August 18, 2008 at 23:0264-bit Media Center: If You Want It So ...
A media center is a symbiosis of a computer, a multimedia entertainment center and smart home management solutions.
Over the past few years, I have been asking myself, why the hell did I need to install 64-bit whist then? Before that, however, I had a 64-bit XP, so at first the transition turned out to be pretty smooth. The problems began when I connected a TV to my computer to make it a full-fledged home media center with remote control and other goodies.
But first things first.
Under XPx64, I had an ATI Radeon video card with all the amenities like duplicating overlay video on the whole screen of a second monitor (TV), hot keys and, of course, a first-class video picture. One problem: the small cooler on it gave in very poorly to noise reduction, and with the transition to Vista I wanted to try “a little n-vision”. For this decision of mine, I later also scolded myself repeatedly: everyone remembers what happened to the GeForce drivers under Vista immediately after its release.
Yes, the new video card with a massive heatsink (I turned the passive cooling back into an active quiet 120mm cooler) made the computer completely “silent”. But to output to TV via S-Video (the most important thing that I needed then) she refused at first. Only after a couple of driver versions did the working TV-Out option appear in the control panel. Only the problems didn’t end there, now it was necessary to configure the switching of the active monitor between the LCD monik itself and the TV: I don’t like working at a computer with an extended desktop for 2 monitors. Then the cursor, then the window will take away over the edge of the screen. Every time I turn on the TV to find the winamp that has flown away at it? I will not torment the reader with a description of the long enumeration of various video pribluds (most of which, at that time, in general did not work in Vista):UltraMon . Everything turned out to be simple with him: two “display profiles” are created (in my case, LCD and TV, respectively) and are switched by double-clicking on the icon. Voila, a working computer turns into a set-top box with just one click!
Of course, in addition to profiling, UltraMon also has a whole bunch of various functions, but their description is already beyond the scope of this article.
Here I made a rather unpopular, but forced decision: I used the standard shell of the media center in Vista x64 Ultimate. Someone, of course, would prefer MediapPortal and others like him, but with my video card (again this video card!) For some reason, only the native shell was able to set the normal display mode with an overscan. I tried almost everything, but, unfortunately, either the specific implementation of TV-Out, or the individual properties of my config ...
One way or another, the whists had to get along with the media center, and for this I had to finish it in some places, namely:
Things were n’t limited to 32-bit Vista Codec Package or kLite , to view DivX and XVid in the media center shell, you need to install VistaCodecs x64Components or a similar version of kLite.
Previously, to watch DVD-videos from a folder on a computer, it was tedious to finish the system in the registry. Now, the TweakMC and MCE_Customizer_for_Vista utilities have appeared for this. In fact, they only need one thing: activate the “DVD-catalog” option in the registry, so any one will do. The only difference is that the first does not require installation.
Yes, you heard right, you can’t watch a DVD-video in the Vista Media Center from the folder, only in the special section “DVD-catalog”. No wonder they said “WOW is now” ...
For reference, an exhaustive list of shortcuts of the media center shell can be found here: http://www.byremote.com.au/Hip/mce_remote_faq.htm#MCE%20keyboard%20shortcuts
This list helped me a lot to set up remote control, but more on that in the next section.
And for dessert:
And finally, what is this media center without a remote control? Remote definitely needed. The question of choice, of course, is, but not so acute: each option has its pros and cons. The remote control, for example, which comes with the top Beholder tuner, allows you to turn on the computer without any ACPI. I chose a native remote control from Microsoft, which, unfortunately, can’t turn on the computer (or couldn’t I make friends with my Asus P5B-E motherboard?) However, this remote control has one special tasty thing that sets it apart from others. These are two whole transceivers, about which later.
First, we need to make friends with our remote control OS and teach him all the necessary commands. In my case, of course, it worked like that, but to control the only one shell from the remote control is somehow not in the Habra style. So you need to reconfigure.
There are many programs for configuring the remote control in Windows. The most popular are WinLirc, Girder, Interception and HIP. These programs are very good, but they have one thing in common: in 64 bits (at least at the time of my testing) they refused to work. The software that is being developed as part of the same MediaPortal project - IR Server saved the father of Russian democracy. With her, unfortunately, without finishing the registry, it also could not do, but it is all clear and intelligibly described in the instructions, I do not consider this a disadvantage of the program. After editing the registry, the OS stops responding to the console at all, and we remain face to face with the IR Server program.
In the spirit of the traditional open source, this program is not a program at all, but a conglomerate of, in fact, the server and individual utilities for setting up and bonus features. Everything here is more than transparent: “Input Service Configuration” for choosing a remote control, “Keyboard Input Relay” for supporting events from a normal keyboard, and most importantly: “Translator”. It is the “Translator” that hangs with the green tray icon and provides a front-end for programming any button on the remote control and keyboard.
The most delicious program, of course, lies in the sections "Macros" and "IR-Blast". The latter turns the computer into a programmable learning control panel. If desired, you can control from your computer all the household electronics in the room, even the lighting, if it is controlled by IR. In macros, respectively, you can use the IR transmitters of the remote control from MS to the fullest, not to mention Keystroke'ah and other launches of any programs with any parameters.
After all the shamanism, for example, when I boot up the computer, the receiver automatically turns on and the desired A / V input is selected, and when I turn off, accordingly, the sound is de-energized. When GreenButton is pressed, shaped miracles generally occur: the monitor turns off, the TV turns on, the media center shell starts (and the folder with torrents immediately opens in it), the sound in the columns is added. And all this, I repeat, by pressing a single button. By pressing “GreenButton” again, the TV turns off, the subwoofer is muted, and the computer turns back into a working machine.
That, in fact, is all that I had to tell about the media centers, successful video viewing for you!
