Vista hangs (reboot loop) installing update 3 of 3

I had this happen recently (10/20/09). I could not tell what the problem was, nor could I tell what update was failing. I tried safemode boot, last known good config, and repair, none worked.

To resolve this I booted off the Vista installation media, and selected repair. It tried to automatically repair startup configuration, and then came back saying it could not. One of the options was to go into advanced repair options. Chose that. Then chose command prompt. At command prompt:
>cd c:
>cd windows
>cd winsxs
>del pending.xml

Once the file was deleted, rebooted system. System went back to installing update 3 of 3 but this time it worked.

Clicking Citrix link bring up open or save dialog

With the user logged open a command prompt and change directory to C:\program files\Citrix\ICA Client

Run this command from that directory: wfica32 /setup

Momentarily after running the command there should be a citrix setup completed message.

When clicking to launch citrix apps it should now work.

Cannot play my DVR-MS movies on Zune HD

It's confusing that microsoft does not support their own proprietary file type on the Zune HD. I know you can play some dvr-ms files, like SD tv shows recorded on Media Center, but not movies that have been coverted to dvr-ms. I converted my whole collection to dvr-ms to get away from transcoding, to have better support on the extenders. It would have been nice for these movies to work on the Zune HD.

From reading it seems like the Cucusoft product is good for converting dvr-ms for Zune. Anybody else got any recommendations? I did do one by using VideoRedo to convert it from dvr-ms to mpg using QSF (so only took a couple of minutes) then I converted it to wmv using Windows Media Encoder. It took a long time and came out looking crappy.

Preparing your movies with VideoRedo TVSuite

As you may have noticed in my other post, I've pretty much had it with Transcode 360. The last straw for me was its tendency to end a movie we were watching before the movie is over. It usually seemed to happen about 20-30 minutes from the end. Have that happen a few times and your are ready to through a brick through the tv.

Another point of interest is the new My Movies will no longer support Transcode 360. According to Binnerup, he does not want to include support because of the large number of problems people have related to it. So there's another sign to abandon this.

For a while there is was sorta nice but I've personally had it. I'm tired of supporting it. I'm tired of it flaking out on me. I'm going to leave all my blog stuff up for those of you who want to venture down that path but my new solution is just converting my movies, and with VideoRedo, the conversion process is very quick and very easy.

I've been asked to describe how to do it. I will present to methods.

A) The Batch Method
This is how I've been doing it lately. Since I have about 300 movies to convert I don't want to sit there and do them one by one. So I have been setting up batches of about 10 or 20 to do. Here's how to do it.
1) Open VideoRedo
2) Go to File>Open Title from a DVD
3) Browse to the folder containg you movie. You don't have to go all the way to the Video_TS folder, the parent folder is fine. So say, go to C:\Movies\Happy Gilmore. Highlight the folder and click OK.
4) The next screen will show you the various titles on the DVD. You want to pick the big one, the one that is the actual movie. So highlight it. At the bottom you will see 'audio stream'. Pick the audio stream you want. Click Ok.
5)VideoRedo will now open a window with a timeline. That is fine. You don't need to do anything with that. Just go to File>Save Project As>pick a place you will remember and save the project.

Ok, you now have one movie ready to go. Repeat the process until you get a number of projects. I usually do 10 or 20.

Now that I've got some projects setup I'm ready to do the conversion.

With VideoRedo up, go to Tools>Start Batch Manager
In the first box "Source Project/File: click the elipses (...) and browse to where you saved all your projects. Select all the project files and click Open.

Next is the destination folder, this is where it will place all of your converted movies. Just pick a folder you will remember.

Leave destination modifier blank. Destination type: set this to what you want. I like dvr-ms because it has nice FF and RW features but if you prefer MPG select that.

Everything else you can leave the same.

Now click the Add Entry button at the bottom. All over you movies should show up in the big box. You will see the converted names, and the new extensions.

Click Save and Execute. It will ask you to save a batch file. Just say yes.

The conversion process will start.

If it has any trouble with any of the movies it should tell you. Mark them done and you can come back to the later.

B) Non-Batch Method
Say you just want to do one movie. Open VideoRedo. Go to Tools>Quick Stream Fix. In the first box browse to the folder containing the .vob files for your move. Select all of the vob files can click open. Notice the select stream button. If you have a movie with multiple languague track, you can click that button and chooose the language track you want.

Now for the Output stream. Again, click the elipsis and choose a location to store the resultant converted file. Give the file a name, and do the pulldown and choose the file type you want (ie: dvr-ms, mpg). Click Save.

Now just click Start Quick Fix. Once it is done test out your new movie.

VideoRedo is awesome because it does not re-encode the movies. Therefore, you can accomplish these conversions in a matter of minutes. I have done a couple hundred movies so far and had fantastic results with very little problems.

The VideoRedo folks did caution me on movies that use 3:2 pulldown. They will not turn our right. So if you do a movie that uses 3:2 pulldown your resultant movies will probably have a flicker to it.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions let me know. Also, feel free to have a look at the VideoRedo forums. Good questions and answers on there. And, I've written their support with questions and they have responded quickly with helpful information. Good to see a product that does more than just take your money. These folks really want to listen to the community and make things better. Also, I don't remember if I mentioned this above but they also have a set of COM interfaces so if you are into scripting or programming, you can take advantage of the COM objects they have made available.

There are some scripts over at the MyMovies forum you can get and set them loose on your entire movie collection. I was not real pleased with how they were handling issues so I chose the batch method. Yeah it takes a bit longer, but I get to see what movies have issues, and I can usually fix them but skipping them with the batch method and using the quick stream fix method.

Why I like DVR-MS. When you are watching on the extender you can fast forward and rewind. On the xbox controller the right bumper starts fast forward. There are four speeds. Same goes for rewinding with the left bumper. And the the triggers still do the short jumps.
By the way, VideoRedo does a free trial of their product.

Transcode 360 - I will sorta miss you

I've had it with Transcode 360. 50% of the time when watching a transcoded movie it just ends about 20 minutes before the actual ending of the movie. This is very frustrating. I've been dealing with this app a long time now, trying to make it work for myself, and others. I've had it though. I'm tired of all the problems, I'm tried of movies stopping pre-maturely.

My new approach is to use VideoRedo TV-Suite.
http://www.videoredo.com/en/index.htm
With this application I can convert my ripped DVDs to dvr-ms format in about 7 minutes. The movie is NOT re-encoded. No quality is lost in the process. The .vobs are joined. The timestamps are fixed. The movies work beautifully on our extenders.

Other bonuses to going with dvr-ms format is you can actually fastforward and rewind! Using the bumpers on the xbox 360 remotes allows for up to 4 speeds for FF and RW. The triggers allow for 30 seconds jumps. Movies can be paused and resumed. The only thing missing are subtitles.

If people are interested I can write a guide for batch conversion of movies using VideoRedo. If you want to check out VideoRedo, there is a free demo available. VideoRedo supports more than what I am using it for. Movies can be converted to different formats, TV shows can have the commercials removed, and there is a COM interface for those of you who would like to program or script your VideoRedo tasks.

I'm going to leave up all of my Transcode 360 blog stuff, but I just wanted to let you know I've had it with t360 and I am giving up on it. The new MyMovies 3 won't even support t360. t360 has not been actively developed for years. The problems and issues are getting old and tiresome.

Some stuff to check out

1) Open Media Library - Another movie interface for Media Center that supports transcoding to extenders. It's free and under development. It appears to use a different transcoder than transcode 360 so those of you with transcoding issues might want to check it out.

2) PlayOn - PlayOn lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, CBS, YouTube, CNN, ESPN and more on your TV (using extenders). PlayOn supports Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and I assume other extenders like Linksys. PlayOn has a 14-day free trial. The product costs 39.99.

3) vmcPlayIt - Let's you use PlayOn on your Media Center. I was looking for something like this so I could watch Hulu and such without having to use the extender. The developer takes donations.

4) Super - a GUI for mencoder and ffmpeg that is very tweakable and has preset profiles too. Free, but donations are accepted.

5) VideoRedo - Want to quickly turn your ripped .vob files into an .mpg or .dvrms file (other filetypes are spported too). This tool will merge the .vobs and fix the time indexing and finish a movie in about 5 minutes. It does not re-encode. I'm not really doing the product justice in my description. For example, you can use it to remove commericals from a recording. Free trial is available.

Want to use the Super encoder tool but cannot find the download link?

The download link is here:
http://www.erightsoft.biz/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe

On this page:
http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html
down near the bottom.

I don't know why...that website is difficult to navigate and the actual download seems to be obscured.

Good instructions for encoding a movie for the zune

Good instructions here and they don't tell you to buy something, instead it has you using Windows Media Encoder:
http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/625/convert-your-videos-for-the-zune-with-windows-media-encoder.html

Extender Account Login Script Tool Results screenshot on Windows 7 RTM

If the UAC is on, remember to always run this tool by right clicking it and choosing 'run as administrator' or else it will not work right.

Click the image to see it larger.

Proposal for a new tool, requesting your input

I've been using transcode 360 to stream movies to my extenders for a while now. For the most part it works pretty good. But here lately my girlfriend says the last 4 movies she watched on the extender just stopped around 20 minutes before the movie was over.

So I've been considering eliminating t360 and converting my movies to an extender supported format, like .mpg or .dvrms. I've been looking at ways to do this. I've also been contemplating the best way to do this.

The first thing I did was make a VB application where you pointed it to your movies root folder. It then looked through all the subfolders and built a list of all your movies. It only looks at VTS_01_01.vob and higher. VTS_01_00.vob is ignored (that's the menu). Also, when I rip I only take the movie, none of the other stuff is included. I also only take one audio track. So once the app built a list of your movies, you then selected a movie to process and first it ran copy /b on the .vob files in order to concatenate the files into one file. Next, I used mencoder to re-index the movies and output a single .mpg file. It worked ok, but it was way too time consuming. The concatenation takes a good while, and then the indexing takes a long time.

Next I started looking at just encoding them. I looked at Windows Media Encoder, Expression Encoder, mencoder, and ffmpeg. All take a long time.

My goal was to use software that is free. But, a blog reader pointed me to Videoredo. Videoredo does a great job with this, and it is impressively fast.

I've talked with Videoredo about licensing and they have no problem with me making a Media Center tool, or something else that utilizes their program as long as the person owns the program.

Now I am trying to figure out how to do this. Should I try to make is something you do throug Media Center? Like go through and pick and movie and have it joined and output as say a dvrms file? Or how about a program you can point to your movies folder, and it just runs through them movie after movie and converts them? What about the original files? Delete the .vobs or keep them? Or keep them for a while, and then have them deleted? It would really suck if you ran this tool and went to watch a movie only to find out it didn't work, or didn't work right, and your source files were gone. On the other hand, do this to a bunch of movies and your disk space will be wasted if we don't get rid of the original files.

I really don't know what would be the best way to make a tool like this. I could make something that I would want to use, but if I am going to spend the time doing this, I might as well make something that others could use too. And therefore, I'd like to hear what you think. Or, maybe I am reinventing the wheel and you can just point me to something that already does this.

I'm hoping that by doing this, we can watch movies on the extender and not have issues like the movie stopping before it is over. It would also be nice to be able to fast forward and rewind.

Want to test your bandwidth for free?

Here's a great site for bandwidth testing:
http://www.speedtest.net/

It's slick, it lets you choose a node (you can test someplace close, or far), it gives your latency, up, and down bandwidth.

Netflix on Windows 7 Media Center

With Windows 7 you can still access your Netflix instant queue and watch movies and shows. The two applications I have tested on Windows 7 are MyNetflix and vmcNetFlix (the download link is towards the bottom, right above the release notes for vmcNetFlix). Both worked. With MyNetflix I never figured out how to make the playback go fullscreen without using a mouse. I don't like to have to use a mouse (I don't even have one connected). With vmcNetFlix you can make it go fullscreen once it starts playing by hitting the Play button on your remote. There may be a way to make it go fullscreen without a mouse when using MyNetflix but I have not found it.

Once you install the app you will find it in the Extras section on your Media Center.

You'll have to switch to the SilverLight player to watch Netflix content on your Win7 Media Center computer. To do this perform the opt-in at the Netflix site:
http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin

You can read about it here:
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/10/opt-in-for-new-netflix-movie-player.html

How certain characters in your movie path will cause transcode 360 to fail

Often it seems when people use MyMovies to rip a new movie, MM will put () characters in the path. For Example: \\MC-Machine/Movies/IronMan (Widescreen Edition)
might be the path MM creates for your movie. Transcode 360 seems to have issues with the () characters. There may be other characters to watch out for. The () is what I hear about most often. If you get an error like what is posted below (from the log file) try changing the path to eliminate the non-alpha characters. In this case change IronMan (Widescreen Edition) to just IronMan.

Example:
When you go to play it you get an error and see something like this in the T360 log file:

7/26/2009 4:21:42 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)7/26/2009 4:21:42 PM Loaded configuration settings7/26/2009 4:21:42 PM Service is ready to accept requests7/26/2009 4:25:07 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created7/26/2009 4:25:07 PM Transcoding from beginning7/26/2009 4:25:07 PM Starting transcoding process7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats: -v -oac copy -ovc copy -o "" dvd://1 -dvd-device "\\MC-Machine\Movies\IronMan ‑ (Widescreen Collection)\VIDEO_TS"7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM *VRB* Output: 'MEncoder Sherpya-SVN-r29355-4.5.0 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team113 audio & 234 video codecsConfiguration: --extra-cflags=-I/c/Work/mplayer/live --prefix=/usr --enable-static --enable-md5sum --enable-menu --disable-vdpau --disable-vidix --disable-sdl --enable-caca --enable-gl --enable-matrixview --enable-freetype --enable-png --enable-mng --enable-jpeg --enable-gif --enable-tga --enable-mad --enable-tv --enable-theora --disable-dvb --disable-dvbhead --enable-libamr_nb --enable-libamr_wb --enable-runtime-cpudetectioninit_freetypeget_path('font/font.desc') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc'Bitmap font C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplayget_path('fonts') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/fonts'WINSOCK2 init: 0URL: dvd://1
Exiting...'7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions7/26/2009 4:25:08 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ‑ (Widescreen Collection).360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "\\MC-Machine\Movies\IronMan ‑ (Widescreen Collection)\VIDEO_TS"7/26/2009 4:25:23 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:7/26/2009 4:25:23 PM *ERR* Cannot get Console handle of stdout
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.No such file or directorylibdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD accesslibdvdread: Can't stat \\MC-Machine\Movies\IronMan - (Widescreen Collection)\VIDEO_TSlibdvdread: Could not open \\MC-Machine\Movies\IronMan - (Widescreen Collection)\VIDEO_TSCouldn't open DVD device: \\MC-Machine\Movies\IronMan - (Widescreen Collection)\VIDEO_TS (Bad file descriptor)No stream found to handle url dvd://1Cannot open file/device.

