+ Watch video

jkr2

I heard that this update will add clear QAM support, which would be very significant to me.

itchytooth

Errr... I watch H.264 stuff on my Windows Media Center all the time, just install Haali's splitter and FFDShow

poedgirl

@jkr2: I think I'll pass, but thank you for completely wasting my time

drewkkake

@poedgirl: I do too but I've had LOTS of problems with codecs in Vista Media Center. It seems like every time I get one thing working, another breaks. For instance, right now, it's almost right, but fastforwarding/rewinding doesn't work with most video types.

itchytooth

@itchytooth: I've got all codecs working perfectly (well, just one, FFDShow but that plays everything). To fix the FF/RW problem, there is a plugin for WMC called "Media Control":
[damienbt.free.fr]

poedgirl

@jkr2: mythtv doesn't have directv support so ... yeah, mythtv = cat with piece of american cheese on its head.

Paradise

@jkr2: ZOMG! Any OS that requires you to flip through a bunch of different desktops to get to where you want, must be cruddy.

The first 1/2 of the video was flipping through a bunch of different desktops. If that's suppose to impress me, well consider me unimpressed. Why would you need that many blank desktops to work with? Sure, it looks cool, but after awhile, it's just useless to flip through a bunch of desktops like that. Unless you're doing actual work, I don't see anything useful out of it.

Oh, and I notice that they copied the OS X dock, as well as the Media Center UI. I guess Linux doesn't have any originality, does it? And MythTV still looks ugly compared to WMC. At least WMC is guaranteed to work well, look well, and be very easy to use. MythTV has nothing on WMC. You can't even compare them without saying MythTV is a blatant copy.

quikboy

I love running my Media PC with XBMC (running off Windows XP). It boots in 45 seconds and the software is absolutely fantastic. Beyond awesome. Prior to that I was using MediaPortal for 2 years. But within the last month, XBMC took over and it is way better and faster than MediaPortal. And yes, XBMC plays everything including HD videos. If you haven't tried it, you gotta check it out!

funtasticguy

@quikboy:
That was myth tv running on ubuntu, you don't need ubuntu to run it, but the functionality is that of a full desktop when you do. You don't need 4 desktops buddy, 1 will suffice, they just did that to show off some of the functionality that's all. Actually try using an OS before bashing it, because you are spurting out incorrect statements.
@Paradise:
ummm install it on a directTV box.
[biobug.org]
try doing a google search friend. Amazing how nobody understands that myth tv was originally intended for installation on cable boxes, oh well, I guess a wikipedia search is expecting to much.
[en.wikipedia.org]

jkr2

@poedgirl: Thanks, I'll try that.

itchytooth

To all - DirecTV will likely release a dual-tuner, HD-capable, USB-based tuner module for WMC sometime late this year or early next year. Search Google (or anywhere, for that matter) for "HDPC20".

With luck, the smarty-pants Linux folks will figure out how to get it working for Myth, etc. I MUCH prefer Myth over WMC. However, as a D* customer, I'm limited to their feature-limited DVRs or controlling one with either USB serial commands or IR repeaters - and at that, I'm limited to a single feed per box.

racermd

@jkr2: Ahem.
1) DirecTV is not cable. It's satellite.
2) Using an IR Blaster to control the box is not the same as having a direct feed to your HTPC as the way Cablecard works with digital cable.
3) No need to be condescending.

ripfire

@poedgirl: The problem with using FFDShow is with HD files, particularly 1080p files. FFDShow doesn't use the hardware acceleration for video files that your video card may provide. This is a problem for many people, especially those with a slower machine.

Windows Media Center DOES support H.264/AVC through a neat little trick using Media Player Classic: Home Cinema. By downloading two of MPC:HC's filters (MPCVideoDec.ax and Mpeg2DecFilter.ax, both available here [sourceforge.net] ) you can gain DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) inside of Windows Media Center. Just put those two files in your System32 folder, run a command prompt, and type "regsvr32 FILTERNAME" (where FILTERNAME is one of the two filenames) and hit enter. Do this for both filters.

Next, download Radlight Filter Manager. Find the MPCVideoDec filter under DirectShow Filters, set its merit to the highest, and go into its properties and turn on H264 decoding.

After doing this, make sure to install Haali Media Splitter.

You should be all set! I can now play 1080p H264 files in WMC with hardware acceleration and almost no CPU usage. I have tested this on my own MCPC, an Athlon64 3200+, 1GB RAM, and ATI Radeon HD2600PRO running Vista Ultimate.

(note: all of the above depends on the fact that you have a hardware card that supports H264 hardware decoding).

---------------------------

With that said, I welcome changes to Windows Media Center. It is an amazing piece of software, stable and usable. Any changes that improve upon it are completely welcome by me.

-Brian

KStrike155

@funtasticguy: ...but not Bluray or HDDVD :/

Then again, neither does Vista's Media Center. lol

aphex242

@racermd: I've been waiting for that for a long time. The sooner the better. I know it went into beta testing a few months ago, but have not seen any leaked reports from the beta testers. It's almost like they are actually obeying the NDA or something?

robinandtami