PS: PPNH, obviously :)
Over the past few years, I have been asking myself, why the hell did I need to install 64-bit whist then? Before that, however, I had a 64-bit XP, so at first the transition turned out to be pretty smooth. The problems began when I connected a TV to my computer to make it a full-fledged home media center with remote control and other goodies.
But first things first.
Video Card for Media Center - UltraMon Saves Us
Under XPx64, I had an ATI Radeon video card with all the amenities like duplicating overlay video on the whole screen of a second monitor (TV), hot keys and, of course, a first-class video picture. One problem: the small cooler on it gave in very poorly to noise reduction, and with the transition to Vista I wanted to try “a little n-vision”. For this decision of mine, I later also scolded myself repeatedly: everyone remembers what happened to the GeForce drivers under Vista immediately after its release.
Yes, the new video card with a massive heatsink (I turned the passive cooling back into an active quiet 120mm cooler) made the computer completely “silent”. But to output to TV via S-Video (the most important thing that I needed then) she refused at first. Only after a couple of driver versions did the working TV-Out option appear in the control panel. Only the problems didn’t end there, now it was necessary to configure the switching of the active monitor between the LCD monik itself and the TV: I don’t like working at a computer with an extended desktop for 2 monitors. Then the cursor, then the window will take away over the edge of the screen. Every time I turn on the TV to find the winamp that has flown away at it? I will not torment the reader with a description of the long enumeration of various video pribluds (most of which, at that time, in general did not work in Vista):UltraMon . Everything turned out to be simple with him: two “display profiles” are created (in my case, LCD and TV, respectively) and are switched by double-clicking on the icon. Voila, a working computer turns into a set-top box with just one click!
Of course, in addition to profiling, UltraMon also has a whole bunch of various functions, but their description is already beyond the scope of this article.
Media Center Shell
Here I made a rather unpopular, but forced decision: I used the standard shell of the media center in Vista x64 Ultimate. Someone, of course, would prefer MediapPortal and others like him, but with my video card (again this video card!) For some reason, only the native shell was able to set the normal display mode with an overscan. I tried almost everything, but, unfortunately, either the specific implementation of TV-Out, or the individual properties of my config ...
One way or another, the whists had to get along with the media center, and for this I had to finish it in some places, namely:
CODECS
Things were n’t limited to 32-bit Vista Codec Package or kLite , to view DivX and XVid in the media center shell, you need to install VistaCodecs x64Components or a similar version of kLite.
SETTINGS
Previously, to watch DVD-videos from a folder on a computer, it was tedious to finish the system in the registry. Now, the TweakMC and MCE_Customizer_for_Vista utilities have appeared for this. In fact, they only need one thing: activate the “DVD-catalog” option in the registry, so any one will do. The only difference is that the first does not require installation.
Yes, you heard right, you can’t watch a DVD-video in the Vista Media Center from the folder, only in the special section “DVD-catalog”. No wonder they said “WOW is now” ...
For reference, an exhaustive list of shortcuts of the media center shell can be found here: http://www.byremote.com.au/Hip/mce_remote_faq.htm#MCE%20keyboard%20shortcuts
This list helped me a lot to set up remote control, but more on that in the next section.
And for dessert:
One-touch media center management
And finally, what is this media center without a remote control? Remote definitely needed. The question of choice, of course, is, but not so acute: each option has its pros and cons. The remote control, for example, which comes with the top Beholder tuner, allows you to turn on the computer without any ACPI. I chose a native remote control from Microsoft, which, unfortunately, can’t turn on the computer (or couldn’t I make friends with my Asus P5B-E motherboard?) However, this remote control has one special tasty thing that sets it apart from others. These are two whole transceivers, about which later.
First, we need to make friends with our remote control OS and teach him all the necessary commands. In my case, of course, it worked like that, but to control the only one shell from the remote control is somehow not in the Habra style. So you need to reconfigure.
There are many programs for configuring the remote control in Windows. The most popular are WinLirc, Girder, Interception and HIP. These programs are very good, but they have one thing in common: in 64 bits (at least at the time of my testing) they refused to work. The software that is being developed as part of the same MediaPortal project - IR Server saved the father of Russian democracy. With her, unfortunately, without finishing the registry, it also could not do, but it is all clear and intelligibly described in the instructions, I do not consider this a disadvantage of the program. After editing the registry, the OS stops responding to the console at all, and we remain face to face with the IR Server program.
In the spirit of the traditional open source, this program is not a program at all, but a conglomerate of, in fact, the server and individual utilities for setting up and bonus features. Everything here is more than transparent: “Input Service Configuration” for choosing a remote control, “Keyboard Input Relay” for supporting events from a normal keyboard, and most importantly: “Translator”. It is the “Translator” that hangs with the green tray icon and provides a front-end for programming any button on the remote control and keyboard.
The most delicious program, of course, lies in the sections "Macros" and "IR-Blast". The latter turns the computer into a programmable learning control panel. If desired, you can control from your computer all the household electronics in the room, even the lighting, if it is controlled by IR. In macros, respectively, you can use the IR transmitters of the remote control from MS to the fullest, not to mention Keystroke'ah and other launches of any programs with any parameters.
After all the shamanism, for example, when I boot up the computer, the receiver automatically turns on and the desired A / V input is selected, and when I turn off, accordingly, the sound is de-energized. When GreenButton is pressed, shaped miracles generally occur: the monitor turns off, the TV turns on, the media center shell starts (and the folder with torrents immediately opens in it), the sound in the columns is added. And all this, I repeat, by pressing a single button. By pressing “GreenButton” again, the TV turns off, the subwoofer is muted, and the computer turns back into a working machine.
That, in fact, is all that I had to tell about the media centers, successful video viewing for you!
PS: PPNH, obviously :)