Using Transcode 360 with a 64-bit Media Center

Here's a post with instructions on making it work with x64 Operating Systems. The solution is better than mine because it will work with My Movies and Media Browser.
http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/05/transcoding-in-windows-seven-x64-with-media-browser-and-transcode-360.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guide is assuming you've already properly setup Transcode 360 1.6.3 on your 64-bit Media Center system. If you need help with that please see this posts:
Using Transcode 360 with My Movies and Media Extenders like Xbox or Linksys
or
Transcode 360 Installer Tool

If you are using a 64 bit operating system, with something like MyMovies, and you choose to Watch Stream, you will most likely get an error. There is a way to transcode movies with a 64 bit operating system.

Put the movies your Videos folder on the Media Center. It needs to be a videos folder your Media Center Library is set to monitor. On your Extender, bring up the Media Center. Browse to the Video Library on the Pictures + Videos section . Choose a movie. Right click the movie (depending on your extender and controller, you'll have to determine what button does this - for example, with an xbox 360 extender you hit the X button) to bring up the More... menu. Choose More... Choose the Transcode option. After you click to transcode, it may seem like nothing is happening. There is a delay. Eventually you should see the blue spinning ring. After another waiting period (while it builds the buffer) the movie should start playing.

I hope this helps some of you with 64-bit Media Centers. You can always use MyMovies or Media Browser to figure out what you want to watch, and then use the method described above to start the playback.

Linksys extender stops playback prematurely on transcoded movies

I hear about this problem a lot. I've done some extensive troubleshooting and I have never found the solution. I am wondering if anyone knows how to prevent this issue? If you do please email me at aamjohns@yahoo.com so I can put it up on the blog. Thanks.

Transcode 360 unable to transcode certain files

I am often asked why certain movies will not work with Transcode 360. These are usually wrapper filetypes like .mkv and .avi. I suspect the issue is with the format (compression used) of the movie in the container.

I know if you use the version of mencoder that comes with Transcode 360, many movies will not work. That's why one of the steps in my setup guide is to update the version of mencoder. Without it, transcoding does not work well at all.

The version of mencoder I posted is not nearly as current as it could be. I did some research and found a build of mencoder that should have much better support for different codecs, including h264.

If you have experienced issues with some movies working, and other's not (but they will work if you play them in Media Center), try updating these two files below.

If you want a tool to do this for you download my installer tool. Install the tool, and then run it. Don't worry about the other buttons, just click the Update button in the Mencoder and ffmpeg section.



Or to do this manually...

1) Mencoder.exe - Replace the mencoder.exe with the one in this zip. The default location for the mencoder.exe is C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder C:\Program Files\Transcode360

2) ffmpeg.exe - Replace the ffmpeg.exe with the one in this zip. The default location for ffmpeg.exe is

Now test one of the movies. Make sure the movie will play in Media Center. It is not really a valid test if Media Center itself will not play the movie (maybe it is a bad file?). But, if Media Center will play it, but not the extender, try it now and see if it works. If this works for you I'd like to hear back.

Older version of Transcode 360 download

This is an older version of transcode 360. Even though it is called 4.6, it is an earlier version than 1.6.3. You should be using 1.6.3. I'm only putting this file up for people that may want it for some reason.

This is the first .Net 2 port by James. I am making it available in case anyone needs it. This is version 4.6. This is an earlier version than 1.6.3.

Download

Script to change or remove genres in movie xml files

Download

Download Scripts

Version change 09/08/2009 - Now removes duplicate genres from an xml file. For example, if it has the genre 'comedy' three times, it will automatically remove the extra two 'comedy' genres.

Intro

There may be a better way to do this, but this is how I've been doing it and I wanted to make it available to others. If you are using Media Browser and go to sort by Genre, there may be genres you don't want. Or there may be genres that you want renamed. The scripts I am posting will allow you to do both, genre substitutions and genre removals from .xml files (ie: mymovies.xml).

I know it's not fun to read a ton of instructions so I will try to make this short, but I recommend you read this so you know how to use the scripts. If you have questions you can post in the comments or email me.

Overview of the scripts

Below is a list of the scripts and what they do. Before you run any of them, you need to edit the settings in the _Settings.txt file.

BuildGenreList.vbs script

I recommend you run this script first. It will look through all of the movie xml files and will build a list of each unique genre. You will use the results of the script (Genres.txt) to tell the next script what to do.

ChangeGenres.vbs script

This script takes your desired changes and implements them by modifying the xml files that need the specified changes.

RestoreFromBackup.vbs script

This script restores the original .xml files before changes were applied. MakeBackup must be =True in the settings file before running ChangeGenres.vbs if you want to make backup copies.

Using the scripts

Start off by extracting the .zip file into a folder. You want all the scripts and related text files to be in the same folder.

Open the _Settings.txt file. There are some instructions inside but basically here's what you will do.

1) Folders line. Here you set the folder or folders you want to run the scripts against. I have 3 folders that have movies, so for me this line reads Folders=E:\Movies,F:\Movies,G:\Movies. If you only have one movie folder (ex: C:\My Movies\Movies) then your's will read Folders=C:\My Movies\Movies. Separate more than one path with a comma (like my example above).

2) File line. This tells the script the name of the .xml file you want to process. For most people this will be mymovies.xml. So it would read File=mymovies.xml
If your setup uses a different .xml file just set it to be the name of your xml file. Ex: File=yourfile.xml

3) ShowCompletedBox line. If you want to know when the script is finished use ShowCompletedLine=True. If you are running the scripts as a schedule task and you don't want interaction, set it to False. If you have a lot of movies, the script will take a little bit. It's not too bad though. In testing it was about 3 minutes to process 100 movies.

4) MakeBackup line. If you want a backup copy of the .xml file before it gets changed, set this to True. Ex: MakeBackup=True. This will create a file called mymovies.xml.bak (or whatever your file is) and will be the .xml file before changes were made to it.

These settings are used by all scripts. So the first thing you want to do is open _Settings.txt file and edit the settings.

Building a list of genres

Now you can run the BuildGenreList.vbs script. While it is running (same goes for the other script) there will be a file in the folder called _StatusLog.txt. Open this file and you can see how far along the script is. While it is open you will not see the new data being written. After you close it you can re-open it and get refreshed progress. Running this script is optional. If you want to skip it, just create a text file called Genres and in it put the stuff you want changed. Something=Something Else to change, or Something=- to remove.

When it completes, and you will get an annoucement if you set ShowCompletedBox=True, you will have a Genres.txt file in the folder. Open it and you should see each genre in your collection.

Making Genre Changes

You will set how you want things changed using the Genres.txt file.

1) To substite a genre use this syntax: something=something else. So if I want Feel Good changed to Comedy I would find Feel Good in the text file and follow it with =Comedy. So, Feel Good=Comedy. That will change any genre called Feel Good to be Comedy.
Example: Suspense/Thriller=Thriller

2) To remove a genre, find it in the text file and follow it with =-. That's an equals sign and then a minus sign. This will completely remove the genre from the xml files.
Example: Monster Movies=-

Now run the ChangeGenres.vbs script. Again, you can check on it's progress by opening the _StatusLog.txt file. This will tell you what movies have been changed and any actions performed. If, in the _Settings.txt file you have MakeBackup=True, when this runs it will make a copy of the xml file before changes with a .bak extension. When the script finishes the _StatusLog.txt file will have a "Done" line

Doing a Restore

Provided you had MakeBackup=True set in the settings file before you ran the ChangedGenres.vbs script, you will have the ability to restore your original .xml files. The RestoreFromBackup.vbs script also uses the settings in the _Settings.txt file to know what directories to run against. You can also have it tell you when done. And, the progress, and changes, are recorded in the _StatusLog.txt file.

Use the scripts at your own risk. During my testing they are working as designed.

Troubleshooting

I have not tested this with Vista's UAC (User Account Control) enabled. If you have the UAC on then you may need to right click the script and choose 'Run as Administrator' before running them.

When you start the Genres.txt file is empty. You need to either run the BuildGenreList.vbs script, or manually edit the file to have your desired changes.

If you specified an invalid folder it will tell you in the _StatusLog.txt file. If you made a syntax error in the Genres.txt file either no changes will occur where the syntax error is, or you will get incorrect results. If something gets blundered, and you had MakeBackup=True, you can run the RestoreFromBackup.vbs script and it will restore you original .xml files.

I do not have On Error Resume Next enabled in the scripts. That way, if an error occurs the script will stop. If that happens, you can write down the error, or take a screenshot and send it to me.

Graphical User Interface (GUI) for Tyborg's StarkCovers program

Hold up! As of the StarkCovers 6.30.2009 release my gui is once again broke. I'm not doing this anymore. Sorry.

This tool should only be used with StarkCovers version 6.23.2009 or earlier.

Requirements:
1) StarkCovers by Tyborg
2) .Net Framework 2 installed
3) Download my StarkCoversGUI tool and extract it into the same folder as your StarkCovers.exe


Update:
If you already have my tool and you updated your version of starkcovers.exe, you will need to redownload my tool and replace the one you already have. Something was changed in the starkcovers 6.23.2009 version that broke my tool. I have fixed my tool in response to this change. Also, when you click preview you may see this:



Uncheck 'Always ask before opening this file' and click Run. This is part of the problem that occurred with the updated StarkCovers.exe. Windows see's the executable as a program 'from another computer' and does not trust it. This prompt is for you to give permission for starkcovers.exe to be run.

What's it for:
I've been using Media Browser on my new Windows 7 MCE machine. Media Browser is a free media aggregator plugin for Media Center. On the Media Browser forum I saw Tyborg's tutorial for StarkCovers in Media Browser. Tyborg's tool is very cool! After you download it, and extra the files, you run a batch file to modify your movie covers. Being new to all this, I didn't really know what the different options would look like (ex: clearcase, sidelogo, banner, etc). So I spent a good amount of time editing the command line, modifying a single movie cover, and then viewing it in Media Browser. I had to do this to see what I liked and how it looked in Media Browser.

I decided to make a GUI form for Tyborg's program. This GUI offers a couple of conveniences. You can select options, and then do a Preview to get an idea of what the cover will look like. Next, you can run it against a movie folder, or all your movies, by selecting the options, selecting the movie folder, and clicking run. This should be easier to deal with for people not familiar with command lines and such.

This is what the tool looks like:



Using:
After you have downloaded the GUI tool and put it in the same folder as your StarkCovers.exe, run the StarkCoversGUI.exe. This tool expects a "Sample" folder in the same directory it runs from. The first time you click Preview, if the Sample folder is not there, it will prompt you about it, and give you the option of automatically creating the folder.

Next, this tool expects there to be at least a folder.jpg file in the Sample folder. This is what the tool will use to generate previews. Copy the folder.jpg file from one of your movies and put it in the Sample folder, or, the tool will offer to download one into the folder for you (it's a 10,000 BC cover). Also, if you want to test with the mymovies.xml functionality, put one of the xml files in the Sample folder also, or, when you let it download the samples I posted, it will get a mymovies.xml for you.

Now the tool should be ready to go. Choose options and click Preview Cover button to get an idea of what the cover will look like. This just gives you an idea. The image has been shrunk and it may not look as good as it will in Media Browser. But, it give you an idea. Also, if you want to see a better image, click the Preview image and an unshrunk copy of the image will be shown.

If you want to use arguments I have not precreated checkboxes for, you can type them in the Arguements box. Both Preview and Run will use what is in the Arguments box.

If you want to change your sample cover, copy a new folder.jpg to the Sample folder. Whatever you want to use as your sample for previewing is obtained from the Sample folder.

When you are ready to apply the StarkCovers look to your movie covers, choose a Movie Folder. The path can be typed or browsed to using the Browse button. Choose the root folder of all your movies to have the StarkCovers look applied to all movies contained within. If you just want to modify one movie, choose its folder.

Once the options are selected, and the movie folder is selected, click the Run button and StarkCovers will run using the selected settings.

To undo, select the Revert back to folder.jpg options and run again.

To export settings to a .bat file, click the Make .BAT button.

Just a heads up, the conversion process can take a while. While it is running, the Run button will remain greyed out. When it is finished, you will see "Job complete" in the box at the bottom and the Run button will become available again.

Troubleshooting:
If you get the error "The application failed to Initialize properly (0xc0000135)" it means most likely you need to install .Net Framework 2 or update your .Net Framework 2 (service packs or updates).

File displayed in PictureBox control became locked

I came across this issue and found this MS KB document very helpful:

Image file is locked when you set the PictureBox Image property to a file (Article ID: 309482 )

I was displaying an image in a picturebox control and then I was trying to overwrite the file, and display a new image. I could not overwrite the file. I could not rename it or delete it either.

Using a Filestream instead of FromFile resolved the issue.

If you run into this problem check out the MS KB document linked above.

Tring out Media Browser on Windows 7

I just set it up. I brought up my extender and clicked Media Browser on the ribbon (or whatever it's called). I got this error: Access to the path C:/ProgramData/media browser/Styles_DoNotEdit.mcml is denied.

I figured the extender account probably need access to the directory. So on Windows 7 I right clicked Computer>Manage>Expanded Users and Groups, Clicked User, got the name of the extender account (the account with mcx in the name) and then went back to the C:/Programdata/media browser directory, right clicked, chose security, edit, clicked Add, and added the extender account. I gave it modify (I tried read and execute but that was not enough, it needs modify). If you add another extender to your Media Center, you need to repeat this process for the new MCX account on your Media Center.

