[graham.myers]

sorry abut this but I've gone around in circles and gotten myself confused

I built a 7mc machine got everything working apart from a couple of things. I did a tweak and it all came crashing around my ears.

so rather than unwind what I did I went for a fresh install to keep it as clean as possible, now documenting as I go.

I installed windows then the tv tuner driver then daemon tools. I also installed a mkv splitter (gasta's I think - the one linked on hack7mv)

then ffdshow and then media browser

basic test fails - put a DVD (physical not iso) and wmp plays it instead of media centre in a seperate window. I'm sure I had it playing inside media centre with its own pause stop etc. was I just imagining that and it just spawns off wmp into a separate window to play dvds?

I can mount isos in mb as long as I dont auto start daemon tools but again it then starts the dvd in wmp

However, If I play a .VOB file straight off a network it gives me a file not found error in MC

If I want ffdshow to play everything will it still need wmp (or tmt3) to play the (I assume) .vob files.

I've got a 15 day eval of TMT3 but havent installed that yet - I wanted the basic stuff working before I started on bluray and hddvd

I also have a eval of coreavc but if ffdshow will do everything I wont bother with that

I've got myself all confused and cant remember half of what I've read

help

[Daveybryce]

Oh dear Graham not to worry

I think most of these issues are fairly straight forward.

Ok

Firstly are you loading the DVD when MCE is open or just on an ordinary desktop. MCE uses WMP to show video and audio content but within MCE.

FFDShow is a set of codecs and direct filter and is not a player in any shape or form. You still need a player that can read .vob and .ts files. MCE doesn't have a native BD/HDDVD decoder hence you need a third party player such as Arcsoft's TMT3 Platinum. However MCE with play SD DVD's.

I think someone on here did a little experiment to see the difference between CoreAVC and FFDshow's H264 decoding skills and CoreAVC used approx 2-4% less CPU usage when decoding H264.

To get FFDshow working in Windows 7 you need to change 2 registry entries. Check my 7MC build thread in my siggi to enable FFDShow. You will also need to select FFmpeg-mt decoder for H264 to enable multithreading decoding.

I would worry about your network after the main pc is working properly.

If i've missed something just shout, or if you need anything else let me know.

[graham.myers]

Cheers Dave

I've tested mkv and mp4 - they play fine inside 7mc

if I select an iso for an sd-dvd in mc then it runs wmp in a seperate window. ditto for inserting a dvd while 7mc is running

if I browse a vob file then shouldnt wmp play that too? its whats on a dvd at the end of the day

[Daveybryce]

Are you playing the ISO's from within Mediabrowser, there may be a setting the the Mediabrowser configurator that might launch it in WMP under the deamon tools tab. I never play ISO's so can't really be much help. I always rip using MakeMKV.

I think you media browser may be configured to launch a 3party player, have a read thru this to see if this is the case

Configuring External Players - MediaBrowser

Otherwise I'm a bit lost

[gvers]

Check your auto play settings in control panel. Have you got it set WMP for DVD. If so change it to MC. Personally I would use Virtual Clone Drive rather than Daemon Tools.

[graham.myers]

on my initial build I had virtual clone drive and daemon loaded but it seemed to use daemon all the time so on the rebuild I didnt bother with VCD

now strangley the waf factor has kicked in

she was having a Patrick Swayze memorial evening by having a girly night and watching dirty dancing. when I was testing I got two windows - one for 7mc and one for wmp. when guests arrived I put the dvd in and 7mc played it without a seperate wmp window. spooky!

anyway I've watched q of s (james bond) on my popcorn hour in the cinema room and much the worse for wear after a few sherberts so will investigate this over the weekend

[JessicaD]

Graham.myers,
Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 RC Support Forum located here [mod comment - link removed not a MS site] . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to check the threads available there for additional assistance and feedback.
Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

[Daveybryce]

Originally Posted by graham.myers

on my initial build I had virtual clone drive and daemon loaded but it seemed to use daemon all the time so on the rebuild I didnt bother with VCD

now strangley the waf factor has kicked in

she was having a Patrick Swayze memorial evening by having a girly night and watching dirty dancing. when I was testing I got two windows - one for 7mc and one for wmp. when guests arrived I put the dvd in and 7mc played it without a seperate wmp window. spooky!

anyway I've watched q of s (james bond) on my popcorn hour in the cinema room and much the worse for wear after a few sherberts so will investigate this over the weekend

Graham,

If you go into the mediabrowser config from program files in the start menu and instead of selecting the Daemon Lite.exe launcher choose the VCD launcher, this will enable VCD to be used in MB rather than Daemon tools lite. Also i read somewhere that you need a certain version of Daemon tools and later in order to use it with Windows7.

I'll dig the info out (when I eventually get home tonight) for the version of Daemon Tools.

[graham.myers]

I think I have the correct version of DT - I found that info before somewhere probably in your thread!

I'll try vcd cheers