Hi all!

Note: This thread describes the old xpMCE (Windows XP) Media Center 2005 version of my add-ins!
(See here for the new Windows Vista version.)

Note: This version for xpMCE 2005 RU2 will be not developed any further by me (i.e. no new features, no bug-fixes). The Vista version will act as its replacement.

There's a number of MCE add-ins I've been writing for my own use, some of which I've published on the German MCE-Community site HERE. Since there's been some interest in an English version, I thought I'd publish it here too.

Some of the add-ins are more useful, some less. Please remember that this is a hobby project. The add-ins do not come in a fancy installer, so you will have to unzip, copy/move files and edit config files manually...

The add-ins come in form of two DLLs which both are required. However, you can decide for yourself which of the add-ins in the DLLs to activate on your system and which not.

Important: Only works with MCE 2005 with Rollup 2 or later!

Add-Ins Currently In the DLLs:

• Main Background Add-In: This add-in has several sub-features which can be activated separately:
  - Timeshift-Buffer Backup (Bugfix)
  - MCE-Message
  - OnStartup Execute
  - OnResume Execute
• TV-Archivation
• Slideshow Settings

The following describes the general installation of the add-in package. I'll then follow up (over time) with more postings in this thread with a more detailed description of each of the features.

Installation

Precondition: The add-ins work only on MCE 2005 Rollup 2 or later (.NET 1.1 is required). Also you need to install the J# redistributable package version 1.1, available from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E3CF70A9-84CA-4FEA-9E7D-7D674D2C7CA1

To check if you already have the J# 1.1 redistributable, check the installed software (via the Control Panel) and look for "Microsoft Visual J# .NET Redistributable Package 1.1". (Do not confuse with a similar package for 2.0 which you may also have installed.)

Now, for the actual installation, download the JHTAddIn.zip file which you will find attached to the posting in the German community HERE (scroll to the bottom of the first posting in this thread - not the bottom of the whole thread!)
Make sure that you are actually downloading the xpMCE version of the add-in from the German page: Check the note in red at the very top of the first posting to make sure it says "xpMCE".
Unzip the file into any suitable folder (called "install folder" below).

In the install folder, you'll find two DLL files called JHTAddIn.dll and JHTAddInUtil.dll. You need to copy both of these files into your ehome folder in the Windows folder (usually C:\Windows\ehome).

Now you have the DLLs in place, so what's left is to register (activate) those add-ins from the DLLs that you are interested in:

For each add-in, you'll find a matching regADD_IN_NAME.cmd file in the "reg-unreg" subfolder of the installation folder which you can use to register the add-in with MCE (and also a matching unregADD_IN_NAME.cmd file for unregistering it again). When registering an add-in, you are also asked which language you want: 1=German, 2=English.

See the following postings in this thread for more information about which registration file to use for which add-in. You may also have to edit the add-in config file to supply further settings for a specific add-in. More about this later.

Finally, after registering all add-ins you are interested in, you need to restart MCE.

Note: You can always "activate" further add-ins from the package, or "deactivate" some with this process (see also "Uninstall" below). Simply execute the matching CMD file and then restart MCE.

Uninstall

If you only want to stop using a certain add-in from the package, simple execute the matching unregADD_IN_NAME.cmd file (and restart MCE).

If you want to uninstall the whole package and all add-ins in it, do so here:

• Stop MCE
• Run all unregADD_IN_NAME.cmd files from the "reg-unreg" folder
  (it doesn't hurt to run a file for an add-in that is not actually registered, so to be on the safe side that you actually unregister all of them, simply execute all files).
• Delete the two DLL files JHTAddIn.dll and JHTAddInUtil.dll from your ehome folder (usually C:\Windows\ehome).
• Restart MCE

Update with a new Version

I recommend to first unregister all add-ins of the old version, then delete the old install folder (but keep the old config file!), then install the new version, then register the add-ins of the new version you are interested in, then transfer your settings from the old config file (or the whole file) to the new install folder, like this:

• Stop MCE
• Run all unregADD_IN_NAME.cmd files from the "reg-unreg" folder
  (it doesn't hurt to run a file for an add-in that is not actually registered, so to be on the safe side that you actually unregister all of them, simply execute all files).
• Delete the old install folder, but save a copy of the old jhtAddIn.properties file (you'll still need it!).
• Install the new version as described above under Installation (only this time around you can of course skip the J# 1.1 step, also you'll need to overwrite the existing JHTAddIn.dll and JHTAddInUtil.dll files in the ehome folder with the new DLLs).
• Execute the regADD_IN_NAME.cmd commands from the reg-unreg folder in the new install folder for those add-ins that you are interested in.
• Transfer the old jhtAddIn.properties config file (which you saved in the step above) to the new install folder. It may be necessary to then also edit this file to activate or configure new features in the new version.
• Start MCE

Finally...