Transcode 360 Installer Tool

New get you up and running quickly Transcode 360 installer tool download

New Version Available
There was an issue with the previous version. In the ServerAddress Reg Edit portion, it was filling in the box with IPv6 addresses in some cases. IPv6 addresses will produce an error like "A port was expected because of there is a colon present but the port could not be parsed". I wrote instructions below how to fix this, or you can uninstall the existing copy of the tool, download and install the new one, and just run the ServerAddress Reg Edit part again.

There was also an issue with one of the builds where it was not replacing the ffmpeg.exe properly. That has been fixed.

I also took out the .Net 1.1 checker and the files from the download. The tool is much smaller download now.

The latest build of the tool is 1.05

Introduction
There is more to getting Transcode 360 installed and working than just running that actual installer. This blog post outlines many of the steps required to get T360 up and running.

It's a bit tedious. Also, it's the number one reason people come to my blog - instructions on how to install T360.

I've made an installer tool that will take care of getting T360 setup for you. Basically, you should be able to run this tool and accomplish the same thing you would by reading the instructions and performing the different steps as you go.

You need .Net 2 Framework install to use this tool. If you don't have it you can get it here. I'm not sure, you may need to run Windows Update after the install and apply the .Net 2 service pack also.

The link to download the tool installer is at the top of this post.

When you open the tool, there is a link to instructions on the right. Have a look. The PDF version is much nicer on the eyes.

This tool is designed to get you up and running is you 1) are using Media Center 32-bit, 2) Have your movies stored on your Media Center. If you are using 64-bit, Transcode 360 probably will not work. If you are storing your movies on a NAS or another computer, you can still use this tool to get things setup, but you will need to go back and make some more adjustments for your enviroment. I have blog posts with instructions (and another tool).

Troubleshooting

When you try to watch a movie from your extender, and you get the error:
"A port was expected because of there is a colon present but the port could not be parsed."
It is probably that on the ServerAddress part, it used your systems IPv6 address, rather than the required IPv4 address. IPv6 addresses look like this xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx. To fix this you need to run the tool again, but only the ServerAddress Reg Edit part. In the box put your Media Center's IPv4 address in the box and click Run button. Reboot the Media Center and try your extender again. If you do not know you Media Center's IPv4 address do this:

1. Go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt
2. At the prompt type: ipconfig and then hit Enter key
3. You should get some lines of information back. One will say IPv4 Address. Write down the address.
4. Go back and run the installer tool. Type the address you wrote down into the box, and click the Run button to the right.
5. Reboot the Media Center and try your extender again.

One of the builds of the tool did not replace the ffmpeg.exe correctly. If you download the posted version, you can click the button in the mencoder/ffmpeg part and it will fix the missing ffmpeg.exe file.

Will WebGuide work with Windows 7

No. I asked the developer and he said no.

System specs of my iRacing machine

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI x64-based PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 7.0.6001.18000
DirectX DirectX 10.0

CPU: Type DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E8500, 3800 MHz (9.5 x 400)

Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Motherboard Chipset Intel Eaglelake P45

System Memory:
4096 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

DIMM1: Corsair XMS2 DHX CM2X2048-6400C4DHX 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-13 @ 270 MHz)

DIMM3: Corsair XMS2 DHX CM2X2048-6400C4DHX 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-13 @ 270 MHz)

BIOS Type: Award Modular (09/22/08)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series (512 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (512 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 3650 (RV635)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 4870 (RV770)
Monitor Acer AL2216W [22" LCD] (LA10C0414030)
Monitor Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB] (H9NQ700481)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI RV635 - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI RV770 - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter Creative SB X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card


Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) ICH10 Family 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 3A26
IDE Controller Intel(R) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 3A20

IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Disk Drive LaCie Group SA LaCie FW800 Disk drive LUN 0 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device (232 GB)
Disk Drive ST3300622AS ATA Device (300 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Disk Drive WDC WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 ATA Device (298 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:6x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
Optical Drive LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1H ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:20x/8x, DVD-RW:20x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)

Network:
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)


Peripherals:
FireWire Controller Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 1394A-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer
USB1 Controller Intel 82801JB ICH10 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB Device Logitech Driving Force GT USB

DMI:
DMI BIOS Vendor Award Software International, Inc.
DMI BIOS Version F10
DMI System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI System Product EP45-DS3R
DMI Motherboard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI Motherboard Product EP45-DS3R
DMI Chassis Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI Total / Free Memory Sockets 4 / 2

Transcode 360 and Windows 7

I got an email from someone who gets this error when trying to use Transcode 360 1.6.3 with Windows 7 Windows 7 RC (build 7100):

MceUiAddIn.Launch
System.Exception: Unable to queue video file for transcoding and streaming. At
Transcode360.AddIn.NewModule.TranscodeAndPlayMedia(String filePath, Int64 timestamp)
at Transcode360.AddIn.NewModule.Launch(AddInHost host)

I downloaded and installed Windows 7 RC (Build 7100). First I installed MyMovies 2.54. I then set the folders for MyMovies to watch and let it build the database. I followed my own instructions for setting up Transcode 360.

I'm running t360 as a service, and because I am not trying to access movies stored on other machines I let the service run as the Local System account. I did the Network registry update, and I updated the mencoder.exe.

I tested from my Xbox 360 and from MyMovies choosing Watch Stream, t360 fired up and transcoded the movie. In other words, it worked fine.

I have seen on other blogs and forum where other people are having problems with Windows 7 and T360. I thought I would be able to replicate the problem and troubleshoot it.

So I am posting this in hopes of discovering what is different between my setup, and that of others, that is causing issues for others. The only difference I see between my setup and the person that emailed me is our extenders. Mine being an xbox, and his being a Linksys.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions feel free to post them in the comments section.

Playing FLV files on Vista Media Center

Here's what I did to be able to play .flv (Flash) files on Vista Media Center.

1) Install FFDShow. In my case, I just installed Vista Codec Package 5.2.2 Final
Whichever you choose should be fine. I got the Vista Codec Package from here:
http://majorgeeks.com/Vista_Codec_Package_d5326.html

Caution - Once I did this, I noticed I lost audio from streamed movies. The codec package may have installed something that disrupted my AC3Filter. After reinstalling AC3Filter I got my audio back in movies. Always be careful when installing codecs. Installing over existing codecs can cause problems.

2)Edited the registry to add this:
Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.flv create a new registry string REG_SZ called "PerceivedType" and name it "video"
If you want to run a file to do this download this zip, extract it, run the .reg file (when prompted to merge in registry choose yes).

3) Next I copied a test .flv file to Public\Videos folder. I right clicked the file and chose 'open with' and set it to 'always open' with windows media player. When you open the file, WMP may say 'do you really want to open this extension' click OK, and the vid should start in WMP.

4) Next, I went into Media Center, Video Library, found my sample file, clicked it and it played.

Making subtitles work with Transcode 360

Transcode 360 appears to have the ability to display subtitles. These are enabled through the t360 configuration utility. But, as far as I know, it has never worked. One of the visitors to this blog took the matter into his own hands and fixed the transcode360 executable and now subtitles work. Here is what he says:

Hi,Me again, I was a bit busy doing other things, but I finally managed to get
subtitles and the right audiostream while transcoding.I've put a replacement
Transcode360.exe on
http://cid-bdb369ad69a0b096.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Openbaar?uc=1
Assembling a tray app and setup, with all forms etc. is too much work for me at
the moment. Just stop the Transcode360 service, replace the .exe and start the
service again.I'm currently using the modified t360 with mencoder svn rev 28311
and ffmpeg svn rev 16596, both downloaded from http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php

The discussion took place on this thread's comment section:
http://tobias-tobin.blogspot.com/2008/12/reauthoring-ripping-with-changes-dvd.html

If you have transcode360 setup and working, just stop the service (this can be done through the config utility) and replace the transcode360.exe with his copy. Re-start the service. Also remember to enable subtitles in the config utility.

Any requests?

I am wondering if anybody has any computer issues I might be able to help with? I am open to requests. Email me if you have an question and think having a solution might help yourself and others. I've been doing Windows based IT support for about 10 years. These days my work revolves around Active Directory, scripting (wsh, vbscript, wmi, adsi), Group Policy, WSUS, imaging (Ghost), some VB.NET, and then about anything Windows related. Lately I have not had much to write about...

Installing drivers on a Panasonic CF-50 after clean XP with SP2 install

I had to rebuild a Panasonic CF-50. I didn't have drivers on disk to reinstall and my only option of OS was XP with SP2 already installed. I downloaded the missing drivers from the Panasonic site. But, I couldn't install any of them. When I tried to run their .exe I would get the message 'this does NOT support'. Yeah that's all it said.

So I used WinRAR to extract the files from the .exes. Once I had the files extracted I could run the setup, or just point to the driver file. I still could not get the video drivers to install. I ended up using Mobility Modder http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php.

I followed the instructions on the website (msxml update, and .Net install) and pointed the modder to the drivers I had extracted. It fixed them and I was able to install the video drivers.

Enabling Firewall Logging in Vista for troubleshooting purposes

The idea here is if you are having some kind of issue on your home network and you want to see if you are having a firewall issue, enabling the firewall logging of dropped packets can help with troubleshooting. Here is how to enable logging for dropped packets.

Enabling firewall logging in Windows Vista

With Control Panel in Classic View

Go To Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

On the right click Properties

Click Private Profile Tab

Under Logging Click Customize button

Next to ‘Log dropped packets:’ do the pulldown and select Yes.

Click OK

If you want to log for Domain (not necessary unless your system is in a domain) or if you want to log for Public, click the tabs and repeat the steps above to enable logging for dropped packets.

Click OK

Close the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security window.

Now if your firewall blocks something on your home network you should be able to see it in the log.

To check the log open this file:
C:\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Firewall\pfirewall.log

Dealing with 'invalid' filenames in Windows ("Cannot read from the source file or disk")

Occassionaly I run into this issue. A person has copied over a file created by a Mac onto a Windows system, due to illegal or invalid naming, the file cannot be deleted or read.

Another issue might be someone saved something and the path was too deep. Now the data is problematic - it cannot be copied from the system, deleted, renamed, whatever.

I learned something really cool today thanks to another blogger (http://blog.dotsmart.net).

Please read this post:
http://blog.dotsmart.net/2008/06/12/solved-cannot-read-from-the-source-file-or-disk/

I don't want to copy his work but I will say that you can get Windows to ignore the invalid elements by prefixing paths with \\?
For example: "\\?\C:\Documents and Settings\user\filewithdotatend."

This allows commands like C:\>ren "\\?\C:\Documents and Settings\user\filewithdotatend." "filenamewithoutdot"
Now the file is usable, deletable, whatever.

This is so cool. I had no idea. Thanks to Duncan Smart’s Weblog !

Transcode 360 choppy playback - stutters and pauses

I recently went watch a movie on my xbox 360 using MyMovies and Watch Stream, which utilizes Transcode 360 to encode the movie. The movie kept pausing and stuttering. It was not a CPU issue. I stopped the transcode service on the Media Center (a reboot of the machine will accomplish the same, getting it to stop transcoding), opened the Transcode 360 Configuration Utility and on the left click on Advanced. On the right, at the bottom I checkmarked 'Downmix multi-channel AC3 to stereo MPEG audio' (I had it unchecked from some previous testing I was doing). I then started the Transcode 360 service (if you rebooted you don't need to do this). I then tried that same movie and it played very nicely. No stuttering or pausing.

Using Symantec Endpoint Protection in Safe Mode - Dealing with service not running error

Sometimes it is necessary to do an Antivirus scan while in safemode. I have noticed an issue with Symantec Endpoint Protection. After booting into safemode and attempting to launch Symantec Endpoint Protection, an error appears which says "It appears that the Symantec Management Client service is not running. You will not be able to manage network protection settings through the main user interface until it is running. Do you want to start the service now?"

It seems you would want to say Yes, but that will not work. You must choose No. Then the user interface will load and you can scan. You may receive a notice about realtime protection being disabled. For this purpose, that can be ignored.

Reauthoring (ripping with changes) a DVD with DVDShrink (preguide for use with Transcode 360)

DVDShrink is a great free tool. Download it here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVD-Shrink.shtml

DVDs are encrypted. I use AnyDVD to decrypt the disks. AnyDVD is not expensive, runs in the background, and saves you the work of first decrypting the disk. If you do not want to buy AnyDVD (from slysoft) you can use DVDDecrypter:
http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/

Before you begin decrypt the dvd, or have AnyDVD installed and running (you will have a little fox head on the systray to know it is running)

After installing, open DVDShrink.
Insert a DVD into your DVD drive.
Give it a moment to read the disk.
Click the Open Disc button.
You should see your drive and movie listed, choose it.
DVDShrink will analyze the disc.
When it is done you will see something like this:



Because I watch movies using Transcode 360 and MyMovies, there are certain things I do to ensure the audio is correct and to not have to sit through all of the trailers. My guide will encorporate this:

Next, click the Reauthor button.
You will see something like this. The main movie is almost always title 1.


Drag and drop title 1 from the right to the left pane. We've now told DVDShrink we only want the movie itself. If you want to make sure you are getting the right thing, highlight the title and click the play button in the little preview pane and you will see what it is. If it is the type of disc that has both widescreen and normal this will help you determine which is the widescreen and which is the 4:3 version.
Now that you have the movie, click the Compression settings tab. Deselect all of the audio tracks except the one you want. If you are English, you'll want the English 5.1. Since we cannot use subtitles on a transcoded movie, you can deselect all of the subtitles. This will make the final file smaller.

Let me add here, if you want the disc, in it's entirety, you do not need to reauthor just click Full Disk.

Now we have what we want click the backup button. Choose how you want it outputted. If you want .vob files and such, choose Hard Disk. If you want an .ISO, choose .ISO image file. Below that, choose where to write the file(s) to. Click OK.

DVDShrink will now create your movie.

Firewall exceptions for Transcode 360

If you need to manually set your firewall exceptions for Transcode 360 here are the settings:
1) Open port 1401 (TCP).

