About 1 month again at IFA 2011 Syabas announced the Popbox V8, their latest entry into the media player market. Syabas was nice enough to send me a review unit, so let’s take a look at what the Popbox V8 has to offer and see if it can have a more successful launch then the original Popbox.

Specifications:

Price: EUR 139 (available at the following retailers)

Hardware:

The front of the Popbox V8 is fairly basic. To the left is a USB 2.0 port. To the right is the power LED and  reset button.

The back of the Popbox V8  includes 1 USB 2.0 port, Ethernet 10/100 port, HDMI, Optical, Composite, and Component output (using the provided breakout cable).

There is no power brick, just a 5v DC Adapter. One thing to keep in mind though is that the Popbox V8 ships with only an EU plug. Fortunately the power plug from the original Popbox works with the Popbox V8 so I was able to use that. Otherwise if using in the U.S you would need to buy an adapter (although if Syabas eventually brings the Popbox V8 to the U.S I would expect this would be taken care of).

Here is a picture comparing the Popbox V8 to the original Popbox.

As you look at the Popbox V8 case you may be thinking to yourself, where have I seen this before? Well, if you go back to my SageTV HD300 review you will notice that the HD300 and Popbox V8 share the same chassis. This is a great little design that packs a punch in a small package. The size means you can place the Popbox V8 virtually anywhere, although you may want to be careful since it is fanless it is silent and you may have a hard time finding! Currently though the Popbox V8 does not support an IR extender similar to what the HD300 had which is a shame since the size just screams “Mount me on the back of a TV”. Hopefully this is something that can be added in the future via a driver update.

Continue reading here…

About 4 months again a major update for Remote Potato was released. I had been planning to put together a detailed walkthru on setting up and using, but it seemed like whenever I started something would always come up that would derail me. Well, since I have been using Remote Potato fairly consistently for the past month I figured now would be a good time to get this guide up and running. For those who don’t know about Remote Potato (no it is not a potato shaped like a remote), here is a brief description:

RemotePotato brings your media to you, wherever you are. Videos, recorded TV, music, pictures, it’s all instantly accessible over the Internet, streamed live from your home.

Wherever you are in the world, all you need is a normal web browser to access your media. (watch demo) Videos are streamed in stunning quality – AVI, MP4 files, Quicktime – most major formats are supported.  If you have an iPad, iPhone or mobile device,we have an app to make things even neater. Never sync your mobile again!

Windows 7 Media Center owners benefit from full integration with their home PVR – schedule recordings, browse the EPG, stream recorded TV shows and more…

Downloads:

The full list of downloads available can be found here. For the purpose of this guide I will be downloading Remote Potato Server and Streaming Pack (x32)

Requirements:

The Remote Potato Server is only supported on a Windows based PC (Windows XP, Vista, and 7). You can also install on Windows Home Server, but since Windows Media Center is not part of WHS you will lose the EPG/Recorded TV functionality. Also, keep in mind that if you plan on using Remote Potato to stream your video collection transcoding may be involved. Since transcoding can be a very CPU intensive process, a more capable CPU (i.e. quad core) is recommended.

Installation:

Installation is straightforward, really just your typical stuff here. For the Remote Potato Server:

The usual License Agreement, you agree to use our product in exchange for two major organs, etc…

If you plan on using Remote Potato to access your music library, enter in the User name and password of the PC you are installing on. You can go back later and set this up in the settings.

Installation complete, nothing broke…yet

For those also installing the Streaming Pack. It is not necessary to install this. However, if you do encounter issues with audio then odds are this should fix your issues.

Setup Wizard:

With Remote Potato installed on your PC, it is now time to get all the goodiness set up. The Setup Wizard is straight forward and takes only a few minutes to run through.

The first screen will ask if you want security enabled which will require you to log in with a User name and Password anytime you want to access Remote Potato. Also, in the bottom right hand corner there is an option to “Show expert options while running the wizard”. I believe I had this checked, mainly because my wife told me I am an expert (actually she said I am an expert in doing nothing, but an expert nonetheless!).

On the next screen you will assign what port Remote Potato will run on (the default is 9080)

An adjustment will need to be made to your firewall settings to ensure it doesn’t block Remote Potato. Unless you would like to handle manually Remote Potato will take care of this for you.

If you want to access Remote Potato either outside your network or on a machine in your network different from the one where Remote Potato is installed, you will need to enable port forwarding for the ports you assigned. This can be done in your router configuration page and is very easy to do.

