Tip Tweaks and Tricks gathered for Vista MCE

[test7875]

** Last update 20/03/08 - YES IM STILL UPDATING IT !!**

Hi all,

Its been over a year since this tip section got up - Happy Birthday its been Fantastic ..

Today i added in a bit more for you all.

A) All VMCE keyboard shortcuts
b) How to stream radio without using cluttering and big memory stealing plugins!

KEEP POSTING HINTS AND TIPS HERE - KEEP QUESTIONS FOR THE CORRECT FORUM!

Cheers

TEST

Hi all,

A friend asked me to send him my "documented" procedure of loading Vista MCE.
I dont think there should be one at this stage so ive put together all the Tip Tweaks and Tricks ive gathered for Vista from this site and others (and ALOT of hard work, effort and learning!) - hope it makes your life easier.

This might be a great "sticky" and one that we all should add too as we come along helpful tips/tricks. Oh and feel free to add to rep if its helped ya!

32bit Vista

Have 2 users and get 1 to login automatically

Keep your two users and do the following:

- Windows+R (or start->run)
- enter "control userpasswords2"
- uncheck "USERS MUST ENTER A USERNAME AND PASSWORD"
- click ok
- You are then prompted for the username and password you want it to logon with at boot
up.

To be able to play DVDs copied to the HDD through VMCE interface

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings
Registry value - ShowGallery
Registry value data type - REG_SZ
Registry value data - Gallery = enable My DVDs; Play = do not enable My DVDs

Services that can turned off (Personally i think its better to download a program called Vista Manager)

Windows Search (can't think of anything that would need that)
Themes
Telephony
TabletPC Input
IIS (optional install)
Secondary Login
ReadyBoost (if you dont want to use it)
Print Spooler (if no printer)
Windows Mobile stuff
Offline Files
Message Queuing (optional install)

Speed up vista

The default power option has a cpu limit of 50%. START->CONTROL PANEL->POWER OPTIONS

and change from balanced to high performance.

Optimise vista more

I came across this article ..
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2110595,00.asp

Although i found this article very interesting about turning off Aero .. Some people agree some dont ..
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...ance/page3.asp

How to Turn off UAC

Im typing this from memory so please excuse me ..
Method 1 - Start --> run --> type msconfig --> run --> go to the last tab --> Disable UAC
Method 2 --> control panel --> users --> Disable UAC

To get back administrator rights turn off UAC and do the following.
For Windows Vista Ultimate/Business/Enterprise

Here’s the simple solution: Remember that cute “Administrator” account you see when you login to safe mode? That’s the built-in administrator account that’s installed by default, and disabled by default too, after a little digging-in I made this tutorial that’ll let you enable and use this account in normal mode, and with a little other tweak, enjoying an XP-like administrator experience, while UAC is left ON (or off, it doesn’t matter), but with no prompts or right clicks.

1- Click Start, and type “secpol.msc” in the search area and click Enter.
2- You may receive a prompt from UAC, approve/login and proceed.
3- In the left list, choose “Local Policies”, then “Security Options”
4- Set “Accounts: Administrator account status” to Enabled.
5- Set “User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account”
to Disabled.
6- Now log-off, and you’ll see a new account named “Administrator” will be available,

click on it to login.

Now you are the master of your domain! I recommend if you’re going to use this method is to apply it as soon as you do a fresh install of Windows, so you can simply delete whatever administrator you created in the setup process, and make this one the “real”
administrator for your PC, also you can rename this new admin account or change its
password like any other account from “User Accounts” in the Control Panel. I’m sure many
of you will be happy to have 100% power over their new operating system

or Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium

1- Click Start, and type "cmd" in the search area, right click on "Command Prompt" and select 'Run as Administrator".

2- In the command prompt type "net users Administrator /active'" (Note the capital "A" in Administrator) and press Enter, you will get a confirmation as "The command completed successfully".

3- Click Start, and type "regedit" in the search area and click Enter, navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\System]
Double click on "FilterAdministratorToken" and set it to "0"

Turn off DEP

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

MPEG-2 Codecs

-Wont change even if you load new ones (Best are nvidia purevideo (better colour on Dvico cards) and powerdvd 7.2 better driver atm but colours are more washed out)
-- Get vmcd.exe from the download section to easily change codecs.