This is using Control Panel with Classic View under Vista-32 bit

Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

On the left highlight Inbound Rules

On the right click click New Rule

Choose Port, Click Next

Dot next to TCP, dot next to Specific local ports. In the box type 1401. Click Next

Dot next to Allow the connection. Click Next

On the ‘When does this rule apply’ you can leave all selected if you want but technically you should only need ‘Private’ if when you set up your media center’s network connection you selected home which is private. Leaving the other boxes selected will not hurt anything.

In the Name box put something like T360

Click Finish.

Now under your inbound rules you will see one with the name you specified above (T360). Double click the rule.

Click the Scope tab.

In the Remote IP Address section put a dot next to ‘These IP Addresses:”.

Click the Add button

Put a dot next to ‘Predefined set of computers:’.

Use the pull down and select ‘Local subnet’.

Click Ok.

Click Ok.

That firewall rule is done. We’ve opened the port 1401 on the Media Center for all local traffic (your house).

2) Add Transcode360.exe and Transcode360Tray.exe to the allowed applications

Actually, I don't know that you need to add the exceptions specified in 2). I noticed that I did not add these to my firewall. I am not at home right now to test, but it may be that just port 1401 is all that is required. If you want to add exceptions for the Trascode processes you can. You can use my instructions above but near the beginning instead of choosing port, choose a program, and then browse to the program (C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Transcode360.exe). The rest of the setting will match the instructions above.

Vista users - if you need help with this have a look at this document:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/4da18300-9044-47b6-9038-595c78db81ab1033.mspx

If you still need help you can email me aamjohns@[nospam]yahoo.com (remove the [nospam] part.

If you want to enable firewall logging to help troubleshoot have a look at this blog post:
http://tobias-tobin.blogspot.com/2009/02/enabling-firewall-logging-in-vista-for.html

Unable to Trancode error with Transcode 360

Although there can be more than one cause of this error I want to document one reason that I've been seeing lately. Specifically, this error is caused by certain characters in the folder path that Transcode 360 cannot handle.

Here is an example T360 log highlighting the area of interest:
27/12/2008 9:30:12 AM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
27/12/2008 9:30:12 AM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
27/12/2008 9:30:12 AM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
27/12/2008 9:30:12 AM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\Iron Man ‑ (Ultimate 2‑Disc Edition).360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "F:\Movies\Iron Man ‑ (Ultimate 2‑Disc Edition)\Iron Man ‑ (Ultimate 2‑Disc Edition).ISO"
27/12/2008 9:30:27 AM *ERR* Transcoding error:
27/12/2008 9:30:27 AM *ERR*
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.
Couldn't open DVD device: F:\Movies\Iron Man - (Ultimate 2-Disc Edition)\Iron Man - (Ultimate 2-Disc Edition).ISO
No stream found to handle url dvd://1
Cannot open file/device.

Notice the last line 'Cannot open file/device'. This is due to certain characters in the path. Most likely the "(" and ")". Try removing the movie from the Collection Manager. Change the folder path to eliminate the charaters. In the above example rename the Iron Man folder name to just be Iron_Man. Now re-add it to Collection Manger. This time it should work.

Rundll32 has stopped working error on Vista

I've seen this problem on two different systems. Both were HP laptops running vista. Some brief time after logon the error comes up the Rundll32 has stopped working. Looking in the event logs I see that the associated module is User32.dll (in both cases). I think I may have found the problem. At least this system to work. I had installed Nvidia drivers for the video from the Nvidia website. This installs a Nvidia Driver Helper Service. I think this service had something to do with the problem. What I ended up doing was uninstalling the Nvidia video drivers through the control panel. Rebooting. Then right clicking my computer, choosing properties, clicking Device Manager, expanding Display, right clicking the standard VGA and choosing update driver (and having it automatically do it from the web). It installs the drivers without the helper service. After doing this, the rundll32 has stopped working errors went away.

USB flash drive annoying launch pad software

Do you want to get rid of the launch pad software on your U3 USB flash drive? I did. I don't use it, and I don't need it. I just want a plain USB flash storage device. The launch pad can be removed. The removal tool is here. Make sure you backup and data stored on the device before you run this tool.

http://www.u3.com/uninstall/

Tool for find paths that are too long on computers or servers

Occasionaly I run into a situation that quickly becomes very frustrating. Let's say I am backing up a user's data to move to a new system. I'm copying their My Documents to a server, or usb drive and the copy bombs out because it encounters a path that is too long. Another scenario is I am setting someone up to synchronize documents stored on a server with their local computer. Again, the sync bombs because it encounters a path that is too long. This can become frustrating because sometimes you have to dig and search to find the offending file. Or, maybe this person has 100 items that are too long. So again you repeat the process of the copy bombing out and having to go search for the offending files.

I made a tool that can search a system on find all the long paths and record them. The offenders and be exported to a .csv file for the record. This way these can be addressed ahead of time before the backup or sync is run.

This is a very simple tool. It is small and quick. If you think this might be of use to you download it here. This is an installer it copies the exe to a folder under program files and creates a start menu shortcut and a desktop shortcut. If you prefer to just get the exe it is here.

This tool will scan local drives, or UNC paths.

Citrix connection hangs on 'Negotiating Capabilities'

This is an annoying issue that occurs in an inconsistent manner. Fortunately the fix is easy.

The fix involves deleting some keys from the registry.

Run regedit (Start>Run>type regedit in the open box and click OK)

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing

Delete the subkeys HardwareID and Store

Try this Citrix connection again. This time it should pass Negotiating Capabilities and work.

You might also want to change the permissions on the MSLicensing key. Users and Power Users should have Full Control permissions to it and all subkeys.

Adding movies to My Movies so they can be accessed from extenders or other media centers

This is covered in the MyMovies Mulitzone documentation. I will also describe how to properly add the movies to the collection so the path is usable by extenders and other comptuers.

You perform this procedure even if the computer you are adding is the same computer the movie is stored on (ie: your media center).

Add a title to MyMovies through the Collection Manager.

Click the Add Online button.

The Browse for Folder dialog comes up.

Find the node called Network. Click to expand it. Find the computer where the movie is stored (ie: your media center computer).

Expand to the location of the folder containing the movie (there needs to be a Video_TS folder inside)

With the movie folder highlighted click Ok.

Click 'Add owned for keeps' in MyMovies and now the movie is added with the proper path.

This puts the movie into the database with a path like file://vista-mce/F/Movies/BekindRewind rather than F:\Movies\BekindRewind. The latter path will not work when network devices try to access the movie.

If you have already added movies using the local path format, ie: F:\Movies\BekindRewind you can fix them through the Collection Mananger.

With the Collection Manager open browse and select a title on the left.

Under the Edit Title tab click the discs button:

This dialog will come up. Notice the movie has a local path:

Click the little button the red arrow is pointing to in the image above.

That bring up the Folder Browse Dialog.

Again, scroll to Network, expand, find the computer with the movies, expand it, find the movie folder, highlight it, and click OK:

Notice (in the image below) we now have a network path which is what we need.

Click Ok.

Now we are back on the Edit Title tab. Towards the bottom left is the Save Title button. Click it so the changes we just made get save.

The edited movie should now be accessible to media centers and extenders.

Why do you have to do this? A remote device will not understand F:\Movies\movie. A path like that says 'the movie is on myself'. But the movie is not, it is on another computer. So the network path tells the device, go look here on this other computer.

Cooling the ATI Radeon 4870 - how to manually adjust the fan speed

*****The procedure outlined below is no longer required with drivers and Catalyst Control Center version 8.10 and later. Now you can manually adjust the fans under the ATI Overdrive section.*****

Although this information is obtainable in forums and other websites, I thought I would post it myself. After getting a new ATI 4870 I noticed it was running hot. Even idle, the temperature was 80c. This is not hard to adjust.

1) You need the catalyst control center installed. This comes bundled with the drivers. If you chose not to install it, you can get it from the http://www.ati.com/ (amd) site.

2) Run the ATI Catalyst Control Center and choose advanced mode when prompted

3) Under the Graphics Settings tab, click on ATI Overdrive.

4) Most likely, the Enable ATI Overdrive box will be checked, but the buttons and settings will be greyed out. To enabled this click on the lock icon.

5) Now at the top click the Profiles Menu and choose Profile Manager

6) In the edit or select a profile name type in something like: fanSpeed in profile description you can make yourself a note like 'used to adjust the fan'

7) Below you'll see a Composition tab. All you need (and I believe it is the default) is ATI Overdrive selected

8) Click the Save button. Click the Close button.

9) You can leave the CCC up while you do this part. Go to Start>Control Panel>Folder Options (may need to choose Classic View on the left). Click the View tab and uncheck the box next to show hidden files and folders.

10) Click Ok and close the Control Panel

11) Vista Users -> Now go to Start>Computer> and browse to C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles.

XP Users -> C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE\Profiles

In the profiles folder you will see a file for the fan profile we created. Right click on it and choose edit (or you can open it with notepad). Change the following in the file:

Automatic to Manual and the number to a higher value (ex: replace 23 with 45 or whatever you want). Since this number is a percent the max would be 100 (and it is pretty loud).

For now I am running at 45% and my temps dropped 30 degrees. It is a little louder but not any louder than the other fans in my computer and it had a major effect on the GPU temperature.

12) Now to implement the new setting go back to the CCC (Catalyst Control Center). Click the Profiles Menu, Activate Profile>click the profile name you created. You should hear the fan louder now. You should also notice your GPU temperature dropping.

If you want to make any more changes to the fan speed just go back to the profiles folder, edit the file for the profile, change the number and save. Then go back to the CCC and activate the profile again.

mHome Power Management Module

This looks interesting.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2008/08/21/1645360.aspx

Thanks Chris.

Xbox 360 controller controls for use with MyMovies

While the movie is playing (I tested this while watching a transcoded movie on my Xbox 360)

Jump Forward - Right Trigger pull and release jumps the movie about 30 seconds forward. Pull and release repeatedly, quickly, and the movie will jump i guess 30 seconds for each pull. Hold the right trigger and the movie will end and return to 0:00 minutes (and will say done).

Jump Back - Left Trigger pull and release and the movie will briefly rewind (very briefly, not even thirty seconds). Pull and release repeatedly to move back more, but it still seems to be about 5 seconds jumps.

Pause & Play - Right Thumb Stick: click it like a button and it pauses the movie. Click it again and the movie will start playing again.

Show Progress Bar - Right or Left Bumper brings up the progress bar for the movie.

Move Back Through Menus - Back (<) button movies you backwards through the menus

Return to Main Menu - Start (>) button brings up the main media center menu

Show Movie Catalog - (B) button brings up the movie catalog

Show Keyboard - (Y) button brings up the keyboard interface

Details Menu - (X) button brings up Video Details, More..., Zoom, and Settings menu

(A) is used to make selections but doesn't seem to do anything while the movie is playing.

Direction Pad doesn't seem to do anything while the movie is playing

If I am missing something please let me know.

Big Surprise...Transcode 360 is still alive and sounds like it's going to be improved!

James Botham has re-emerged from a long disappearance. He's back coding on Transcode 360. Have a look here:
http://www.runtime360.com/forums/read.php?3,5513

It looks like he is encorporating some new methods for encoding and will no longer rely on mencoder. Not that there is anything wrong with mencoder :)

Well, in the time I had on T360 I wrote a new wrapper which allows it to use Microsoft Expression Encoder (or Express which is free) through its SDK. This transcodes video using Expressions SDK using any available codec on the PC/Server, so if your media centre plays the file it should transcode it. (posted July 26, 2008)

I'm really glad to have stumbled on that post. I have been trying to find him and what happened to T360 and the codecreators.co.uk site. Wow. Great news!

Vista Media Center TV Pack

Have you read about this yet? It is REALLY disappointing in my opinion. There are places to read about it online (here for example) so I won't rehash that. But I will mention what I see as a major letdown.

1. no H.264 support or DirecTV support
2. No more commercial skipping using plug-ins like DVRMSToolbox (it is suggested MS broke this on purpose)
3. New WTV file format - no more DVRMS files
4. Update restricted to OEMs and only availabe on new computer purchases

This just sucks. The future just keeps getting worse.

Thanks Microsoft. I'll keep looking for a better solution to HTPC in my home.

Citrix - Wfcrun32 Error Failed to set Event Logging and Open or Save .ica file prompts

Wfcrun32 Error Failed to set Event Logging

This error occurs after updating versions of the Citrix software. To fix this error delete the appsrv.ini file located under the user's profile. On XP the location is:
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\ICAClient
The file will be recreated automatically on the next connection. This should clear up that error message.
Here is a script you can run on a XP machine that will automatically remove the file from each profile. Extract the file and run it on each machine you want cleaned. Appsrv_Cleaner

Open or Save .ica file prompts

Also with Citrix, if when clicking web links that are supposed to initiate a citrix connection you get prompted to open or save the .ica file there are two things you can try. One, with the user logged on run this command from the directory where wfica32.exee is installed wfica32 /setup or from a command prompt run:
"C:\program files\Citrix\ICA Client\wfica32" /setup If that doesn't work, try uninstalling citrix and installing the latest software.

Giving a Media Center Extender access to files on another device (NAS, WHS, Computer) through the Media Center using custom username and password

*****When you go to run this on Vista, right click the exe and choose Run As Administrator (unless you have disabled the UAC.*****

*****Only run this tool on the Media Center computer. Do not run this on any other computers. It will not work. Only the Media Center can utilize this tool.*****

Quick access: Downloads (MSI-Installer ) or (Executable File) and (Instruction Manual PDF)

I started creating instructions similar to:

• Accessing media stored on a Windows Home Server from an extender, with MyMovies and Transcode 360 running on a separate Media Center
  
• Allowing Media Center extenders to access movies stored on a NAS (public access no password version)

But I decided to try a different route. This time I wrote a program to do the work.

This tool needs to be run on your Media Center PC. Note - You only need to run it once to get everything setup. If at a later time you add another share or device, you can run it again to updated the login scripts. It can allow your Media Extenders to access other network devices that are sharing files. This includes NAS, Windows Home Server, or another PC (XP or Vista). It works by created login scripts for Media Center Extender accounts on the Media Center that connect to the devices using a different account - one that you specify. Create the account on the other device(s), add it to the shares and then run this tool. This tool works differently than the 2 links above in that it uses a separate account with password to gain access to the shares. The above 2 links describe giving access based on 'all access permissions' like Guest and passwordless public sharing. With this tool, the above two link are somewhat obsolete. Why not just use an account for sharing instead of opening up shares to Guest or Anonymous? This has been tested with MyMovies and Transcode 360.

