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Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:33 pm
by pmichener1954
I am having trouble watching on my remote pc. I can control wmc with remote control from this pc, all the data comes up correctly, but when I select watch, I am given the option to watch on pc, but play begins on home htpc. Any thoughts?

Re: Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 3:26 pm
by Crash2009
edit: I didn't realize your question was in the MMC section.

Re: Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:25 pm
by barnabas1969
I assume that you're running My Media Center on a Windows 8 PC, correct? Lots of people assume that this gives you the ability to watch shows on a 2nd PC (not on the HTPC where the files reside). This is not the intent of My Media Center (MMC). MMC is designed to control your HTPC and extenders. MMC does not display any video on its own. The intent of having a Windows 8 "Metro" style MMC app was so that you could control your HTPC using a Win8 tablet.

Re: Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:48 pm
by pmichener1954
The Ceton site sure does make it sound like you can watch on other pc's. Here is the description from site: Use Anywhere
Browse your TV and movie libraries, select the show you want to watch, and
choose the PC or Extender on which you want to watch. You don't even have to be in the same room.

Is this not the case?

Re: Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:01 pm
by mdavej
That does sound misleading. But the reality is as barnabas said: main HTPC and extenders only, not any other PC's. Just get Hippo remote for your other PCs. It's a lot more full featured remote than MMC anyway, and it's free. I tried MMC for a few minutes and determined it was fun to play with but ultimately no more useful than other apps I'd been using for years. The thing I would find useful, streaming to my phone/tablet, it can't do.

FYI, Hippo does macros, keyboard, mouse, profiles for different apps, and is fully customizable, far better than the basic remote in MMC. There are many other remote apps nearly as good as Hippo as well, if you don't have iOS.

Re: Trouble watching on remote PC

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:26 am
by barnabas1969
I have never used Hippo Remote, but I mainly use MMC to schedule recordings when I'm away from home. It's also nice to see the movies that are coming on tonight (mostly so I can record them). In my opinion, no smartphone/tablet app can replace an IR/RF remote control. I would never, ever, use MMC to control playback (pause/play/up/down/left/right) on my PC nor extender.

If you want to watch shows remotely from your computer and/or schedule recordings on the remote HTPC, you should be using Remote Potato and the Media Center add-in which allows you to view the remote guide, remote recordings, and remote schedule. I've read that it works well if your recordings aren't copy-protected.

For copy-protected recordings, there is no substitute for an Extender for Windows Media Center (MCX). There are two currently-produced extenders. First is the Microsoft XBox-360. Second (distant second) is the Ceton Echo (and it's doubtful that it's actually being "produced" currently). There are also several extenders which were produced by companies in the past. Those are (in no specific order): Linksys DMA-2100, Linksys DMA-2200, HP X280N, D-Link DSM-750. By all accounts, the D-Link isn't worth your time. The two Linksys devices are similar in extender functionality. The 2200 adds a DVD player, but I personally recommend using a separate DVD/BD player instead of the 2200. The HP has some quirks, but in my own testing, it handles more video codecs than the Linksys. The Linksys extenders have fewer quirks, but don't play as many codecs.

My personal recommendation is a Microsoft XBox-360 "S" or "E" model (don't bother with the older "fat" models). The Ceton Echo was a great idea, but it was limited to the GDI interface of the non-XBox extenders, plus... (and most importantly) it was released prematurely, and has not to-date been perfected. The Echo is the most "buggy" of the extenders for Windows Vista/7. The ONLY extender which works with Windows 8/8.1 is the Xbox360.