Aside from forwarding your port, if you want to access  via a remote internet connection, you will need to point Remote Potato to either your external IP Address (which the setup wizard should list out) or by using a DNS service.

Since I already have a DNS service I chose the “No, I already use my router or another app to do this” and simply entered in my domain name (example: www.DutchOver.HomeServer.com if that happens to be your site name)

With everything set up a handy summary screen will appear showing your settings and the address you need to use to access Remote Potato.

As you scroll down the wizard will show you what the web address should look like.

Also, the wizard will show you what settings you need to input on your mobile device

Server Settings:

With the Setup Wizard complete you should now see the Remote Potato toolbar appear. If the server is active you will see a green light at the far right. If it is stopped you will see a red light and a notification that the Server is stopped. In order to access the Remote Potato Server settings the server needs to be stopped

Now, along the way you may be greeted by a message from Carlos. Turns out his marriage is in doubt and you, yes you, are the only one who can save it. If his marriage fails, well, then that is something you the reader will have to live with…

With the server stopped hit the little cog icon which will bring up 4 tabs (General, TV Guide, Channels, and About)

General:

Under “General” you will have options to adjust some of the settings for your Shared Media, determine if Remote Potato should start up with Windows, and set a few Appearance options.

If you recall in the Setup Wizard there was an option to set up your music library. If you did not do but would like to set up, clicking on the “Music Library” button will bring up this option again. You must have Windows Media Player installed on your PC (and ensure that your music collection is already scanned in to WMP)

TV Guide:

Assuming Remote Potato Server is installed on a Windows Media Center PC, you can adjust the TV Guide options and what Remote Potato will show.

Channels:

As with the TV Guide option, this only applies if installed on a Windows Media Center PC, allowing you to add custom channel logos and adjust your favorite channels.

About:

Under the About tab is a list of credits for all the developers who contributed to Remote Potato.

Remote Potato On A PC:

All screenshots below are for Remote Potato installed on my Windows 7 PC. However, I eventually uninstalled and currently run Remote Potato on my Windows Home Server (reason being my Windows Home Server is on 24/7). For this since Windows Media Center is not present only the Recorded TV, Music, Pictures, Videos, Settings, and Exit menu items appear.

Here is a screenshot of the main menu in the internet browser (fancier Silverlight version)

To continue reading, click here…

HDI Dune, the company behind the Dune series of media players that have been reviewed here (see my Dune Smart D1 and Dune BD Prime reviews), has just announced their next generation player called the Dune HD Pro. The Pro revolves around the Sigma SMP8910, which is the highly anticipated next gen Sigma processor. With this process comes HDMI 1.4a, 3D Blu-ray, gigE, and VXP Video Processing to name a few. I have been anxiously awaiting for SMP8910 players to be announced as I feel this could be the next big leap in the media player market. To be honest as well, I feel for the past 2-3 years we have seen the same hardware recycled amongst media players, so it has gotten a bit boring . Now keep in mind as you look over the specs of the HD Pro, this is meant to be the high end model (read expensive). Although I haven’t see any pricing I have seen rumors of EUR 2-3k. However, I do expect that HDI will also continue with their Smart series of players to be upgraded with the SMP8910 as well. No word yet on availability but I would expect we should start seeing SMP8910 players hit the market in Q1-Q2 2012.

Dune HD Pro is the ultimate HD Entertainment Center. Designed for those who are discerning and expect the very best, the Dune HD Pro features a true audiophile-grade power supply and the highest quality internal components for superior video and audio performance. This flagship model comes standard with a Blu-ray disc drive, two internal 3.5” SATA HDD racks, HDMI 1.4, VXP advanced video processing, full 3D support and Ethernet and WiFi networking capabilities.

