A couple of questions for Home Theater PC owners:

[rezadue]

1) I have MP4 audio files which iTunes created when I added my CD collection to its library. However MCE does not see these files. I have done what has been suggested below but still nothing:

Add the following to the registry - copy below text to a text file and rename it with a ".reg" extension:

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4] "PerceivedType"="video" "Content Type"="video/mp4"

Is there anything I am missing?

2) One of the things that has turned me off about using my MCE box is that when I watch TV through it, it takes a full second before a command is executed, after I press a remote control button. If I am watching TV directly, through my satellite box, there is no lag issue.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Thanks,

My setup:

P4 3.0 GHz
1 GB RAM
LG DVD burner
160 GB and 100 GB HDs
ATI X800 video card with 256 MB of RAM
Hauppague 150 PVR MCE
Logitech Harmony 880 remote control

[Colby]

Why don't you play it through iTunes? Otherwise use Media Player to rip the CDs, or set up iTunes to rip mp3 files (if you can do that) I've been playing with this stuff for a while and I haven't seen mp4 files. mpeg4 is video, not sure what mp4 is. I'll have to do some digging.

Not sure about the lag.

[hoolio]

I'm just wondering why you are adding the MP4 file to the registry as a video file when you say they are audio files. I know that there is a video type that uses the MPEG-4 layer, but I'm pretty sure that they are usually encoded with an avi file type.

I just looked at my registry and I don't have the "PerceivedType"="video" line for the mp4 file type, try removing that line. (I don't have an MP4 file to test with sorry). That could be why MCE isn't picking them up under audio files. Have you tried looking for them under video files?

[Colby]

Try this page...

http://www.bpurcell.org/blog/index.c...036&mode=entry

[rezadue]

Sorry fellows. I meant to say the when iTunes rips music from my CDs it makes an MPEG4 file, not MP4. I was typing with one hand while holding my 3 month old in the other...

Joys of parental leave...

[jvincent]

WRT point 2, the info you provided isn't clear. Is MCE controlling the satellite box through an IR blaster?

[rezadue]

Yikes,

You mean I gotta run this Hymn, 2-300 times. One time for each song? Or type the name of every song [

QUOTE=Colby;156578]Try this page...

http://www.bpurcell.org/blog/index.c...036&mode=entry[/QUOTE]

[g8r]

Yikes,

You mean I gotta run this Hymn, 2-300 times. One time for each song? Or type the name of every song [

QUOTE=Colby;156578]Try this page...

http://www.bpurcell.org/blog/index.c...036&mode=entry

[/QUOTE]

Read through the comments and it describes how to do it without typing every file name....then you can just let it run overnight.

[rezadue]

At the moment MCE is just used to showing TV. I am using the remote to control the satellite box directly.

There is a USB connector with an IR generator which I can use to stick on the IR eye of the satellite box, so MCE can change satellite box channels. But I don't want to set that up until I have resolved the lag issue.

BTW, All of the files have an M4A extension, but windows is showing them as MPEG4 audio!!

WRT point 2, the info you provided isn't clear. Is MCE controlling the satellite box through an IR blaster?

[jvincent]

Sounds like it might be an MCE "feature".

I have a USB-UIRT connected to my HTPC with commands relayed to the apps via Girder and there's no perceived lag between key press and action on the app.

[Colby]

Basically don't rip cds using iTunes. Use Media Player or some other application (I like CDCopy) and save in mp3 format. You can even save the files in the same directory that iTunes uses and upload them to your iPod if you have one. These files won't be in a propritary format and you can use them anywhere. Windows is saying it is an MPEG4 format, but that is based on file extension. It doesn't mean that the file is actually in MPEG4 format. You can rename it .txt and Windows will think it's a text document...

[rezadue]

What do you mean by this part of your statement: commands relayed to the apps via Girder

[jvincent]

Girder is a program which takes the received IR codes from the USB-UIRT and allows you to "map" them to pretty much any command / key stroke /etc.

These can be directed to control the various apps.

[rezadue]

FYI: I have resolved issue #1 by finding the following:


You can just use the converter in iTunes to convert to mp3 and it'll keep all your tags intact
just go into edit->preferences->advanced->click the "importing" tab->import using mp3 encoder, choose your bitrate, then apply the changes
then just select all the .m4a files in your library click advanced->convert selection to .mp3
it dumps all the files into folders by artist then album so it's easy to keep track and then you can just delete the original files



One down, one to go.

[rezadue]

FYI, I had another issue in MCE. I could not record to a format which would be readable in DVD players. I did a lot of reading and found out how to do it. If you are having issues like I was, here is what you need to do:

I had installed a fresh copy of MCE on my drive and just like others, was looking for a solution to be able to record to MPEG2 format instad of DVR-MS so that I could view my DVDs in regular DVD players. And I wanted this to be available within the MCE shell.

After lots of looking around and reading I did the following which allowed my to choose a Movie DVD in MCE. I hope it helps others looking to do the same

Step 1) Download and install .NET Framework 1.1 from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...57-034D1E7CF3A3

Step 2) Download and install .NET Framework 1.1 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...DB-A83353618B38

Step 3) Download and install Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (KB900325):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

Step 4) Download and install sonicencoders.msi from the following web site:
http://www.ukshazam.com/download/

There you have it. Now you will have the option of recording to a DVD format readable in DVD players. You should see this sequence of events:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediace...urntvtodvd.mspx

Hope this helps others who have been looking for a similar solution.