Building a BETTER WMC extender

Troubleshoot and discuss the XBOX 360, XBOX One, Linksys, and other extenders.
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DavidinCT

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Building a BETTER WMC extender

#1

Post by DavidinCT » Sun Nov 13, 2016 6:01 pm

I have been thinking of trying to get a Raspberry PI working with WMC.... The Windows 10 hack, could get video playing over RDP, Now if you can get a IR receiver working with a Raspberry PI, install the hacked version of Windows 10 WMC (8.8.1) on Windows 8.1 (as the version was ripped from 8.1's WMC), as it has the hacks enabled on it, then get the PI to boot right into a RDP session and use that as an extender.

I suggested 8.1 because
1. The 10 WMC was ripped from 8.1
2. You would not have to worry about updates killing WMC as you do with Windows 10 (although for a HTPC use, I would disable updates anyway).
3. The advantage of the Extender working EXACTLY like on the main PC.
4. Better Wi-Fi speeds than the 360, so possible to run over Wi-Fi with out dealing with performance issues.
5. the cost of entry to get started on this, the PI is only about $35-40 with case.

Now think about this if one was willing to attempt it. It would not have any of the limitations of a 360, it would play back all content that the HTPC plays back. With a lot smaller footprint, it would only really get resources from the HTPC, so it should run flawlessly. Creating a 2nd user on the HTPC, enabling RDP multiple session(hack) and using that user for the PI could do this.

The ONLY big problems could be according to T-S(one of the major devs on WMC on 10) WMC can not view video in full screen, so it does not give full ActiveX control. but, in over all tests, video performance over a WI-FI network on Windows 10 using this hack seemed to work perfectly (used a early i5 tablet). The other problem is possible Protected content issues but, if you get WMC to run like it's on the main PC, this might work...some testing would be needed.

This is just a thought, would love to hear others input here...

If this was done right...and with the work, we could really build a BETTER extender....think about it.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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mcewinter

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#2

Post by mcewinter » Mon Nov 14, 2016 8:28 pm

I run OpenELEC (Kodi) on a Raspberry Pi as an extender. It's all there except for protected content. It does play every movie in my collection though; something a MC "Extender" isn't capable of.

I can run the DVR portion as MC client and/or I can take advantage of Silicondust's solution either via their app or using SDs DVR as a backend service. OpenELEC does offer several options for backend services.

The advantage is that you can run Kodi on just about anything but DRM will remain the biggest drawback.

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DavidinCT

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#3

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:10 am

mcewinter wrote:I run OpenELEC (Kodi) on a Raspberry Pi as an extender. It's all there except for protected content. It does play every movie in my collection though; something a MC "Extender" isn't capable of.

I can run the DVR portion as MC client and/or I can take advantage of Silicondust's solution either via their app or using SDs DVR as a backend service. OpenELEC does offer several options for backend services.

The advantage is that you can run Kodi on just about anything but DRM will remain the biggest drawback.
Yea but, what I am thinking is running WMC over RDP to give the full WMC experience. Even if your using KODI and accessing it from WMC, it would still work just like your on the main PC. This should give you live TV and recorded TV...Plus no limits on Codecs what a Xbox can and cant play. I still use the built in Movie library, moving movies to x265 with TRUE HD audio. As you can guess, a lot of these movies have problems playing on the 360...never mind running into bit-rate problems on the videos where a lot just wont even play.

Now the protected content is a big question... if it can play on the main PC, would of play over a protected session on RDP ? That is a big question...

A TRUE extender but, just better is what I am after... and it might be possible here
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

RyC

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#4

Post by RyC » Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:15 am

Can you even get TrueHD/DTS (or even Dolby Digital) over an RDP connection?


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DavidinCT

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#5

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:37 am

RyC wrote:Can you even get TrueHD/DTS (or even Dolby Digital) over an RDP connection?


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Good question but, I am leaning towards no... Unsure at this point.
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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