ICETV SETUP

UPDATE : MS now has a patch to solve this service problem - search the forum - lots of D/L links

Also download the MS Daylight saving patch or everything in the ICETV guide will be out
an hour.

Now i know you can now also use the latest version of PIMP .. but this has been working 100% for me for a long time.

ADDITIONAL VISTA CODECS

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=66826
This also loads FFDSHOW for you.

MYMOVIES

Q: I found out how to rip a DVD and convert it into an MPEG2 movie, but it of course loses all of it's menu / navigation functionality... Is there a way to store movies?
A:What you want is MyMovies, an adding for Media Center. You can rip your DVD's to your hard disk and have Media Center index them without getting rid of the menus etc

Checkout http://www.mymovies.name/

Also pay some Mula and become a forum sponsor ... then ask Monster for his Moveme Solution In the sponsors lounge.

PLAYING AVI's SEQUENTIALLY

If you have some video clips from a Formula 1 Race (or whatever) in AVI, MS-DVR. mpegs. divx and more and you want to play one after another.
you can create a file in notepad save it with a wvx extension not TXT.

<ASX version = "3.0">
<Title>My Vids</Title>
<Entry>
<Ref href="c:\My Documents\My Videos\FormulaOneRace1.avi"/>
</Entry>
<Entry>
<Ref href="c:\My Documents\My Videos\FormulaOneRace2.avi"/>
</Entry>
<Entry>
<Ref href="c:\My Documents\My Videos\FormulaOneRace3.avi"/>
</Entry>
</ASX>

Create an entry for each video you want to play, then just put the wvx file in My videos and they will automatically play one after the another.

BETTER RECORDING FROM THE GUIDE

Change the recording settings to default to [ANY TIME] and [ANY CHANNEL]. This will allow the pattern matching algorithm to broaden it's parameters to the widest scope for detecting you recording schedule for the given series. Just as a note, the MCE algorithm for finding shows to schedule seems to match on the actual name of the show in the guide, so If you schedule a show whose name changes every week (EG. Penn & Teller: Feng Shui, Penn & Teller: Bottled Water (Works great for Vodafone Live at the chapel), then you have bugger all hope of getting MCE to record this automatically.

NAVIGATING / SCROLLING THROUGH ITEMS

It was a full year before I realised this was possible, but when you are on screens with alot of items (music artist/album, guide channel setting etc.), you can use the channel +/- buttons to scroll 10 at a time.

I can't believe the amount of time I wasted scrolling one at a time through my 300+ albums.

ALSO

you can quickly get to the artist/album of your choice by using the numberpad on your remote as you would when texting on a cellphone. For example, if I wanted to find "Soundgarden", I would hit the number "7" 4 times to select the letter "S". (Sorry if this is obvious).

HOW TO SHARE RECORDED TV WITH OTHER MEDIA CENTERS

http://iandixon.co.uk/cs/blogs/mike/...a-centers.aspx

Backup your MCE2005 or VISTA settings with this easy proggie

http://thedigitallifestyle.com/cs/fi...entry1586.aspx

Network problems?? Read the following

DHCP is designed to take the user out of the equation of assigning an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a certain computer connected to a network, and making the process completely automatic. In order to set up or change the configuration of the TCP/IP settings make your way via the Start button, Control Panel, Network and Internet, Network and Sharing Center, and then Manage network connections.

In the Network Connections window, you will be able the see one or more connections depending on your system, right-click the connection you want to manage and select Properties from the contextual menu that will be displayed. Under the Networking tab, select either Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) depending on which protocol you use. Most likely, it is IPv4. Make sure that the Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain an IPv6 address automatically are selected in order to automatically assign the IP addresses to your computers.

Sometimes, however, you might run into problems. The kind that the Network and Sharing Center will not be able to resolve on its own. And you will find that you lost network connectivity. One such example is the deletion of the TCP/IPv4 default gateway address when the network interface IP address for DHCP in Windows Vista is configured via the Netsh command-line tool, with a command prompt such as: "netsh interface ipv4 set address name="Local Area Connection" source=dhcp".

