Some of the following items require you to enable visibility of hidden folders and OS folders
This is done thru Control Panel -> Folder settings

1)
For editing and backup of ones channels and order they come
The file:
C:\ProgramData\MicroSoft\ehome\EPG\prefs\prefs.xml
This file holds everything about your channel, frequency, name, Virtual name etc.
It's a good thing to back this up - if you ever reinstall Vista

2)
Recording configuration is stored here:
C:\ProgramData\MicroSoft\ehome\Recording\Recordings.xml
There is a backup there - but it's nice to copy it to another place :)

3)
Divx/Xvid (and about everything else) thumbnails and playing:
http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/
CLick the link - downloads for vista.
This is the only codec you need for ALL media except h.264 and mpeg2 hardware.
During installation don't touch much. During setup it will ask you about mixer settings (speakers). Tell it to leave mixer off.
The final screen - tell it to open Audio configuration.
Select the Codec (to the left - one of the first) - at the items AC3 and DTS - change it to sp/dif for both if you wish to have divx, xvid, mkv, mpg4 etc. to stream it to your receiver.
Don't install any codec packs, Gordian, kmedia, ultimate etc....Don't!
Don't install Nero Burning Rome - it's f*** about everything up - including ordinary thumbnails etc.

4)
MKv - h.264 codec incl. thumbnails in vista:
Haali Media splitter : http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/MatroskaSplitter.exe
Just leave the defaults on in the installation screen - make sure "explorer integration"

is selected - this enables thumbnails.
This gives you TS files as well

5)
MPEG2 codec
Use PowerDVD 7.2 og 7.0 - this is the best.
Open PowerDVD and go in to setup/config (the tools button) - select hardware optimized.
Close powerdvd.

6)
Setup MediaCenter with correct mpeg2 codecs with this tool:
http://www.whittakermoore.com/VMCD.exe
Select PowerDVD7 for Video and Microsoft DD for Audio.

7)
Enable DVD library with this key:
HKEY_Current_user->Software->Microsoft->Windows>CurrentVersion->MediaCenter->Settings->DVDSettings->ShowGallery
Set it to Gallery (with capital G) instead of Play
Remember - one folder with folders within for each movie. Within a movie folder the folders VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS is placed.

8)
For the latest Graphics/chipset/motherboard drivers use: www.guru3D.com

9)
Adding media to Media Center:
Don't just add everything, folders, music etc.
Use the correct tools.
Use Media Player's library function to tell where to look for music, pictures and DVD's
Use shortcuts under "Shared Folders" -> Videos to tell where to look for your special Divx/Xvid folders.

10)
DVD library "more info" function.
DVD's can be looked up in a central Database if the Correct ID is placed
For correct ID's - look them up on www.dvdxml.com and save the XML file like this:
the_faculty.dvdid.xml placed within the movie folder - not in the VIDEO_TS folder.

11)
If any of the above things doesn't work for you - you probably misspelled something - or you went ahead and started installing things - without cleansing your Vista.

Remove every program you have installed, that has to do with:
Codecpacks
Nero burning.
Several MPEG2 codecs you have tried.

Make sure your Media Center works before you start - i.e. Media Center, TV, tuning etc. must work with standard Vista Codecs before you start out.

I hope it helps some of you guys/girls :)

Thanks for the nice detailed info, very well done.

 

It is a good list although I wouldn't be directing anyone to guru3d for driver updates.  You should be going to the manufacturer's website for driver downloads.

Yeah...right...
And I should be asking Microsoft/Nvidia/ATI the questions that i'm asking here :)

Guru3D is a nice place with a good overview of all drivers..

Instead of getting lost visiting several non-informing support sites with old drivers.
Guru3D holds both WHQL drivers and the latest betas - for those who wish to try out those.
All of you with SLI etc. might get happy :)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/

Pay attention to the Table saying "Please select a download category".

Thanks - this looks very useful

Does installing 4) provide support for windows media player to play h.264 or can i only play them in a separate application.

Thanks, the details on the ffdshow install were particularly helpful since these are usually left out of the posts from the typical smug apologists suggesting to someone to simply 'use ffdshow' which of course is useless without further direction.  I've never seen worse 'documentation' or version management for an application than ffdshow, which is admittedly wildly complicated.  Still, they need to take some tips from the linux community.

It should probably be noted that getting some of the various files (.ts etc) to actually be associated with and/or show up in Media Center is another step.

Through various posts I found that creating a .reg file like the below and importing/merging into the registry made that possible

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ts]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Content Type"="video/mpg"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.ts]
"Runtime"=dword:00000007
"Permissions"=dword:0000000f
"UserApprovedOwning"="yes"

I was hoping to get direct support for .ts files from ffdshow which again, I've seem implied in various posts from the ass-holier than thou's which always lack the critical details to actually make that work.  I suppose what they really want is attention for the fact that they've managed to figure out how to do anything at all with it....  I've poked around trying to determine exact steps to enable .ts playback using only ffdshow  unsuccessfully.