Hi-End Features

• Built-in touch screen display: Built-in color 7″ touch screen allows the user a new level of control interactivity.
• VXP Video processor: Integrated VXP video processing improves video quality of SD, HD, and Internet content, eliminating the need for a separate video post-processing / scaling solution
• THX Media Director: A unique technology that transforms movies, music and other digital media into smart content that enables Media Director enabled A/V components to auto-select the most appropriate audio and video playback settings, preserving the content creator’s artistic intent.
• Hi-End power supply: High-performance large toroidal power transformer ensures a low level of interference in the power supply section and prevents possible signal distortion in the analog audio output, making the sound more clear and transparent, music images articulated, precise and focused, and video that much more vivid and intense.
• Hi-End audio outputs: Balanced XLR stereo outputs as well as analog 7.1 multi-channel RCA outputs, served by a high performance stereo DAC from Burr-Brown (supports bit depths from 16 to 32 bits and sampling rates up to 192 kHz).
• High-quality music playback: Play back of very high-quality (up to 192 Khz / 24-bit) music files in various formats (FLAC, Monkey’s Audio APE, WAV/PCM, DTS, etc) fully supported in the Dune HD Pro.
• Solid mass cabinet: The Hi-End cabinet design ensures an ultra low vibration level of all components including the optical disc drive and internal HDDs, minimizing environmental noise allowing discs to be read with the highest degree of accuracy.
• DIRECT button on the front panel: Listen to your music pure by disabling video electronics for even better audio quality.
• DIMMER button on the front panel: Control the brightness of the built-in display or turn it off completely.

Media Player Features

• Sigma Designs 8910 media processor: Enjoy the absolute best in audio and video playback performance from Sigma Designs newest flagship media processor.
• Blu-ray (3D) and DVD player: Play Blu-ray and DVD discs (plus Audio CD and data discs with video, music and photo files).
• Integrated VXP Video processor: VXP video processing improves video quality of SD, HD, and Internet content, eliminating the need for a separate video post-processing or scaling solution.
• HDD player: Connect an HDD to the Dune HD Pro and play content directly from the HDD.
• Network player: Connect Dune HD Pro to a local network and play content directly from PC or NAS (UPnP, SMB, NFS).
• MKV player: Play HD and SD video in popular MKV formats and other modern video file formats, including top quality HD video with very high bit-rates > 50Mbp/s.
• 3D Video format support: Dune HD Pro decodes a wide variety of 3D Video formats, including Blu-ray 3D and RealD 3D.
• HD audio: Enjoy top-quality audio tracks such as Dolby True HD, DTS HD Master Audio, LPCM, FLAC.
• 3 USB ports: Conveniently connect HDDs, USB flash drives, USB card readers and other USB storage devices without needing a USB hub.
• 2 HDD racks with hot swap function: Easily and quickly insert and exchange internal 3.5’’ SATA HDDs for nearly unlimited storage capacity.
• HDMI 1.4: Ensures the broadest compatibility to the very latest 3D TV’s, displays and projectors.
• Rich set of A/V connectors: S/PDIF optical audio, Stereo audio, Component video, Composite video outputs to easily connect any A/V equipment.
• Extended support for Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio: Output bit-stream (up to 7.1 channels) or decode (up to 7.1 channels) for maximum flexibility when connecting audio equipment, and for extended support of advanced playback features (such as Picture-in-Picture).
• High-quality music playback: Play very high-quality (up to 192 Khz / 24-bit) music files in various formats (FLAC, Monkey’s Audio APE, WAV/PCM, DTS, etc).
• Playlists: Build play lists from folders, use your own play lists, repeat and shuffle functions.
• Video output flexibility: Output video in any resolution and format (from SD to 1080p, 24p/PAL/NTSC).
• Up-scaling: High quality up-scaling of DVD and any other SD video content to Full HD (1080p) or other HD resolutions.
• File browser: Convenient file browser with powerful file management (copy, move, delete, rename, organize, sort).
• Front pannel available in two colors: black and silver.

Extra Functions

• NAS function: Access files on storage devices (HDD, optical drive, etc) attached to the player from the local network (using SMB or FTP).
• Customizable user interface: Work with media collections using cover art and icon browsing (supports Full HD graphics).
• Flash applications: Extend player functionality with FlashLite applications.
• Internet radio: Playback and record various Internet radio stations.
• IPTV: Playback and record IPTV streams (multicast UDP/RTP) from your Internet provider (check availability of multicast UDP/RTP streams with your Internet provider).
• Digital TV option: Playback and record Digital TV channels using an optional Digital TV USB dongle (Digital TV USB dongle is not included; this option may be purchased separately).
• Internet browsing: View Internet Web sites on your TV using the built-in Web browser.

See link for Pro Flyer pdf.