In such a case, you will have to turn to the "Ipconfig" command-line utility in Vista. Enter "cmd" in the Search box under the "Start menu" and then right-click the highlighted result and choose Run as administrator, or press Ctrl + Shift + Enter in order to run command prompt with elevated privileges. There are two commands that you can use, both (in the order illustrated below) explained by Microsoft:

"/release [Adapter] : Sends a DHCPRELEASE message to the DHCP server to release the current DHCP configuration and discard the IP address configuration for either all adapters (if an adapter is not specified) or for a specific adapter if the Adapter parameter is included. This parameter disables TCP/IP for adapters configured to obtain an IP address automatically. To specify an adapter name, type the adapter name that appears when you use ipconfig without parameters.

/renew [Adapter] : Renews DHCP configuration for all adapters (if an adapter is not specified) or for a specific adapter if the Adapter parameter is included. This parameter is available only on computers with adapters that are configured to obtain an IP address automatically. To specify an adapter name, type the adapter name that appears when you use ipconfig without parameters."

How to fix network bottlenecks

recently I encountered a really frustrating problem. Using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect from a Vista Enterprise machine to a Windows 2003 server, the performance was so woeful that I was starting to worry whether there was a problem with the server.

As it happens, my fears about the server were unfounded, but the thought that Vista’s networking stack was to blame turned out to be correct. The Next Generation TCP/IP stack in Windows Vista supports something called Receive Window Auto-Tuning. This is nothing to do with the RDP “window” you see on the screen, but rather a TCP buffer which TCP/IP clients use to ensure smooth transmission.

Essentially, the TCP receive window is the amount of data that is sent in one chunk before waiting for an acknowledgement to come back from the machine at the other end. It's one of the trickiest things to optimise in TCP/IP because you need to balance throughput with reliability -- if you transmit too much data in one go, if there is an error in the data flow, the whole lot has to be sent again. Windows XP was originally tuned for dial-up connections (lots of errors, so very small chunks of data were sent) but this caused performance problems on high speed broadband networks.

In XP SP2, Microsoft increased the receive window value for better performance on broadband, but it's still not optimal for many situations.

Vista is supposed to improve on this situation: Vista has a new feature called "Receive Window Auto-Tuning" which constantly monitors bandwidth capacity and latency, and adjusts the TCP window on the fly for any given situation. It also enables TCP window scaling – by default the maximum TCP window size if 65,535 bytes, but window scaling allows a client to advertise that it’s optimised to receive a bigger window than this – it’s designed to prevent TCP window bottlenecks in high-bandwidth environments. Vista’s maximum advertised TCP window is 16MB.

Therefore, in a given situation a Vista machine will typically receive much more network data than a Windows XP, which can result in network spiking. This isn’t necessarily a problem in itself, but it does increase the importance of actually using TCP/IP QoS (Quality of Service), which is installed and enabled by default in Vista.


The problem with Vista's new-fangled network stack
All this automatic tuning of the Vista network stack sounds great in theory, but the problem is that some clients don’t support TCP window scaling, or do but don’t have it enabled. Additionally, some firewall products also don’t support it. In either scenario, the result is dropped packets which affects network performance horrendously -- your traffic is literally dropping into a black hole, never to be seen again.

So if you’re experiencing excessive network lags on your Vista machine, especially compared to non-Vista machines, it might be worthwhile disabling auto-tuning. Do this by opening up an administrative Command Window (right-click, Run as administrator), and type in the following command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

You may also need to type in:

netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled

The changes take effect straight away, with no reboot needed. Bear in mind that this is a global change, so it may really be worth your while to sit down and nut through your network's QoS settings to get things running happily without disabling auto-tuning.

Personally, I needed to RDP to that server as a matter of urgency, and disabling auto-tuning definitely did the trick.

These all helped me. Ive got a few fixes for 64bit vista .. but im going back to 32.

