Hi,

I have discover that ehrec.exe try to read (at process startup) an not defined key from registry (using "process monitor" software from Sysinternals) :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\WatchedThreshold

I tried to create it (DWORD 32Bits) and set this value to 30000 (decimal value) - seems to be ms unit, so 30000 = 30 seconds.

    I have 2 Vista media center :
        _ first is a mac mini with a tuner
        _ second is my own desktop computer (without tuner)

    First step : record a show.
    On the other Media Center, this show is not shown.
    Second step : stop recording
    On the other Media Center, after a few seconds, the show is shown ... without rebooting ... without restarting Media Center ... without killing any process or restarting any services :)

Hope this will work for you too : let us know in this thread :)

I see another not defined registry key that could be useful :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\DeleteThreshold

.... but I haven't try it for now ...

Don't cry because of my english ... it's not my primary language.

Letipix

Fantastic!!  This worked.  Recorded TV on my second Vista Ultimate are updated within seconds after the first machine recording is finished.

Shame on Microsoft for not providing this as a default.

This is one of the best fixes I've seen for a multi VMC setup.

Thanks again for saving me hours of trying to get this to work and much frustration.  

Hopefully a few more will test this and make your instructions a sticky.  P.S. Your English is pretty good!

Tried it again with a recording done overnight and it didn't work, and I don't know why.  Will test more later.

I just tried this, and it seems to work.  I have two MCE 2005 boxes.  Here's what I did:

- add magic registry key on both machines
- restart media center and media center services (don't know if this is necessary or not)
- record 30 seconds of a show on machine #1
- meander downstairs and verify show appears on machine #2
- record 30 seconds of a show on machine #2
- meander back upstairs and verify show appears on machine #1

Note that the list didn't refresh itself.  I had to go back to the main media center screen and view recorded tv again.  I can certainly live with that though.

Thanks!

Hi, can you give these instructions in a little more detail, do you also have to tell the Vista machine where to look for the shared tv? Also, in what way do you share the recorded tv?

Wow, very cool, but has anyone tested this with recordings made by cableCARD?

ghackett:

Wow, very cool, but has anyone tested this with recordings made by cableCARD?

Wouldn't help.  Recordings made by cablecard PCs can only be played on the machine that recorded them or an extender.  Another MCE can not play them.

 

I've used this hack recently it seemed to work for me. Recordings I make on my main VMC PC show up pretty quickly on a secondary VMC laptop and I am able to playback the recorded TV.

The "WatchedThreshold" worked for me until I put the system to sleep and later resumed the system. After that it would not work and I had to reboot the system to recover the feature.

This isn't convenient since I turn the system on and off using S1/sleep and resume, respectively. Rebooting the system daily will ultimately damage the hardware.

 Hello,

 

I recently implemented this solution with 2 MCE2005 boxes.  Everythig was working as others have posted, but then about two weeks ago it stopped.  I made no changes to the configuration post reg edits.  I did however run windows update prior to the reg changes so I don't think that would be the issue.   Now, the only way the MCE updates if via a reboot.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

I've tried all the tricks on my Vista MCE box. No matter what it was I still had to reboot to update the shows recorded on my other boxes. That's not the way it should be. And I stopped short of getting an Extender by Linksys or Xbox. So I restored the VMC box to its OEM XP MCE, upgraded to Vista Home Premium, then upgraded once more to Vista Ultimate MCE.

The ONLY way this is going to work is to install Windows 7 MCE. The demo looked for the Recorded TV folders on the network and displayed them automatically within MCE.

I'm going with MCE7 when it comes out in a couple of months. The hacking registries and what not is a waste.

 

Something interesting.  I applied the regedits with a different value, say 90000.  Now they are updating again.  Let's see how long it last.

This hack works as long as the machine does not go to sleep.  Once it awakens, it doesn't recognize any new shows.  In order to get it to start monitoring the other machines on your net, you have to stop and restart the program "ehsched". 

I solved the problem by creating a script that is run each time the computer awakens from sleep.  The script is "WakeUp.bat" and contains the following lines:

taskkill /IM ehshell.exe
net stop ehsched
net start ehsched
start c:\windows\ehome\ehshell.exe

Open the Start menu and right click on "Computer".  Select the "Manage" menu line.
Alternately, select the "Administrative Tools" -> "Manage Computer" under the Programs menu.

Then select System Tools->Task Scheduler->Task Scheduler Library

Create a new task and set:

General Tab
   RUn at the highest privileges

Triggers Tab
   Begin Task: - On an event
   Settings
      Basic
      Log: System
      Source Power-Troubleshooter
      Event ID: 1

Actions Tab
   New
      Action: Start a program
      Program/Script: //..../Wakeup.bat

When the computer wakes up, media center, if running will close and a command window will open.  Eventually, media center will restart and will find the new programming within a few seconds.  It will continue to update until it goes back to sleep.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Very nice idea.  My MCs don't sleep though, but maybe there is something going on.  I can use this script and add it to the MC menu to force the update.    I will let you know how it goes in a couple of days - going on vacation for a few days.

I remember having to do that manually. Everytime I woke the PC up, the Recorded TV section would stop updating with new programs from other PCs in the house. Since then I've stopped using Sleep Mode since it also affects the text display on the PC case. Every sleep/wake cycle would increase the chances that the small LCD's device driver would fail.

A script would've served me well. NICE JOB! However, now that I have my PC running fine - though without sleep mode or Recorded TV updating - I am hesitant to mess with it. I can still see my other PCs' recordings via the VIDEOS section.

Unless MS is going to roll out a MCE update or service pack, I'll wait for Windows 7.