About a month ago I built a new desktop PC. I had noted that one issue I ran in to was that my Blu-ray ROM drive stopped being recognized, something I attributed initially to a bad drive. Before I started the RMA process I decided to use my Windows Home Server PC restore to restore my PC to a previous date from when I remember the ROM drive working. Sure enough doing this got my ROM drive back into a working state, so although I was unsure of what the cause was it appeared something just went screwy with my PC. Fast forward a few weeks and everything is humming along until this morning when my ROM drive disappeared again. The ROM drive would appear in the device manager but with a caution icon over it. Looking at the driver details I saw the following message:

A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality. (Code 32)

I decided to do a search on the web for this error code and sure enough other Windows 7 users had experienced the same exact issue. Fortunately Microsoft has a support article posted with a fix to this issue, and once I went through the quick steps my ROM drive was recognized again. I am still unsure of what the root cause is (possibly a software conflict somewhere) but I hope this helps in case any readers here run into the same issue down the road.

Windows 7 or Windows Vista

1. Click Start, and then click All Programs.
2. Click Accessories, and then click Run.
3. Type regedit, and then click OK.If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
4. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
8. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.
9. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
10. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
11. Exit Registry Editor.
12. Restart the computer.

Windows XP

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
6. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
7. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.
8. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
9. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
10. Exit Registry Editor.
11. Restart the computer.

An alternate method would be to create a .reg file in notepad and run which accomplishes the same thing:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]
“UpperFilters”=-
“LowerFilters”=-

This morning at IFA 2011 in Berlin Syabas announced their next player to hit the media player market, the PopBox v8. The v8 is the successor to the Popbox which was released over a year ago. The v8 looks to improve on the built in jukebox that the current Popbox uses, as well as continued integration of Syabas’ ever expanding App store. There isn’t much else in the way of details as to what will separate the v8 apart from the current Popbox (i.e. possible premium content such as Netflix, Vudu, etc…). Below are some pictures and well as the specs for the v8. You may notice that the design is identical to the SageTV HD300, but unfortunately does not appear to have the capability to add an IR Receiver. I am way overdue on my Popbox review so I hope to have something posted in the coming weeks (and of course I will look to pick up a v8 for review once available)

Specs (apologies, original post is in French):

Caractéristiques techniques

Chipset
Sigma Design 8671, 700Mhz CPU, 256 Mb DDR2 DRAM, 256 MB NAND Flash

Support : Audio/Video Outputs
HDMI v1.3a with CEC, 36bpp deep color,
12-bit xvYCC processing and HDCP 1.2 content protection
Component Video,
S-Video and Composite Video
Stereo Analog Audio
S/PDIF Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio

Média et Formats supportés

Video containers:
MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB)
MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
AVI, ASF, WMV
Matroska (MKV)
MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4, Real Video (RM)

Video Decoders:
XVID SD/HD
MPEG-1
MPEG-2 MP@HL
MPEG-4.2ASP@L5,720p,1-point gmc
MPEG-4.10 (H.264) :BP@L3, MP@L4.0, HP@L4.0,
HP@L4.1 WMV9 : MP@HL SMPTE
421M (VC-1) : MP@HL, AP@L3
FLV H.264

Audio Containers:
AAC, M4A
MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA) WAV WMA FLAC OGG, APE, TTA

Audio Decoders:
Dolby Digital
DTS
WMA, WMA Pro
MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3 MPEG-4 AAC-LC
MPEG-4 HE-AAC
MPEG-4 BSAC
LPCM
FLAC
Vorbis

Audio:
DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD

Autres Formats:
ISO DVD, IFO navigation
Lecture BD Iso et navigation simple

Formats photos:
Acceleration materiel
JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF

Formats des sous titres:
SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX, Téléchargement sous titres online

Other Interface :
1x USB 2.0 host at the front
1x USB 2.0 host at the back
Infra-red Remote Control
Full power down, standby and power up by remote control
Service pin hole for TV Mode switching and shutting down without remote control

Network :
Ethernet 10/100
USB 802.11n WiFi dongle WN-150 (Optional)

Power :
AC-DC adaptor
Input 100~240V AC, 50~60 Hz
Output 5V DC, 2A max

Package Content :
PopBox V8
IEC 60320 C13 power cord
5V 3A AC-DC Adaptor
1.5M length HDMI cable
IR Remote Control with 2 “AAA” batteries
Quick Start Guide
Warranty Card

Dimensions
128mm(W) x 30.5mm(H) x 100mm(L)