64 Bit HELP

ICETV
OK, there is a registry fix for the 64 bit version of Vista. IceTV guide installs as a 32 bit application, so Widnows Vista 64 bit moves it in to a different area of the registry from whats expected. You need to be looked in as Administrator to fix this:
* Ensure Media Centre is not running
* Press with windows key + R to bring up the run dialogue
* Run Regedit
* Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\EPG
* Right click on the EPG folder and Export to a place of your choosing.
* in Windows Explorer, right click on the newly created reg file and choose edit.
* Remove the Wow6432Node reference so that it now reads:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\EPG]
* Save the file.
* Right click on the reg file and select merge and agree to the warnings
* Run Media Centre, go and set up the TV guide and it should ALLLLLL be working :-)

Vista Ultimate x64 uses the 32bit player by default.
The systems' default player can be changed with these commands:
unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:64 <-- enables the 64bit player as default
unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:32 <-- enables the 32bit player as default

The ffdshow 64-bit build work fine within Windows Media Center.
(after install you have to enable libavcodec for decoder in 'video decoder configuration' > 'codecs') :
http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/mirr...64-rev2546.exe
http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/

VMCD.EXE wont work or change MPEG-2 codecs with 64 Bit Vista.

Registy Hacks (most will work with MCE2005 as well)

Skip Forward Interval - Enter the number of milliseconds you want to skip forward when you press the skip button. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings

Registry value - SkipAheadInterval

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Skip Back Interval - Enter the number of milliseconds you want to skip back when you press the replay button. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings

Registry value - InstantReplayInterval

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Storage Location For Recorded TV - Enter the path for the storage location for recorded TV.

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording

Registry value - RecordPath

Registry value data type - REG_SZ

Watched Folders For Recorded TV - If you have recorded TV stored in multiple locations enter the folder path below. You can enter one folder path for each line below. Example: C:\Recorded TV

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording

Registry value - WatchedFolders

Registry value data type - REG_MULTI_SZ

Notification Before A Recording Starts - When you are watching TV a notification appears before the channel is changed to start a new recording. Enter the number of milliseconds to show this notification before Media Center changes the channel to begin the recording. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - RecorderStartWarningTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

More Info Panel Timeout - Enter the number of milliseconds to show the More Info panel while watching TV or DVD. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - InfoBarTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Seek Bar Timeout - Enter the number of milliseconds to show the paused seek bar while watching TV or DVD. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - SeekBarTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Seek Bar Rewind and Fast Forward Timeout - While watching TV or DVD pressing REW/FWD displays the seek bar. Enter the number of milliseconds to show the seek bar when transitioning from REW or FWD to normal playback while watching TV or DVD. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - SeekBarBriefTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Seek Bar Slow Motion Timeout - Enter the number of milliseconds to show the seek bar when video is in slow motion playback while watching TV or DVD. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - SeekBarSloMoTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Enable Overscan - Some televisions do not display the full Media Center user experience. Do you want Media Center to pull in critical UI elements?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings

Registry value - marginSaved

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = enable overscan; 0 = disable overscan

Bottom Margin - How many units should Media Center pull in critical elements from the bottom of the screen?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings

Registry value - marginBottom

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Top Margin - How many units should Media Center pull in critical elements from the top of the screen?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings

Registry value - marginTop

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Right Margin - How many units should Media Center pull in critical elements from the right side of the screen?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings

Registry value - marginRight

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Left Margin - How many units should Media Center pull in critical elements from the left side of the screen?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.PerUserSettings

Registry value - marginLeft

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Enable My DVDs - Media Center has a new DVD gallery with cover art and descriptions called My DVDs. Do you want to enable My DVDs? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - ShowGallery

Registry value data type - REG_SZ

Registry value data - Gallery = enable My DVDs; Play = do not enable My DVDs

Autostart Enhanced DVD Content - Some DVDs include bonus content enhanced for Media Center. Do you want to automatically start the content?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\AutoScan

Registry value - _autoPlayMCLEnabled

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = automatically start; 0 = do not automatically start

DVD Notification Timeout - Enter the number of milliseconds that you want to view the notification that a DVD has been inserted and is about to automatically start playing. (1 second = 1000 milliseconds)

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

Registry value - DVDNotificationTimeout

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Search Depth - My DVDs Gallery will search all locations that you have added to your My Videos space. How many levels deeps should it search for DVD content? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - FolderSearchDepth

