Recorded TV HD Addin

[IT Troll]

I’m guessing you used a third party app to apply the custom background. These can make system changes which then override other preferences. You can however use the theme apps to manually customise the menu strips to your own choosing.

I’m not in an ATSC region and so can’t help on that one.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

I’m guessing you used a third party app to apply the custom background. These can make system changes which then override other preferences. You can however use the theme apps to manually customize the menu strips to your own choosing.

Yes, I used Media Center Studio, just for the custom background. So based on your comment, I
looked closer into MCS and used the menu customizer. Thank you for the tip, here is the result.

https://imgur.com/0ocujm7 Now the whole WMC menu list shows without any scrolling.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

RE: Error Setting Permissions to Logon as a Service

I have RTVHD set to monitor a network drive per the use folders WMC watches check box in RTVHD settings and RTVHD has been given the NAS' login credentials as well. However, I keep getting the Error Setting Permissions to Logon as a Service prompt. Whose login needs the logon as a service permissions, mine, the NAS, or the RTVHD service? The service properties list it as local user. Do I need to change that to something else? I am at a loss here and need TGB's help.

Also, upon reboot my computer is held hostage by RTVHD for about 80 seconds more before any connection can be made. I set the service as a delayed start, which cured it, but it was as good as being set on manual, because the service would not start until you opened RTVHD in WMC and you still had to click through an administrator permission okay to start prompt. Really annoying, so I set it back to automatic. Is this hostage boot up related to the logon as a service permissions issue?

Thank you all for your valuable time!

[Hi-Def_PCs]

I did solve the 80 second hostage crisis at each boot up by setting the RHDTV service start to manual and then creating
a task to run the action [NET START "RecorderedHDTVService"} with a trigger at logon whether user is logged on or not.
That created just enough delay for the other services to start and RTVHD service now starts silently in the background!

However, the "Error setting privilege for user to logon as a service." prompt is still an issue, but the service works.
So at this point, I will assume the error prompt is a left-over glitch that is erroneously responding to a benign action.

[IT Troll]

I don’t understand the detail of your config to offer any specific advice, but this can be a tricky setup to get right. The service will be configured to run as a local account which won’t have access to network resources. Contrary to this, the network login for your NAS won’t have permission to run a local service. This separation is done intentionally as a security measure.

If your network share is setup in Media Center and RTVHD is set to monitor those folders then it is possibly accessing through that method.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

I don’t understand the detail of your config to offer any specific advice, but this can be a tricky setup to get right. The service will be configured to run as a local account which won’t have access to network resources. Contrary to this, the network login for your NAS won’t have permission to run a local service. This separation is done intentionally as a security measure.

If your network share is setup in Media Center and RTVHD is set to monitor those folders then it is possibly accessing through that method.

IT Troll,

After I installed RTVHD, I noticed restart times increased by about 80 seconds, which is an eternity for an OS on SSD.
My times are from the restart button click to a functioning desktop reconnected to the RealVNC viewer on my laptop.
The RTVHD service does some intense sniffing in the background and does not release the desktop control until done.
The solution to that delay is described in my previous post. I ask that you try the following experiment for yourself.

Note the time it takes from a restart click to a functioning desktop, then go to Services on the computer and set the
start for RecorderedHDTVService to manual, then restart and note the time to return to a functioning desktop again.
My average restart time difference was 80 seconds, no matter what drives or shares were being monitored by WMC.
My testing was performed on fresh Win 7 & Win 8.1 OS installs on the very same computer hardware configuration.

As I recall, I could not get RTVHD to watch my network share on its own, but it will with a proxy view through WMC.
The "Error setting privilege for user to logon as a service." seems to require a Windows server toolkit to complete
in addition to assigning that privilege in User and Group Policy for the local account being used by RTVHD, but I am
not running Windows Server so that was a dead end. It must be a bug that never got addressed by the developer?