If you use my add-ins and like them, I would be happy about any feedback (probably also if you don't like them! ;-)

If there are any problems, don't hesitate to ask.

Please see the following postings for the descriptions of the individual add-ins. (Work in progress, I'll make these postings over time.)

Update 27 Nov 2006: Attached a new ZIP file to the posting at the German community (see link above) which fixes a problem in the "timeshift-buffer backup" add-in: If MCE had been running for a while, it could happen that the keyboard-hook that is listening for the "3x-left" combo on the remote (to trigger the add-in) would become unhooked, so it would no longer be possible to trigger the add-in. This should now be fixed.

Doc

Main Background Add-In

(This add-in is activated by running regMainBackgroundAddIn.cmd and deactivated by running unregMainBackgroundAddIn.cmd. Once the add-in is activated, any of its individual sub-features can be activated/deactivated via the config file. Once the add-in is deactivated, all its sub-features are deactivated too. For general installation instructions of the add-ins, please read the first posting in this thread!)

This add-in is a background add-in which means that it is started together with MCE and remains active in the background (but usually doesn't do anything and doesn't use CPU-time, unless its features are accessed).

The add-in contains several sub-features which can be activated or deactivated via a config file. Also in the config file you can specify further settings for some of the sub-features. For details on how to activate/deactivate and configure each sub-feature, please see the corresponding posting further below for each sub-feature.

The config file is called jhtAddIn.properties and is located in the install folder. It can be edited with any text editor (like Notepad). After a change in the config file it is enough to restart MCE to make the changes active (an additional execution of regMainBackgroundAddIn.cmd is not necessary if only jhtAddIn.properties is edited).

The add-in contains the following sub-features:

• Timeshift-Buffer Backup
• MCE-Message
• OnStartup Execute
• OnResume Execute

See below for explanations of the individual sub-features.

Timeshift-Buffer Backup

This feature is a sub-feature of the main background add-in which must be activated for this sub-feature to be available. Therefore, please do also read the posting about the main background add-in above. For a general installation description please read the first posting in this thread!

This sub-feature of the main background add-in allows you to back up the accumulated MCE timeshift-buffer while watching live TV, which will then appear like a normal recorded show.

To activate this feature, the config file jhtAddIn.properties must contain this line:

timeshiftBufferSave=true

Once the feature is running you can activate it at any time while watching live TV in full screen mode simply by pressing 3x-Left on the remote, i.e. press the "left" button (left-arrow) 3 times in quick succession. Shortly after you'll get a dialog which asks you if you want to back up the timeshift-buffer or not.

If you choose "No" then nothing further will happen (which is also the case if the dialog closes automatically after a while).

If you choose "Yes", the buffer-backup is started, with the following steps:

(Note: While the following may look complicated at first glance, it is actually quite simple to use, as each dialog will tell you what will happen or what you are supposed to do - the whole process is quite self-explanatory and not really difficult to understand or use.)

