CrAzY - Moderator:

Q: How can I add an Xbox360 Extender with Media Center running OneCare?
A: For some odd reason, OneCare interferes with the ability to add an XBox360 Extender in Media Center on Windows Vista. You may get the following error while trying to add your XBox360 Extender:

Configuration Error
An error was encountered while configuring your computer for use with this 
extender.

To successfully add your XBox360 Extender in Vista, you need to uninstall OneCare.

-Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Programs & Files -> Windows OneCare and choose the Uninstall option.

Once OneCare is unstalled, you can go back into Media Center and add your XBox360 Extender. After the extender is added, you can reinstall OneCare and it will not conflict with Media Center. *Note: You may need to go into OneCare Firewall Advanced Settings and add Protocol 6 & Protocol 17 (both directions) to the exclusions list to get your internet working after reinstalling OneCare.

I have Ultimate (desktop) and Premium (laptop) both running OneCare and both setup fine with the XBOX 360. 

There is a checkbox to enable "Xbox 360 and Media Center Extenders" in OneCare @ Change OneCare Settings > Firewall > "Advanced Settings" > Ports and Protocols

I enabled the DVD Library on Vista Home Premium and it has a problem played DVDs backed up to my HDD.  If UAC (User Account Controls) is enabled, it will play fine, but if it is disabled then MCE says it can't play the DVD.

Is there a fix for this?  I don't want to leave UAC enabled because it gets really annoying with all its pop-ups.

Need to add the following.

 

Q: Can Vista output sound to more than on output at the same time?

A: No, unlike MCE 2005, Vista will only ouput sound to one interface.  Either, Digital or Analog.  Not Both.  This impacts folks using a Media Center to run two zones of a reciever.  For example, Digtal to Zone 1 for Home Theater and Analog to Zone 2 for whole house audio.

Q: Whenever I try to setup tv, it just stops at the part to download the regional options or connecting to internet.

A: Vista has an updated networking engine that makes use of newer networking standards. Some networking device makers aren't as compatible as vista is now. Try to look for an updated firmware for your networking equipment/router. If you have more than 1 Network port on your computer, try to use the other one. If its still not working, go into the advanced properties for your networking hardware and enable flow control if that is an option. If all of that fails, you may need to replace your networking gear and you should contact the manufacturer of the device your computer is connected to for help determining that (and a chance to yell at them if they say yes).

Would using a USB Wifi adapter instead of the built in hardware solve this? I've ordered a Linksys WUSB300N dongle to enable more stable video streaming paired with my WAG325N Router, and wondered if this would be another cheeky bonus.

Sorry if this question is a little stupid, but if a Microsoft engineer couldn't determine the issue after 3 hours of remotely controlling my pc then I've got no chance. He claimed it was due to a TV Tuner card driver issue, even though the driver was supplied by Sony VAIO support as an update for Vista.

sangpeiris:

Q: Can Vista output sound to more than on output at the same time?

A: No, unlike MCE 2005, Vista will only ouput sound to one interface.  Either, Digital or Analog.  Not Both.  This impacts folks using a Media Center to run two zones of a reciever.  For example, Digtal to Zone 1 for Home Theater and Analog to Zone 2 for whole house audio.

Hello! Isn't there a solution for that? Because I had (on MCE05) connected the analog output direct to the TV, and the digital to the receiver. Because when I watch just some news or so, I don't want to start the receiver.
Regards
Sopur

The volume for my live TV is very low, so i wanted to install FFDShow, as i did in XP to fix this issue.  For some reason i can't for the life of me get it to run when watching live TV.

This is what i have tried:

- Installed ffdshow64-v2546 checked "volume", and put the volume at 300%.  After this when i started live TV the ffdshow icon wasn't in the lower right.  (my assumption is that it is not running)

- I uninstalled ffdshow64-v2546, and installed VistaCodecs_v446 and x64Components_v1251.  When into the Audio section, checked "volume", and put the volume at 300%.  After this when i started live TV the ffdshow icon wasn't in the lower right.

What am i doing wrong??  This is all I did in XP and it worked perfect.

Im running Vist Ultimate 64-bit.

It would be nice if this FAQ linked to a list of new features in Vista MCE.  Seems a lot of people come here and ask why they should upgrade.  The following link was posted by former MSFT MCE Program Manager Matt Goyer about a year ago though think it's still current:

http://mediacenter.mattgoyer.com/archives/2006/07/26/1157

Aaron

I was trying to resolve this very issue (posted earlier this week) whereby the volume levels for TV, DVD and MP3 were all dramatically different. I was also attempting to use FFDShow but found a much simpler option built right into Windows.