For a while now I have been wanting to upgrade my desktop PC. I had a Gateway Intel Q6600 Quad Core PC that had served me well, but was getting a bit long in the tooth for my needs (specifically more CPU intensive tasks such as encoding, commercial scanning, etc…). This combined with an itch I have had of late to build a PC led to me finally pulling the trigger a few weeks ago. I still remember nearly three years ago when I built my first PC (thanks to the forum members here at MediaSmartServer) how intimidating a process it was. After I was done with that PC build though I was amazed at how something that seemed so complicated could actually be so easy. Since then I have built two more PCs, a Windows Home Server, and haven’t looked back. I don’t consider myself to be any sort of master PC builder, but I thought it would be worth documenting walking through a build.

Purpose:

To build a powerful yet quiet desktop PC that will serve as my workhorse. Typical duties (aside from internet browsing) will be ripping movies, encoding to mobile formats, live TV recording, commercial scanning & removal, software testing, and video playback.

Specifications:

When building a PC it is important to take some time planning before ordering the components. For example, you want to make sure that the components you are getting are compatible with each other (i.e. is the RAM compatible with the motherboard). Another thing to think about is how much power (PSU) do you need (you can use an online calculator such as here to determine). For me I always like to err on the side of getting too much instead of getting not enough. By doing this if your needs change in the future it may be as simple as adding on/replacing a component versus having to do an entirely new build. Based on the purpose I listed above here is what I decided to go with:

• Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – $54.99
• COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular PSU – $99.99
• GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard – $129.99
• GIGABYTE GV-N450OC-1GI GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card – $114.99
• CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model – $99.99
• Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor – $289.99
• Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive – $89.99
• LG Black Super Multi SATA WH12LS30 LightScribe Support – $94.99
• Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner – $129.99 (note, I pulled this out of the PC I am replacing)
• COOLER MASTER Intel Core i5 compatible GeminII S RR-CCH-PBU1-GP 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler – $39.99 (already owned from a previous build)
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound – $11.99 (already owned)
• Miscellaneous – depending on the hardware you get you may next to get extras such as molex convertors, sata cables, etc…

Total Cost – $1,106.89 (backing out various rebates). Actual cost for my order was $924.92 since the last three items I already owned.

Building The PC:

Now keep in mind there is no correct order that you must go in when building a PC and you may find it to be trial and error. This is the process that worked best for me with this build.

IMPORTANT: whenever you are dealing with electronics you always want to be aware of electrical static discharge which could potentially damage your hardware. Always make sure you are grounded (either with an anti static wrist band or by simply touching something metal immediately prior to handling).

1) Unpack the case and get to know it. Take a look at the front and the rear (in this case I am talking strictly about the PC )

Open up the case and take note of how everything is laid out. The layout may ultimately decide what steps you follow. For example, you may notice that the HDD cage comes very close to where the motherboard would sit, so you may want to install the motherboard first in case inserting the hard drive first blocks installing the motherboard. Since the case I am using is very roomy I didn’t notice any major obstacles.

Continue reading here…

Just last week Boxee released their much anticipated iPad App. I had a chance this weekend to install and do some testing, so let’s take a closer at what the Boxee for iPad App brings to the table.

Requirements:

• Boxee for iPad App (free)
• Boxee Media Manager (optional)
• iPad
• Boxee Box (optional)
• Boxee account (free)

Install & Setup:

The Boxee for iPad App can be used as a standalone App for watching internet videos. However, to get the most out of the App you are going to want to install the Boxee Media Manager on a PC/MAC where all your media content is stored. For the purpose of this writeup the Boxee Media Manager will be installed on my Windows Home Server.

After downloading the Boxee Media Manager it was the typical installation process via RDP into my Windows Home Server

One item to note, after installation you may get a message that Windows Firewall is blocking Boxee Media Manager. Make sure you unblock this.

Once installed launch the Boxee Media Manager which will bring up a basic UI with a list of Shared folders. These folders should contain your local media that you want to be accessible on the Boxee for iPad App.

To add your media folders simply click the “+” button at the bottom left, navigate to the desired folder(s) and click the “Done” button

Aside from adding your media there are a few settings worth looking over which can be accessed by hitting the “cog” icon at the bottom right. From the settings you can enable remote admin for accessing the Boxee Media Manager in a browser (make sure you have port forwarding set if you want to access outside your network), check for software updates, enable automatic launch at login, and enable debug mode.

