How to Change Skip/Back Intervals?

[Sai Das]

I followed the instructions here to the letter, but the changes didn't take after several attempts: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10762/in ... ia-center/ Any ideas as to why the changes aren't taking? How do I change the skip and replay intervals?

[richard1980]

When you say the changes aren't taking, what do you mean? Do you mean the registry resets itself to the old values?

Also, did you completely close WMC and reopen it? Completely closing WMC isn't just clicking the X and reopening the application...you have to close the application and stop all the services, then restart the services and reopen WMC. Make sure you don't have any recordings happening before attempting this.

[Sai Das]

Meaning I made all the changes as shown but it didn't change the skip/interval speeds. The instructions in that link didn't say anything about having to tweak Services. By services do you mean this?

<Open Services (type services.msc into Start> Search) and Locate Windows Media Center Receiver Service. Stop the service, (right click it select stop). Delete the two files then restart the service?(right click it again, select start.) Close services window.>

[newfiend]

Yes stopping the services like Richard is describing is exactly what you typed. You may need to stop the media center services before making changes. Also make sure you run regedit as admin. Right click run as admin. Then make the changes. Note what services you stop so you can restart them afterward.

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

[Sai Das]

I will try it. If this was necessary to do, why wasn't it mentioned in the link? A number of people replied saying it worked for them without having to do this?

[richard1980]

Don't delete any files...that response you copied was for someone having trouble deleting some recorded TV files. Do everything except for that part. Before you stop the services, make sure there are no recordings happening or they will fail.

And the link you provided specifically says "If your Windows Media Center is currently running, you’ll need to restart it before your changes will take effect." Unless you stop the services, you aren't closing WMC.

[Sai Das]

That was me actually with another issue. Thanks for the heads up though.

[richard1980]

Ahh, I saw that post earlier today but I didn't know it was you.

[Sai Das]

<Also make sure you run regedit as admin.> How do I run as Admin? When typing regedit into Search, there isn't an option for that. This could be the problem because when I go back into the setting, the changes I made weren't saved.

<You may need to stop the media center services before making changes.> I did this and forgot to note whether the setting should be Auto or Manual. Auto seems logical and is what I selected.

[newfiend]

<Also make sure you run regedit as admin.> How do I run as Admin? When typing regedit into Search, there isn't an option for that. This could be the problem because when I go back into the setting, the changes I made weren't saved.

<You may need to stop the media center services before making changes.> I did this and forgot to note whether the setting should be Auto or Manual. Auto seems logical and is what I selected.

When you type Regedit in the search box it should show up in the serach results list (above where you type in the search box) move the mouse over regedit in the search list, right click and select Run As Administrator.

Well If your media Center starts acting up I would look at the services you tweaked.. Hopefully setting them to auto will be fine. I would have just right clicked the Media Center Services in the Services window and selected stop made my changes then right clicked it again and selected start.
newfiend~

[Sai Das]

Still not working. Here's what I did. Turned off Windows Media Center Services, Ran Regedit as Administrator, made changes and closed Reg Edit window, enabled WMC Services again. Restarted PC. Went back to check settings but no change. What am I missing here?

[newfiend]

When you go back into the registry do the settings you changed revert back to the factory default settings? Or are the values you set still the same but it just isn't working with the remote? Try turning off UAC, reboot, stop the MC Services, run regedit as administrator again and make your changes. Re-enable the services, See if for some weird reason UAC is keeping you from saving the changes.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... -on-or-off
Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

[Sai Das]

Did as instructed but no change. In Base it reverts back to Hexadecimal with the default, but as soon as I select Decimal, it remembers the value I selected previously. A moot point really since it won't "hold" it.

Now what? There has to be a way to do this as it works for others. Btw....should I leave UAC off? I'm the only one who uses my PC.

[barnabas1969]

Sai Das,

When you say that it won't "hold" your setting... I'm assuming that you mean that it doesn't change the skip forward/back behavior, correct? Because, when you say that you can select "decimal" and it shows the value you entered before... it tells me that your settings are in fact being saved in the registry... but that you don't see any difference when you press skip forward/back on your remote. Yes?

