Now Playing shortcut?

[deihmos]

Is there a way to add a remote shortcut for now playing? Can't seem to find anything on it. Thanks.

[leroys1000]

Usually,when something is playing in media center when it is not showing that playing,
there is a small preview window at the bottom left.
Only place i don't remember seing that is the menu.
Might be there too.
You should be able to arrow down to that and hit enter or select.
Other than that just hit the back button until you get back to it.

[barnabas1969]

It looks like the command:

Code: Select all

%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe /entrypoint:{7A7D0280-7261-46C4-8687-33217C41F3BA}\{A2F4DF74-84CC-4CD0-81AA-EF2713CCC7D8}

Will do it.

Otherwise, it looks like you could use Media Center "Valve". See the post linked below:
http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 97709.aspx

Gotta love Google.

EDIT: Entry point updated.

[deihmos]

I saw that post before. It isn't the solution I was looking for. I would like to simply configure it on my harmony remote if there was a shortcut key. I guess no shortcut exists. Microsoft didn't put enough thought into WMC.

[barnabas1969]

According to Michael Welter (mikinho), his "Valve" program will allow you to map it to a key on the remote. Or... you could use EventGhost or Auto Hot Key to make one of the buttons on the remote run the command that I posted above (the one that runs ehshell.exe). Either of those two solutions should allow you to make a button on your remote send the command you desire.

I disagree with you about Microsoft's forethought. I actually think that Microsoft went out of their way to make Media Center almost infinitely configurable. I've used various plugins and other software to make my remote go directly to various plugins (like Netflix and others) by pressing a single button on the remote. For example, I have a button on my remote that takes me directly to the MCE Sleep Timer program. From there, I can choose a number of minutes before the PC (and also the TV & AVR) goes to sleep. I've also used the extensibility of Media Center (and Windows) to make my remote control my lighting, ceiling fans, etc, etc, etc.

There is really no limit... except your own technical ability.

[deihmos]

I disagree. Many of the 3rd party apps are abandoned as Microsoft kept breaking functions. Microsoft themselves have abandoned the software. You cannot ff and rewind videos using unsupported codecs which could have been fixed but they never bothered. Some simple tweaks could have been made to make WMC better but instead they dropped the project.

These are the instructions I found. I think I will stick to the back button.

1) Harmony Remote: Map "Exit" button to "Windows Media Center SE" -> Alt+1.

2) Install AutoHotKey (I installed the basic version)

3) Create the following AHK: "Now Playing.ahk"

; This script will bring "Now Playing" into focus for Windows Media Center
; It will also, of course, run WMC if it is not running
; You must have Mikinho's Media Center Valve installed for this to work

!1::Run %A_WinDir%\ehome\ehshell.exe /entrypoint:{7A7D0280-7261-46C4-8687-33217C41F3BA}\{A2F4DF74-84CC-4CD0-81AA-EF2713CCC7D8}

; End of Script

4) Copy your script to your Startup folder so the script executes when logged in.

Enjoy the "Exit" button!

Note: I had to use AutoHotKey instead of just the hotkey shortcut capability built into Win7 because Win7 wouldn't let me choose any WMC SE capable keys as the shortcut key...

[richard1980]

You cannot ff and rewind videos using unsupported codecs which could have been fixed but they never bothered. Some simple tweaks could have been made to make WMC better but instead they dropped the project.

If Microsoft did that, the codecs wouldn't be unsupported, now would they?

[deihmos]

I am sure there was a way to fix it. The are many other things I wish were different but as of now there is no other solution for live tv and videos. Wmc shines as a pvr but fails as a video player.

I always used wmc for tv and Xbmc for everything else. Just recently started using wmc along with media browser for an all in one solution.

[richard1980]

I agree that the FF/REW issues could be fixed, but I don't understand why you would expect Microsoft to do anything about it. It's not their fault you are trying to make WMC do things they didn't design it to do. FF/REW works perfectly fine as long as you are dealing with codecs and containers that are natively supported.

[barnabas1969]

I disagree. Many of the 3rd party apps are abandoned as Microsoft kept breaking functions. Microsoft themselves have abandoned the software. You cannot ff and rewind videos using unsupported codecs which could have been fixed but they never bothered. Some simple tweaks could have been made to make WMC better but instead they dropped the project.

These are the instructions I found. I think I will stick to the back button.

1) Harmony Remote: Map "Exit" button to "Windows Media Center SE" -> Alt+1.

2) Install AutoHotKey (I installed the basic version)

3) Create the following AHK: "Now Playing.ahk"

; This script will bring "Now Playing" into focus for Windows Media Center
; It will also, of course, run WMC if it is not running
; You must have Mikinho's Media Center Valve installed for this to work

!1::Run %A_WinDir%\ehome\ehshell.exe /entrypoint:{7A7D0280-7261-46C4-8687-33217C41F3BA}\{A2F4DF74-84CC-4CD0-81AA-EF2713CCC7D8}

; End of Script

4) Copy your script to your Startup folder so the script executes when logged in.

Enjoy the "Exit" button!

Note: I had to use AutoHotKey instead of just the hotkey shortcut capability built into Win7 because Win7 wouldn't let me choose any WMC SE capable keys as the shortcut key...

You say that Microsoft didn't put enough thought into Media Center, but they made it flexible enough for you to do what you did above. I think it's impressive that Microsoft made it so flexible.

[deihmos]

I wouldn't consider that being flexible. Flexible would be a simple option within the software to configure what I want the remote to do. These are more like hack jobs that do not work that well. The author states that windows would pop-up when running the script. XBMC is what I would call flexible as I can program my remote to do just about anything withoug having to install additional software.

[barnabas1969]

I think the fact that they gave us all these entry points is wonderful. That (along with all the cool plugins) is what makes Media Center so flexible. XBMC and Myth are both Open Source, and come with problems of their own due to the nature of free contributed software. Media Center is not Free Open Source Software (FOSS). How many other commercial software packages (non-FOSS) can you name that allow people to develop their own plugins and also have so many ways to tweak it? Hacking and tweaking are two different things.

I've never used Auto Hot Key, so I can't comment on whether or not the Windows desktop will appear when you do this. I know that I could do this with EventGhost without any problems at all.

[Bxsteez]

Does anyone know how to get media center valve? / I tried to get it from missingremote but when I register I never get a password or a confirmation so I can't log in to download the sw. Is there a mirror anywhere