New user needs help wth WMC, Ceton, Xbox

Post Reply
macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

New user needs help wth WMC, Ceton, Xbox

#1

Post by macdiver » Thu Dec 21, 2017 5:37 am

Hey Guyz!

I’m new at this stuff and am pretty much lost in setting it all up. Any help with these issues would be most appreciated.

It doesn’t help that my Ceton ETH6 has virtually no helps or doesn’t tell you such as how to set up assigning tuners. I have no idea which tuners are assigned to what. Doh!

I’m no stranger to computers, having built 6-7, one a water cooled game rig with dual boot via removable drive bays and a dedicated game drive but this has me stumped. I am 61 and retired. I played City of Heroes for 5 years fun but tired of it. I don’t game anymore. I might now that I have the Xbox but would it play the newest Call of Duty I’ve been seeing ads for on tv? I played several of those on single player. This xbox won’t even play Blue ray so it’s pretty old and I only paid 80 bucks for it at Game Stop.

My laptop is my WMC rig. It is a Sony Vaio VPCCW21FX with a new install of Win 7 Pro 64 bit; ICore3, 2.13; SP1 all updates; New Western Digital 1TB HDD; 4 gb ram. Nvidia Geforce M330 with CUDA, whatever that is. The Laptop score is 4.5 due to the video card but it works great so far. Everything else is 5.5 or 6.5.
The modem/router is the same Spectrum (old Time Warner) uses, the Technicolor. I’m using a cable card with the standard upper channels but don’t use any other pay channels from Spectrum or HBO, Netflix, etc. I have a new 17” flat screen tv in my computer room hooked to an xbox 360 it’s all within about 8 feet of the computer, router and everything for testing to get it to work before I get another Xbox to run on the wife’s tv when I get this stuff figured out. Everything is hardwired.

The first problem I need help with is that when I try to record one show it records something else. I saw where someone downloaded EPG123 channel guide. Is that what I need to do or is there better?

Which proggys should I use to strip commercials?

Is My Media Center by Ceton a good tool for use with my Samsung S7 Phone to control in house and while away?

Looking forward to ditching these Spectrum DVR boxes for WMC.

Thanks guyz!

choliscott

Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:56 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#2

Post by choliscott » Thu Dec 21, 2017 7:42 am

Just to be clear, were you looking to assign tuners to different computers or having one computer handle everything? Also you mentioned that you were using a laptop. Was the laptop going to be the machine you were planning on using WMC for ongoing future or initial testing/playing around with for now & switch to something else fairly soon? The reason I ask, it's best to use a dedicated computer for WMC, & not one that will be used for WMC & other daily use.

You mentioned it said it recorded show X, but what played back was show Y. It's possible that a different show played compared to what the channel guide mentioned. I had this happen at random times.
I would suggest to switch to EPG123 anyways. There is a $25 yearly subscription to Schedulesdirect, but in my opinion, it's worth it.

For skipping commericals, I use a combination of DvrMsToolbox, DTB Addin & Comskip.
I do like using My Media Center. It allows for scheduling of shows while in your residence or remote. You can also use it to select a live show or recorded show to start playing on your TV.

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#3

Post by DavidinCT » Thu Dec 21, 2017 2:17 pm

As said above. You only need to "assign" tuners if you are using another computer to access a tuner from and the ETH model, offers tuner POOLING so it's not even needed. If your using a Xbox 360 extender, you don't need to "assign" a tuner to it, it automatically takes from the pool of tuners WMC sees.

1. Are you going to use the "laptop" to connect to a TV for your main system ? Or are you going to use it like a "server" where the laptop hides and you access WMC from Xbox 360 extenders ?

2. Get your guide data solved first. Remove EPG123 for the time being, Re-RUN TV setup, use ROVI till you find your working. EPG123 requires a subscription to Schedules direct ($25 a year), ROVI is free but, not as good quality data (over all, pretty good but, has it's downfalls).