Downloads (MSI-Installer ) or (Executable File) and (Instruction Manual PDF)

If you want a actual installer that will create a Start Programs menu folder and shortcut, as well as a desktop shortcut, download and run the .msi installer.

If you want just the .exe file and documentation, and no installation at all download the .zip file.

The program comes with instructions. Here's a copy of them. When you run the program you will see a Help link in the upper right. Click that. Or, open the included documentation folder and view them in .pdf or .html format. The instructions might be a little long and wordy. Don't let them fool you, it is a quick and easy tool.

This tool requires you have .NET Framework version 2 installed for it to work.

Finally, use the tool at your own risk. It is a simple tool. It does not delete anything. It shouldn't mess anything up. But, I don't make any guarantees about this tool.

Disconnect VPN hangs

I started noticing problems disconnecting a VPN connection on my Vista SP1 machine. When I choose to disconnect, the disconnecting dialog would not go away. Trying to end task did not work. The system would hang when trying to shutdown. Something clearly had gone wrong with this...

It appears the problem is related to Symantec Endpoint Protection. I had SEP MR2 installed when I noticed this problem. After doing a little reading I confirmed others are having this same problem. It seems the problem is not limited to Vista. I saw reports of users with XP having issues.

Uninstalling SEP resolves the disconnecting VPN problem. So far I am not really liking the new Symantec Endpoint Protection. I am switching over to NOD32.

Using .ISO files with Media Extenders, Transcode 360, and MyMovies

MyMovies supports watching movies in .iso format. This requires an image mounting software be installed. I used the free software Virtual CloneDrive - http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

1. Install the VCD software on the Media Center computer that runs MyMovies.
2. Open MyMovies Collection Manager
3. Go to Configure>Image Mounter> it should detect that you have VCD installed. Click Ok.
4. In Collection Manager the Title should be added just like you are adding a ripped movie. Browse to the folder using Network and select the folder that contains the .ISO file.
5. If the movie is on the Media Center that is all you do. When watching through My Movies choose Watch Stream. MyMovies will mount the .ISO file and Transcode 360 should transcode it for viewing. If the .ISO is store on a computer other than the Media Center (NAS, WHS, another windows computer), check my instructions below for proper configuration of sharing.

• Giving a Media Center Extender access to files on another device (NAS, WHS, Computer) through the Media Center using custom username and password
• Accessing media stored on a Windows Home Server from an extender, with MyMovies and Transcode 360 running on a separate Media Center
• Allowing Media Center extenders to access movies stored on a NAS (public access no password version)

Accessing media stored on a Windows Home Server from an extender, with MyMovies and Transcode 360 running on a separate Media Center

I don't have a WHS so I cannot test what I am writing. Hopefully I will be able to confirm the instructions through feedback.

Setup a share on the WHS to share the movies

The MCE (Media Center Extender) will be connecting to the WHS through a Media Center computer running MyMovies. The easiest way to set this up is using the Guest account.

Share the folder that contains all of your movie folders

1. From WHS Console add a share folder call "Movies" (doesn't have to be called Movies, call it whatever you want) to WHS default shared folders. The folder you share should be the root folder of all of your movie folders.

Enabled the Guest account on WHS

1. Open the Windows Home Server Console.
2. Click the User Accounts tab.
3. Right-click Guest, and then select Enable Guest Account
4. Click Next.
5. Select No Guest Password, and then click Next.
6. Click Read for any shared folder that you would like to have accessed and viewed using Windows Media Center.
7. Click Finish.

So sum this up, you have created a share, called "Movies" that is the folder that contains all of the movie folders. You enabled the Guest account with no password. You added the Guest account to the shared folder with Read access.

I am not sure whether WHS will automatically open the firewall for shared folders. That will need to be done. I'll have to leave that up to you to figure out.

Here is a nice guide to media sharing on WHS. It touches on what we are doing here with the Guest account and sharing. Windows Home Server Media Sharing

The above instructions are nearly identical to what I described the Using Transcode 360 with My Movies and Vista MCE post. It is the same concept. And this will work on more than a WHS box. You can share off another computer in your house. As long as you add the path to the movie properly in MyMovies Collection Manager and the sharing is setup properly, the Extender will be able to play movies off other computers (other than the Media Center computer).

Adding movies shared off other computers (WHS for example) in MyMovies

When adding the title, choose 'Add Online' button. Browse the Network for the Computer and Share containing the movie folder you are adding. For example:

Click Ok

And click 'Add to owned, for keeps'

This adds the movie using a UNC path. The path in the example above would be \\vista-mce\f\movies\8MM2Uncut
The path has to be added in this manner, so networked devices can find it. A local path C:\Movies\8MM2Uncut would not work.

Transcode 360 expects there to be a folder that is the name of your movie. Within that folder there needs to be a Video_TS folder, and within that, the actual movie files (.vob, .ifo, etc). If you do not use that folder structure, watching movies with extenders, MyMovies, and Transcode 360 will not work *unless the movie is an .ISO, in which case the Video_TS folder is not necessary).

If you extender was connected to the Media Center while you set all of this up, close its connection to the media center and reopen it.

Internet Explorer - Out of Memory Error at line 56

If you get this error go to http://www.adobe.com and update your Adobe Flash player. After updating close out your browser and web browsing again. It should be fixed. I believe this is an adobe flash player problem.

Allowing Media Center extenders to access movies stored on a NAS (public access no password version)

Before digging into this I've also created a tool that will help you setup getting extenders access to other devices (NAS, etc) where you can use an account that you created on the NAS or whatever. Personally I think it is a better solution:

Giving a Media Center Extender access to files on another device (NAS, WHS, Computer) through the Media Center using custom username and password

The intent of this procedure is to permit your media extender(s) to play ripped movies stored on a NAS. This assumes you are using My Movies and Transcode 360 on the Media Extender. Please use your own judgement if you choose to follow them. Also, you can google search for 'mcx account drive mapping' or 'media extender NAS' stuff like that, for other opinions or approaches. Finally, the zip I included (at the bottom) is not click and go. You will need to edit the files to match what you need. Don't use the files if you are not comfortable. Bottom line is I hope this helps...

The NAS should be configured to allow access to all accounts. We will not know the password the media centers are using so we need them to be allowed to connect without supplying a password.
First find out what media extender accounts will be needing access to the NAS. To do this, on the Media Center PC (Vista), go to Control Panel>System>Advanced System Settings>Advanced Tab>Under 'User Profiles' click the Settings button. Write down each Mcx account. Example, Mcx1, Mcx2, Mcx3. The example indicates three extenders have been added to the Media Center.

The directory you will be saving this to probably will not exist yet so create it. To create, go to Start>Computer>click the drive letter Vista is installed on. By default this will be C:. Click Windows, click System32. In the right pane, right click in the white space and choose 'New>Folder'. Name the folder Repl. Now click Repl. Right click again, New>Folder and name it Import. Click Import, right click, New>Folder and name is Scripts.

Next, create the drive mapping script. To do this open Notepad (Start>All Programs>Accessories>Notepad

The drive letter to use in the script should be the same as what you use when you work on the NAS from your Media Center. If you make a mapping called 'z:' then use 'z:' in the script. The script should look like this.

net use z: /delete /y
net use z: "\\your_NAS_server\the_folder_to_map_to" /persistent:no

Quotes are not required around the path unless the path has spaces in it, then you do have to use the quotes. Safe bet is just to quote it. If you have additional drive you want mapped just type the same thing on the next line for each one. The first line is to delete any existing mapping, the second line establishes the mapping. The first line is not required but, like the quotes, it is a good practice and will not hurt.

In Notepad go to File>Save As>change 'save as type' to all files. Name the file whatever you want (ie: mcx1_mapping.cmd). When you save it make sure you type the .cmd (the extension). You will need this script name later so write it down if you easily forget. Save the file to the folder we created above. If Vista is on C: you will save it to C:\Windows\System32\Repl\Import\Scripts

Now go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>right click on Command Prompt and choose 'Run as Administrator'. If you have the UAC disabled, you don't have to choose to run it as administrator. At the command prompt type:

net user mcx1 /scriptpath:mcx1_mapping.cmd

and hit Enter. If you are doing this for another account, say Mcx2, then it would be net user mcx2 rather than mcx1. Also, obviously, the script name you specify should match the name you used.

Now test this with the media center extender. If you have media cente open on the extender close it. Open media center on the extender. Now if you have movies on your NAS that were added to MyMovies, you should be able to watch them rather than getting the 'path not found' error.

I don't have a NAS. I was instructed on this by another (Andy K.). Thanks Andy. I would appreciate any trial and error feedback on this so I can make sure these instructions are correct. If you get a chance to test this I would appreciate your comments. Email me or leave comments on here. By the way, I don't run the UAC on my Vista machine. It seems more of a problem than it is worth. Andy confirmed he does run it and this method worked for him.

Here is a sample you can use to help...Download this zip file. Extract it somewhere, like your desktop. Open the folder. Right click the mcx.mapping cmd file. Choose Edit. Alter the text to match the mcx account you want, the path to your NAS share, and the drive letter. After making your changes, go to File>Save. Now right click the setup.cmd file and choose edit. On the net user line, alter the mcx account to match the one you are mapping for. Also, if Vista is not installed on C:, change the letter on the first line. Now go to File>Save. Right click the setup file again and choose 'Run as Administrator'. This will make the folders, copy the mcx_mapping.cmd to the folder, and then set the net user logon script.

More information:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/260952.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/mpoulson/archive/2005/01/17/354999.aspx
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/2/206983/ShowThread.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490718.aspx

Installing Vista SP1 error 0xC0190001 helppane.exe

While installing Vista service pack 1 the system froze with the error !!0XC0190001!! (604/72761) helppane.exe (this was a black screen with text only). Initially I recovered from this error by booting off the Vista installation DVD and doing a system restore.

I downloaded a standalone copy of the service pack 1 installer and tried again. Once again I ran into the same error during the install. This time I rebooted the system, hit F8 and chose Safe Mode. Vista started a safemode boot. It started loading files, and then appeared to stop, but the hard drive was still very active. I waited a while and it eventually rebooted itself, and the Vista service pack install continued, and successfully completed.

If you encounter this error try rebooting and go into safemode. Give the system some time and hopefully the service pack install will complete.

Also, if you search on this error you may find some forum discussions where it is advised to boot off the Vista DVD, attempt a repair, choose command prompt, and rename the offending file to .old, and then reboot and the service pack install should complete. I tried this and it did not work. Maybe it will work if this problem occurs with a different file but in my case, it did not help.

Error 0x800705AA: Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service

I am getting this error when trying to copy a file from CDROM to my C: drive on a Vista Ultimate machine. I did some checking and see where others have encountered this error. Some suggested using xcopy and that eventually errored out also.

Although the verbage is not identical, this Microsoft KB doc appears to be addressing the issue. I obtained a copy of the hotfix. Also, this fix is supposed to be included in Vista SP1.

Here is a copy of the hotfix for Vista 32-bit.

After installing the hotfix and rebooting I was able to successfully copy the file.

Setting a 30 second jump on the Comcast cable remote for use with the Motorola 6412 DVR

I got these instructions off another forum. I tried it and it works.
1. Press the "cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
2. Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
3. Type in the code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice.
4. Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
5. Type in the code 00173 for the 30 second skip.
6. Press whatever button on the remote you want to map the skip function to. (I used the lock button).

Watching recorded tv on a different Media Center

I wanted to be able to watch recorded tv from one media center on another media center. I found an excellent instruction guide for doing this (and it worked).
Mike's Digital Home

Samsung LN52A650 and LN52A750 LCD TV and Comcast Remote Codes

*****Note I received this as a comment to this post and I want to add it here to hopefully save people some time. Bryan (thanks Bryan) said he ran into issues with the codes and called Comcast and found out that "if your remote has a red "OK/Select" button in the middle you use a 5 digit code. Remotes with a gray "OK/Select" button use a 4 digit code. Many of the published 4 digit codes work by placing a 1 in front of them. "*****

I was trying to program the Comcast Digital Cable box remote to control the TV also. I tried all of the codes included with the remote but none worked for the new Samsung LN52A650 LCD TV. I looked around on the net and found someone saying to use a five digit code 10060. It worked, but I believe the code is actually 1006. I don't think the remote accepts a 5 digit code.

Thanks to stardotstar for posting this on http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=62963. I had a hard time finding this so I wanted to document it again hoping it will be easier to find.

I found some more codes you can try when programming a cable box remote for use with Samsung TV:
1005, 1006, 1016, 1023, 1026, 1032, 1088, 1112, 1146, 1155, 1157, 1158, 1163, 1167, 1172, 1173, 1192, 1194, 1224, and 1225.

Here are comments that might be helpful:
From Anonymous: Try 10702 I used 10060 and it worked, however, it didn't function all the time and the volume was hard to control, as well. I own a 37" 450 Series Samsung. This is the only code that worked for it. Thanks for the help!

From Anonymous: 1163 worked without making the cable box jump to On Demand every time we hit 8

I also need to program the remote to control an old Kenwood Receiver (model RC-R0800). I have not tried these codes yet but did find some to try:
Kenwood 1313, 1027, 1570, 1569, 0027
I tried these codes for the model of Kenwood receiver we have RC-R0800 and these codes seemingly did not work. But, this was actually done by my Dad - I was helping him over the phone. We ended up buying a universal remote and discovered why the above codes may have worked but we didn't know. Usually when testing a code they tell you to hit the power button to see if it turns on the device. In this case, we found out the Kenwood had to be on. Nothing would turn it on from off, but if we turned it on, we could then turn it off. Once we did that we could turn it on and off. He was going to go back and try the Comcast codes but I have not talked to him since then. If you try this, turn on your device and see if the remote will turn it off - for some reason it wouldn't turn it on when testing even if it was the right code.

