Running Windows Media Center @ 2160p/4K !!!!!

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DavidinCT

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#41

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:06 am

werds wrote:
Putting a pin in this one here in order to figure out why it is not working for me (finally got around to trying this last night and spent way too much time fighting with greyed out permission boxes then finally after I removed inheritable permissions and tried with what was left it still kept resetting it back :(
Yep, it does, I think I posted that someplace in this thread. I battled with this for MONTHS(if not years), till I found an option that completely disables the message BUT, you will need to search for it, as don't have time to find it right now.

A quick way is to create a registry file and run a batch file to start WMC, on the first line, import the reg file and run WMC.... So when you reboot your computer, it will run the script and you wont see the message for that session. Although if you switch sources on a AVR or something, on return, it will show again.

The ONLY way I was able to FULLY get rid of it was by a HEX edit of one of the WMC files. If you have the exact version (on a updated WMC), and you can hex edit the file, then use the admin tool from the Windows 10 WMC installer, to replace the file on WMC. I got the details on how to do it one of the experts who helped on W10 WMC (or I think he did most of it) and he lists it in that thread that I replied to with the same user name (I am DavidinCT over there).

This fully removed this message as it disabled it at the system level. I also removed the Volume popup (when ever stopping video, the volume 50 in the corner would show up) we did a hex edit for that one too.

If you go this route and find the details, if you ever have to do a sfc /scannow it will replace the original files.

If your not very techy, I would avoid this one, as you put a wrong number in it you can damage wmc...

Edit: Depending on versions...this is Windows 7 only...

How to HEX
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1204986

Then you need to check your ehshell.dll version...and this is only for x64

ehshell.dll version 6.1.7601.18968, x64
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1205342

ehshell.dll 6.1.7601.19061 x64
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1205623

You might need to register to that site to see the posts but, this is what I did....

and if you want the volume thing, let me know I can provide this too... I looked them up and saved to my favs, there is even away to do RDP video as well but, I think it breaks extenders.
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#42

Post by passinos » Sun May 21, 2017 9:27 pm

did someone find a fix to the missing channel number in bottom right while at 4k at 200% DPI on WMC7 ??

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#43

Post by poit57 » Thu Nov 09, 2017 7:59 am

Based on the information in this thread, I was able to get the warning message about a high resolution to go away with a rather simple method, though I wish it looked a little cleaner. I created a batch file with the following command:

Code: Select all

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings" /v DisableHighCheck /d 3840x2160 /f
In the time I've spent trying to figure this out, I have observed that the DisableHighCheck registry entry reverts to "1920x1080" upon exiting WMC. My simple workaround was to create a scheduled task that runs my batch file every 5 minutes. Most of the time, that would be way more often than necessary, but should drastically reduce the amount of times I see this warning message in the future.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about the Task Scheduler and triggers to know if this is possible, but ideally, the batch file could be triggered any time I exit out of WMC. Is it possible to trigger a task in this manner without more advanced coding hinted at in DavidinCT's most recent post?

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#44

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Nov 12, 2017 2:56 pm

poit57 wrote:Based on the information in this thread, I was able to get the warning message about a high resolution to go away with a rather simple method, though I wish it looked a little cleaner. I created a batch file with the following command:

Code: Select all

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings" /v DisableHighCheck /d 3840x2160 /f
In the time I've spent trying to figure this out, I have observed that the DisableHighCheck registry entry reverts to "1920x1080" upon exiting WMC. My simple workaround was to create a scheduled task that runs my batch file every 5 minutes. Most of the time, that would be way more often than necessary, but should drastically reduce the amount of times I see this warning message in the future.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about the Task Scheduler and triggers to know if this is possible, but ideally, the batch file could be triggered any time I exit out of WMC. Is it possible to trigger a task in this manner without more advanced coding hinted at in DavidinCT's most recent post?
This does work, just for the session. As the system will reset the registry key when WMC exits. This will also come back if you USE HDMI and shut off your TV and turn it back on as it re syncs the connection. As you can see, even setting this to repeat every 5 min, it might not help or even having a batch to run when you exit WMC. I played with this for about 3 months on an off. I know EXACTLY what you want to do but, it never fully works.

The ONLY way I found to get rid of this, that was a not a "temp" work around like you said was doing the hex edits I showed on the post above. It's not really that hard, do some reading, back up your system before doing so if all fails, you can revert back.

This is one thing that disables it for GOOD, WMC is not able to display that message after the hex edit.

As for looking cleaner, my WMC is based off batch files to keep it running smooth, as long as it's hidden in the background, I don't think looks messy !
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#45

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:19 pm

Not sure how well this works at this point as I have not personally tried it.

