Silverlight 5 RTM available

[staknhalo]

Should add HW acceleration for playing Netflix. Hopefully this helps with those of you with Zacate and other low power systems. I haven't tried myself yet as I'm getting everything together for a reformat either tonight or tomorrow.

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

[newfiend]

Thanks for the heads up on this.. Going to install it later tonight. I'm in the same boat as you as far as the format and reinstall goes. I need a new PSU first though. I think it's having issues as Sleep doesn't work and I am getting Kernel Power issues in Event Viewer. After some research online it says it could be a memory or PSU issue. Ran Memtest on the Memory and it passes .. Hopefully Corsair will warranty my PSU.. Looking forward to a fresh start on MC.
newfiend~

[makryger]

Also, it has pretty much solved the issue where netflix freezes at the end of a movie.

[staknhalo]

Newfiend, have you ran your system with the MST plugin installed at all? I only ask cause I've had systems run fine perfectly vanilla in regards to sleep and then on another reformat they would not work worth a damn unless I installed MST. I don't understand what could cause the discrepancy on my end, but I've just come to accept it. I'm only doing the reformat this time though because I want a clean install and I'm trying to reduce the amount of plugins/software I'm dependent on.

[newfiend]

Newfiend, have you ran your system with the MST plugin installed at all? I only ask cause I've had systems run fine perfectly vanilla in regards to sleep and then on another reformat they would not work worth a damn unless I installed MST. I don't understand what could cause the discrepancy on my end, but I've just come to accept it. I'm only doing the reformat this time though because I want a clean install and I'm trying to reduce the amount of plugins/software I'm dependent on.

Yep. In fact I had it installed originaly when I first built the HTPC and sleep worked fine for quite some time. Then I could get it to sleep but not wake up..I would have to unplug the PSU or Flip the power switch on the back of the PSU let it sit a few seconds then turn it back on which of course would result in a impropper shut down message at boot.. Its been like this for some time. I just set it so the PC shuts down instead of sleeping which doesn't work well because it can't "wake to record" programming. It's been ok though as most of our shows are on at night and we are home and the thing is on anyway..

I started looking into the issue recently and checked event viewer.. researched the kernel power error code via microsoft's site and I think have narrowed it down to a bad PSU. The problem seems to happen when I let the PC sleep for a period of time. I can set it to sleep mode (s3) in Bios and Windows. Sleep the PC and wait a few seconds and re-wake it fine.. But if any length of time passes and I try to wake it it won't. It's like it tries to wake but locks up kinda.. the Display on the front of the case won't lite up and the power button will light and stays lit but nothing is booting or working..A manual unplug/ switch flip waiting a few seconds and turning it back on then hitting the power button always gets it back on, but of course it has the PC was impropperly shut down re-boot Windows normally screen.. It's been a PITA..lol

Wish I had a spare PSU laying around to test with but I don't. I can't rip it out and send it in for repair as we would have no TV and the WAF would go in the toilet.. I am sure you understand that..lol.
Anyway I think I'll pick up a new PSU and do a swap. Send in the old one for repair and just have a spare. Spare PC parts are always good to have... AmIRite?
newfiend~

[staknhalo]

Ah that sucks. But hey, enough spare parts allowed me an addition HTPC. So it will be an eventual win.

[CyberSimian]

Newfiend, have you ran your system with the MST plugin installed at all? I only ask cause I've had systems run fine perfectly vanilla in regards to sleep and then on another reformat they would not work worth a damn unless I installed MST. I don't understand what could cause the discrepancy on my end, but I've just come to accept it. I'm only doing the reformat this time though because I want a clean install and I'm trying to reduce the amount of plugins/software I'm dependent on.

You did not mention what problem you were having with sleep mode. My experience with Vista is that the result of a sleep-mode test depends critically on the nature of the test -- do one sort of test and you conclude that sleep mode works fine, do a different sort of test and you conclude that sleep mode does not work at all. I will explain my understanding of how Vista works. You may already be aware of this, but it may be useful to others.

Sleep mode uses a timer that runs continuously. Certain events cause it to be reset to zero, namely waking from sleep, and human input (pressing a key on a keyboard or on a remote control, mouse movement, mouse click, etc.). When the sleep timer reaches or exceeds the value specified for the sleep timeout in the power scheme, the system is put into sleep state. So what stops the system sleeping in the middle of a recording? The answer is that there is a flag that Media Center sets to inhibit sleep mode. It is important to remember that the sleep timer is still running, it is just that it is unable to put the system into a sleep state. When the recording finishes, MC turns off the inhibit-sleep flag.