As you can see there isn’t much to installing and setting up the Boxee Media Manager. Over time I wouldn’t mind seeing more options/features added to the Media Manager, but I think overall it is simple to manage which is a plus.

Continue reading here…

A few months ago I wrote an article about updating profiles in MCEBuddy 2.0 Beta 13. MCEBuddy is a small application that can monitor PC DVR recordings, converting to a variety of formats as well as removing commercials. When MCEBuddy 2.0 Beta 13 was released a basic UI was introduced meant more for testing purposes then anything else. A few weeks ago Beta 16 was released, which brought a fully functional UI along with many new features/fixes. Let’s take a closer look at what Beta 16 brings and how to use.

Features:

• Converts from WTV, DVR-MS, TS, MPEG and many other formats
• Converts to MP4 , AVI, portable devices and others
• Removes commercials
• Converts in the background at scheduled times

Supported Platforms and Software:

• Windows Media Center, Media Portal and other DVR software
• Desktop support Windows XP, Vista, Vista 64, Windows 7 and Windows 7
• For a server deployments Windows 2003, Windows 2008
• 32 bit and 64 bit versions

Price:

• Free (although PayPal donations are more then welcomed)

Changelog:

• Corrected file permissions issue, fixing no changes saved for non-admin users from GUI bug and no manually added file for non-admin users bug
• Added auto-corrected x64 setup project build to save plenty of time during builds
• Corrected numerous GUI bugs
• Added audio sync fix for AVI files
• Updated MP4 profile
• Ad removal in MP4 fixed
• Ad removal for MP4 files > 2GB fixed
• Updated MP4 profiles for better quality
• Added Apple friendly profile
•  Fixed unclean service shutdown
• Cleaned up GUI interface
• Improved GOP settings to allow for neater ad cutting
• Moved to all constant bitrate conversions to reduce A/V sync issues when ads removed
• Fixed file rename based upon meta data
• Added sort by series from MCEBuddy 1.x
• Fixed Wake time
• Added Start and stop times for conversions (Start linked to a wake)
• Fixed non-divisible by 2/4/8/16 errors for ffmpeg based conversions
• Service starts with engine in STOPPED condition after install to allow configuration first even with a reboot
• MCEBuddy service is now started automatically after installation
• Numerous installation fixes (oh, I do hate msi development…)
• Corrected file->meta generation on Windows server as Windows Server platforms cannot extract WTV and DVR-MS meta data

Downloads:

• x32 / x64

Setting up MCEBuddy 2.0 Beta 16:

When you first launch MCEBuddy 2.0 you will see a very streamlined UI. Simply clicking the “Start” button will get MCEBuddy running, monitoring any designated folders for recordings (clicking the “Rescan” button will force MCEBuddy to recheck your monitored folders for new content). Clicking the “Add” button will allow you to manually add a file for MCEBuddy to process.

Continue reading here…

State of the project
LAVFSplitter is a multi-format media splitter that uses libavformat (the demuxing library from ffmpeg) to demux all sorts of media files. Note that this list only lists properly tested formats/codecs, many others may just work!

Containers
MKV/WebM, AVI, MP4/MOV, MPEG-TS/PS (including basic EVO support), FLV, OGG, and many more that are supported by ffmpeg!

Video Codecs
H264, VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-ASP (Divx/Xvid), VP8, MJPEG and many more.

Audio Codecs
AAC, AC3, DTS(-HD), TrueHD, MP3/MP2, Vorbis, LPCM and more.

Subtitles
VOB, DVB Subs, PGS, SRT, SSA/ASS, Text

BluRay Support
Support for opening BluRay playlists (.mpls), as well as the index.bdmv file, which will try to detect the main movie playlist!

BluRay support is still in an early stage, and there are still many improvements and new features planned!

Other Notable Features
- Full Stream switching
- MKV Embedded Fonts
- Audio Bitstreaming (through LAV Audio)

Planned Features
These features will be implemented “soon”, and “when its done”
- Improved BluRay support (Title selection from within the player)
- Audio Up/Downmixing

Features for the much more distant future
These features might make it in one day, no guarantees, no time frame
- BluRay Menu support

Known issues

Splitter
- WMV Video streams don’t show any video when connected to a MS DMO decoder. (Thus, WMV will not be registered for yet)

Audio Decoder
- TrueHD decoding does not work when used in conjunction with the MPC-HC/Gabest MPEG Splitter. This is a bug in the MPC-HC splitter, one that the audio decoders in MPC-HC and ffdshow work around, instead of fixing it in the splitter. I will not do these kinds of hacks.
- DTS Express cannot be bitstreamed and only be decoded when using the ArcSoft DTS Decoder.

