My Setup

• TV – LG 42LH7000
• Surround System – Logitech Z5500
• PC – Windows 7 Media Center PC

A few common problems and solutions

Problem: Loss of signal when changing inputs on the TV or when PC goes to sleep.

First thing first – With everything off, connect the Media Center to the TV with an HDMI lead. This is important because Windows 7 has old drivers for the nVidia GeForce 8200 and has problems with HDCP so your TV needs to be on and set to the correct HDMI input before you turn your PC on. This is known as the ‘HDCP handshake issue’ and is quite common. It results in a loss of signal when changing TV inputs or when the PC goes to sleep.

If, like me, you have an nVidia card then fear not as they have fixed this problem with a driver update. Go to nvidia.com and select ‘Automatically find drivers for my NVIDIA products’ and download the latest version. Mine was 130MB. Install this and reboot.

Unfortunately if you are using an ATI card there is no driver fix. The only thing you can do is download an application that disables and re-enables the HDMI connection fooling the device to re-initiate the handshake. This can be mapped to a keyboard shortcut.

Problem: No sound through S/PDIF

There are many reasons for this to happen. If you are using the Asus V3M28 motherboard then you have to switch the default audio output to be S/PDIF.

Remember to look in the sound setting to make sure that ‘allow programs to take control of this device’ is checked.

If you use VLC and can’t get S/PDIF to work or it’s stuttering, in the options set the sound output to Wave32.

There is also a problem with the S/PDIF VIA audio when the computer goes into sleep mode as when it resumes, the connections seems to be ‘dead’. A work around for this is to write a small bat file and have it run on resume which disables and enables the sound device. I think this may have been fixed in a recent Windows Update.

Getting the best experience

Media Broswer

To make the best of your Windows Media Center experience, download Media Browser. It’s a plugin for Media Center that provides you with cover art for Films and TV series, meta data for all the IMDB ratings and synopsis as well as having it’s own plugins such as themes and more information about the actual files themselves (such as 1080p or 720p or DTS audio or AC-3). It uses http://thetvdb.com/ and http://www.themoviedb.org/ to get all the information. It also provides user generated backdrops that fill the screen with scenes from whatever is selected.

You can also add multiple locations for media. For example I have films stored on my local machine and on an external hard drive. Add both locations and they show up under one category listing that I can name. So I have HD, DVD & TV. One of the plugins allows you to add film trailers to the menu.

Shark007 Codec Pack

Couple this with the Windows 7 Shark007 codec pack, you can watch any format of video on your Media Center. This is pretty straight forward to install as it uninstalls any other codec pack you might have on your system. Check the ;use Shark’s recommended settings’ to get the best setup.

NOTE: If you are using S/PDIF then in the audio tab you will need to check ‘Use pass-through (Dolby Digital)’ in the section titled ‘FFDShow S/PDIF pass-through’.

Once you have installed the codec pack and set it up, you can use Media Browser on your Media Center Extender device to stream all your content to it – this includes .mkv files. The way you do this is by opening the Media Browser configuration utility, clicking ‘advanced’ and selecting the tab mentioning extenders. Now all you have to do is add ‘.mkv’ to the list on the left as well as ‘.avi’ and any other format you want to play on your extender or just untick ‘use Transcode 360′.

NOTE: Because the Media Center had the codec to play it, you can even stream HD content to your Xbox 360!

Media Center Studio

Now you have Media Browser set up, you don’t really need the video section of the Media Center menu. It’s kinda annoying having something that you no longer need there and so Media Center Studio comes to the rescue. This provides a WYSIWYG interface for manipulating the Media Center menu to your heart’s content. I went minimal and just have tasks, TV, Music & Media Browser.

The remote

Most people tend to forget about this part of the setup which is strange as it possibly the most important. It is your point of contact with the system so you want it to feel as natural as possible and to be effortless. I recommend one of the Logitech Harmony remotes – they are learning universal remotes and much more. You can program button configurations so you use the up, down, left & right buttons for the Media Center but still use the volume up & down for the TV without having to select various inputs. It also has macros so with the press of one button you can turn all of your devices on and set them to the correct inputs! Excellent! I have the Harmony 550.

Other useful things

There are many more things that can be customised in Media Center and a great resource for find them out is http://www.hack7mc.com/

Also we tried looking for a solution to the problem but Google came up with nothing relevant. So I thought I would contribute the solution to the world.

My dad had just such a problem with Murcielago air scoops affectionately known as bat wings. They are designed to raise out of the sleek lines of the car when you go above 50km/h to increase airflow to the engine. There is a button on the center console of the car to allow you to raise them at your whim but the engine needs to be running and so obviously the key needs to be in.

Someone told my dad how to ‘fool’ the car into keeping the bat wings up without the engine running. So without a second thought, he did it and, it worked – the engine was off and the bat wings were up. So how do you get them down? When you press the button on the center console the dash reads “FAULT”.

Here’s how to do it but more importantly how to PUT IT BACK courtesy of my father.

“Keeping bat wings up to either clean them or pose:

• start engine
• push bat wings up button
• wait for wings to fully extend
• open engine cover
• have somebody ready to switch off battery isolator
• switch of engine with key
• immediately switch off battery isolator
• wings will now stay up regardless of battery switch or ignition position and engine operation
• Bat wings fault light will indicate fault on dash if push button operated

Returning to normal operation:

• turn battery isolator off
• turn battery isolator on
• hold bat wings push button down
• turn on ignition but do not start engine
• wait for bat wings to fully retract
• start engine
• test bat wings open / close with push button

Done

Have fun! Need I say more?