Replaytv repairs (Mikeboy)

Mikeboy repairs Replaytv's and can swap motherboards and maintain your subscription on the new board. His website is: http://www.replaytvparts.com/
He has done repairs for me and ships quickly, does good work, and is responsive to questions. I recommend him for hardware repairs.

Using WebGuide, when choosing to 'Play Album' only the first song plays

*Update* 8/13/08 - The Microsoft updates released August 12th 2008 contain a fix for this problem. I don't know which updates fixes it, but if you install all critical updates and reboot, this should be fixed for you.

I don't know the solution to this problem. I do have a workaround though. I have asked for help on the WebGuide forum but Doug Berret doesn't seem to check the forum anymore so I doubt I will get an answer.

Also, to note, until recently this was not a problem for me. I had to rebuild my Vista MCE machine and reinstalled WebGuide. Since then, I cannot 'play album'. When I do, only the first song plays. When I go to play another song Media Player just hangs on 'changing media'.

Here's the workaround fix.

1. Download and install another player that handles .m3u. In my case I chose VLC because it is free, and I am familiar with it. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
2. Run the setup for VNC. During the install, the third screen that prompts you for info should be 'Choose Components'. I don't want VNC taking over other file types that you did not anticipate so do this - there is a pull down box at the top of the components list. Pull it down and select 'Minimum'. Click Next button, then click the Install button. When the install completes you can uncheck the check box for 'Run VideoLan...'. Click Finish.
3. Go to your webguide online, and choose to 'play album'. When prompted 'do you want to open or save this file' choose Save. Save the file somewhere convenient for you, we will be browsing to the file in a minute.
4. Now Browse to the file (WebGuide4_Playlist) where you saved it. Right click on the file and go to 'Open With' and then choose the last option 'Choose default program'. VLC player may not be in the list of recommended players so you may need to click the Browse button. The default install path for VLC is C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC. Browse to that path (or where ever you installed it) and choose vlc.
5. Now we are back on the Open With dialog. VLC should be listed and highlighted. On the bottom of the list is a checkbox 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of file'. Check that box. Click Ok.
6. Now go back to your webguide and choose 'Play Album'. On the prompt do you want to open or save, choose open.
7. VLC Player should open and start playing your music. You can now change songs with >> and <<>

Although I have not tried it, you should be able to do the above procedure with the music player of your choice provided it can play .m3u file types. I think the problem is a Media Player problem.

Turning of the UAC in Vista

User Account Control can cause problems in some circumstances. In my case, I don't want it running on my Vista Media Center. Here is how to turn it off:

1. Go to Start>Control Panel
2. If you are using the default control panel view, click User Accounts>User Accounts
3. If you are using the Classic view click User Accounts
4. Uncheck the box next to Use User Acccount Control (UAC)...
5. Click Ok
6. Reboot.

Maybe you don't want to disable this if you surf the web and download a lot of programs. Knowing what is attempting to install could be a good thing. But on a specific purpose computer like a Media Center, the UAC can cause more problems then it is worth.

Fixing my ice maker in Kitchen-Aid ksrs25cnbl00

This is not computer related but I wanted to document it anyway.

I purchased the replacement part from http://www.repairclinic.com/

Item#: 1373103 - Description: Icemaker control module and motor assembly
Price: $73.35

For Kitchen-Aid model ksrs25cnbl00. How did I know what to replace? It broke before and I had a repairman come out and I recalled him saying something about a cheap gear and motor breaking. He said the part he was putting in was of better quality. It lasted about two years.

1)Slide the ice-maker switch to the off position.
2)Remove the screw underneath the icemaker in the back right.
3)Remove the two screws holding the front flap - remove the front flap
4)Remove the plastic wire cover piece in the rear right corner - it just pops off.
5)Press the tab on the bottom part of the left rail in. Slide the whole unit out.
6)Disconnect the power connector.
7)Pop off the plastic motor module cover.
8)With the ice-maker out remove the three screws holding in the motor module.
9)Remove the motor module.
10)Align the while plastic shaft notch with that of the motor module. Do not turn the motor module, turn the shaft to achieve alignment. Inset the new motor module.
11)Screw in the three motor module screws.
12)Connect the power coupler.
13)Slide the unit back into place.
14)Screw in the right rear screw. Reattach the flap with the two screws.
15)Turn on the ice-maker.

Within 30 minutes you should hear the water filling the tray.

Within a couple hours ice should start to accumulate.

DynDNS

DynDNS allows one to setup a DNS name to connect to home services. If you run web server, or in my case WebGuide, DynDNS is a great way to get a FREE DNS name for home. Because many ISPs change home user's IP address you will want to install the free tool (it can run as a service on your machine) to automatically update DynDNS when your router's IP address changes. It is a fantastic service and has worked for me for the last few years.

Cool button generator site

http://cooltext.com

Viva Pinata for Windows (PC) stutters and laggy

http://forums.vivapinata.com/forums/thread/9692.aspx

In my case the problem was two-fold. Not only did I need the AMD chipset update for dual core processors with games, but my piece of crap Nvidia 7900GT was causing problems. I replaced the video card with a ATI 3870 and now Pinata runs great.

Using Transcode 360 with My Movies and Media Extenders like Xbox or Linksys

*****Transcode 360 will not work with MyMovies running on 64-bit operating systems. If you are using something like Vista Ultimate 64-bit you will get an error like 'Communication Failed' when you go to watch something. I think there was a 64-bit version of T360 but since the creator took down the files I have been unable to get a copy. If you have a copy please email me.*****

*****I apologize the troubleshooting section at the bottom is not very well formatted. Although the answer might be there, it might be difficult to find. I plan to redo this section and make it better formatted and easier to find solutions.*****

*****There is much valuable information in the comments section too. If you run into a problem, you might want to read through it. Also, you can always email me*****

Printer Friendly PDF Version

Introduction

NEW! I made an installer tool that pretty much does all the stuff described below for you. Download it here. If you are on Vista, download it, install it, right click the desktop shortcut and 'run as administrator'. There's a link to instructions inside the tool. It's pretty straightforward, easy, and quick. I hope it helps! Here's the blog post about it.

My main reason for using Transcode 360 is the ability to watch movies (movies I have backed up to hard drive and watch through the Vista Media Center) on my Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is a Media Center Extender device, but it does not support playback of ripped dvds (.vob files), Xvid, Divx, and other formats for that matter. It does support WMV. I could transcode movies into WMV to watch them on the Xbox 360. I prefer to skip that step - it takes too long and will use up more space.

WebGuide option
Before using Transcode 360 (referred to as TT from now on) I used WebGuide. WebGuide is accessible through the Media Center interface on the extender device. We had problems though. Even though the server and extender are both connected to a 100Mbps LAN, trying to watch the movie on the extender at 8Mbps (Ultra) quality level always led to skipping and other issues. We would then try to watch the movie at 2000Kbps (High) and even then we would eventually have some kind of problem while watching the movie (usually freezing or skipping). Also, the quality level was awful when watching on a large screen.

Transcode 360 option
Next I explored TT as an option for watching movies on the extender. At first I had some problems with TT and gave up on using it. But, the inability to watch movies on the extender was a major loss. Later, I again tried TT and this time was able to get it working. Below I will try to describe briefly how to get TT up and running with My Movies and Xbox360.

These instructions are for Vista MCE 32-bit
Since I use Vista Ultimate 32-bit, Xbox 360 as extender, My Movies 2.42 and 2.44, and Transcode 360 1.6.3 I am limited to my experiences with the given versions. I will not have information on XP MCE, or other versions of these apps.

How you should already be setup
I will assume you have a Vista MCE running My Movies. You have movies ripped, and added to your My Movies database. Using My Movies on the MCE box, you can successfully watch ripped DVDs.

Transcode 360 download
On the Vista MCE machine, install Transcode 360 Version 1.6.3. Since the transcode.co.uk website has been down for weeks, I have an alternate location the file can be downloaded from:
http://www.transcode360.be/Transcode360Vista1.6.3.zip (keep in mind I've only tested this with Vista 32-bit). In case that location is no longer available, here is an alternate download location.

Installing Transcode 360
During the install the first decision you will need to make is 1) to run as a Service 2) to run as a tray app. I recommend choosing Service. Click Next. On the next screen you decide whether to run with local system permissions, or run service under dedicated accounts permissions. I recommend choosing the first option (if you want to change this for network file access we will do that later). Click Install. When the install finishes choose to manually reboot later. Click Finish.
If you will only be accessing movies stored on the Vista MCE machine, follow the instructions in the paragraph below titled registry update. If you need to access movies shared on another computer follow these steps: click on Start>Right click on Computer>click on Manage>under Computer Management at the bottom click the triangle next to Services and Applications>below click on Services>in the right pane scroll down to Transcode 360 Transcoding Service>right click on Transcode 360 Transcoding Service and choose Properties>click the Log On tab>put a dot next to 'This account:' In the first box type a username that is an administrator on the MCE machine, and is also configured to have access to the other computer. In the next to boxes type the password. Click Ok. Now follow the instructions in the paragraph below called registry update.

Registry update
I am providing a batch file that will do this change for you, or you can manually do it.

To do this automated, download this file to your computer. Browse to where you saved the file, double click on it. Inside you will see the TT_Network.reg file. Double click it. When prompted, choose 'Run'. On the 'sure you want to continue prompt choose yes'. You should then get a message that the keys or values were successfully added.

To manually do this, browse to C:\Windows and double click regedit.exe. Next expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software and click on Transcode360. In the right pane double click on InstallationType. In the Value data box remove the existing value and type in Network. Click Ok. Close the Registry Editor window.

Whether you did auto or manual go ahead and reboot the computer.

Update Mencoder.exe
After the computer reboots we want to update the version of the mencoder.exe used by TT. On the Vista machine you may want to enable viewing file extensions for this part. It will make things easier. To enable extensions go to Control Panel>Folder Options>View Tab>uncheck the box next to 'Hide extensions for known file types'. Click Ok.

Now go to My Computer and browse to C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder folder. Right click on the file mencoder.exe and choose rename on the menu. Rename it to something like mencoder.exe.old.

It appears people are having difficultly finding the mencoder.exe. So rather than using the instructions below I've made a copy of it available here. Or you can get it from the source, you just have to go into their archive, under Win32. The download is a .zip file. Save the .zip to your computer. Open or extract the .zip when the download is done. Inside you will see a file called mencoder (mencoder.exe). Right click on the mencoder.exe and choose Copy. Now browse to C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder and paste the file here (Edit>Paste or right click and choose Paste). Now we have updated the version of mencoder.exe we are using compared to the one that came with Transcode 360.

Go to Start>All Programs>Transcode 360>Transcode 360 Configuration Utility. On the menu on the left click on Advanced. Under Profile Name you should see Xbox 360 - Mencoder. That's what we want. Some have solved problems with TT by checking the box at the bottom 'Downmix multi-channel AC3 to stereo MPEG audio'. I am running with that checked. Click Exit.

Update ffmpeg.exe
There should be a copy of ffmpeg.exe in your Transcode 360 install directory (default is: C:\Program Files\Transcode360
Replace the existing ffmpeg.exe with a more current copy. Like this one. Download the zip, extract the ffmpeg.exe and overwrite your current one (or better, rename your current one in case you need it back).

You may need Microsoft Hotfix
If you run antivirus software on your Vista MCE machine you will want to apply this MS hotfix (SP1 users should not need this hotfix). If you do not, you may experience a problem with movies freezing when your try to watch them on the extender. This hotfix is for Vista x86 only. Click here to download. If you want to see the MS KB doc it is here Microsoft Hotfix KB933049

Adding Guest account to network movie folders and sharing them
If you will be accessing movies from an extender(Xbox 360), we need to alter permissions setting on the shared movie folders computer. The bottom line is 'Guest' account needs to be enabled on the other machine, and 'Guest' needs to have Read (Read and List) to the movie folders. On Vista Ulimate and Vista Enterprise Enabling go to Start>right click on Computer>choose Manage>expand Local Users and Groups>Highlight Users>in the right pane right click on Guest>choose Properties>on the General tab make sure that 'Account is disabled' is unchecked. Click Ok.
In Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium editions go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage Accounts, and Turn on Guest Account.
To give Guests access to the movie folders go to Computer and browse to the root folder containing all of the movie folders. Right click the folder and choose Properties. Click the Security tab. Click the Continue button (if UAC is enabled). Click the Edit button. Click the Add button. In the 'Enter the object names to select' box type Guest. Click Ok. Click Ok again. Click Ok.

Share the movies folders, if not already, and everyone should have read.

Add the guest account the the movie folders. Give Guest account Read access.

I intend to come back and give instruction on the above two sentences.

If the above is not configured, when you go to Watch Stream on your extender, you will get a 'Path not found ' error message.

To sum, enable Guest account, give guest account read to movie folders (do this by giving read to the parent folder (or drive) and the permissions will propagate down. Finally, share the folders so the UNC path matches the path you specified for the movies in My Movies.


Testing
Bring up your Xbox 360, connect to the Media Center, go to My Movies, pick a movie and choose 'Watch Stream'. If you click Watch you will get an error. So use Watch Stream. You should see 'Loading' for a short period, and then you should get the spinning circle in the middle of the screen. The spinning circle may stop spinning for a short period before the movie starts. If the spinning circle stops and you wait, and wait...and no movie, then something is wrong. The xbox may be frozen at this point. I'll get into some troubleshooting below.

Troubleshooting

If this guide didn't help, or my instructions are unclear, or you found something I missed, please email me at aamjohns@yahoo.com and I will update the blog.

The two versions of My Movies I have used TT with are 2.42 and 2.44.

It may be beneficial to disconnect from the Media Center on the Xbox 360 if the permissions changes were made while connect from the Xbox. I always do this when I make a change so I can't really so if it is not necessary. From the extender, close media center. Then reopen media center on the extender.

Valuable information will come from the TT log file. These are located at C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Logs
If you tried to watch a movie on your extender using Watch Stream in My Movies and it did not work, look at the log file with the most recent 'Date modified' value. This should be the log created when you tried to stream the movie.

The error message you get when you try to stream the movie is important. Depending on what happens, you may not get a message.

