
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.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Hi everyone, my name is Nathan and Im a PM on the Media Center Extender team. Welcome to the chat! (pi)
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Hi, my name is Todd; I am program manager working on Media Center Extender technology
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Go ahead and begin sending us your questions, and we'll get the chat underway.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: Can you guys share anything with us about the next version of MCE/Vista that has not yet been made public? (CableCard/HD DVD/etc)?
A: Please note that we cannot comment on unannounced products, and in some cases may not be able to discuss specific aspects of announced products. This chat is primarily to discuss questions or issues with our current products.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Can anyone offer advice on getting MP4s to play in the MCE shell? I have the K-Lite codec pack installed.
A: In the My Videos section, Media Center will display any files with perceived type = video, so if the particular codec is installed and theres a shell handler for it, it should show up. A good way to verify that things are working is to play it in Windows Media Player first.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Todd, I am able to see the MP4 in My Videos, but when I try to play it it says "Cannot play video. Media center has encountered an unknown error". It plays in WMP.
A: I do not have personal experience with the particular third-party codec you have, so I suggest posting details regarding your setup/the issue you see to the Media Center public newsgroup (Microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: Will we be able to use HD DVDs drives with MCE 2005?
A: We've made no specific announcements around HD DVDs and Media Center Edition, although Microsoft is certainly excited about the HD DVD format in general.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Nathan_MS - Can you comment on the PCZapper? When are we going to see more devices like this?
A: Sure. The PCZapper allows users to wire the video output of their media center PC to a television up to 25 feet away. In addition, while at the TV, the PCZapper allows redirection of remote input to the PC. The end result is that the video output of your media center PC can be viewed on a TV up to 25 feet away and from that distance, you will still be able to use the media center remote. That said, it is difficult to comment on the emergence of other devices like this.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Nathan_MS I thought that the PCZapper ran the Media Center Extender software? Is this true?
A: The PCZapper does not run the same Media Center Extender software that we write here. Media Center Extender software runs on devices and uses technologies to remote the UI and content to a connected TV. The PCZapper allows you to connect your TV to the video output of your graphics card. The main difference here is that the PCZapper does not use a network attached Media Center Extender device. For further information on this product, I would recommend visiting their website on the web http://www.pczapper.nl/
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Is there a way to edit the epg data outside of Settings-TV-Guide-Edit such that a single channel way down at the bottom of the list can be removed? It seems that the alternative is to use the down arrow/page down hundreds of times.
A: The best way to edit channel lineup in the guide is through settings->TV->Guide->Edit Channels. Clicking on channel up/channel down should advance the list one page at a time which should speed up scrolling through all channels. There is no other supported method for editing guide lineup.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: will the UK ever get the ability to receive additional content via the red button?
A: We constantly evaluate possible areas in which to make additional investments in the realm of interactive TV, however I do not have any specifics to share at this point in time
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: It seems to many of us that there is now enough traffic of questions for MCE (which took a while but must be gratifying for MSFT as to the growing adoption) to warrant its own chat so that it will attract enthusiasts/good helpers. Is this doable?
A: Do you mean a dedicated chat room for Media Center? We currently have one MCE chat per month (for one hour) and typically are able to get through most of the questions that we're actually able to answer - in other words, questions that aren't about future announcements. We do keep a close eye on the volume of questions we get, but we'd be more likely to schedule additional monthly chats like this one as opposed to a dedicated chat room.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: To be clear I would really appreciate if if an MCE chat were created. If one got the word around the way Vista is being advertised at every street corner, you would be gratified at the traffic that would take place I believe in a decicated MCE chat format
A: Thanks for the feedback - we'll consider this suggestion depending upon traffic, which as you say is the most important criteria we look at when deciding how many chats to dedicate to a subject.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: What is the best RAID configuration for having a main server and having a bunch of extenders streaming content from the server? I 'm lookin for the best performance possible
A: This depends greatly on how elaborate you want to go on your setup. However, I would recommend at a minimum, two RAID arrays. The first RAID array would be a raid-1 configuration to hold the OS (two mirrored drives). All media would then be stored on the second RAID array. For performance, you could stripe two drives (Raid-0). For performance and fault tolerance, you could run RAID-5. If you have further questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: There is a new security update for MCE 2005. Can you please tell us what it is about?
A: Could you please specify which update you are talking about in terms of KB#?
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: For Nathan_MS. The specific security update for MCE 2005 is KB910393
A: From the Microsoft website, it looks like this update prevents Windows Media Player 10 setup from overwriting digital rights management (DRM) files installed by Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This is an important update if you have DRM protected media on your PC.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: I don't have a radio tuner on my built-in video card. Can the GRIFFIN TECHNOLOGIES RadioShark be used as the integrated radio tuner (My Radio) in MCE? I have contacted GRIFFIN about this, and they say they don't know but "assume" it will work.