• Start-dialog: A further dialog is displayed which informs you about what is about to happen. Once this dialog is closed (with OK or when it closes automatically) the backup proceeds:
• A recording of the current show is started (the "red dot" appears).
  Important: Do not stop the recording of this show and do not switch channels until the final completion message of the backup process is displayed. This may take a while, so be patient!
• Once the recording has been started, the backup of the buffer will be performed in the background.
• Once the backup is complete, another dialog will appear to inform you about this.
  This dialog also lets you choose if you want to keep the whole backed up buffer or only the end (the final/later/younger part) of the buffer, starting at a position you can define yourself.
  This is for example useful if you have been watching live-TV for a while already and there's already a lot of stuff accumulated in the buffer, not all of which you are interested in (but for example you want to keep only a recent scene you just watched).
  Depending on your choice the add-in proceeds:
• Save All:
  • A final info dialog is displayed informing you of the final completion of the backup. The backup process is now completed.
• Final Part Only:
  • Another info dialog is displayed which explains how you are supposed to define the start-position from which the backup shall be kept (with "Pause" and "OK", more details below).
    Once you have confirmed this dialog (or it disappears by itself) the add-in will automatically start playing the buffer backup recording which it has just saved. Now use the usual means (Forward, Rewind, Skip, Replay, Slow-Motion, etc.) to find the position in the recording which marks the start-position from where you want to keep the backup. Once you have found the correct position, press Pause (not Stop!) and then press OK. This defines the paused position as the desired start position.
  • You'll see another confirmation dialog that asks if this is really the correct position. If you answer "No" then you can go back and search for a better position (again with "Pause" and "OK"). If you answer "Yes", then the following will happen:
  • The live-TV that you were watching will automatically be played again (or rather the recording of it which was started above - you might have to rewind a bit for the part which you missed while you were defining the start-position).
  • Then a further info-dialog appears with details about the pending process (of cropping the buffer backup).
  • After you confirm this dialog (or it disappears by itself), the buffer backup recording will automatically be cropped up until the position that you selected, i.e. only the part after the selected position will remain.
  • Once this process is completed another dialog is displayed informing you about the completion.

Once the process is completed, the buffer backup recording will be available in your normal "Recorded TV" list in MCE, just like a normal recorded show. The recording will have the name Live-TV and the subtitle will be the date and time for the time-span of live-tv contained in the recording.

(To see the new recording in the list, it might be necessary to refresh the list by switching between "Sort by Date" and "Sort by Title" and back.)

The recording will be stored in a normal DVR-MS file and can be handled like any other recording (watched, deleted, processed to MPEG or with DCut or whatever).
On disk, the file will be located in a subfolder called "TimeshiftBuffers" located in your normal TV-recordings folder.

BTW: The timeshift buffer backup will contain the whole accumulated buffer since you have started watching live-TV, including all channel switches (up to the maximum length of the buffer).

That means that the add-in is also useful in one of those ugly situations where you are watching live-TV and then pause/stop for a while (or rewind) and from then on you watch TV from the buffer, i.e. you are "behind" in time. If in this situation you accidentially switch channels, then normally the part in the buffer that you have not watched yet would have been lost, because once you switch back to the correct channel, you will see the "current" live-TV and rewinding into the past is not possible anymore. With the add-in, you can now trigger a buffer backup and thus gain access to the part of the buffer before the accidential channel switch.
(I explained this in more detail HERE.)

Advanced Configuration: By default, the add-in assumes that the timeshift-buffer files are located in their default folder, which is the subfolder "TempRec\TempSBE" of the default TV-recordings folder (the location of the default TV-recordings folder is in turn read from the Windows registry).
If however the buffer files are located in a different folder (for example if you have configured the TV-recordings folder to be located on a shared network drive, but have left the temp-folder on the local computer, or if you are using a junction in the file system to have the recordings- and temp-folders on different disks or partitions), then you need to tell the add-in the path to the temp-folder by adding the following entry to the jhtAddIn.properties config file:

timeshiftBufferTempSBEFolder=PATH_TO_TempSBE_FOLDER

where PATH_TO_TempSBE_FOLDER is to be replaced with the path of the folder where the temporary buffer files (the files with names like "SBE*.tmp") are located on your system. (In the config file, remember to use "\\" or "/" instead of the normal "\" in the path!)

MCE-Message

This feature is a sub-feature of the main background add-in which must be activated for this sub-feature to be available. Therefore, please do also read the posting about the main background add-in above. For a general installation description please read the first posting in this thread!

This sub-feature allows other processes to show a notification dialog inside of the MCE. This dialog can contain text and optionally a PNG-image and has an OK button. Also, the dialog can either be modal or non-modal and can disappear automatically after a certain timeout.

To activate this sub-feature, the config file jhtAddIn.properties must contain the following line:

remoteCalls=true

To display a message in MCE, use the MCEMessage.exe (which is also part of the ZIP file that contains the add-ins, i.e. you'll find it in the install folder).

