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Q for WMC (MCE) users - MCUpdate


CWNashvegas

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CWNashvegas

I'm just curious about something. How long does it take for your computer to complete the MCUpdate task? 

 

You can find out by going to Event Viewer, then Application and Services Logs > Media Center and look for the MCUpdate entries. The time of the task in the top pane is when it finished; and the "general" tab in the lower pane will show you when the task started as well as a log of each item the task runs. 

 

Mine seems to be all over the place and I can't tell if it's my system or because it's sometimes waiting on a server response.

 

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CBers

On my ASROCK ION HTPCs, it'll take around 2-3 minutes.

 

On my i5 it's slightly quicker.

 

How longs is yours taking?

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CWNashvegas

No, I need to stop screwing around and reinstall Windows. It's way overdue anyway. I was putting it off due to software licenses that require manual reactivation and other hoop-jumping but I'm honestly thinking about tearing down my home recording studio anyway. (That computer is also my recording rig.) So there's no reason not to just run a fresh backup of my documents and wipe the whole thing.

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Ooh, home recording studio... Back right out of college, my room mate (a closet singer-songwriter) and I started out with a 4-track on cassette and moved to a reel-to-reel 8-track on 1/2" and then 16-track and then on to ProTools on a Mac when you had to have all kinds of specialized hardware for it.

 

I have no musical talent whatsoever.  I was just the self-taught recording/mixing engineer (geek).

 

Dabbled only a little bit in the past 10 years but got a chance to do a little playing with the current stuff when I took a trip to Vermont this summer with my friend and some real musicians to cut some tracks over five days.  Was a real blast from the past and, wow, how the technology has come along and gotten so much more accessible to everyone.

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CWNashvegas

I have a file somewhere of my first 4-track recording, originally done on a Tascam cassette machine. It was a cover of "Sixteen Tons", just me and a guitar. :D These days I use both Reaper and Acid, because my Antares plugins won't work in Acid and the Reaper MIDI editing functions are better, but Acid has beatmapping... I tried to just use one or the other but I can't. Need them both. It all came about because I got out of performing YEARS ago, I hated it, but I still like writing once in a while and I like doing it for myself, on my own terms. But I can really slim down my setup and do what I need to on my laptop. 

 

For the first time in my life, I have a laptop that can kick my desktop's butt, hands down. I just need to get the ASIO drivers to act right for my hardware audio interface and it should be good to go. Then my desktop can mostly be a HTPC.

Edited by Knowledge Base
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Overseer

Then my desktop can mostly be a HTPC.

Love my HTPC. Been running a dedicated one since the early days of Media Center. Finally got around to upgrading my TV and receiver, now a 70" 3D Vizio and a Denon AVR-X4000, and I am happier than a pig in slop.

 

My MCUpdate takes no more than a couple of minutes. This is with Win 7 X64, Shark codec pack, and TMT 6 loaded. Nothing else.

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CWNashvegas

I've started the backup process. I've got 5 partitions across two physical drives. Everyone always laughed at my partitions, but right now I'm sooo glad I did that because it's making this a lot more organized. When I've got the two user partitions on the main drive copied (straight file copy for easy access later), I'll image the system partition (just in case), then disconnect the other physical drive because it's the media drive and I really don't want to sit through a restore of that if Windows gets "confused" during the process.

 

Once the backups are done, I have about 15 programs that will need to be manually deactivated or uninstalled to free up their licenses so that I don't have activation issues later. 

 

Fortunately, I have a system image from way back when the computer was about a week old, and the only major hardware that has changed is the graphics card, and it's from the same product line as the old one, so all the drivers should be good to get it running at least.

 

I don't know why I'm posting this except to share my pain. :D

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CWNashvegas

Decided to just do a clean install of Win 7. Started at 9pm. What was I thinking?! I know I won't be able to go to bed until I at least have WMC set up, my tuner drivers installed and my recordings for tomorrow morning scheduled. And tracking down "mystery drivers" while fighting a headcold is not... productive. Guess I'll just wait and see what's not working. :D

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CWNashvegas

Still have a few details to see to, but other than that, I'm all done.

 

And MCUpdate took less than 90sec.

 

I did have to switch to alternate DNS servers to get it to connect, but I think I had to do that back when I first got that computer. Was really nice to just grab the MB files out of windows.old and drop them into the new install. Since I was starting from scratch, I just installed the LAV filters and the xywhatever (sorry, I'm tired) and all seems to be working properly. 

 

52582a340f6c3_170422_dancing_banana.gif

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I'm considering a reinstall myself. Did you pic x32 or x64 this time around?

 

Also curious to know what the xywhatever was... back in 2009 when I set up my Win7x86 32 bit system, I fussed around with it a bit... now a lot of what I used to know how to do I've either forgotten, or it has become obsolete...

 

Who can point to a "So you are installing Win7 for an HTPC... here's a recent summary of what you'll need to do..." thread?  Most of the ones I'm familiar with are woefully out of date.

 

Marc

Edited by Marc_G
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CWNashvegas

"xywhatever" was xy-vsfilter, for subtitles.

 

A great place to start would be this guide to LAV filters: http://www.thehtpc.net/htpc-tips-and-tweaks/media-center-lav-filters-and-external-subtitles/. Start with a clean Windows 7, install the codecs as explained in that link, and your media programs (presumably MB3). Then, if you find you have playback issues once you've set it all up, you can change settings or add codecs from there. But honestly, unless you have specific codec needs, adding additional codecs other than LAV should be a last resort. Try to troubleshoot the issues here before throwing a codec pack at the problem. If you have one or two problem files, it's much safer to either re-encode or convert those few files than to try to accommodate them.

 

(I should note that codec packs can be lifesavers, but only if you actually need them.)

 

I went with x64. I will always go with x64. Even though this computer is mostly an HTPC now, I still need to use some stuff that utilizes 64bit capabilities for best performance. 

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all4dom

I have an AMD a8 quad core in my htpc & I use the intergrated video with ffdshow. Would the lav filters improve my setup & picture quality?

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i used to (still do!) go with haali splitter & ac3filter would lav filters give me a significant improvement in anything? Also does it handle the audio too?? I specifically had problems with dts hd....

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CWNashvegas

I have an AMD a8 quad core in my htpc & I use the intergrated video with ffdshow. Would the lav filters improve my setup & picture quality?

I was previously using ffdshow (via shark), and I haven't noticed a difference, but my library content isn't exactly stretching the capabilities of anything because it's mostly SD content.

 

You'd probably have better luck starting a new thread to get more responses. This thread's probably been written off as "christa's reinstallation chronicles". :) When you do, be sure to include info on what kind of content is in your library and any playback issues / concerns you may currently have. 

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Great discussion, thanks. Because my system is old (2009) I'm still using basically Windows Media Foundation + 1 manually installed filter (VC-1 filter from MPC-HC, enabled via FilterTweaker). And Haali.  That's it. But I'm looking into LAV. I may need to adjust video/audio sync with a new TV I'm getting, which I think AC3 filter gives, but maybe LAV audio can do that.

 

Definitely considering a fresh install, but may refresh hardware first.

 

Thanks!

Edited by Marc_G
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