Anyway, I am very happy with RTVHD and even figured out how to combine the movie guide tile on the same row
with edited graphic for the Recorded TV HD tile using Media Center Studio and how to backup the menu changes.
Edit RTVHD tiles in Entry points, then merge them onto the WMC TV row, hide the others and new RTVHD row too.
Save an original copy of ehres.dll from ehome before any edits, then save it again after your WMC start menu edits.
Running command sfc /scannow will undo your WMC edits, drop the new saved ehres.dll into ehome to restore them.

The following are links to the instructions I used and a screen shot of my WMC Start Menu result. Cheers!

https://imgur.com/cugn8pU

https://www.howtogeek.com/17860/add-bac ... ia-center/

https://www.howtogeek.com/16973/customi ... er-studio/

[IT Troll]

My boot time from power off to functioning desktop is around 50 seconds. There is no noticeable delay in the release of the desktop. However, my media files are stored locally on SSD. My Media Center PC also acts as media server and is powered up 24/7, so restart/boot times aren't a concern for me. The Network stack is one of the last things to come up in Windows and that can tie up Explorer whilst it waits for network shares. The RTVHD service logs to C:\Users\Public\RecordedTVHD\Logs so it might be worth a look at that to see if a delay can be identified. By default it logs at INFO level, however you can change this to very detailed logging by adding LogLevel=DEBUG to GlobalSettings.ini, [Settings] section. Here is my log during a fresh boot with initialisation taking less than 1 second.

Code: Select all

2023-03-05 10:38:35,841 INFO  - ################################################################
2023-03-05 10:38:35,888 INFO  - #  Starting Service
2023-03-05 10:38:35,888 INFO  - #==================
2023-03-05 10:38:35,888 INFO  - #
2023-03-05 10:38:35,888 INFO  - # ProgramData Directory: c:\Users\Public\RecordedTVHD\
2023-03-05 10:38:35,888 INFO  - # Reading GlobalSettings.ini...
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Logging Level set to: INFO
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Watching Other FileType:  .mp4
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Watching Other FileType:  .mkv
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Watching Other FileType:  .m4v
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Watching Other FileType:  .avi
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Watching the following Custom Directories: 
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - #  D:\Recorded TV\
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - #  D:\Media
2023-03-05 10:38:35,904 INFO  - # Loading TheMovieDB Config...
2023-03-05 10:38:35,951 INFO  - # Downloading TheMovieDB Config...
2023-03-05 10:38:35,998 INFO  - # Loading TheTVDB Client...
2023-03-05 10:38:36,216 INFO  - # Checking RecordedTVHD Database for existence and integrity:c:\Users\Public\RecordedTVHD\database\RecordedTVHDdb.s3db
2023-03-05 10:38:36,341 INFO  - # Housekeeping existing database...
2023-03-05 10:38:36,482 INFO  - # CheckForDuplicate Series and Episodes...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,123 INFO  - # Removing bad characters from MCID...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,139 INFO  - >> CheckMoveToRecycleBin...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,139 INFO  - << CheckMoveToRecycleBin...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,139 INFO  - # Creating all FileSystemWatchers...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Beginning ScanAllFiles as background thread...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting DrivePooling Timer for: 302 seconds...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting ArtworkScan timer for 720 seconds...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting Missing Directory scan timer for 60 seconds...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting CheckForDuplicates scan timer for 25 minutes...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting CheckForSeasonAndEpisodeNumbers scan timer for 9 minutes...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting CheckForMissingSeriesEvenWhenEpisodeIsThere scan timer for 8.3 minutes...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - # Setting CheckForDrivePool scan timer for 30 minutes...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,154 INFO  - >> Entering ScanAllFiles...
2023-03-05 10:38:39,404 INFO  - Deleting all episodes and series where SeriesName is empty...
2023-03-05 10:38:47,734 INFO  - << Leaving ScanAllFiles...
2023-03-05 10:39:12,787 INFO  - # Service OnStart Complete!
2023-03-05 10:39:12,787 INFO  - ################################################################

