Recorded TV on WHS

richard · **13th April 2007, 01:43 AM**

Playing Pre-Recorded TV from WHS or Recording Live TV to WHS .

Works for Vista , MCE 2005 and Xbox360.

If you do not need to record live TV to the WHS, and just need it to store the recorded TV files and play from WHS, you can miss out "Recording Live TV to WHS" but you will still need the Batch file on the WHS.

All Recorded TV stored on the WHS will show in "Recorded TV" on Vista or MCE 2005 and in "Recorded TV" in MCE UI on the Xbox360

On the WHS you need to enable media sharing on the Music, Photos and Videos shares. You can do that by clicking on the Gear icon in the top right of the WHS Console, then click on the Shared Folders.

Then setup a Guest Account with no password, this will be so you can see the recorded TV from WHS on your Xbox360 in Media Center UI under "Recorded TV" .

From WHS console add a share folder call "Recorded TV" to WHS default shared folders.

Settings for Windows Home Server
1 In Run, type "gpedit.msc", then click OK .
Then go to Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options
Find the entry "Network access: Let Everyone permissions also apply to anonymous users", double click and set to "Enabled"
2 Click Start, Run, and type "regedit", and click OK.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\lanmanserver\parameters
Double click the NullSessionShares key, and add the value "Recorded TV" at the end of the existing entries, then click OK.
3 Reboot WHS.
Log on back on to WHS right click the shared "Recorded TV" folder then go to Properties Click on the Share and Security tab then Permissions add "Anonymous Logon" click "Full Control" box then click on OK.
4 Log off DO NOT REBOOT WHS the Share Permissions and Security Permissions will be removed if you reboot, there is a batch file to fix the problem see below ).

Settings for MCE 2005 or Vista .
On Vista or MCE 2005 Run, "regedit".
1 Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording
Double click the "WatchedFolders" key
Add the UNC path of WHS shared folder. \\Server\Recorded TV
2 Reboot the MCE 2005 or if you have Vista reboot that.

Recording Live TV to WHS
For Vista or MCE 2005
1 If you need to record live TV to WHS here is the setting go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording
Double click the "RecordPath" key
then add \\Server\Recorded TV
2 Reboot the MCE 2005 or if you have Vista reboot that.

Batch file Fix for Anonymous Logon after WHS Reboots.
These settings where needed because if WHS reboots, the Share Permissions and Security Permissions will be removed.
Copy and Paste the batch file into notepad and save it as "whs.bat" DO NOT save it as a text file, add the the batch file to WHS startup menu.
Now if WHS reboots the batch well reset all the Share Permissions and Security Permissions for recorded TV folder.
Here is the Batch file I made below (Copy and Paste it).
--------------------------------------------------
@ECHO OFF
net share "Recorded TV" /Delete
net share "Recorded TV"="D:\Shares\Recorded TV" /GRANT:Everyone,FULL
ECHO Y| cacls "D:\shares\Recorded TV" /G "Anonymous logon":F "Everyone":F "Administrators":F "CREATOR OWNER":F
end
----------------------------------------------------
A big thanks to Ian Dixon for all his help.
http://thedigitallifestyle.com/cs/
Richard Miller mce mvp.

Mike · **13th April 2007, 08:56 AM**

Great post Richard!

Many thanks.

Mike

richard · **13th April 2007, 09:34 AM**

Thanks Mike
Not sure how recording over a network will hold up 24/7, but I did two 1 hour HDTV recordings of "House and "24" to the WHS and it worked with no problems.

mavs · **15th April 2007, 10:37 PM**

Thanks for the tip richard. Everything worked ok but with Vista MCE I had to add the NETWORK SERVICE account to the permissions as per the note here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archi...04/617449.aspx

Cheers

richard · **18th April 2007, 06:19 AM**

Thanks mavs.
Ian Dixon is testing NETWORK SERVICE permissions on Vista in the UK, if it does need it I will need to add NETWORK SERVICE permissions to the Batch file for the Vista users(MCE 2005 users are ok).

richard · **18th April 2007, 07:27 AM**

Ian Dixon just tested it without NETWORK SERVICE and it works on Vista, so there is on need to add NETWORK SERVICE to the batch file.
The batch file is good works for Vista and MCE 2005

richard · **27th April 2007, 06:56 AM**

If there is DRM on the recorded TV, the MCE PC that recorded the TV show sould be able to play that recorded TV show, even if the recorded TV is stored on the Windows Home Server,. now other MCE PC on the same network may have a problem (Xbox360 sould be OK) playing the recording from WHS.

If I only had or have protected content(DRM) on any of my recorded TV, I could test it to see if DRM recorded TV plays from WHS, but I do not and I record from HBO and Showtime all the time.

Just got word that DRM recorded TV will play back from WHS to the main MCE PC started the recording.
link http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/183881.aspx

AshW · **13th May 2007, 02:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by richard

Ian Dixon just tested it without NETWORK SERVICE and it works on Vista, so there is on need to add NETWORK SERVICE to the batch file.
The batch file is good works for Vista and MCE 2005

Hi Richard,

What if I'm not using WHS? I have set this up to point at a NAS and everything seems OK except the recorded TV menu in Media Center only refreshes after the Media Center box is rebooted (I'm using Vista).

Eg. I'm moving the recorded TV to the NAS every night via a scheduled batch file. Next morning everything has been moved but is not displayed in 'Recorded TV'. Reboot and it all appears. I suspect it may have something to do with the Network Service Permission but am not sure what I need to do.

Many Thanks.

coma · **13th May 2007, 09:36 PM**

Richard

Just cant seem to get this to work

1. Do you also need to update settings in VMC to point at WHS - if so i dont get any option for the whs drive only local c and d drives.
2. In registry settings the 'lastrecordpathset' still points at the local drive - does this need to be changed?

When I record it saves to local c:\users\...\recorded tv - not the whs. Then appears to reset values in registry for recordpath and watchfolders to c: drive

Any ideas?

Coma.

AshW · **13th May 2007, 10:31 PM**

did you do this bit?:

Recording Live TV to WHS
For Vista or MCE 2005
1 If you need to record live TV to WHS here is the setting go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording
Double click the "RecordPath" key
then add \\Server\Recorded TV
2 Reboot the MCE 2005 or if you have Vista reboot that.

coma · **14th May 2007, 10:14 PM**

Yeah I did that bit - although I did both changes to the registry at the same time - hopefully that wont make a difference.
I was just wondering whether you needed to point to whs using the option for recorded Tv in the VMC interface?
When I try to record it always says not enough space (over 500gb free on whs)
Coma.

Lester_Burnham · **15th May 2007, 11:42 PM**

Maybe it's permissions and it can't write to it. Might be read only.

Lester

coma · **16th May 2007, 07:30 PM**

Re permissions - I have granted 'everyone' and 'anonymous user' full control and enabled full control for the guest account.

I have reset back to local c: drive so that scheduled recordings work until I have something else to try.

Could someone just confirm whether or not you have to point tv recordings at whs using the vmce interface?

Coma.

Lester_Burnham · **16th May 2007, 10:51 PM**

Hi coma,

I can't really tell you myself. Last time I tried recording to it (after the reg settings) it popped up with no tuners available, which I'd say was a by product of no recording path available.

I did see that some one here had to allow network permissions of some sort.

Lester

EDIT: DOH...it's in the same thread