From a command prompt (or from inside of a batch command file), run the EXE with the following parameters:

MCEMessage TITLE TEXT TIMEOUT MODAL IMAGEPATH

with the following meaning:

• TITLE: The title text of the dialog. Enclose in quotes <"> if the title contains spaces.
• TEXT: The message text of the dialog. Enclose in quotes <"> if the text contains spaces.
  If the text is supposed to contain several lines, then use the sequence "\r\n" (without the quotes) to insert a linebreak. In this case this really means the 4-characters sequence backslash-r-backslash-n (not the two bytes 0x0D 0x0A). For example "First line\r\nSecond Line".
• TIMEOUT: Timeout in seconds after which the dialog shall disappear again. A value of 0 means "no timeout" (the dialog will remain open until "OK" is selected).
• MODAL: Must be either 1 or 0 meaning:
  1 = dialog is modal, i.e. while the dialog is being displayed, the rest of the MCE user interface can not be accessed (until the dialog is closed).
  0 = dialog is non-modal, i.e. the MCE page "behind" the dialog remains accessible.
  Note: It is not possible to have a non-modal dialog without a TIMEOUT, therefore, if MODAL=0, then TIMEOUT=0 does not mean "no timeout", but instead MCE will apply a default timeout.
• IMAGEPATH: This is the only optional parameter (can be left out). If provided, then it must point to a PNG image file. This image will be displayed in the dialog together with the text. Enclose in quotes <"> if the path contains spaces.

BTW, the dialog will be displayed in all currently running instances of the MCE shell, which means that it will be displayed in the actual main MCE shell of the PC (if it is started) and also on all extenders which are currently connected. This works for the main MCE shell plus up to 5 extenders.

Important: The MCE-Message add-in only works if certains ports in the Windows firewall are opened for local access, because MCEMessage.exe talks to the add-in via these ports. The add-in uses the ports 31031 and following, i.e. the first MCE shell that is started (be it the main MCE on the PC or an extender) uses port 31031, the second uses port 31032 and so on.
Therefore you need to open these ports in the Windows firewall for the add-in to work. When opening the ports, you can restrict them to the local computer, so that you do not open a security hole on your computer.
Do so here:
(I'm writing this on a German language XP, so I'm not sure that I'm getting the correct names of the menus and buttons, if in doubt, try to find something with a similar name...)
Control Panel -> Windows-Firewall -> Exceptions -> Port...
Then enter a meaningful "Name" (for example "MCEMessage Add-In") and for port enter 31031. Then click "Change Area..." (this button probably has a different name?). Then "Userdefined" and enter "127.0.0.1" into the input field (without the quotes) as the IP-address. Click OK 2 times. Now port 31031 is opened.
If you only have the main MCE (no extender), then this is all you need to do. For each extender you have, repeat the same procedure with an additional port. I.e. for the first extender open port 31032, for the second extender port 31033 and so on (up to 5 extenders).
If you have a different personal firewall instead of (or in addition to) the Windows-firewall, you probably need to configure it in a similar way to open the ports.

OnStartup Execute

This feature is a sub-feature of the main background add-in which must be activated for this sub-feature to be available. Therefore, please do also read the posting about the main background add-in above. For a general installation description please read the first posting in this thread!

This sub-feature allows you to automatically run an external program (or batch file) at each start of the MCE shell.

To activate this sub-feature, add the following two lines to the jhtAddIn.properties config file:

onStartup=true
onStartupCommand=COMMAND

where COMMAND needs to be replaced with the command that is to be executed (including all parameters).

The given command will then be executed once after each start of the MCE shell.

The home folder in which the command will be run will be your ehome folder, i.e. %WINDIR%\ehome. Therefore you may have to supply the full path to the desired EXE file, for example:

onStartupCommand=C:/Sample/MyProgram.exe param1 param2 param3

To run a batch file, execute "cmd.exe" and use the name of the batch file as a parameter (followed by the parameters for the batch file itself). In the batch file, remember to do a "cd PATH" to the correct folder in which your batch file is supposed to work, otherwise it will be working in %WINDIR%\ehome.
If you want to close the command line window after the batch file completes, you need to include the "/c" parameter. If the command line window is supposed to remain open include "/k" instead. So usually something liket his:

onStartupCommand=cmd /c C:/Sample/MyBatch.cmd param1 param2 param3

Remember to use "/" or "\\" in paths, not the usual "\"!

OnResume Execute

This feature is a sub-feature of the main background add-in which must be activated for this sub-feature to be available. Therefore, please do also read the posting about the main background add-in above. For a general installation description please read the first posting in this thread!

This sub-feature allows you to automatically run an external program (or batch file) each time the PC wakes up from "Standby" (while the MCE shell is running).