A: I don't have any direct experience with that hardware, but I would recommend purchasing it and trying it out.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Has any thought been given to having MCE perform a background transcode from MPEG2 to a more modern codec? Would DVR-MS support this?
A: Background transcoding of TV content to WMV is certainly an interesting prospect in terms of the benefits it would yield in reducing file size. That said, any type of video encoding process is very processor intensive (this is the reason why TV tuner cards use hardware-based encoding), which often causes it to be non-real-time if performed as a low priority background task. The pending arrival of widespread use of multi-core CPUs and hardware-assisted transcoding solutions may shift things to the point that this becomes more feasible.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: Why hasn't media center extender been deployed to run on XP? Will this be a feature in Vista to be able to link two MCE boxes together?
A: We definitely have heard this suggestion from many customers - we have no announcements at this time regarding this, however.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Why do my burned dvds become pixelized? This seems to be the worst when the scene is panning or following an object in fast motion,even though I have a fast system and I have been using dvr-edit to trim the shows to < 60 minutes
A: Unless your CPU is pegged (running at 100% or very close) Pixilation of the show should not be dependent on CPU. It is likely that dvr-edit is compressing the file too much. I do not recall if there are settings to change for quality. If there are, try and change them. If not, I might recommend trying other dvr-editing software.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Nathan, regarding Q:14 I have tested the dvd burn with a short 15 minute film not re-edited in dvr-edit and the pixelization still occurs. Any other tweaks I should know about. I have an hp media center 3.0 dual 1g ram
A: Two questions. One, does this happen with playback of all DVR-MS files? Does this happen on all devices that try and play the DVD or just the one computer?
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Nathan, regarding Q:46 Nathan, the pixelization seems to be worst when I had MCE configured to the res. of my pc. now that it is configured for my regular 27 inch tv the oixelization is less obvious.
A: Right. Have you tried to playback the DVD on another computer? My guess is that this may be a video drover issue. Please make sure you have the latest version of your video driver. Also, what MPEG2 decoder are you using? Some decoders are better visually than others? You might try obtaining a new/different MPEG2 decoder. If you decide to switch decoders, make sure you uninstall your current decoder first.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Nathan, regarding Q:46 I do alot of dv editing and burned dvds are crisp and not pixelized, just the ones burned from MCE
A: Are you sure that your source is good? Does DVR-MS playback look good before editing?
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Is it possible to shutdown an extender from the MCE computer. I would like to see a sleep timer on the XBOX 360.
A: This is not currently supported, but is an interesting suggestion. Ill pass it along to the appropriate folks. Additional note: the Xbox 360 does have an internal sleep timer, but it is not controllable from within Media Center.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: Please consider providing the kind of remote functionality with MCE that Slingbox is providing with their product as it would be great to access/control my MCE machine that is at home while on the road with my laptop
A: Thanks for the feedback. Slingbox is certainly something we're watching with interest.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: When will Vista be released?
A: Please note that we cannot comment on unannounced products, and in some cases may not be able to discuss specific aspects of announced products. This chat is primarily to discuss questions or issues with our current products.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: any suggestions for displaying MCE in widescreen when your plasma only supports 1024x768?
A: Don't :D It is always best to try and run your connected TV at its native resolution. Running at the native resolution will provide the best video and UI quality. Is there a particular reason why you want to run it widescreen?
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: RE: Q38: My TV's native resolution is 1366x768, but when I attempt to output that resolution the TV goes crazy. I drop it to 1024x768 and it works (but it's stretched).
A: Its possible that youre attempting to drive the TV at a refresh rate that it doesnt support. I recommend consulting the manual for your TV to determine which resolution/refresh rate combinations it supports and then configuring your graphics card to use that resolution/refresh rate.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: With Vista, will UK Media centres be able to support more than 2 TV tuners?
A: A full future list covering the Media Center functionality releasing with Windows Vista has not yet been published.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Media center does not burn my recorded tv shows properly, is there a way to fix this??
A: Well need additional information in order to troubleshoot this; I suggest posting details of the issue you see to the Media Center public newsgroup (Microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter) for troubleshooting assistance as this will likely require some back and forth communication.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Sorry: The video portion shows only "visualizations", similar to a graphic equilizer. What am I doing wrong?
A: I need more context for an actual question here, but it sounds like you are trying to play a video and you only hear sound and see visualizations. Is this correct? If that is the case, then you do not have the correct codec installed. Make sure you download the proper codec for the file.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: anyone heard of Vonage support for MCE?
A: I am not aware of any Voice over IP extensibility applications for Media Center, but I think this would be an interesting project. You may want to suggest it in the Media Center developer newsgroup (microsoft.public.windows.developer.mediacenter) to see if anyone there is interested in creating such an application
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: I'm not able to configure my set-top box's remote in MCE. I've tried manually configuring but it doesn't work?
A: Could you please be more specific here? Are you having trouble configuring your MCE to control your set top box?
