My Setup - comments please

[ruff_hi]

Currently, I am using WMC to record TV (and tellie movies) onto my 2TB dedicated drive. I've been looking at ways of watching this stuff on my TV (one upstairs and one in the bedroom) but that is another story / post.

My preference is to show movies (recorded, ripped, other) under the Movie menu item and recorded TV under the TV menu it. I am using different partitions to hold the movies and recorded TV.

My layout preference is standard WMC - lists for recorded TV and DVD Covers(?) for movies).

I recently downloaded MCEBuddy and I am using it to pull the ads out of my recorded TV. The default output file is mp4 which WMC will not see as 'recorded TV'. So ... I am now trying to get MCEBuddy to output as WTV which should be visible / included in the Recorded TV group.

Ideally, I would like to cut down on the menu (remove music, pictures, video, etc) - I tried Recorded TVHD (or what ever the name is) and didn't like it.

So ... any comments? Suggestions? Observations?

[sbaeder]

not sure this will give you what you want, but if you are modifying the files, put the TV shows into a folder that is visible in the VIDEO library as TV_SHOWS, and then put the TV movies into a folder called MOVIES. You loose some of the info that just leaving them in the recorded tv folder gives you, but if you wan them "organized" differently, then this might be a solution.

Then you don't really have to cut out the other entries, just go into the video library and you would have two selections to drill down into...

[mercalia]

there is a small free utility that will do that called Hide Media Center Strips.

read this

http://www.sevenforums.com/media-center ... trips.html

will do some of what u want?

re mp3 files if u use media browser plugin you can nominate an external player to play them. I use vlc ( but some later versions dont want to hand back control to media center after done). This applies to the old media browser plugin but I assume also tru for the latest?

[ruff_hi]

Update: WMC couldn't play the processed file ("the video decoder is not working or is not installed ... blah blah blah"). It came out of MCEBuddy as wtv. I tried playing it with Windows Media Player (WMP) and it (sort of worked). I got sound but no picture.

Converting the processed WTV file to dvr-ms didn't help the situation.

I'll take a look at the video option.

[Crash2009]

I started out moving the movies using the cut and paste approach. I got bored with that real quick. I asked the boys here how to automate the process. It was a little tricky, but not impossible. Now when I record a movie, shortly after its finished recording a little app named MoveMovies cuts the movie out of Recorded TV, makes a folder for it in the Movie folder, and downloads the poster art (meta data).

Here is a link to my adventure with the project. http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 184#p39184

The link to the software. http://andyongadgets.blogspot.com/

And a ScreenCap of what it looks like in WMC and FileExplorer.

After you get done with that project, it's fairly simple to get WMC up to the other 2 TV's using an Extender. Two of the more popular extenders are the Xbox and Ceton Corp's Echo. The extender allows you to have WMC, your Recorded TV and Movie collection available at the other two TV's.

By the way, if you do it this way, you will not have to do any converting of the wtv files. Record with wtv and play with wtv.

[ruff_hi]

Video Findings: I created a video location as 'TV Shows' and that appears to do the job. I'll take a look at the mentioned 'strips' editor to see if I can rename Video and remove some of the sub-options (share, etc).

[ruff_hi]

I started out moving the movies using the cut and paste approach. I got bored with that real quick. I asked the boys here how to automate the process. It was a little tricky, but not impossible. Now when I record a movie, shortly after its finished recording a little app named MoveMovies cuts the movie out of Recorded TV, makes a folder for it in the Movie folder, and downloads the poster art (meta data).

Here is a link to my adventure with the project. http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 184#p39184

The link to the software. http://andyongadgets.blogspot.com/

Interesting. Guess I have some reading to do.

And a ScreenCap of what it looks like in WMC and FileExplorer.

Serious! It looks like that in file explorer. I like that!

After you get done with that project, it's fairly simple to get WMC up to the other 2 TV's using an Extender. Two of the more popular extenders are the Xbox and Ceton Corp's Echo. The extender allows you to have WMC, your Recorded TV and Movie collection available at the other two TV's.

I've been looking at exactly this sort of solution (re my 'other story' mentioned in post #1). I haven't been too excited about the Ceton Echo - the reviews seem to be split 50/50. My other option was to build a small, quiet PC using something like 'M350 Universal Mini-ITX enclosure' or 'Antec ISK 310-150' ... but that would run to about $450.

I am giving the Echo a spin - one comes from Amazon tomorrow ... $99 seems worth a shot.

[DSperber]

I haven't been too excited about the Ceton Echo - the reviews seem to be split 50/50. My other option was to build a small, quiet PC using something like 'M350 Universal Mini-ITX enclosure' or 'Antec ISK 310-150' ... but that would run to about $450.

I am giving the Echo a spin - one comes from Amazon tomorrow ... $99 seems worth a shot.

Another HTPC cannot be used as an extender for viewing copy-protected content on a different HTPC. It can only play back copy-protected content recorded on the same HTPC. This is not true of copy-freely content, where it can be recorded on any HTPC and played back on any HTPC without restriction.

For a reliable extender experience (which is the normal WMC setup for delivering copy-protected and all other content from a central single HTPC to remote HDTV's for viewing), I would not use the Ceton Echo (although I've been using the Ceton PCIe internal InfiniTV4 satisfactorily in my HTPC since 2010). I'm also not a gamer, so I don't own an Xbox. What I use around my house are three Linksys DMA2100 extenders, which are no longer made but are still available for purchase (both new and used). They are 100% reliable (unlike the Echo). I also have four more "new in a box" spare DMA2100s in the closet, just in case one of my three production units dies or in case I want to add another location. These are rock solid, and work perfectly.