On a standard Media Center setup, the RTVHD installer will do a reasonable job of modifying the Media Center menu rows. However, if you are already doing some customisation with another tool then it may not work (as you found) because the methods can clash. I actually use Media Center Themer to customise mine which allows you to change almost anything. It has a steeper learning curve than some of the other tools but has the advantage of performing the customisations without modifying any DLL files.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

Thank you for the tip on checking the logs, I will have to look into that. Hardware may be to blame,
because my MB's hard drive controller will not handle sizes over 2 TB despite GPT initialization too.
That is why I move most of my Recorded TV library to my NAS to keep room on my lowly 2TB drive.

Glad to see RTVHD works on Win 10! Media Center Themer is now Nuke Media Center that says it is a
replacement for Media Center Studio, that I found did not work on Win 8.1, so I'll certainly check it out.
If MCT allows me to place all the TV and movie tiles on the same row, I will make the switch to it or Nuke.

What resolution do you run WMC at? I tried 4K, but it barks at me with a prompt I have to click away.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

My boot time from power off to functioning desktop is around 50 seconds. There is no noticeable delay in the release of the desktop. However, my media files are stored locally on SSD. My Media Center PC also acts as media server and is powered up 24/7, so restart/boot times aren't a concern for me. The Network stack is one of the last things to come up in Windows and that can tie up Explorer whilst it waits for network shares. The RTVHD service logs to C:\Users\Public\RecordedTVHD\Logs so it might be worth a look at that to see if a delay can be identified. By default it logs at INFO level, however you can change this to very detailed logging by adding LogLevel=DEBUG to GlobalSettings.ini, [Settings] section. Here is my log during a fresh boot with initialisation taking less than 1 second.

I checked the RTVHD logs in debug mode and the only thing that stood out is the default automatic service method takes
exactly 80 seconds longer to complete the cycle than my manual service start via task method, which is only 14 seconds.
My CBS log does not show any anomalies either, so I am at a loss, but at least the hanging symptom is now being managed.

I found that Nuke Media Center is an imposter and located the real program here in TGB Wiki, yes quite the learning curve!
Are you running on Windows 10 as the screen shot with 10's logo in the upper right would suggest? Does WMC run 4K for you?

[IT Troll]

[Are you running on Windows 10 as the screen shot with 10's logo in the upper right would suggest? Does WMC run 4K for you?

No, I am actually running Windows 8. Media Center Themer allows you to change almost everything. But it is all done through a config file which is not so user friendly. I think someone on this forum did mod Media Center Studio so it works on Windows 10 (not sure about 8). I’ve not used it since Windows 7.

I just run at 1080p as I have another source for 4K. However, 4K will work but you get the resolution nag. I think this can be defeated with another mod. There is a thread about it.

[Hi-Def_PCs]

No, I am actually running Windows 8. Media Center Themer allows you to change almost everything. But it is all done through a config file which is not so user friendly. I think someone on this forum did mod Media Center Studio so it works on Windows 10 (not sure about 8). I’ve not used it since Windows 7.

I just run at 1080p as I have another source for 4K. However, 4K will work but you get the resolution nag. I think this can be defeated with another mod. There is a thread about it.

Thank you for the feedback, you are very helpful! I did find the threads you described and downloaded the MCS files for Win 10.
My intention is to create a WMC on 10 test build that dual boots with my primary WMC-7 build, so I can BETA test stuff first on it.
That is what I did with my current 7 build so it kept the primary build super clean because only what passed was ever installed.
The 10 build would be for ATSC 3.0 tuners because my market has rolled out and my TV is 4K, but only has an ATSC 1.0 tuner.

My curiosity is driving this build and hopefully I can source the various tweaks and downloads from here at TGB!
I am not a big fan of Windows h8, but what does it specifically offer to WMC that Windows 7 does not offer?