To activate this sub-feature, add the following two lines to the jhtAddIn.properties config file:

onResume=true
onResumeCommand=COMMAND

where COMMAND needs to be replaced with the command that is to be executed (including all parameters).

The given command will then be executed each time the PC wakes up from Standby, but only if the MCE shell is open.

For more details about the COMMAND, please see OnStartup Execute above.

Slideshow Settings Add-In

(This add-in is activated by running regSlideshowSettingsAddIn.cmd and deactivated by running unregSlideshowSettingsAddIn.cmd. For general installation instructions of the add-ins, please read the first posting in this thread!)

This is a rather simple add-in for a quite trivial use, with the following background:

Frequently I run a slideshow with some of my pictures while MCE is playing music. In this case, I want the pictures in random sequence, with animations and relatively quickly after each other.
Every now and then however I also watch (or show) a "real" slideshow, for example with vacation pictures. In this case I do of course not want a random sequence and usually also no animations and a longer interval for each picture.

In this situation I was annoyed that for getting to the "Slideshow Settings" page, I always have to go via "Info/i-Key -> Settings -> Pictures". (I'm not sure if this are the correct names on an English MCE, but I guess you understand what I mean...)

So I created this add-in as a shortcut: If a picture folder is selected in MCE and you press "Info/i" on the remote, then the popup menu will contain an additional "More..." entry. If you select it you go to a "More..." page where you will find an icon for "Slideshow Settings". Now click this icon and you will go directly to the slideshow settings page where you can adjust randomness, animations and speed (and other settings).

I know: It's not rocket science, but it's a shortcut that saves me a few key-clicks on the remote to get to the page I want, and since it's part of the DLL anyway, I thought I might just as well describe it here too.

TV-Archivation Add-In

(This add-in is activated by running regTVArchiveAddIn.cmd and deactivated by running unregTVArchiveAddIn.cmd. For general installation instructions of the add-ins, please read the first posting in this thread!)

Background: I wrote this add-in to play around with the ListMaker interface which is built into MCE. Normally the ListMaker is meant for assembling media data (recordings, pictures, music) to then be burned on CD/DVD. It is however possible to use the ListMaker for other purposes too, which is what I did. Still, you will see its CD/DVD-burning roots here and there on the add-in pages, which you will have to ignore.
Since the add-in was programmed for personal use and as a playground for testing the ListMaker interface, I'm not sure about it's usefulness for others, but I thought I'd describe it anyway...

Anyway, the add-in has nothing to do with CD/DVD-burning but instead is meant for the situatuation where TV recordings are accumulating in the normal recordings folder and the disk is getting full. You don't want to delete recordings you haven't watched yet but you need to make space on the disk or the upcoming recordings will fail.
This is where the add-in may be helpful, to move recordings from the normal recordings folder to a pre-configured archivation folder (on a different disk or partition), but in a way that the details of the archived recordings will still be viewable under "My TV -> Recorded TV", so that you can still browse and select them.

(So actually it's more of a "Move-TV" add-in than a "TV-Archivation" add-in, but the latter just sounds better ).

Note: If you want to use this add-in and already have the version of "11 Nov 2006" installed, then I recommend to update with the newer version ("15 Nov 2006" or later) which is now available for download, because in the Nov. 11th version I forgot to translate one of the text strings from German to English. The new version can be downloaded from the same location as described in the first posting of this thread.

The add-in is meant for two use cases, which I'll describe in more detail later on:

• Online-Archive: The archive folder is always available (online), for example on a different partition or disk in the same PC, or on a network disk.
• Offline-Archive: The archive folder is not always available, for example on an external USB-disk which is normally switched off or on a disk in another PC which is not always running.

Online-Archive

Use case: The disk for normal recordings is getting full but there is another partition or disk with enough space. This second disk is usually always available. Selected recordings shall therefore be moved to this other disk, but shall still be available under "My TV -> Recorded TV".

For this the add-in can be used as follows:

• Create an archive folder on the second disk.
• Make this archive folder a "Watched Folder" for TV-recordings. For this you can either manually edit the registry key (see below for key) or you can use Microsoft's TweakMCE tool to set your "Watched Folders".
• Now add the following entry to the config file jhtAddIn.properties:
  tvArchiveFolder=PATH_TO_FOLDER
  where you replace "PATH_TO_FOLDER" with the full path-name of the archive folder (remember to use "/" or "\\" instead of the normal single "\"!).