I would walk before you can run. Get WMC setup, Use it on the laptop only for the time being, try to watch TV and try to record shows. See if you can get it working stable, AFTER that, connect the Xbox 360 for the extender session. Your recording different shows, Does it play each channel as listed in the guide ?

I would not even try any 3rd party apps YET. Like I said, walk before you try to run.

Working on computers and Media Center are different animals. Like you, I built custom computers for years and I work on computers (systems administrator) for a living but, WMC is a separate application, It works very well but, needs some tweaking to get what you need.

Any questions, let us know..
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

jachin99

Posts: 1293
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 3:36 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#4

Post by jachin99 » Thu Dec 21, 2017 2:43 pm

For commercial removal you can also look into video redo and VAP. This has been a reliable setup for me, and it is simple to setup but it does cost money. I use these two in combination with comskip to delete my commercials and it works great. Here is a thread about removing commercials. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11151&hilit=video+redo

macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#5

Post by macdiver » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:36 pm

I wil use the laptop as a server. No other computers are involved. I’ll eventually use 2 or maybe 3 Xboxes.

David in CT, EPG123 IS NOT installed. Should I go ahead and install it and work out the program guide and recording and playback with that first as you suggested? I’ll pay the $25/yr for a good guide. Necessary I suppose.

I THINK I want to use MCRBUDDY but not sure if I have to get PLex or if its built in or what. Is Plex a good proggy? What I have seen about MCRBUDDY is that it makes the files smaller and catalogs the shows. EG, If I record a series it will shrink the file and put the series in order to be watched. Breaking Bad comes to mind. I saw a video on Youtube about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03CnX3H7AA&t=5s
I’im assuming from another user post that jachin 99 pointed to that I could use ShowAnalyzer for example with MCRBUDDY if needed. And I assume any other including comskip.
Thanks!

User avatar
DavidinCT

Posts: 1556
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#6

Post by DavidinCT » Fri Dec 22, 2017 1:36 pm

macdiver wrote:I wil use the laptop as a server. No other computers are involved. I’ll eventually use 2 or maybe 3 Xboxes.

David in CT, EPG123 IS NOT installed. Should I go ahead and install it and work out the program guide and recording and playback with that first as you suggested? I’ll pay the $25/yr for a good guide. Necessary I suppose.

I THINK I want to use MCRBUDDY but not sure if I have to get PLex or if its built in or what. Is Plex a good proggy? What I have seen about MCRBUDDY is that it makes the files smaller and catalogs the shows. EG, If I record a series it will shrink the file and put the series in order to be watched. Breaking Bad comes to mind. I saw a video on Youtube about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03CnX3H7AA&t=5s
I’im assuming from another user post that jachin 99 pointed to that I could use ShowAnalyzer for example with MCRBUDDY if needed. And I assume any other including comskip.
Thanks!
I would leave EPG123 off FOR NOW. You can add it later, and the general thing, its well worth the $25 a year. Get the basics fully up and running first, then do your add-ons, or your ASKING for trouble. It's really hard to troubleshot when there is a lot of 3rd party plugins. THis is why I said learn to walk before you run.

I'm not the expert on commercial skip, I used it years ago for a test and after tweaking the heck out of it, I still had issues where it was cutting off parts of shows and not the commercials, or just strange ends. After a few months of using it, I found it to be more of a hassle than just hitting "jump" on the remote when the commercials come on. Although, I could be interested in trying it again once a PERFECT combo is found where it's like 99%...

Set WMC up on your laptop, use a VGA out or HDMI out to a TV, and test it. Are you still having issues with it recording the WRONG show? As you have a ETH 6, have you tried to record 5 shows and watch a Live TV show ? Can you schedule shows and will they record ? And the right show ?