I found that when using this post's suggestion of the 'Haali Media Splitter' my .ts files played the video portion as if in fast forward mode in both Media Player and Media Center.  The audio portion played normally.  I found no parameters within the 'Haali Media Splitter' application interface which seemed to be able to fix this.  My .ts files are captures of off the air hd streams from the firewire out of my tv.

Giving up on 'Haali' (but keeping ffdshow for divx playback) I installed the Nvidia Purevideo Decoder which plays my .ts files perfectly.

My next goal is playback of quicktime files within Vista Media Center.  Any advice on that appreciated.

I have some notes suggesting using the 'quicktime alternative' codec which I understand is basically the active ingredients from Apple's package, therfore of questionable legal heritage.  Speaking of which that all seems very silly since Apple gives away Quicktime for Windows (which is officially not compatible with Vista according to Apple).  Sillier still that Microsoft makes available freely the codec to play Windows Media files in Apple Quicktime, but Apple doesn't do the same for Windows users.  It just makes me hate Apple more than I usually do.  They just keep shooting themselves in the foot over and over.  But I digress.

Thanks for any comments on what I found with my .ts playback and my goal of .mov playback in Vista Media Center.

Good post, very easy to follow and understand.  Following these instructions will add well to Vista without messing it up like many bloated packs and poorly written applications will.

I must agree with fdisker about the drivers, the manufacturers sites are the best place to go, they are the very same place the other sites also get them from and you can get all the current drivers, beta, latest release and latest whql release.

Guru3d and similar sites like MVKTech are a great place to get reviews and advice on different drivers, bios's and hardware but they can also be a great place to get malware.  It might be worth reading this post http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=1394 about the tracking cookie guru3d installs when you visit.

OK cool, thanks for all the info. One thing bothers me, I install the codecs using just the ffdshow (uninstalled all the other codec packs), the media plays fine in WMP11 (although I did catch it say 'acquiring codecs' for a second or so (from the internet? shouldn't be?), anyways, plays fine.

But when I go into Vista Media Center and try play the same movie, it says it cannot play becasue it cannot find one or more codecs!

Anyone help??

 

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ts]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Content Type"="video/x-matroska"

Gives you FFDshow/Matroska functionality - i.e. just copy entrances from .mkv

OK

When installing FFDshow tryout - try and set a checkmark at "Reset all FFDSHOW selections" when it shows you which codecs you wish to have support for.

Some of your old codecpacks might have left some bad settings :(

Thanks, I just tried that but it hasn't worked for my High-Def stuff. The format is AVI and the video plays in WMP11, but no audio. I DID have audio before (as in before I uninstalled all the codec packs).
In MC it says some codecs could not be found, I assume now that it won't play unless it finds both the audio AND the video codecs? Whereas WMP will play just a video if it cannot find audio codecs.
Getting there! But any suggestions on the audio side??

Thanks.

Your audio in the AVI is probably mp3, AC3 or DTS.
Open up FFDshow Audio decoder configuration...
First item in left menu [Codecs]
Make sure that:
MP3 = libmad
AC3 = liba52
DTX = libdts

Select apply and OK

Now try WMP again...it should work now

Absolutly right! You are spot on zosoDK! I will try what you suggested this morning, but I remember seeing that it was AC3 audio when I looked in Gspot.

Another question, sorry to be a pain - last night I tried to watch a movie with subtitles, but the subs weren't showing, not in any player (I tried VMC, WMP11, PowerDVD and BS Player). Got completly fed up and reinstalled K-Lite cos I know they worked when that pack was installed. Subs came back, great movie ... but of course I want to follow your advice and remove K-Lite again, but any ideas on the subtitles issue with FFDshow??

Thanks again.

Yes

It's the first window in FFDShow installation, where you are asked to select which items to install..

The addon - VobSub - it does the trick. just mark that one.

Within a movie folder make sure that:
The_departed.avi
The_departed.sub
The_departed.idx
are there :)

If you've allready installed FFDshow again - go into Video Decoder Configuration
The same menu as in Audio - at the bottom (Subtitles) just mark it. Don't change much before you know it works...but you can configure font, color etc

OK almost there, but I had to complety rebuild the OS, now I am documenting every single step I do and creating restore points along the way.

Subs are working now, thankyou zosoDK, in fact most of it is working, using just ffdshow and matroska.

Hi-Def AVI is still not playing audio, in WMP11 it will play video only. I ran Gspot and it says that the audio is AC3 and is installed, in ffdshow, the audio codec for AC3 is set to liba52 , and if I use the little testing thing in Gspot, it plays both the Audio and video.
But not in WMP or more importantly Media Center.

Please, any more suggestions?? Also, what is this HDTV Pump and is it good??
Thanks again for your time.