This seems to offer an option to disable the high res check (it has an option for it)

https://windows10mediacenter.com/modernmedia/ui

Read more about the project here...
viewtopic.php?f=97&t=11330
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#46

Post by Crash2009 » Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:40 am

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1392095

Somebody is looking for the HexEdit for the Version of WMC that we are using in Win10

6.3.9600.16384

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#47

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:23 pm

Crash2009 wrote:https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1392095

Somebody is looking for the HexEdit for the Version of WMC that we are using in Win10

6.3.9600.16384
Would like the HEX edit for that as well.... The ones have listed are for Windows 7 (WMC ver 6.1.xxxx) not for 8.1/10 WMC version 6.3.xxxx
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#48

Post by mt17 » Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:39 am

DavidinCT wrote:
werds wrote:
Putting a pin in this one here in order to figure out why it is not working for me (finally got around to trying this last night and spent way too much time fighting with greyed out permission boxes then finally after I removed inheritable permissions and tried with what was left it still kept resetting it back :(
Yep, it does, I think I posted that someplace in this thread. I battled with this for MONTHS(if not years), till I found an option that completely disables the message BUT, you will need to search for it, as don't have time to find it right now.

A quick way is to create a registry file and run a batch file to start WMC, on the first line, import the reg file and run WMC.... So when you reboot your computer, it will run the script and you wont see the message for that session. Although if you switch sources on a AVR or something, on return, it will show again.

The ONLY way I was able to FULLY get rid of it was by a HEX edit of one of the WMC files. If you have the exact version (on a updated WMC), and you can hex edit the file, then use the admin tool from the Windows 10 WMC installer, to replace the file on WMC. I got the details on how to do it one of the experts who helped on W10 WMC (or I think he did most of it) and he lists it in that thread that I replied to with the same user name (I am DavidinCT over there).

This fully removed this message as it disabled it at the system level. I also removed the Volume popup (when ever stopping video, the volume 50 in the corner would show up) we did a hex edit for that one too.

If you go this route and find the details, if you ever have to do a sfc /scannow it will replace the original files.

If your not very techy, I would avoid this one, as you put a wrong number in it you can damage WMC...

Edit: Depending on versions...this is Windows 7 only...

How to HEX
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1204986

Then you need to check your ehshell.dll version...and this is only for x64

ehshell.dll version 6.1.7601.18968, x64
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1205342

ehshell.dll 6.1.7601.19061 x64
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1205623

You might need to register to that site to see the posts but, this is what I did....

and if you want the volume thing, let me know I can provide this too... I looked them up and saved to my favs, there is even away to do RDP video as well but, I think it breaks extenders.
Hi,

I´m quite new to this, maybe you can help:
I found out that I have a ehshell.dll Version 6.1.7601.23434 (Windows 7 X64)
Do you know how to patch this Version to get rid of the high resoution warning?

Thank you,

Martin

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#49

Post by DavidinCT » Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:56 pm

mt17 wrote:

Hi,

I´m quite new to this, maybe you can help:
I found out that I have a ehshell.dll Version 6.1.7601.23434 (Windows 7 X64)
Do you know how to patch this Version to get rid of the high resoution warning?

Thank you,

Martin
Sorry, It's not something I figured out, I was only provided the HEX locations for the older versions of the file. I needed one for an earlier version and asked and was not able to do it.

The only options to get rid of this message is to roll back to a past version and apply these fixes or keep an eye on the modernUI app. The dev had a way to FIX this problem but, it didn't work but, it claims he has a fix for it coming soon (not sure till how long soon will be now)

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11331

I rolled back to a past version to "test an app" and I got the message back, I tested his fix on 7 x64 and it didn't work. There is a registry setting that could stop this but, the permissions keep reverting causing the message to come back. I can get it to stop on first boot up but, every time you switch HDMI or turn the TV on and off, it resyncs HDMI and the message will come back.

Looks like that version was upgraded on MS16-059, and broke a lot of WMC apps because of a security flaw in WMC... There is always a possibility to roll back/ remove KB3150220 and that should get you back where you can use this. DO this with your own risk, I would backup your system before removing an update on WMC like this.

but, all in all, There is no perm fix for this message on that version of ehshell.dll at this point.

Hope this helped
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#50

Post by joelkirzner » Sun Apr 15, 2018 11:07 pm

From another poster on this thread about 4k and WMC:
"For some reason when I watch TV the channel number does not display to the left near the station ID when changing channels, tried different dpi settings with no success. 1080p displays fine."

This has been a little bug that drives me nuts on my 55" LG 4k oled.
It only happens when changing live tv channels. If you hit info, the channel number shows up fine.

No one has posted any solution.
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#51

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:42 pm

joelkirzner wrote:From another poster on this thread about 4k and WMC:
"For some reason when I watch TV the channel number does not display to the left near the station ID when changing channels, tried different dpi settings with no success. 1080p displays fine."