You are using an extender, correct? Are you changing these registry settings for the correct MCX user, or are you simply logging onto the PC and going to HKEY_CURRENT_USER?

Each extender logs on with its own unique username. You need to change the registry settings for that specific user. The username will be "MCX1-<ComputerName>" for the first extender, "MCX2-<ComputerName>" for the second extender, etc. where "<ComputerName>" is the name of your computer.

When you change the settings by logging onto the computer and simply changing the settings in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER, you are only changing the settings for that user... not for the extenders.

To change registry settings for an extender user, follow the steps below:

From an account with Administrator level access:

1) Turn off the extender.
2) Set the option in Windows Explorer to "show hidden files".
3) Run regedit as administrator (as Newfiend described above).
4) In Regedit, highlight the HKEY_USERS key and go to File, Load Hive.
5) Use the File Open dialog to go to the Users\<username> folder, where <username> is the account you wish to modify.
6) Highlight the NTUSER.DAT file in this folder (usually a hidden file) and select Open.
7) You'll be prompted to enter a "Key name". You can use whatever you wish, but I use the User's logon name (MCX1, MCX2, etc).
8) You can now expand the Hive you just loaded and make any needed changes. (This new hive will be the extender-user's "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" hive... so you will change the settings in HKEY_USERS\MCX1\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings. The "MCX1" part of that path will be whatever you named the new hive in step 7 above.)
9) When finished, highlight the new Hive again (MCX1 or whatever) and go to File, Unload Hive.

NOTE: You MUST unload the Hive prior to turning on the extender. Otherwise Windows may have trouble loading the user's profile.

Also note: I believe that you can change the skip-forward/back intervals for the extender in this way. However, I have tried changing the fast forward/rewind speeds on extenders and the settings in the registry have no effect on extenders' ffwd/rwd speeds.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, I thought you might also be interested in the following information. You can use the numeric keys in conjunction with the skip/back/ffwd/rwd/play keys to do different things. Let's say that your skip forward interval is set to 30 seconds, and skip-back is set to 5 seconds...

• Pressing the number 4 and then SKIP-FORWARD will cause Media Center to skip forward 2 minutes (4 * 30 seconds).
• Pressing the number 5 and then SKIP-BACK will cause it to skip back 25 seconds (5 * 5 seconds).
• Pressing 230 and then FFWD will cause it to skip forward 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
• Pressing 230 and then RWD will cause it to skip back 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
• While watching a recorded show that is two hours long, press 115 and then PLAY to go to the 1 hour, 15 minute mark.
• Let's say that you started watching live TV at 8pm. It is now 8:30 and you want to go back to 8:15. Press 815 and then PLAY.

[Sai Das]

Search/Show Hidden Files/Folder Options/View/Hidden Files, Folder, Drives (selected. In HKEY_USERS, files is grayed out/not enabled so I can't proceed with the rest.

[barnabas1969]

Search/Show Hidden Files/Folder Options/View/Hidden Files, Folder, Drives (selected. In HKEY_USERS, files is grayed out/not enabled so I can't proceed with the rest.

You need to click HKEY_USERS to select it first. Then, click "File" > "Load Hive". Like this...

1.jpg (21.83 KiB) Viewed 3406 times

2.jpg (23.14 KiB) Viewed 3406 times

[Sai Das]

Sorry...I was in HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead; got used to being there I guess. I think I'll go with you remote control option as it is only one extra keystroke and provides more flexibility for times. A really big thanks to you for all of your help. I probably need it later on for something else too.

[barnabas1969]

I find the original intervals to be just right. I usually press 4, SKIP to skip commercials. This usually lands me within a skip or two from the end of the commercials. Sometimes I miss it by 30 seconds, so I press 4, skip-back. This, of course, is only necessary on copy-protected shows. The copy-freely shows get skipped automatically with ShowAnalyzer.

[mmatheny]

I set a 29 sec. skip forward, and an 11 sec. skip back - works perfectly.