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Search Network Locations - My DVDs Gallery will search all locations that you have added to your My Videos space. Should it include network shares and folders in its search? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - SearchNetworkFolders

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = search network folders; 0 = do not search network folders

Show DVDs In Drives First - My DVDs Gallery can display DVDs that are loaded in drives as the first items or sorted in with the rest of your DVDs. Should DVDs that are loaded in drives appear first? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - ShowDiscsInDrivesAtTop

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = show DVDs in drives first; 0 = show DVDs in drives based on the current sort order

Show Cache File Location - In My DVDs when no metadata can be found for the current disc, the location of the cache file can be displayed on the DVD details page. You can edit this file to include any data that you would like to see displayed on the details page instead. Should the location of the cache file be displayed if there is no metadata? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - ShowCacheLocation

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = show cache file location; 0 = do not show cache file location

Suppress Eject Prompt - When a 3rd party application (More Programs or Online Spotlight) tries to eject a disc, do you want a confirmation dialog? This setting is only available in Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings

Registry value - SuppressExtensibilityEjectPrompt

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 0 = show eject prompt; 1 = do not show eject prompt

Display My Music As Last Viewed - Display my music as I last viewed it sorted by artist, albums, playlists, songs or genres.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\Audio

Registry value - fMyCollectionShouldBeSticky

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = remember last music view; 0 = do not remember last music view

Show Add To Queue Notification - Do you want to be notified every time music has been successfully added to the queue?

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center\Settings\Audio

Registry value - fShowAddToQueueSuccessPrompt

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = show Add To Queue notification; 0 = do not show notification

Enable Universal Remote Control - If you have a universal remote control you may need to enable it. A reboot is required for this setting to take effect.

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

Registry value - EnableDebounce

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = enable universal remote control; 0 = disable universal remote control

Set Remote Control ID - To enable your Media Center to respond to a specific remote control ID do the following; 1. Press and hold the DVD Menu key on the remote then press a number button (1-8) for 5 seconds. Remotes with visible LED signal indicators will blink twice to confirm the change. 2. Enter that same number below. 3. Save. 4. Restart the Media Center PC. Note: To enable Media Center to respond to all remotes use the number 0. A reboot is required for this setting to take effect.

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

Registry value - CodeSetNum0

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

This setting also requires deleting the following registry values:

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

Registry value - CodeSetNum1

Registry value - CodeSetNum2

Registry value - CodeSetNum3

Display Wireless Passwords - When joining a wireless network, do you want to read the password as you enter it or do you want it to be hidden?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center

Registry value - DontHideWirelessKey

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = display password; 0 = hide password

Optimize For Display Type - By default Media Center Extender is optimized for display on a traditional TV. However, if you have a LCD or plasma TV you may want to disable this optimization in order to improve picture quality.

Registry key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Media Center

Registry value - TVSkin

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = optimize for traditional TV; 0 = optimize for LCD or plasma screen

Show Network Congestion Notification - Do you want to be notified on your Extender when there is network congestion preventing good performance?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral
Registry value - DisableTransraterDialogs

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 0 = show notification; 1 = do not show notification

Show 'Not Enough Bandwidth For TV' Notification - Do you want to be notified on your Extender when there is not enough bandwidth to enable a good TV experience?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral

Registry value - DisableMHN

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = show notification; 0 = do not show notification

Prompt When Navigating Between Secure and Insecure Pages - Should the Extender prompt when navigating between secure and insecure pages within a partner application?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral\Setup\Internet Settings

Registry value - WarnOnZoneCrossing

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 0 = prompt; 1 = do not prompt

Prompt When Submitting Nonencrypted Information - Should the Extender prompt when submitting nonencrypted information in a partner application?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral\Setup\Internet Settings\Zones\3

Registry value - 1601

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = prompt; 0 = do not prompt

Prompt On Mixed Content - Should the Extender prompt when displaying a partner application page that contains both encrypted and nonencrypted content?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral\Setup\Internet Settings\Zones\3

Registry value - 1609

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 1 = prompt; 3 = do not prompt

Adjust Audio and Video Network Priority - Do you want to prioritize a seamless audio experience higher than a seamless video experience when there is network congestion preventing good performance?