The event viewer on the Vista MCE machine will also give valuable information. Go to Start>right click on Computer>choose Manage>expand Event Viewer>expand Applications and Services Logs>Click on Transcode 360 Service>in the right pane events will be listed. Looks for events that are 'Error' and 'Warning'.

Examples

Error: Connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it ::1:1401

Run Regedit, locate the keyHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Transcode360
In the right pane double click ServerAddress and change it from localhost to the IP address of your media server. After making the change, reboot the Media Center.

I recently got a 'Communication Error' when trying to watch movies and performed the above change and it worked.

Error: The path [some path] was not found when trying to watch a network movie
-> give 'guest' account access to the network folder

After doing the above try to watch the network movie and get 'Transcode failed transcode was unable to transcode the file [some path].
-> this could be that the service is running with an account that does not have permission to the remote computer
-> this could be the mencoder.exe file is not updated

If in the log file you see:

*ERR* Transcoding error:
*ERR* This codecs.conf is too old and incompatible with this MPlayer release! at line 6
-> you can delete the codecs.conf file located in the C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mplayer folder

If in the Event Viewer you have a message that includes 'Cannot open file/device.'
->it might be a permissions, network access, firewall type issue.

Video_TS folder
->Make sure your movies are stored in a separate folder for each movie. Inside the movie folder there should be a Video_TS folder and within it the movie files (.ifo, .vob). Transcode 360 looks for the Video_TS folder and the movie files within. If the folder and file structure described above is not used, the movies will not work.

JIT debugging error message when attempting to open the Transcode 360 Configuration Utility.
->Run the utility as Administrator. On Vista, if you have the UAC enabled, when you go to run the config utility, right click it and choose 'Run as Administrator'

Example log file - successful transcoding

Transcoding flv files to wmv (for use with things like MCE or Media Player)

1. Download and install VLC player VLC
2. Open VLC player and open the file you want to transcode
3. Press the stop button on playback
4. On VLC go to File>Wizand
5. Choose Transcode/Save to file
6. Click Next
7. Choose 'Existing playlist item'
8. Highlight the file you loaded
9. Click Next
10. On Transcode Video choose WMV 3
11. On Transcode Audio choose MP3
12. Click Next
13. On encaspulation format choose ASF
14. Click Next
15. On the 'select the file to save to' box put in a file name and make sure to add the extenstion .wmv to the file name
16. Click Finish
17. The final product, the transcoded file, will be in the VLC directory (default is c:\Program Files\VideoLan\VLC).

Trancoded movie plays the wrong audio track (ie: directors commentary, or foreign language)

When the movie is transcoded the default audio track is automatically played. You may then get the wrong audio track when you go to watch your movie using Transcode 360. One way to fix this is to Reauthor the movie using DVDShrink. Open the movie, if it is new, open from disk, if you've already ripped it, open from file. Choose Reauthor. If you want your movie to be in English deselect everything but the English track (ie: English 5.1). During the reauthor selection, you can also only grab the movie by dragging it from the right to the left. This way you don't get all the trailers and such. Then choose to Backup and backup to Hard Disk folder. Save the movie where ever, if you are re-ripping one you've already ripped, choose a different folder than the one currently containing the movie. When it is finished, if it is a new rip, it is ready. If it is a re-rip, replace the old movie files with the new one's. Now when you watch a transcoded movie, you should get the right audio track.

Problems with NAT and Xbox 360

I talked about this in another post but here is some new information. I have two friends both with Linksys WRT54G wireless routers. They can join other people's hosted games (Halo 3 for example) and play. But if one of them starts a match and the other tries to join, they cannot. They have also reported problems with hearing each other's voices.

The first person's router went bad and he got another one. I had to go over and fix this problem again. To fix it I updated the router to the latest firmware version for it. This can be downloaded from the Linksys website. Updating the firmware did not fix the problem. His Xbox 360's IP is manually set (in this case i did 192.168.1.105. I enabled DMZ on the router and set it to be that address. That fixed the problem. Then a week later he said he was having the problem again, and the xbox network test was reporting his NAT as Moderate. So I disabled the DMZ and set the port forwarding on the router to forward ports 3047 and 88 to his xbox's address (192.168.1.105). It still did not work and the network test still reported Moderate NAT. I preferred using the IP forwarding rather than DMZ, because DMZ seems like overkill. Anyway, I power cycled the router (unplugged, waited a minute, and then plugged in). Now the Xbox 360 reported open NAT and he was able to join to a match hosted by his friend. I hope this helps someone!

Replaytv automatically reboots after complete boot

I have been using Replaytv (5000 series) for years now. I have encountered many problems. Today I had a problem and want to record the solution. The replaytv kept rebooting after doing a full bootup. It would boot and you could see a brielf glimpse of a show (live tv) and then it would automatically reboot. I ended up booting it without the network cable, and the coax cable, and then it would not automatically reboot. As soon as I plugged in the coax cable, it would reboot. It turned out the hard drive was full. Once we cleared some shows off (we freed up 10 hours) it quit rebooting when the coax was plugged in. The unit is now working correctly. If you have this problem, try booting it without the coax cable and clear up some space, then plug in the coax. Booting it without the coax was the only way we could keep it up long enough to clear up some space.

Microsoft Hotfix KB933049

Microsoft Hotfix KB933049

This hotfix resolves an issue between mpeg2 and antivirus software on Vista. It may fix freezing errors associated with Media Extenders and Transcode 360.

The file was available through the transcode.co.uk site but the site is down. I have access to the hotfix for Vista x86 (32-bit) only. Click here to download.

Transcode.co.uk site down

The transcode.co.uk site is down, and has been down for over a week now. I was able to locate a copy of transcode 360 1.6.3 for Vista 32-bit here:
http://www.transcode360.be/Transcode360Vista1.6.3.zip

Error 1606 during uninstall

On a Vista system while performing an uninstall of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11, the uninstall would not complete because of an Error 1606. Could not access network location \\myservername\public\pictures. The location it reports could be different in other cases. I believe in my case it is because I set my systems path to pictures to be on a home server where I kept pictures (but since change the path on that server). So the path was not accessible. Based on a Microsoft KB document that described a similar situation I tried something and it worked. I did a search on the registry for the missing path. Start>Run>regedit and then Edit>Find and I entered the missing path. In my case \\myservername\public\pictures. In each case when the path was found I changed it to %public%\pictures. Keep in mind this is Vista. On XP you might want to use %AllUsersProfile%\path to whatever. This document may explain it better. In the end by replacing the invalid path referenced in the registry with the valid path, the uninstall was able to complete.

Keep in mind to be careful editing the registry and have a look at the documents linked to above for more thorough information. The bottom line is replacing the incorrect path with a correct path seems to fix the problem.

Webguide - Covers look different

I am currently asking on the webguide forum why I see this...some covers are stretched, some are not.

Interesting read on different encoding options (for Xbox 360) and why this guy likes VLC best

These are from the happybeggar.com website - Item 1 and Item 2

Transcode 360 was unable to transcode [path to folder]

I am using Transcode 360 version 1.6.3 on Vista MCE to stream backed up movies (DVD) to a Xbox 360 extender. Many movies work, but many movies do not. The one's that don't work display the error 'Transcode 360 was unable to transcode [path to folder]'.

The T360 log file shows this for the error portion (on Vista the log files are located at 'C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Logs'):
2/15/2008 2:27:16 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
2/15/2008 2:27:16 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
2/15/2008 2:27:16 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
2/15/2008 2:27:16 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.5 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\TheMarsh.360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "\\Vista-mce\G\Movies\TheMarsh\VIDEO_TS"
2/15/2008 2:27:31 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:
2/15/2008 2:27:31 PM *ERR*
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.

2/15/2008 2:27:31 PM *WRN* MEncoderTranscoder unable to handle request: \\Vista-mce\G\Movies\TheMarsh\TheMarsh.vol
2/15/2008 2:27:31 PM *WRN* Failed to start transcoding
Even though the path is a UNC the files are local to the MCE machine.

I think I found a solution to this problem. I downloaded the MPlayer 1.0rc2 Windows version of mplayer from http://www.mplayerhq.hu and replaced the mencoder.exe file located at C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder with the newer one downloaded from the mplayerhq site. I then ran the configuration utility and double checked that MEncoder was the selected encoder and then stopped and started the service (not sure if that was necessary). Now, all the movies that would not play before will play. These are all .vob files from backed up dvds. Each movie has its own folder, with the .ifo and .vob file contained within a Video_TS subfolder.

Disposing of Mecury containing light bulbs

Information here: http://www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling/

Transcode 360

Transcode 360 will not work right for me (watching media on xbox 360 as extender) unless I stopped the service, and edit the following registry value:

Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Transcode360

Change the value of InstallationType from LocalSystem to Network

Restart the Transcode 360 service. Now watching media on an extender should work - provided everything else is setup correct.

In the past I changed the Log On value for the Transcode 360 service from Local System to my administrator account so it could access data on other systems. That didn't work out though, Transcode 360 just didn't work right if the data was not local to the Vista MCE box. So, I move all the data back to the MCE box and now run Transcode 360 service under the Local System account.

Here are some other things to look out for when using Transcode 360. To use with My Movies from an extender, choose 'Watch Stream'. You should see 'Loading Title' for a short while, and then a spinning circle in the center of the screen, the circle will freeze and then shortly after that the movie should start. If the circle in the middle starts out frozen, most likely something is going wrong and the xbox 360 is locked up. I had this happen and uninstalled/reinstalled Transcode 360, set the value mentioned above in the registry, restarted the service, and it started working again.

If, while watching a streaming movie on the extender (xbox 360's are the only kind of extenders I have experience with), it errors with a message referring to 'Application UI' (I cannot remember the exact error right now), check the event log on the Media Center PC for event ID 107. Because my MCE is Vista the event log of interest is under:
Event Viewer>Applications and Services>Media Center
The General description of the event may tell you what application or service is causing the unathorized window that is interrupting the media center. Once the application is identified it can be remove, disabled, or configured not to interfer. Have a look at:

Microsoft Document: Event ID 107 — Windows Media Center Extender Connectivity

So far Transcode 360 is working out better than WebGuide for streaming movies from the MCE to the Xbox 360. With Webguide, if I choose to stream at a good quality, like 8Mbps, sooner or later the movie will start stuttering and become unwatchable. It should not be a network issue. I attribute it to the CPU of the MCE. The webguidetranscoder is realtime so cpu limitations seem to have more effect. The nice thing about the Transcode 360 transcoder is it trancodes ahead, to file, creating a buffer. If the system gets busy, the movie doesn't start skipping. In the Transcode 360 configuration utility you can specify how many files to keep (I keep 2), and how many seconds to buffer. The biggest issues I am having now with Transcode 360 is 1) it will not work with some of my movies, 2) sometimes it seems like the service gets hosed up.

Error 64 when opening gpedit or gpmc

If you see:
The following error occurred in file://path.../Adm/somefile.adm on line 62. Error 64 Help string specified more than once. The file can not be loaded.YOu click OK and then get:The following error occurred in file://path.../Adm/somefile.adm on line 6537. Error 64 Help string specified more than once. The file can not be loaded.
Most likely you have added a .adm file that was made using another .adm file. To fix this you will either need to remove the original .adm file and just leave the new one (remove the .adm file from you group policy editor) or edit the string items that use identical names. For example, you have system.adm and then made a new file will settings that are different than system.adm but you used system.adm as your starting point. Now both file use the same string variables which doesn't work. Both files might have !!WindowsExplorer and then a string definition for WindowsExplorer. The identical names need to be changed or the one of the files removed. I ran into this today when making a new .adm based off the system.adm (I wanted to add to the !!NoDrives section). Instead, I just created a new .adm, copied the stuff I needed and then made new string identifiers and strings. I replaced !!WindowsExplorer with !!HideDrives, etc. That solved this problem.

Removing unwanted items from random slide show in MCE or Media Player

I stumbled on this on the Green Button forum. I had been looking for how to do this for a while. I was tired of seeing my album art in my picture slide shows (the album art folder was *not* part of my media center's watched folders, but the pictures still appeared.)
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/240461.aspx

dvd volume level too low when watching through extender or media center

When I stream a movie from the Vista MCE to xbox 360, or watch it through Webguide, the volume level is much lower. This can create unfortunate situations where you switch back to TV or your computer makes a sound, and it is way too loud because you turn your volume up to hear the movie.

For audio encoding I am using AC3 Filter. I asked Doug Berret at Webguide about this and he suggested checking the settings in the AC3Filter.

I started by updating my version of AC3Filter on the Vista MCE.
AC3Filter webpage

Here are the instructions for using AC3Filter with Media Center
Instructions obtained from: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/219065.aspx

Download and Install AC3Filter
Download DSFMgr.exe (Direct Show Filter Manager - Google it)
In DSFMgr look up the CLSID for AC3Filter and copy it to the clipboard
Open Regedit and browse to:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Media Center\Decoder
Paste the CLSID you copied into the PreferredMPEG2AudioDecoderCLSID property in the registry (double click the PreferredMPEG2... label name and there you can paste the CLSID)
Open up AC3Filter config from the start menu as an Administrator (right click it and start as Admin) go to the system tab and set the filter merit to 'Use AC3Filter' instead of prefer other decoder.

On the AC3Filter config utility, click the Main tab. Increase the Master slider under Gain. You may also want to enable DRC (Dynamic Range Compression) and increase it using the slider.

To understand what this does please read: http://ac3filter.net/guides/dynamic_range_compression

A big consideration here is not creating problems by increasing these levels too much. If you do you will get clipping and clicking during loud sounds. On the AC3Filter website you can read all about this and make your own judgement on how to best do this.

In the instructions linked above, the author describes having a movie going and having the AC3Filter tool up so that you can see the levels and adjust accordingly. To do this, open AC3Filter Config Utility, click the System tab, put a checkmark next to 'Show Tray Icon'. Now, if you are using media center, when you open media center, in the upper right click the middle icon
to display media center windowed. Start a movie. On the systray click the icon for AC3Filter. You can now see the input and output levels and adjust accordingly.

So far I have increased both levels to about +12db. This seems to have helped. Now when I run a movie using webguide on my xbox 360, the sound is about the same as when watching tv, without having to adjust the amplifier.