My only complaint about the DMA2100 is that it does not have a "native" setting for output HDMI resolution, to automatically feed either 720p if the source program is 720p or 1080i if the source program is 1080i. Since this "native" output resolution will always produce best/optimal visual image results on your HDTV that's what I'd like to use. But since it's not, I instead manually change the DMA2100 between fixed 720p and fixed 1080i depending on the source program I'm watching. Takes 30 seconds, is a bit of a nuisance, but best/optimal visual image results on my HDTV screen is what HDTV is all about, so I do it.

In other words I do NOT want the DMA2100 to do any up-conversion or down-conversion, and I don't want everything up-converted to 1080p by the DMA2100. At my primary viewing location I have an Oppo BDP-103, and I feed the DMA2100 720p/1080i into the 103's external HDMI input, where it gets "cleaned and up-converted to glorious 1080p" for delivery to my Panny 65VT50. At my other lesser viewing locations I just feed 720p or 1080i directly to those HDTV's, and let the HDTV's deal with conversions for their own native 1080p display resolution.

[ruff_hi]

Another HTPC cannot be used as an extender for viewing copy-protected content on a different HTPC. It can only play back copy-protected content recorded on the same HTPC. This is not true of copy-freely content, where it can be recorded on any HTPC and played back on any HTPC without restriction.

Well thanks . I guess that kills my mini-HTPC fall back option. Better to know now instead of after the build.

Third option is to build a family HTPC that is stand along and lug it between the TVs as needed. That would be fun too.

[mdavej]

FWIW, Echo has native mode which does not upconvert/downconvert. Has been very reliable for me.

[Crash2009]

It is quite possible that all or some of your Recorded TV is non-protected.

To find out, go back to FileExplorer, navigate to Recorded TV, right click up where mine says Protected then select More, Choose Details will open, put a check on Protected.

Whatever is listed as Protected No, will play on "mostly" anything. Even an old laptop connected to the TV upstairs (with a $10 remote control added to it). Assuming of course that you have some Cat5e run up there all ready.

[ruff_hi]

Another HTPC cannot be used as an extender for viewing copy-protected content on a different HTPC. It can only play back copy-protected content recorded on the same HTPC. This is not true of copy-freely content, where it can be recorded on any HTPC and played back on any HTPC without restriction.

Q: What is it about the HTPC that means you can't playback copy protected content on a different HTPC?
Q: How does 'it' know that it is being played back on a different HTPC?

I ask because my InfiniTV 4 just seemed to die yesterday. I got a message that a scheduled recording wouldn't happen as it couldn't find a tuner. Opening WMC reported the same thing and resetting things didn't help. The ceton diagnostic tool couldn't see my InfiniTV 4. So ... this morning, I swapped in a new InfiniTV 6 and now the Diag tool can see it ... I just need to talk to Cablevision re updating the CableCARD.

So ... will changing the tuner mean that I won't be able to play back copy protected content that was recorded with the old tuner?

BTW - I was starting to see 'you don't have the right access to see this channel' 9or similar) messages when watching WMC ... was that a function of a tuner going 'bad'?

[cwinfield]

Playready ties recordings to the PC that the tuners are setup on. As long as it is the same pc, a new tuner or cablecard will not change anything.

Within the WTV recording it contains the CCI flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_Control_Information it also has the drm which the key is associated with the pc the recording originated from.

The problems you describe suggest a faulty or improperly provisioned cablecard. Ask for a replacement.

[ruff_hi]

Playready ties recordings to the PC that the tuners are setup on.

Thanks for the info. Of course that raises the issue of how much of the PC I can change (motherboard, HDDs, SSD, fans, etc) I can change before it becomes a 'different PC'.

[cwinfield]

You can change the motherboard with the same model, the actual storage drives can be changed but you could lose your drm key in the process, It is contained within the drive partition and the OS install. This means that a image of you OS install is needed and the drives must be setup on the same computer.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... =22&t=8110

[mrsilver]

I started out moving the movies using the cut and paste approach. I got bored with that real quick. I asked the boys here how to automate the process. It was a little tricky, but not impossible. Now when I record a movie, shortly after its finished recording a little app named MoveMovies cuts the movie out of Recorded TV, makes a folder for it in the Movie folder, and downloads the poster art (meta data).

Here is a link to my adventure with the project. http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 184#p39184

I used to use that program but then the website disappeared for a couple of years, I lost the exe and so ended up writing an alternative.

To be fair they are pretty much the same, although the biggest differences are that you don't need to know the location of the Recorded TV folder (use /R) and that that mine will look in three possible locations for the year of the film. This is because often (for the UK anyway) it's not populated in the "year" meta-data field - which causes it to be labelled as "some film (0)". I also found that sometimes the file would be moved but never properly renamed.

http://www.fourteenminutes.com/code/move_tv_films/

I also plan to provide some options to deal with the situation where you've already recorded the film once before and then you end up recording it again. At that point there needs to be some logic to determine which version is kept and which is deleted. Having said that, no-one has asked for it yet and I've been quite busy.

[Crash2009]

Your version sounds a lot easier. If it was available, back when I was looking, I likely would have given it a try. Move Movies has been reliable for me, here in the United States.

[ruff_hi]

Update: I have my home network (ethernet) set up. I have a NAS in the basement running FreeNAS 9.? (3 I think). I am able to watch recorded TV from my HTPC as well as the ceton extender associated with that PC (both getting the shows from the NAS). I'm also able to watch movies recorded via the HTPC. However, I can't seem to get mp4 (or non *.wtv) movies to show up. They play via 'my movies' on the HTPC. The ceton extender will see them but not play them.

Any suggestions?

Is PLEX a better option for the movies?