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaCenterP eripheral

Registry value - DisableTransrater

Registry value data type - REG_DWORD

Registry value data - 0 = prioritize audio higher than video; 1 = prioritize audio and video equally


To Hide or show Items on MCE main Startup Page.

Run regedit

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Start Menu]

"HideTV"="0"

"HideWebSite"="0"

"HideRadio"="0"

"HideMusic"="0"

"HideVideos"="0"

"HideDVD"="0"

To hide use "1" to show use "0"



"My TV" with on TV Tuner

If you have no TV tuner but you would like "MY TV" on the Main Startup page to play the DVR-MS (Recorded TV).

Run RegEdit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Settings\TVConfig\iVideoSource

set iVideoSource = to "1"



Increase Buffer Size for Pausing Live TV

Run RegEdit

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Media

Center\Service\Video\Tuners"

BackingFileDuration the defalt is 300

Setting BackingFileDuration to "600" will give you 1 hour

Setting BackingFileDuration to "900" will give you 1.5 hours

Setting BackingFileDuration to "1200" will give you 2 hours

VMCE Keyboard Shourtcuts

Open Windows Media Center or return to the
Windows Media Center start screen Windows Key+ALT+ENTER
Close Windows Media Center ALT+F4
Accept the selection ENTER
Go back to the previous screen BACKSPACE
Go to the first item in a list HOME
Go to the last item in a list END
Go to the next page PAGE DOWN
Go to the previous page PAGE UP
Move left, right, up, or down ARROW KEYS
Go in and go out of windowed mode ALT+ENTER

TV:
Go to Recorded TV CTRL+O
Go to the Guide CTRL+G
Go to live TV CTRL+T
Record a TV show CTRL+R
Pause or resume live TV or recorded TV CTRL+P
Stop recording or stop playing a TV show CTRL+SHIFT+S
Resume playing a TV show CTRL+SHIFT+P
Rewind live TV or recorded TV CTRL+SHIFT+B
Fast forward live TV or recorded TV CTRL+SHIFT+F
Skip back CTRL+B
Skip forward CTRL+F
Display the context menu CTRL+D

RADIO:
Go to Radio CTRL+A
Pause or resume live radio CTRL+P
Stop live radio CTRL+SHIFT+S
Resume playing radio CTRL+SHIFT+P
Skip back CTRL+B
Skip forward CTRL+F
Display the context menu CTRL+D

AUDIO:
Mute volume F8
Turn down volume F9
Turn up volume F10
Turn on or turn off closed captioning CTRL+SHIFT+C
Go to Music CTRL+M
Play an audio file or song CTRL+SHIFT+P
Pause or resume an audio file or song CTRL+P
Replay an audio file or song CTRL+B
Skip to the next song CTRL+F
Fast forward a song CTRL+SHIFT+F
Rip a CD CTRL+R
Display the context menu CTRL+D


VIDEO:
Go to Videos CTRL+E
Play CTRL+SHIFT+P
Pause CTRL+P
Stop CTRL+SHIFT+S
Rewind CTRL+SHIFT+B
Fast forward CTRL+SHIFT+F
Skip back CTRL+B
Skip forward CTRL+F

PICTURES:
Go to Pictures CTRL+I
Zoom a picture in Picture Details ENTER
Play a slide show CTRL+SHIFT+P
Stop a slide show CTRL+SHIFT+S
Pause a slide show CTRL+P
Skip back to the previous picture UP ARROW or LEFT ARROW
Skip forward to the next picture DOWN ARROW or RIGHT ARROW
Display the context menu CTRL+D

DVD:
Go to the DVD menu CTRL+SHIFT+M
Play CTRL+SHIFT+P
Pause CTRL+P
Stop CTRL+SHIFT+S
Rewind CTRL+SHIFT+B
Fast forward CTRL+SHIFT+F
Go to the previous chapter CTRL+B
Go to the next chapter CTRL+F
Change the DVD angle ARROW KEYS
Change the DVD audio selection CTRL+SHIFT+A
Change the DVD subtitles selection CTRL+U


How to stream internet radio without a plugin here!