Also if you are installing AC3filter for the first time and use Webguide you may need to run the webguide configuration tool and tell webguide to use the AC3Filter.

Guitar Hero 3 guitar problems

We have the wireless guitar that came with Guitar Hero 3. There is an issue when playing RED and YELLOW notes together. When R and Y are pressed, strums trigger GREEN, so you cannot play RED YELLOW notes. But, I did find that if you strum up, it works.

I have tried taking the neck off and cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser. That did not help. I also tried compressing the neck to see if better contact would fix it - it did not.

I've found multiple threads online where others discuss the problems they are having with this guitar. I've found others having the same problem I am.

One person supposedly figured out a fix but their English is not great. Have a look here:
http://www.guitarhero.com/forums/14/forum_topics/6008

Here is another thread where people discuss problems and possible fixes:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?s=b5a99bb179764f676ea434ec6e40af76&showtopic=628006&st=15

Vista Media Center - Media Center has stopped working

I started getting Media Center (Vista 32-bit edition) has stopped working right after I opened media center. I do not know what caused this error but I found a forum dicussion on this and one of the suggestions worked for me:

Go to c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome (and sub-folders)
and delete all filesthat were created after you installed Vista

Free Rice

Free rice website

Link to some usefule Run commands

Useful Run Commands for Windows

The source of this list is listed below. I did not create this list - and it is not my intent to take any credit for the list.

(http://www.fixmyxp.com/content/view/20/42/)

Accessibility Controls
access.cpl

Accessibility Wizard
accwiz

Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl

Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl

Administrative Tools
control admintools

Adobe Acrobat (if installed)
acrobat

Adobe Designer (if installed)
acrodist

Adobe Distiller (if installed)
acrodist

Adobe ImageReady (if installed)
imageready

Adobe Photoshop (if installed)
photoshop

Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Transfer Wizard
fsquirt

Calculator
calc

Certificate Manager
certmgr.msc

Character Map
charmap

Check Disk Utility
chkdsk

Clipboard Viewer
clipbrd

Command Prompt
cmd

Component Services
dcomcnfg

Computer Management
compmgmt.msc

Control Panel
control

Date and Time Properties
timedate.cpl

DDE Shares
ddeshare

Device Manager
devmgmt.msc

Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*
directx.cpl

Direct X Troubleshooter
dxdiag

Disk Cleanup Utility
cleanmgr

Disk Defragment
dfrg.msc

Disk Management
diskmgmt.msc

Disk Partition Manager
diskpart

Display Properties
control desktop

Display Properties
desk.cpl

Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)
control color

Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility
drwtsn32

Driver Verifier Utility
verifier

Event Viewer
eventvwr.msc

Files and Settings Transfer Tool
migwiz

File Signature Verification Tool
sigverif

Findfast
findfast.cpl

Firefox (if installed)
firefox

Folders Properties
control folders

Fonts
control fonts

Fonts Folder
fonts

Free Cell Card Game
freecell

Game Controllers
joy.cpl

Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)
gpedit.msc

Hearts Card Game
mshearts

Help and Support
helpctr

HyperTerminal
hypertrm

Iexpress Wizard
iexpress

Indexing Service
ciadv.msc

Internet Connection Wizard
icwconn1

Internet Explorer
iexplore

Internet Properties
inetcpl.cpl

Internet Setup Wizard
inetwiz

IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)
ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)
ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)
ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)
ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)
ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)
ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)
jpicpl32.cpl

Java Control Panel (If Installed)
javaws

Keyboard Properties
control keyboard

Local Security Settings
secpol.msc

Local Users and Groups
lusrmgr.msc

Logs You Out Of Windows
logoff

Malicious Software Removal Tool
mrt

Microsoft Access (if installed)
access.cpl

Microsoft Chat
winchat

Microsoft Excel (if installed)
excel

Microsoft Frontpage (if installed)
frontpg

Microsoft Movie Maker
moviemk

Microsoft Paint
mspaint

Microsoft Powerpoint (if installed)
powerpnt

Microsoft Word (if installed)
winword

Microsoft Syncronization Tool
mobsync

Minesweeper Game
winmine

Mouse Properties
control mouse

Mouse Properties
main.cpl

Nero (if installed)
nero

Netmeeting
conf

Network Connections
control netconnections

Network Connections
ncpa.cpl

Network Setup Wizard
netsetup.cpl

Notepad
notepad

Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)
nvtuicpl.cpl

Object Packager
packager

ODBC Data Source Administrator
odbccp32.cpl

On Screen Keyboard
osk

Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)
ac3filter.cpl

Outlook Express
msimn

Paint
pbrush

Password Properties
password.cpl

Performance Monitor
perfmon.msc

Performance Monitor
perfmon

Phone and Modem Options
telephon.cpl

Phone Dialer
dialer

Pinball Game
pinball

Power Configuration
powercfg.cpl

Printers and Faxes
control printers

Printers Folder
printers

Private Character Editor
eudcedit

Quicktime (If Installed)
QuickTime.cpl

Quicktime Player (if installed)
quicktimeplayer

Real Player (if installed)
realplay

Regional Settings
intl.cpl

Registry Editor
regedit

Registry Editor
regedit32

Remote Access Phonebook
rasphone

Remote Desktop
mstsc

Removable Storage
ntmsmgr.msc

Removable Storage Operator Requests
ntmsoprq.msc

Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)
rsop.msc

Scanners and Cameras
sticpl.cpl

Scheduled Tasks
control schedtasks

Security Center
wscui.cpl

Services
services.msc

Shared Folders
fsmgmt.msc

Shuts Down Windows
shutdown

Sounds and Audio
mmsys.cpl

Spider Solitare Card Game
spider

SQL Client Configuration
cliconfg

System Configuration Editor
sysedit

System Configuration Utility
msconfig

System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)
sfc /scannow

System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)
sfc /scanonce

System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)
sfc /scanboot

System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)
sfc /revert

System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)
sfc /purgecache

System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)
sfc /cachesize=x

System Information
msinfo32

System Properties
sysdm.cpl

Task Manager
taskmgr

TCP Tester
tcptest

Telnet Client
telnet

Tweak UI (if installed)
tweakui

User Account Management
nusrmgr.cpl

Utility Manager
utilman

Windows Address Book
wab

Windows Address Book Import Utility
wabmig

Windows Backup Utility (if installed)
ntbackup

Windows Explorer
explorer

Windows Firewall
firewall.cpl

Windows Magnifier
magnify

Windows Management Infrastructure
wmimgmt.msc

Windows Media Player
wmplayer

Windows Messenger
msmsgs

Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected)
wiaacmgr

Windows System Security Tool
syskey

Windows Update Launches
wupdmgr

Windows Version (to show which version of windows)
winver

Windows XP Tour Wizard
tourstart

Wordpad
write

Booting from WinPE WIM

Booting from WinPE WIM stored locally

Interesting read (and page for that matter).

His main page:
http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/socal/default.aspx

Remote support

Sometimes it is easier to try and fix something over the phone rather than drive out to the clients house. The problem may be a quick fix, or the travelling may be too much to justify the time and gas. I've been looking for an easy to use, free method of providing remote desktop support. Currently I am checking out the SharedView Beta 2 from Microsoft.

The install requires administrative permissions. Close Messenger and any Office apps before installing.

The environment I tested in is not NAT. But I do have a admin configured firewall on this system and I did not have to make any exceptions.

Sharing can be by open application, or the entire destop.

It is worth checking out. It does require Windows Live ID /Passport account.

Microsoft command line reference

Microsoft command line reference

This is a good thorough reference on command line options.

Monitoring IPSEC traffic

We were testing something where we enabled IPSEC for port 445 on both server and client, but when browsing shares we were not seeing the secured connection in IP Security Policy Monitor. The reason was NetBIOS. SMB connections were being made on 139 instead of 445. After disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP, then the secured connections showed up on port 445.

To disable SMB use of Netbios port 139 (Forces use of port 445):
On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Network and Dial-up Connections
Right-click Internet facing connection, and then click Properties.
Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP and select Properties
Click Advanced and select the WINS tab
Tick Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and click Ok

2Wire WEP key

This comes up often enough to mention. Often 2Wire modems have built-in wireless routers. These use WEP and the key is recorded on the bottom of the modem. Look for the key in between the [ ] characters.

HP's Vista systems and problems with their bundled crapware

It appears that some of the bundled crapware on HP Vista systems can cause a problem for some systems. In particular, individuals may get a pop-up blank window saying 'navigation cancelled' and having the time and date in the title bar.

The above error comes from a scheduled task for 'Internet Services offer'.

To stop this from happening go to Start>Control Panel>(here you may need to select to show classic view)>Administrative Tools>Task Scheduler. If you highlight Task Scheduler Library on the left, in the upper right you should see some tasks (possibly these):

ExtendedServicePlan
HP Health Check
ServicePlan

Right click the tasks and chose disable.

I believe one of the tasks listed above triggers the problem (two of the three are scheduled to run every 30 minutes).

Something else I found mentions it being related to one (or both) of these processes (.exes)

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\SDP\RemEngine.exe

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\SDP\hpsdpapp.exe

I'm fairly sure if you disable the three processes (or which ever one's you have) listed above, that window will stop popping up. But I am not positive (I only had the system I was working on for a while). I'm pretty sure I had the system up for well over a half hour after disabling the scheduled tasks mentioned above, and I did not get the pop-up window.

If you do get the pop-up window, and want to get it off the screen (since it does not have the option to close it), click the window once and then hit ALT and F4. Alt + F4 close the active window.

Learning about wireless

Here's another good read on wireless signals

stumbler.net (under Fri 4 Feb 2005)

Wireless signal strength and noise levels

I've been messing with moving my wireless AP around. I came across this website (Boost Your Signal ) talking about wireless, signals, and antennas.

Last night I was using the Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility and notice the signal from my AP is weaker than a neighbors. Tonight I moved the AP upstairs and more central in the house. The signal is stronger (stronger than the neighbor's) but I am noticing something I've not noticed before. The 'speed' reported by Vista is low, and when I am downloading it goes incredibly low. To 1Mbps. I've got a N card in the laptop I am using and the router support N. So why so low. I also notice while downloading the reported noise level greatly increases. Right now the signal is around -54dBm and the noise is -88dBm. I started a file download and the signal stays about the same, but the noise goes to -75dBm. The 'speed' went from 39Mbps to 1 or 2Mbps.

Sent to Mail Recipient gone - get it back

After upgrading to Office 2007 from Office 2003 SP2 on XP Pro SP2, I lost the 'mail recipient' option when right click and file and going to 'Send To'.

I was able to restore it by running the command (Start>Run) regsvr32 sendmail.dll. Now when I right click something, like a .jpg, and go to Send To, Mail Recipient is an option.

I got the instructions for this procedure on Ramesh's site

Wireless Issues

Wireless issues - I had a Netgear Rangemax wireless router WPN824 that kept requiring a power cycle to restore network connectivity. Often I would lose my wireless connection - I never knew why. I would have to go unplug it and plug it back in. Eventually the problems got worse. Wired connectivity would drop also. On the last day I used this unit I had to power cycle it probably every 15 minutes. After about 5 times I decided to replace it. I got a Belkin F5D8231-4 IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft) N1 Wireless Router. Setup was quick now that Insight does not require the MAC address registration procedure. I did have an issue. For one, when in semi-close to close proximity to the router I lost data transmission. I had a wireless connection, with 5 bars. I had an IP address, gateway, and dns. I could ping address by name. But I could not connect to anything or send any data. I couldn't even connect to the router's interface (wirelessly). I tried changing channels. That did not help. Finally I changed the frequency setting from 20Mhz to 20-40Mhz auto and now wireless works in close proximity.

Insight claims to have 10Mbps up and 1Mbps down. With the Netgear I averaged 5Mbps down and 1Mbps up. I always thought I must have noise or a weak signal on my incoming connection to the cable company. Surprisingly, once I setup the Belkin I started getting 10Mbps down and 1Mbps up. At times when downloading of the net, I will get as high as 1.3MBps.

Recently I have helped two households with Xbox360 live and Halo 3. In one case two friends could join online games and play, but could not host or join with each other. Both were using Linksys WRT54G routers. I made sure that uPnP was enabled, that did not help. I tried setting the Xbox's IP as the DMZ, that did not help. Bungie said that when running Xbox networking test, the NAT should report Open NAT. It did. Then I updated the firmware (these were both brand new devices so not sure why the firmware was old), and that fixed the problem. They could both host and join each other.

The other was again a Netgear WPN824 router with an Xbox 360 connected through wireless. The network test was reporting Strict NAT. This person has been gaming on Xbox live for a while with no problems. With Halo 3 they were frequently losing connections, having lots of lag, and not being able to join games. Because of the previous experience I checked that uPnP was enabled (it was already) and updated the firmware. Once the firmware was updated Xbox reported Open NAT and the individual could get on and play Halo 3. Now they are having a different problem. The Xbox is frequently losing connectivity. We changed the channel from 6 to 11. I have yet to hear back if that helped. These individuals did report a increase in the number of access points showing up for them so it is possible they are getting interference.

IPSEC

Working on IPSEC configuration. I wanted to set an SMB encryption policy using domain policy but I am getting 'access denied' when I get to the edit properties part of the new policy creation.

Here's why (I am not a domain admin):

To manage Active Directory-based IPSec policies, you must be a member of the
Domain Admins group in Active Directory, or you must have been delegated the
appropriate authority. -Assign or unassign IPSEC policy in Group Policy

This can be done through a local gpo though. But for deployment on multiple systems we will probably need to script this. I will look at Netsh for this:

Managing IPSec from the command line

Apply these steps to your file server and the host computer(s) that you would like to establish an encrypted SMB session.
Note: You need to test this in a development environment before you deploy it to your production environment.
Open the MMC with ‘IP Security Monitor’ and IP Security Policy Management’ (local computer)

Video problems waking from sleep

I have two computers running Vista Ultimate that have exhibited a problem when waking from standby. After logging on, the screen goes black and stays black, or you get a colored screen (bluish green) and diagonal lines moving around. In one case (Nvidia) I got this problem after installing a newer driver. Doing a driver rollback fixed it. In the other case, a laptop with a ATI 1150 card, doing a driver update fixed the problem.