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Any plans to provide an easier way to play internet radio stations especially the emerging HD Digital Radio station via the MCE internface and extenders than using the plug-in available on The GreenButton.Com
A: Digital radio streaming is currently available via XM Radio in Online Spotlight. Are you specifically interested in terrestrial HD radio broadcasts via FM?
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: Todd-MS .. I"m interested in access HD Radio on my Extender e.g. kfox.com Sure I can hack the actual URL for the station and use the plug-in available in the Green Button but it would sure be nice if the "radio" menu in MCE worked like MediaPlayer
A: Thanks for the feedback; Ill pass it along to the appropriate folks
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: For NATHAN_MS - 'Digital Rights Management' on MCE? what is that about? Thanks...
A: Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a digital way of protecting media used to protect the interests of owners of content and services (such as copyright owners). Typically, authorized recipients or users must acquire a license in order to consume the protected materialfiles, music, moviesaccording to the rights or business rules set by the content owner.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: What are the best settings to use for power management? I often find that my MCE pc does not go into standby even though I have appropriate setting for power management. I also do not use my MCE to record TV so that should not be interfering.
A: There are various devices/software on your PC that may be preventing it from going into standby (or waking it from standby once it is in standby). The usual suspects to check the settings of are: your network card, devices other than your keyboard that are attached via USB, and applications that run in the background. You can check the settings for the former two in Device Manager and look in Task Manager to track down the latter. For more in-depth troubleshooting, I suggest posting details regarding your PC configs to the Media Center public newsgroup (Microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: My question is this; I have Windows XP Media Edition. When I start the media center and try to watch live TV, I get the error message: decoder error...the video decoder has either malfunctioned or is not installed. I have used it in the past.
A: If you purchased a Media Center PC, it's most likely you received a CD or DVD with the decoder software. I'd recommend reinstalling the decoder to see if that fixes the problem.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Q: I don't know where the video decoder software is located on the compute rto reinstall it....(question #68)
A: In that case, please contact the manufacturer of your PC for support (for example, Dell, HP, etc.). The decoder is not Microsoft software and is provided by the manufacturer, so they'll be able to assist you in getting it reinstalled.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: I don't know where the video decoder software is located on the compute rto reinstall it....(question #68)
A: First you likely want to remove your current codec, and then reinstall a new one.Removing a Specific Codec or MCI Device:- In Control Panel, double-click Multimedia. - Click the Advanced or the Devices tab. - To remove an audio codec, double-click Audio Compression Codecs, double-click the codec you want to remove, and then click Remove. - To remove a video codec, double-click Video Compression Codecs, double-click the codec you want to remove, and then click Remove.
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: I don't know where the video decoder software is located on the compute rto reinstall it....(question #68)
A: Alternatively you can uninstall your video decoder through Add/Remove Programs (Start --> Control Panels --> Add/Remove Programs). Make sure you have the installer or install CD for your video decoder before you install it or you will not be able to reinstall it. Also, if you insert the install CD for your decoder, many software packages will present you with the option to install, repair, or uninstall. In this case, you could go this route to uninstall and then install the decoder.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: Can someone tell me what ehhmsas.txt does, and why it grows to such huge sizes on my MCE? Right now it's 137mb.
A: I'm not exactly sure what the ehmsas.txt file is. However, The Media State Aggregation Service (ehmsas.exe) is provided by Media Center to allow third-party applications to obtain real-time information about happenings within Media Center. For further information on MSAS, you may look up MSAS on MSDN with this link http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnxpmce/html/positionchangeraddin.asp
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Q: I have an AMD Atholon XP with 512 Meg of Ram, an ATI Home capture card and a Hauppage 150 Capture card. I am using an AGP GeForce 5500 Video card. My video seems to be pixelized on my TV. What would you recommend to improve the quality of the output.
A: The first thing to do is to track down whether this is a video capture issue or a video playback issue. To verify this, record a TV show on your Media Center then watch it to verify that it is pixilated. If it is, play it on a second PC; if it is also pixilated on the second PC, this is a TV capture related issue. If the video plays fine on the second PC, it is a video playback related issue. If the issue appears to be on the capture side, you can test recordings from both tuners to see if its specific to one tuner or a generic issue. If it is a generic issue, I suggest checking the quality of your input TV signal (watch it on a regular TV) and verifying that you have configured Media Center to record TV at Best quality.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Q: hi when acceing tv or trying to ope a video file in media center 2005 it comes up with a message sayin decoder error! do you know how to solve this problem
A: Try playing the same file in Windows Media Player. If the file does not play, you likely need to install the appropriate codec.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
This concludes our Media Center chat for today. Thanks for coming, everyone!
Todd_MS (Moderator):
Thanks everyone for joining todays chat.
Andrew_MSFT (Moderator):
Please feel free to stay and continue to chat about Media Center or other Windows topics.
Nathan_MS (Expert):
Well, it looks like it's noon here which means the chat is over. I hope I was able to help you'all out. Thanks for a great chat!
