Moving from Vista!

bluebomb · 2008-03-15, 19:08

I've been working hard on my HTPC. Mostly trying to get the perfect setup. For the past few months I have been using Vista Home Premium since it had media center built in. That was working great until I started getting bluescreen after bluescreen due to a hardware compatibility issue. I switched back to XP yesterday and found MediaPortal. I have to say BRAVO! This is the prefect replacement for Media Center. However, I'm having a few issues with trying to get all my functionality back.

A lot of my movies have been encoded into H.264 format, so I had to use a third party decoder to view them. In Vista I was using ffdshow to process all my audio/video in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio and 5.1 surround. I've attempted the same thing with limited success in MediaPortal. Aspect ratio still works, but I'm having trouble getting my 5.1 output back. It seems that when I'm playing my H.264 movies they will work fine, but when I switch to a real DVD my AV receiver is only projecting digital prologic. I was also able to watch apple trailers with 5.1 in vista, but not anymore with XP/MediaPortal.

My other concern is the EPG. I know Vista "just works," and I remember a while back using ZAP2IT with a MythTV setup to acquire an episode guide, but after doing research it seems ZAP2IT no longer presents this information for free. I've tried some of the built in EPG utilities included, but haven't figured them out yet. Note, I'm using the TV-Server on my main HTPC so that I can have the ability to connect from one of the other many machines through out my home.

Anyone have suggestions?

Paranoid Delusion · 2008-03-15, 22:47

Quote:

A lot of my movies have been encoded into H.264 format, so I had to use a third party decoder to view them. In Vista I was using ffdshow to process all my audio/video in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio and 5.1 surround. I've attempted the same thing with limited success in MediaPortal. Aspect ratio still works, but I'm having trouble getting my 5.1 output back. It seems that when I'm playing my H.264 movies they will work fine, but when I switch to a real DVD my AV receiver is only projecting digital prologic. I was also able to watch apple trailers with 5.1 in vista, but not anymore with XP/MediaPortal.

Personally use Vista codec pack, which i consider the minimal to get everything playing nicely, you have to configure AC3 to your speaker setup\output, but thats it.

CT TV Listings EPG Plugin

Schedules Direct US/Canadian/Mexico EPG Plugin (Updated 10-01-2007)

both run by Patrick who is very helpful EPG wise, as US a nightmare on this.

bluebomb · 2008-03-15, 23:46

Thanks for the info! I'm trying out the CCTV plug-in right now. I'm actually using the Vista Codec pack. It's a standard installation on all my machines. It must be something I'm missing in the configuration of AC3 or ffdshow. I remember it took a while to figure it out when I was running Vista. I'll keep looking.

bluebomb · 2008-03-16, 06:01

Well, the CCTV plug-in works wonderfully! However I'm still having trouble out of my audio. What does MediaPortal use to playback DVDs and Video? I've tried configuring the AC3 filter with no success. It still passes everything to my AV receiver as digital pro-logic.

2008-03-15, 19:08	#1 (permalink)
bluebomb Portal User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Moving from Vista! I've been working hard on my HTPC. Mostly trying to get the perfect setup. For the past few months I have been using Vista Home Premium since it had media center built in. That was working great until I started getting bluescreen after bluescreen due to a hardware compatibility issue. I switched back to XP yesterday and found MediaPortal. I have to say BRAVO! This is the prefect replacement for Media Center. However, I'm having a few issues with trying to get all my functionality back. A lot of my movies have been encoded into H.264 format, so I had to use a third party decoder to view them. In Vista I was using ffdshow to process all my audio/video in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio and 5.1 surround. I've attempted the same thing with limited success in MediaPortal. Aspect ratio still works, but I'm having trouble getting my 5.1 output back. It seems that when I'm playing my H.264 movies they will work fine, but when I switch to a real DVD my AV receiver is only projecting digital prologic. I was also able to watch apple trailers with 5.1 in vista, but not anymore with XP/MediaPortal. My other concern is the EPG. I know Vista "just works," and I remember a while back using ZAP2IT with a MythTV setup to acquire an episode guide, but after doing research it seems ZAP2IT no longer presents this information for free. I've tried some of the built in EPG utilities included, but haven't figured them out yet. Note, I'm using the TV-Server on my main HTPC so that I can have the ability to connect from one of the other many machines through out my home. Anyone have suggestions?

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2008-03-15, 23:46	#3 (permalink)
bluebomb Portal User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Thanks for the info! I'm trying out the CCTV plug-in right now. I'm actually using the Vista Codec pack. It's a standard installation on all my machines. It must be something I'm missing in the configuration of AC3 or ffdshow. I remember it took a while to figure it out when I was running Vista. I'll keep looking.

2008-03-16, 06:01	#4 (permalink)
bluebomb Portal User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Well, the CCTV plug-in works wonderfully! However I'm still having trouble out of my audio. What does MediaPortal use to playback DVDs and Video? I've tried configuring the AC3 filter with no success. It still passes everything to my AV receiver as digital pro-logic.