Frequently asked Question

Q: DirectVobSub will not load with LAVFSplitter
A: Make sure to use the “DirectVobSub” filter when adding it to the preferred filters list, and NOT “DirectVobSub (auto-loading version)”. The latter will NOT work.

Q: Will there ever be a “LAV Video Decoder”?
A: Its planned – not soon, though.

Q: Will you write a Subtitle Filter?
A: No. Subtitles should be drawn by the renderer onto the finished image, and currently there is no way to make that a custom filter. Plus, me personally, i don’t care much for subs.

Q: Can LAV Audio decode DTS-HD?
A: Kind of. On its own, it cannot. But, LAV Audio supports using the ArcSoft DTS decoder, which allows decoding of full DTS-HD. Just drop the “dtsdecoderdll.dll” from the TMT3/5 Codecs directory into LAV Audio’s directory, and enjoy.

Q: I do not get any audio when using ffdshow as a post processor. What gives?
A: When using ffdshow as post-processor, under some circumstances, you might need to force ffdshow to only use one output format. In this case, i recommend turning off all output formats except one, preferably either 24-bit int or 32-bit float.

So really just to clarify, the LAV Splitter can replace popular splitters such as Haail and the LAV Audio Decoder can replace FFDShow Audio Decoder. One item in particular that I like about the LAV Splitter is that it can filter out and present only forced subtitles. Once again I will be using MPC HC as my player of choice for this setup.

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Nearly two years ago I wrote a spotlight on a metadata management tool called MetaBrowser (proper name being “meta<browser/>”). Since then MetaBrowser has evolved into a more feature rich and complete product with the release of MetaBrowser 2.0 in March 2010. There hasn’t been much for me to write about of late with MetaBrowser simply because it just runs in the background of my Windows Home Server, doing its job without a hitch. However, there have been some nice additions that I thought it would be worth looking at as part of the current release (version 2.1.5).

1. Web Service (read here)  - MetaBrowser comes with the ability to act as a Web Service, which will allow MetaBrowser to be the central hub where applications will be able to access metadata and control Windows Media Center. The benefit of running the web service is that it will allow for remote viewing of your video library via web browser as well as controlling any PC running Windows Media Center (including initializing playback). Setting up the web service is very easy to do.

With MetaBrowser open go to Settings -> Web Service. The default port to be used is 7000, but this can be changed. Click the “Start” button next to the Port and this will start the Web Service. Once the Web Service has been initialized, accessing can be done by going to http://<IP Address or Site Address>:7000/web/ (where IP Address is of the PC where MetaBrowser is running). You will also have to option to have the service started at startup (Note, MetaBrowser must be running on your PC for the Web Service to run), you can assign a Username/Password for accessing the Web Service, and you can specify what paths to allow. If you do not enable allowed paths in theory all paths on your PC are accessible which is not ideal. By checking “Enable allowed paths” only the web root path and media location paths are enabled. For any other paths you must add manually (you will need to add your ImagesByName\People path in order to see actor thumbnails)

To make sure that the Web Service is working correctly enter in the url address of the website into your Internet browser (i.e. http://192.168.0.156:7000/web/ (obviously substitute for your IP/site address)) which should bring up your personal MetaBrowser website.

2. Web Apps (read here) – In order to be able to view your video library remotely you will need to install the Web Apps. You can access t he Web Apps for installing in the Plugin section of MetaBrowser. There are currently two web apps to choose from. The first is called “Movie Collection” which allows you to browse your movie collection (TV Show collection a possible addition at a later date) via an internet browser. The second app, called “Media Collection (Mobile)” is essentially the same as the Movie Collection app except it is formatted for better viewing on mobile devices (also TV Show support has been added).

Once the Web Apps have been installed head over to your MetaBrowser website and you should now see the Web Apps showing. Keep in mind that the Media Collection (Mobile) app is still web based. The good thing about this is that you can view this on any mobile device that can access the internet. The downside is that since it isn’t a native iOS or Android App it is not nearly as functional or smooth as a native App (such as the My Movies App)

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