You can now move recordings to this archive folder with the help of the add-in (see below for how to use the add-in). Since the archive folder is also a "Watched Folder", the moved recordings will still be available under "My TV -> Recorded TV".

(In case you want to configure the "Watched Folders" manually in the registry, edit the following entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\WatchedFolders
This entry is a multi-line entry. Specifiy one watched folder per line. The first line must always contain the normal TV-recordings folder, so you shouldn't change it. Simply add a new line with your archive folder.)

Offline Archive

Use case: The disk for normal recordings is getting full but there is an external USB-disk (or similar) with usable space. This external disk is usually switched off. Selected recordings shall be moved to this external disk, but shall still appear under "My TV -> Recorded TV", even if the external disk is switched off.

For this the add-in can be used as follows:

• Create an archive folder on the external disk.
• Do not add this folder as a "Watched Folder" for TV-recordings. This wouldn't make sense as this folder would normally not be visible anyway, when the disk is switched off.
• Instead, add the archive folder as a new folder under "My Videos". Here too the folder will only be visible when the external disk is switched on, but that is OK, because this folder is only used for playing/viewing the recordings anyway. More about this below.
• Now add the following two entries to the config file jhtAddIn.properties:
  tvArchiveFolder=PATH_TO_FOLDER
  tvArchiveKeepStubs=true
  where you replace "PATH_TO_FOLDER" with the full path-name of the archive folder (remember to use "/" or "\\" instead of the normal single "\"!).

Now you can use the add-in to move TV recordings from the normal recordings folder to the archive folder (see below for how to use the add-in). Of course this is only possible if the archive folder is online (the external disk is switched on - see also below on what happens if the disk is off).

The twist when using the offline archive is, that the add-in not only moves the recording to the archive folder, but it also leaves a small "stub" of just 50 KB size (i.e. negligible in size) in the original recordings folder (or more precisely, in a sub-folder called "ArchiveStubs"). This stub can of course not be played/viewed, but it does contain all the usual meta-data of the recording, like title, sub-title, description, etc.
That way, the recording with all its information remains present in the "My TV -> Recorded TV" list, even after it has been moved to an external disk which is usually switched off.

Of course you can't play this recording from the "Recorded TV" list, it is only there as a reminder (with details) of what recordings you also have (aside from those in the normal folder) in your archive folder.
To better discern between normal recordings (which can be played from this list) and archived recordings (which can not be played from this list), the meta-data in the stub has been augmented with the note "ARCHIVED RECORDING". So if you see this note, then you know that this is an archived recording.

The "workflow" when using the add-in in offline modus is therefore something like this:

• Archivation: Switch on external disk. Start add-in. Archive the desired recordings. Switch off external disk.
• Playing/Viewing: You browse through the list of TV-recordings looking for a recording you are interested in. For this you also have a look at the meta-data information of each recording. Then you decide to watch a recording with the note "ARCHIVED RECORDING", so this is what you do: Switch on the external disk. Go to "My Videos" and there open the archive folder. Search for the matching recording and play it. If you want to delete the recording after you have viewed it, do so here: Delete the recoding file in the archive folder under "My Videos". Then go to "Recorded TV" and look for the stub of the recording. Delete it too.
  Switch of the external disk.

Using the Add-In

The add-in is available under "More Programs" as an icon with the name "TV-Archivation". Just click the icon to start the add-in.

(If after clicking the icon the first page of the add-in does not appear, then this means that the configured archive folder [see above] ist not available. Either there's a mistake in the entry in the config file jhtAddIn.properties, or, in case you are using an offline-archive, the external disk is still switched off.)