Also, have you ever received a website blocked warning when opening the RTVHD tile from WMC?
MalwareBytes keeps popping up this warning when I open that tile for the 1st time about each day.
I have enabled the WMC OEM recorded TV title to try and test if it matters which one is the trigger.

[IT Troll]

The only thing that Windows 8 offered over Windows 7 was updates/support, but that has finished now. It is more up to date and potentially secure O/S, but that’s about it. I only use my HTPC for Media Center so it doesn’t really matter what the Windows GUI is like.

I don’t run MalwareBytes so haven’t seen that. The IP is owned by a domain parking company (Bodis). Hazarding a guess, I suspect RTVHD is trying to check its old domain for any updates, but the domain doesn’t exist anymore and is being redirected elsewhere. The executable is the part of Media Center which runs the add-in (eHome Extensibility Host). So you don’t want to be blocking the executable.

You could try blocking the domain/IP it is trying to access to see if that has any adverse effects. The domain http://www.recordedtvhd.com/ now goes to an ad site (which is probably what is triggering MalwareBytes). So might be best to block this with an entry in the hosts file. I’ll do a little more digging into this as this is probably the best option.

Alternatively, you could add it as an exception in MalwareBytes so it just ignores it.

[IT Troll]

So I did a bit of monitoring and it looks like RTVHD only tries to access http://www.recordedtvhd.com/ if you have updates enabled. I've had this disabled for many years as there will be no official updates.
Updates can be disable in the Settings (spanner icon) within Media Center. This then sets UpdateCheck=False in GlobalSettings.ini.
If you have Updates enabled, then it would be interesting to see if setting this to None puts an end to the MalwareBytes warning.

[StinkyImp]

The 10 build would be for ATSC 3.0 tuners because my market has rolled out and my TV is 4K, but only has an ATSC 1.0 tuner.

Here's an interesting article I read this morning. ATSC 3.0 is the death knell for my Win7 system (even though it's rolled out in my market).

https://www.theverge.com/23629525/tv-at ... pps-nuvyyo

[Hi-Def_PCs]

So I did a bit of monitoring and it looks like RTVHD only tries to access http://www.recordedtvhd.com/ if you have updates enabled. I've had this disabled for many years as there will be no official updates.
Updates can be disable in the Settings (spanner icon) within Media Center. This then sets UpdateCheck=False in GlobalSettings.ini.
If you have Updates enabled, then it would be interesting to see if setting this to None puts an end to the MalwareBytes warning.

Thank you for that tip! I will disable updates on my BETA build at next chance (MalwareBytes is not on my new build).
It may be a week or so before I will know for sure if that was the culprit or not, then I will report back. (on vacation).

Edit: I saw a break in my recording schedule last night, so I rebooted to the BETA install and launched WMC's Recorded TV.
No MalwareBytes warning popped up, then I returned to the menu and launched Recorded TV HD and got the MWB warning.
That confirmed it was from RTVHD not WMC. This morning I rebooted BETA and launched RTVHD and there was no warning!
Thank you again, IT Troll, for your intuitive expert advice. Members like you make the TGB forum the best WMC resource!

[Hi-Def_PCs]

The 10 build would be for ATSC 3.0 tuners because my market has rolled out and my TV is 4K, but only has an ATSC 1.0 tuner.

Here's an interesting article I read this morning. ATSC 3.0 is the death knell for my Win7 system (even though it's rolled out in my market).

Yes, very interesting article for sure. Could be a promising future for many systems and stand alone ATSC 3.0 tuner-less 4K TVs like mine.
Not to clutter this RTVHD forum thread with the subject, is there one started for ATSC 3.0, 4K, HDR on WMC-10 that is worth following yet?
I can't seem to find one that is current, not an old dead end "You Can't Get There From Here", I want, "Yes, and here is how I did it!".