This has been a little bug that drives me nuts on my 55" LG 4k oled.
It only happens when changing live tv channels. If you hit info, the channel number shows up fine.

No one has posted any solution.
Never noticed that but, I'll check it out... Interesting.

Not sure if it's a deal killer but, a minor thing.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#52

Post by QPH7qhNK49OzQtvXTil7 » Sat Aug 17, 2019 7:08 pm

DavidinCT wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:08 pm Hey all,

I fixed this issue once and for all. I have disabled this message so rebooting or re-opening Windows Media Center will No longer show this message !!!! FINALLY !!!! After a day or testing on 8.1 and rebooting to Windows 7 (I dual booth on my HTPC), I applied this fix and it removed it, so it works on 7 and 8.1....

So, so background on this issue and the problem. When WMC starts it checks this key to make sure WMC is running in the recommend resolution, if this key is modified, it will change it back to the default. I have proven if you add this key with 3840x2160 before WMC starts, this message will not show but, the next time you run it, it will. So what I attempted was to no longer allow Windows Media Center to CHANGE THIS KEY. By giving "system" ONLY permission to "read" this key and no longer change, the key never goes back to the default and this message will NEVER appear again. :)

In the registry...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings

Change "DisableHighCheck" to "3840x2160"

After that, Right click on "Display Settings" go to permissions. What you need to do is make the user you log in as the "owner" (it used to be "system"), Make sure your logon account has "full control" put "System" to "read only" and Administrators "read only".

So, at this point
<user logon account> Full control
System - Read ONLY
Administrators - Read only

This does work, tested on 8.1 and 7...
That wasn't enough, it still did not work for me. Then I discovered another setting I did need to change and it worked great. Thank you for your post.
I did not have to change the user or the Administrator permissions. I did have to change the registry folder’s Owner and change the registry folder’s permission for SYSTEM to READ ONLY as you described.
The additional setting I had to change was also in the same folder in the registry (Windows 10 for me):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings

Change "DisableComplexStretchesOnConsole" (REG_DWORD) from a value of 0 to a value of 1

I also found
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\DisplayService

had a set of variable for Physical and Logical screen width
LogicalHeight (REG_DWORD) - I set this to 2160 (decimal)
PhysicalHeight (REG_DWORD) - I set this to 2160 (decimal)
and
LogicalWidth (REG_DWORD) - I set this to 3840 (decimal)
PhysicalWidth (REG_DWORD) - I set this to 3840 (decimal)

I don't know if the change to the DisplayService variables was required, but they now match my display and it made sense to change them when I disabled the complex stretches on the console.

If you only use your Media Center for watching less than 4k TV, it is probably best to let the TV do the up converting as it probably has settings allowing you to customize how that works, for example one setting for high velocity scenes (sports for example) and another for slow velocity scenes such as drama. The IV is probably newer and has faster processors for handing that. I switched from that to having the PC set for 4k display so that I could better read text in my browser from the couch across the room and can stream 4k Netflix without changing the PC resolution. I have been happy with my decision, but notice the video is a bit jumpy now when I watch at 150% speed. Your hardware and tradeoffs may vary.
Hope no one was waiting since Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:08 pm for this information. ;)
Love the site and the ability to help one another!

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#53

Post by Paul Anderegg » Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:16 am

4K for me produced some poor upscaling resulting in marcoblocking being more readily visible as opposed to letting my TV upscale the native 1080 video. I also run my PC at video levels internally, spitting through HDMI full PC levels, with TV set to video levels, so in all, my desktop looks pretty bad, but my video is as good as it can get. :)

Paul

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#54

Post by IT Troll » Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:46 pm

I am finally upgrading to a 4K TV and so read through this thread with interest. If I've understood everything correctly, there are a number of issues with running Media Center in 4K.
  1. The resolution nag - which can be fixed with a tweak
  2. No HDR support (and there never will be on Windows 7/8)
  3. No bitstreaming of HD audio formats (have to switch to local decoding to PCM)
  4. Additional H.265 video codecs are required (currently I just use native Windows codecs with a Matroska splitter)
  5. SD and HD content upscaled by Media Center may not look as good compared to TV-based upscaling.
Is that a fair summary? If so I think I may just stick to 1080p and use something else for 4K media.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#55

Post by Paul Anderegg » Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:36 pm

What would you want to play through Media Center that is not HD? Seems like putting speacialy cupped tires so that you can drive over washboard roads smoothly, but on paved roads it's horrible.

Paul

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#56

Post by IT Troll » Sat Jun 06, 2020 10:33 pm

Sorry, I don’t really understand. Lost in translation?