The add-in consists of several pages which are made available by the ListMaker interface of MCE, which is why they fit very well into the MCE look & feel:

• Page 1 - Title: This page is part of the ListMaker interface and can unfortunately not be circumvented. For the TV-Archivation add-in this page is however without function (any input is ignored), therefore you don't have to bother with entering a title but can click "OK" immediately to proceed.
• Page 2 - Select Recordings: Select all TV recordings (one or several) which you want to move to the archive folder. The count of already selected recordings and the remaining space on the target disk is displayed in the status bar at the bottom. Once you have selected all recordings you want to archive, continue with "OK".
• Page 3 - Overview: This page shows a final overview with a list of all recordings that have been selected for archivation. You can now remove some recordings from the list again, if you want, or click on "Add More" to add some more. Click "Archive Now" to start the archivation process.
  Important: TV-recordings are rather large files (gigabytes) which is why moving these files can take quite a while. So please remain patient, even if it should take longer than you have expected! Do also not switch off (or standby) the computer and do not close the MCE, because that will stop the add-in and thus the archivation process.
• Archivation-Dialog: Once the archivation process has been started, the archivation-dialog is displayed. A progress bar shows how far the archivation has progressed.
  You can stop the archivation at any time by clicking "Stop" (in which case all recordings that have not yet been fully processed remain in place unchanged, but a partial file of the recording currently in process may already have been written to the archive folder where you may have to delete it manually).
  In most cases, archivation will take quite a while during which you will probably not want to view this progress dialog all the time. Therefore, you can close the dialog with "OK" and let the archivation work in the background while you continue to use your MCE (but do not forget that the process is still active and do not switch off your MCE!).
  If later you are interested in how far the process as come, simply select the add-in icon from "More Programs" again. Instead of starting the add-in again, this will redisplay the archivation-dialog with its progress bar.
• Completion-Dialog: Once the archivation has been completed (even if you have closed the archivation dialog), the completion dialog will inform you about this (the text is not totally fitting since it is a fixed text from the ListMaker interface).
  If archivation was successful, then you will now find the recording-file in the archive folder and it will have been deleted from the default recordings folder (and if you are using the offline-archive feature, a stub will have been created in the sub-folder "ArchiveStubs").
  If there was a problem during the archivation, then the original recording will remain in place, unchanged (in this case you may have to delete a partially written recordings-file from the archive folder).

Note: To be on the safe side in case of any problems, the add-in only deletes the original recordings-file after it has double checked that the copy in the archive folder was correctly written. For this, the add-in compares a checksum of the two files. This makes the archivation process longer, but here I thought it best to err on the safe side.

Hi, I have tried installing this and followed your instructions or at least I thought so but when I start media center up I get a message saying no background featues activated background add ins will now bw terminated. Can you offer any suggestions.

Thanks

Jason

Did you remove the "#" at the beginning of the line

#timeshiftBufferSave=true

in jhtAddIn.properties, so that it then reads

timeshiftBufferSave=true

?

This is necessary to enable the timeshift-buffer sub-feature (as described above).

Please double-check this line. If've had people who accidentially deleted not only the "#" but also the first "t" (or something similar), rendering the entry useless.

If you can't find a problem there, did you move/rename the install folder or the jhtAddIn.properties *after* running the regXXX.cmd? Because then the add-in wouldn't be able to find it.
To double check that the add-in can find the config file, please check the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Entry Points\{cea2344e-31ef-4136-a865-9a973ad3cff2}

and there the entry "Context". The value of this entry must be a path that correctly points to the jhtAddIn.properties file, for example "C:\JHTAddIn\reg-unreg\..\jhtAddIn.properties" or similar.

Doc

Thanks for the quick reply I continued to have a play and realsied I hadn't made the changes in the config file that needed to be done. It's looking good look forward to the info regarding the other add ins and anything new you may add.

Jason

Is there any way to make this work when using an extender as well?, I am using the linksys extender and get the same message about no background features activated when starting up the extender although it works fine now on the pc.

Jason

@jase33: The add-in is generally extender enabled already. I am using this add-in with the XBox 360 extender all the time. The fact that you are actually seeing the "No background features activated" dialog alone is already proof, that the background add-in by itself is running even on the extender. Because it is the add-in itself which displays this dialog. This dialog appears if the add-in can't find the jhtAddIn.properties file, or if in this file no background features are enabled (all lines are commented out with "#"). In your case the add-in works on the main MCE, which tells us, that the config file is present, that the path in the registry correctly points to it and that the feature is correctly enabled in the file. The only reason I can think of why the extender does not see this could be, that the MCX user account which is used by the extender does not have the right to access (read) the jhtAddIn.properties file. So I would suggest checking the file access rights to this file (and the folder it is in) and add a read-access for the MCX1 (or whatever) account your extender is using.

@GnatGoSplat: The download is the same both for the German and English version. You simply select which language you want during the registration process of each add-in (when you run the regXXX.cmd file).

Doc

Thanks Doc

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