On a default Vista install, the sleep timeout is set to 30 minutes. If you enable sleep, this is what happens when MC wakes up to record a programme (assume zero padding):

(1) 5 minutes before the programme starts, the system wakes and resets the sleep timer to zero; MC turns on the inhibit-sleep flag.
(2) 5 Minutes later MC starts recording the programme.
(3) At the end of the programme, MC stops the recording and turns off the inhibit-sleep flag.
(4) The system checks to see if the sleep timer equals or exceeds the sleep timeout; if it does, the system is put into sleep state.

Now, suppose that you decide to test your shiny new Windows install by doing a test recording of a 5-minute programme (a childrens programme, perhaps). The system wakes up 5 minutes before the start of the programme and the sleep timer is reset to zero. 5 minutes later, the recording starts. Another 5 minutes later and the recording ends. But we are now only 10 minutes from the time of wake, so the sleep timeout has not been exceeded. As a result, the system will run for a further 20 minutes before the 30-minute sleep timeout is exceeded and the system is put into sleep state. So your conclusion woud be that sleep mode does not work.

Now suppose that you test your shiny new Windows install by doing a test recording of a 30-minute programme. The system wakes 5 minutes before the start, begins recording 5 minutes later, and stops recording 30 minutes after that. When the recording stops, 35 minutes have elapsed since wake, so the sleep timeout is already exceeded, and the system is put into sleep state immediately. Conclusion: sleep mode works fine.

So, the type of test that you perform will determine the conclusions that you draw from the result of that test.

Note that the way that the sleep timer works means that there are other circumstances where you might conclude that sleep does not work. Suppose that you are watching live TV whilst simultaneously recording another channel. You stop watching live TV and press the power button on the remote control 5 minutes before the end of the recording. The system enters "away mode" -- the screen blanks, but the system continues recording the programme. 5 minutes later the recording finishes. But only 5 minutes have elapsed since the most-recent human input (you pressing the power button on the remote control), so the system will run for a further 25 minutes before the 30-minute sleep timeout is reached and the system will transition to sleep state. So again you would conclude that sleep mode does not work.

I have used my Vista system for a couple of years, during which time it has not been 100% reliable. So I recently did a re-install of Vista, this time from the Windows disk rather than the Dell pre-load (to eliminate the Dell additions). I have also resolved to be more disciplined with regard to installing software, and refrain from installing additional software until there is a clearly demonstrated need for it. So I decided not to install "Media Standby Tool" this time. I do not favour running the system unnecessarily, so I have set the sleep timeout to 15 minutes (with the "Windows Energy" screen saver kicking in at 10 minutes). 15 minutes is verging on the too-short a time interval (barely long enough to have a comfort break, make a cup of coffee, and be distracted by something else), but it is a reasonable compromise.

Essentially, what you want is a very short sleep timeout when the system wakes for a recording (even as short as one minute), but a long timeout when you are using the system (2 hours, say). The only way that I can think of achieving this is to start Media Center manually after each wake, and do this from a BAT file that changes the power scheme from the 1-minute sleep timeout power scheme to a 2-hour sleep timeout power scheme. When you have finished using the system, you exit from Media Center, which returns control to the BAT file which would then change the power scheme back to the 1-minute scheme. In that way, unattended recordings would always use the 1-minute scheme, but people using Media Center would always use the 2-hour scheme. For best usability you would need to trap the "Green Button" press on the remote control, and get it to start the BAT file instead of starting MC directly. AUTOHOTKEY could probably do this, but I have no experience of it.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[staknhalo]

Waking up and sleeping for recording always worked, I believe it wasn't going back to sleep after MCupdate after a while. I would wake up in the morning (with nothing set to record the night before) and the system would be awake. And there was nothing going on in the background except an update like 6 hours earlier. Like I said, MST took care of it so I just said [removed by STC - keep it clean please!] it. I just found it odd that even with mcupdate, fresh install it would work and then eventually not. But c'est la vie.

[newfiend]

@ CyberSimian
The problem is harware related. Not software. I am running Windows 7 and not Vista. The PC Will not Wake correctly. It trys to but "hangs" or "Locks up" the front dislpay is not lighting up correctly and HDD's / SSD's are not booting. Narrowed it down to a bad PSU. I should have it sorted shortly. Just waiting on funds for a new PSU.
Thanks for the updated Info appreciate your input.
newfiend~

[Oldmajor]

Does anyone know if this added hardware acceleration? I previously had a test build running a Zacate and Netflix HD was very choppy. I've since utilized that device form something else, but would be interested to know if Silverlight 5 fixes the issue?