Go to;

Control Panel > Sound > [Right Click Your Sound Output Device] > Properties > Enhancements and tick "Loudness Equalization" (if it's there - this depends on if your sound hardware conforms to Microsoft's HD sound architecture format).

bshaf:

The volume for my live TV is very low, so i wanted to install FFDShow, as i did in XP to fix this issue.  For some reason i can't for the life of me get it to run when watching live TV.

This is what i have tried:

- Installed ffdshow64-v2546 checked "volume", and put the volume at 300%.  After this when i started live TV the ffdshow icon wasn't in the lower right.  (my assumption is that it is not running)

- I uninstalled ffdshow64-v2546, and installed VistaCodecs_v446 and x64Components_v1251.  When into the Audio section, checked "volume", and put the volume at 300%.  After this when i started live TV the ffdshow icon wasn't in the lower right.

What am i doing wrong??  This is all I did in XP and it worked perfect.

Im running Vist Ultimate 64-bit.

Codec Guide for VMC
http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/07/21/1046591.aspx

Q: I can't get Divx/Xvid Movies to play on my Vista x64 build
A: You need the 64-bit codecs since MCE is a 64-bit app. Get ffdshow here http://ffdshow.faireal.net/ and make sure to go to Configuration, and enable the codecs you wish to use.

I would recommend that the link above that should be changed to ffdshow tryouts x64 builds as the ffdshow from the faireal.net site is quite old compared to the ffdshow tryouts which are up to date and a lot more reliable.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941&package_id=214245&release_id=523000

elmerohueso:

I enabled the DVD Library on Vista Home Premium and it has a problem played DVDs backed up to my HDD.  If UAC (User Account Controls) is enabled, it will play fine, but if it is disabled then MCE says it can't play the DVD.

Is there a fix for this?  I don't want to leave UAC enabled because it gets really annoying with all its pop-ups.

It's something related with folder permissions.
I have UAC disabled and I have no problems with my ripped DVDs.

elmerohueso:

I enabled the DVD Library on Vista Home Premium and it has a problem played DVDs backed up to my HDD.  If UAC (User Account Controls) is enabled, it will play fine, but if it is disabled then MCE says it can't play the DVD.

Is there a fix for this?  I don't want to leave UAC enabled because it gets really annoying with all its pop-ups.

UAC pop-ups should only really happen during your initial setup. Once you have everything running and you are just using the MCE and the DVD Library, you shouldn't be seeing any UAC prompts. Just leave it enabled...

If though you don't want to enable it, make sure all your accounts have modify permissions on your dvd folder...MCE writes some data to that folder to remember the time location of the last DVD you watched there, and also saves the movie info (actors, dvd cover, description, etc...) to that location...

Q: My Audigy 2 ZS with analogue 5.1 speakers produces no sound through the subwoofer under Vista, how do I make it work?

A: Download the drivers from www.creativelabs.com  Decompress the EXE package using WinRar.
Go to the Drivers Subfolder
Open the "wdma_emu.inf" file in Notepad
Add a semicolon ";" in front of the two "Catalog...=..." entries (Otherwise Windows will read the digital signature, see that the file was edited and refuse to install it)
Search for the "[Live2K.Interface.Topology]" section
Add "MSSysFX.AddReg" to the "AddReg=..." entry.  (It should then look like this AddReg=Live2K.Interface.Topo.AddReg, CTSysFx.AddReg, OEMSettingsOverride_Speaker.AddReg, MSSysFx.AddReg  )
Save the file
Reinstall the drivers (Preferably using the Setup.exe located in the DRIVERS folder)

This will add an Enhancements tab to the speaker properties dialog. In there select Bass Management.

*Portions of these instructions copied from postings by Alexs3d2 on the Creative labs forums.

Q: DivX is crashing when building my thumbnails in the Video Gallery. I don't want to install ffdshow as I don't require the plethora of formats decoded, what codec should I install?

A:  You could install Xvid v1.1.3 as this works reliably under Vista. Remember to run the setup package as Administrator.

 

 

gb_welly:

A:  You could install Xvid v1.1.3 as this works reliably under Vista. Remember to run the setup package as Administrator.

 

I tried both FFDshow and xvid 1.1.3 and I still couldn't view divx/xvid files in media center.  What am I missing?