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


As i said .. these all helped me heaps .. so i hope it helps you, in one easy and quick location. Maybe we should split it into 32 and 64?
And as always, never play in the registry if you dont know what you're doing!

Ok people ... start adding yours! (make this thread useful ie hints/tip/tweaks/tricks not comments). Anytime you have one .. just add it here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edit : Thanks for the thanks and rep peeps! I will come back and keep adding as i find more (so pop back in from time to time).

[arkay]

Nice post My only criticism is to remove the comment about klite and/or any codec pack. Generally speaking 98% of whats in them is not needed and they usually break your system. Typically we recommend only one mpeg2 codec and ffdshow for the vast majority of others. In the rare circumstance that you need extra (support for matroska etc), then you should install those individually as required (so you know what broke it when it breaks).

Other than that. Top pointers... Rep points for you

Have also made it sticky for all the new Vista builders out there.

Cheers,

Arkay.

[jollster101]

In conjunction with the Reg Key for the Discovery service there is also a utility that was written specifically for Vista by a good mate of the epgStream guys (the nice guys that gave us FreeEPG)

This has come from their post in the sub forum for them

Simuant has a secret 'Bat Cave' portal ... Don't think he's too interested in opening up a public website! Try his inital release of Ant Colony (includes KeyGuard) and let us know if it works for you: http://www.simuants.com/download/ant...ny_1_00_00.zip

Just extract and run the setup wizard to install Ant Colony into "C:\Program Files\Simuant\Simuant Ant Colony". Then run the StartService.bat file to get the service running!

Oh, Simuant has also included the ability to set your EPG download schedule too! Check out the "C:\Program Files\Simuant\Simuant Ant Colony\Configuration\Colonies\Windows Media Center\Ants.xml" for configuration ... I'm sure Simuant wll hop on and post some install/config instructions.

Arkay also did a work round I think but I like the app myself.

[arkay]

Arkay also did a work round I think but I like the app myself.

Not me... I just disabled the mcupdate process.

Cheers,

Arkay.

[jollster101]

Not me... I just disabled the mcupdate process.

Cheers,

Arkay.

That was what I meant.........

[mcopas]

Have 2 users and get 1 to login automatically

Keep your two users and do the following:

- Windows+R (or start->run)
- enter "control userpasswords2"
- uncheck "USERS MUST ENTER A USERNAME AND PASSWORD"
- click ok
- You are then prompted for the username and password you want it to logon with at boot
up.

Ah, some things never change.

For those that are interested, this also works in Windows XP.

[jollster101]

To pretty things up:

If you are tired of the default boot screen in Windows Vista, there is a better looking one hidden away:

1) Press Win+R, type msconfig and press Enter.
2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
3) In the "System Configuration" window, click on the Boot tab.
4) Select your Windows Vista installation and under "Boot options", check "No GUI boot".
Press OK.
5) In the dialog that appears, check "Don’t show this message again", and then click on Restart.
6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says "Starting Windows Vista".

Image is attached (finally )

[test7875]

To pretty things up:

If you are tired of the default boot screen in Windows Vista, there is a better looking one hidden away:

1) Press Win+R, type msconfig and press Enter.
2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
3) In the "System Configuration" window, click on the Boot tab.
4) Select your Windows Vista installation and under "Boot options", check "No GUI boot".
Press OK.
5) In the dialog that appears, check "Don’t show this message again", and then click on Restart.
6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says "Starting Windows Vista".

Image is attached (finally )

Nice but will this increase or shorten boot time. Ie it wont load the GUI till post processing.

[jollster101]

On mine I didnt notice any difference as it was just replacing the initial screen.

I reckon it shouldnt make a difference on anyone's machine to the startup time but bear in mind this is MS and so anything is possible.

[freddyfinn]

This is how you turn off Data Execution Prevention in Vista http://vista.beyondthemanual.com/200...ta_execut.html

[Brk_]

Hi, do someone have a registry tip to view my music by folder instead of by artist/album/...

[freddyfinn]

Another tip and I can't stress this enough is when you install Vista do not enter the product key. Let Vista go into trial mode and do all your application testing and hardware testing first. Once you have it stable and working perfectly then you can enter the key that way you only use one activation on your licence.