Currently my Media Center content is HD. It would also be nice to use Media Center to play 4K UHD media (single interface no matter if the media SD/HD/UHD). However, it does seem that doing so requires compromises. Resulting in your bumpy roads?
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#57

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:33 pm

IT Troll wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:46 pm I am finally upgrading to a 4K TV and so read through this thread with interest. If I've understood everything correctly, there are a number of issues with running Media Center in 4K.
  1. The resolution nag - which can be fixed with a tweak
  2. No HDR support (and there never will be on Windows 7/8)
  3. No bitstreaming of HD audio formats (have to switch to local decoding to PCM)
  4. Additional H.265 video codecs are required (currently I just use native Windows codecs with a Matroska splitter)
  5. SD and HD content upscaled by Media Center may not look as good compared to TV-based upscaling.
Is that a fair summary? If so I think I may just stick to 1080p and use something else for 4K media.
Ok, it's been a while but, let me clear up any questions...
  • No HDR support (and there never will be on Windows 7/8)
    Correct, NO HDR support in WMC or 7 or 8.1, if you are trying to do movies in HDR, there is some options if your using the built in Movie Library.
    Something like this will kick off MPC-HC and play the movie in HDR, I have NO issues playing HDR movies, or 4K HDR with bitstreaming audio and it's very seamless... with WMC controls working.

    viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3582
  • No bitstreaming of HD audio formats (have to switch to local decoding to PCM)
    Nothing native, there has never been as far as I know....Bitstreaming does work with the correct settings, I used Shark007's pack and there is an option to allow/Enable bitstreaming, I get everything from all HD audio formats, to 5.1 and everything thing in between.
  • Additional H.265 video codecs are required (currently I just use native Windows codecs with a Matroska splitter)
    Of course, as with ANY other codec in WMC/Windows (7/8.1), you also need a video card that has native h265 support. Running Shark007's codecs and my 1050ti, 4k movies play back flawlessly. If you play a h265 video, and it's a suddering mess, or very choppy, look at your video card (I think the GTX960 or higher started offering native h265 support) or drivers.
  • SD and HD content upscaled by Media Center may not look as good compared to TV-based upscaling.
    Hmmmm... maybe ? Results my vary depending on your setup. I have compared side by side and I think WMC looks just as good.
You also have to deal with the "the res is too high for Media Center" message that will come up on startup, or sometimes when re-connecting to HDMI (switching systems).

You also could run the desktop at 4K and run WMC at 1080p, when playing a 4K video, it will scale to the max of the display.

I've done some very tests against 4K h265 video quality, going USB directly into the TV and via Media Center... If setup right, it gives impressive results...

Media Center can be a 4K power house if you don't mind the time to set it up... but, a Media Center setup was always a lot of tweaking to get right...
Paul Anderegg wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:36 pm What would you want to play through Media Center that is not HD? Seems like putting speacialy cupped tires so that you can drive over washboard roads smoothly, but on paved roads it's horrible.

Paul
There is a lot of good TV or movies that are not in HD.... but, they look with WMC in 4K...
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#58

Post by Paul Anderegg » Sat Dec 12, 2020 4:22 pm

After testing 1080p and 720p at 4K on WMC...I can say that running the tv shows at native resolution and letting the TV upscale to 4K is best. Current Nvidia cards and MCE processing simple duplicate surrounding pixels, so you start to see the Lego effect as resolution of content decreases, pretty noticable in 720p on video text. I m currently running the desktop at 4K so it looks all nice and sharp when using it as a PC, but when Media Center opens, it switches automatically to 1080p59.94. If you update your driver, you will have to run the Configure your TV or monitor settings again, and reselect your 1080p, or else MCE will start operating at your desktop resolution.

VLC and MPC handle any HEVC or HDR content I might want to play...MadVR can force HDR10 signal on Wndows 7, assuming you select MadVR as your renderer on MPC or VLC.

Paul

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#59

Post by IT Troll » Sat Dec 12, 2020 5:51 pm

I came to the same conclusion. I leave Media Center at 1080p and just use it for 1080p content and let the TV upscale.

For 4K content I use an Apple TV (Infuse app pulling content from a network share hosted by my HTPC). This has the advantage of HDR support and frame rate matching.
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#60

Post by DavidinCT » Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:25 pm

Interesting results. To note, I did move over to Windows 8.1, so no longer running WMC on Windows 7 but, I have a partition setup so I can always go to it if needed.

As I said, if you wanted to be able to view 4K content on WMC, you can, even running the desktop @ 4K but, run WMC in 2k (1080p).

I am still running at 4K (desktop/WMC), most 1080p/720p looks fine. I have not really noticed an grain or blocky-ness. I do have a 65" and I sit about 7 feet away from it.

Still using this plugin with MPC-HC and I get every video format that I have tried(HDR, HDR10, Dolby Vision, etc) with all HD audio formats.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3582

Would love to permanently get rid of the "Res too high" error but, I have been just living with it and see it every once and a while.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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