Is it working this far ?
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

jachin99

Posts: 1293
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 3:36 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#7

Post by jachin99 » Fri Dec 22, 2017 1:55 pm

To be clear about commercial skipping, there are a few options available. The option I have chosen is to use Video Redo, VAP, and Comskip donators version all together. Comskip donator's detects where the ads are, Video Redo processes the video files and makes the cuts where comskip has marked a commercial to be cut out, and VAP is a sort of graphical tool for configuring video redo. Video redo is kind of expensive (I think around 95.00), comskip donator's is ten bucks, and VAP is free. I tried MCE buddy as well but didn't have much luck. It can also use comskip free, or comskip donator's.

joesc

Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:42 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#8

Post by joesc » Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:40 am

Since you are using a cable card, I'd check that your provider hasn't marked most of the channels as copy protected. Usually they will do that with all the HD channels beyond basic OTA available channels (ie, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc). If the shows you are planning to record are copy protected, you won't be able to reprocess them, as Comskip and most of the other options will only work with unprotected content.

As was stated before, get everything working right first with the standard options, before adding additional things.

macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#9

Post by macdiver » Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:42 am

The guide is not displaying the correct shows for the channels and records different shows. EG: Tried to record Blue Bloods but it recorded Heat of the Night, a different police drama. I tried to update the TV listings but got errors. I went Tasks/TV/Get latest Guide Listings. This is the area where you can put in the times of day/night you want it to run the updates)
I click the button and it says - as is should- Downloading the latest guide listings" You will be notified when the download is complete"
Then I get an Error that says "Guide Download Error" It disappears but says the DL failed and to "Right click the tray icon to open WMC update log".
I don't know what it's talking about and where to right click.

The upside is that what is recorded is high quality on both the laptop and when played back on the extender. The extender is working fine and records shows to the laptop no problem. Live TV is also great on both.

What do I need to do from here to get the guide to display the correct info?

Thanks!

macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#10

Post by macdiver » Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:47 am

What is the best remote to use with the Xbox? I would like one that has "Favorites" channels so I don't have to scroll to my Fav channels all the time.

Thanks guyz!

joesc

Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:42 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#11

Post by joesc » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:40 pm

macdiver wrote:The guide is not displaying the correct shows for the channels and records different shows. EG: Tried to record Blue Bloods but it recorded Heat of the Night, a different police drama. I tried to update the TV listings but got errors. I went Tasks/TV/Get latest Guide Listings. This is the area where you can put in the times of day/night you want it to run the updates)
It sounds like you haven't set up the correct provider for your setup. You said you were on spectrum, I'd verify you chose the correct Spectrum lineup from the setup process.

macdiver wrote:What is the best remote to use with the Xbox? I would like one that has "Favorites" channels so I don't have to scroll to my Fav channels all the time.
Harmony remotes are the best out there. Ultimate in configurability. I've used several. Depending on your setup, I'd recommend the Harmony 650 as the low end. I've seen good deals for them as well for Christmas. Check it out.

macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#12

Post by macdiver » Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:03 pm

Guyz,

Now I’m really stuck. None of the Spectrum selections contain the correct channel info. The Spectrum cable card section says they only provide audio and video but they don’t control channel guides. They suggest that I contact Ceton or other (maybe ROVI) to get the correct guide. What am I to do now?

Joesc, I got the Logitech Harmony 650 remote today at Wally World for 40 bucks and free shipping. Hopefully I can program our cat, it seems to be able to do everything else, hehe.

cwinfield

Posts: 575
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:14 am
Location: Monroe, NC

HTPC Specs: Show details

#13

Post by cwinfield » Mon Dec 25, 2017 3:00 pm

Try a different but close zip code.

macdiver

Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:50 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#14

Post by macdiver » Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:39 pm

cwinfield wrote:Try a different but close zip code.
I live on the coast of NC. There are no other cities where signals originate from other than what I was given.

I guess I have no option other than to get 3rd party guides. Question is which one?

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#15

Post by Space » Tue Dec 26, 2017 6:33 am

You should be able to contact TiVo (provider of the default Microsoft WMC guide) and ask them to add your lineup. Just give them your zip code and a pointer to the lineup on the provider's web site (if they have it there).

Post Reply