Q. Which conversion formats are the best?
That's a difficult question to answer. The three provided by MCEBuddy are WMV, DivX and H.264.
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WMV provides the best Microsoft compatibility and is useful if you don't want to install a codec pack or you want playback on an XBox 360. Its quality is fairly good, is the best option for Microsoft only environments and works with Media Center and MCEBuddy out of the box.
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DivX is the most universal format provided as so many devices support it ranging from most PC operating systems with DivX installed, a lot of home theatre equipment and most portable video player devices. The files produced are small and the quality fairly good. It's the best overall, general purpose encode, especially if you want to share your recording with others. If you don't mind almost doubling the conversion time, then the 2 pass conversion (1.0.6 and later) is the way to go as the quality is better.
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H.264. The quality of conversion with H.264 under MCEBuddy is excellent. Almost no visible difference from the source recording, sometimes better. If you are intending to play back only on the Media Center PC, another PC or an Apple device this is definitely the way to go. The catch is this is a relatively new codec and as such has not matured as much as the others. This means playback under other codec packs and on other devices can be a little hit and miss. This is my favorite encode, I love it.
Q. My Media Center television or playback is really choppy after installing MCEBuddy, what's wrong?
MCEBuddy is probably converting a show in the background and your system does not have enough CPU to perform both actions at once, especially if you are using H.264 which is very CPU intensive. Set the conversion hours (under Advanced in versions 1.06 or later) to a time when you are not going to use the system and MCEBuddy will convert them then. If you are using version 1.0.6 or later and H.264 use the CPU Light conversion profile.
Q. Some/all conversions are not working, they are producing random video junk and taking ages, what's wrong?
The most likely reason is your recording is Copy Protected. MCEBuddy cannot convert copy protected recordings. You can check this by looking at the properties of the DVR-MS file in recordings. Another way is trying to play the original file outside of Media Center using just media player. If it won't play outside of media center it's probably copy protected. Cinemax, HBO, Showtime and Starz are examples of copy protected (CGMS-A) channels.
Q. My conversions are taking a long time / producing large files, what's wrong?
The most likely reason is you are retaining HDTV resolutions, which means a LOT of pixels to push through the encode. As most shows broadcast on HDTV are actually normal TV scaled up, its often difficult/impossible to tell the difference between a 720 or 640 recording and a 1920 recording, especially if you are using H.264. Choose 640 wide conversion (1.0.6) or NORMAL quality (1.0.5) and work up from there.
Q. My TV Guide is not updating after installing MCEBuddy, what's wrong?
Most likely your TV guide is trying to update when a CPU intensive conversion (such as H.264) is being performed. Either set MCEBuddy to convert at a time when the TV guide is not updating or schedule your TV guide to updated when conversions are not occurring.
Q. If I move or delete the files that have been converted, MCEBuddy starts to convert them again. Is this a bug?
No, this is not a bug. MCEBuddy 1.x does not keep track of what it converts. It works out if a video is converted by looking in the converted video folder and the destination folders and if there is a converted version of the original. So if you keep the original and move the converted files, it will re-convert assuming the original conversion failed. The reason for this is there is no Media Center interface in MCEBuddy 1.x to allow you to re-select a file to encode. This will change in version 2.x as there will be a Media Center interface to allow you to control it. For 1.x you either delete the original or don't move the converted file.
Q. Does MCEBuddy support Vista64?
MCEBuddy 1.05 supported Vista64 experimentally using a 32bit build with issues. Versions 1.06 and later support Vista 64 natively.
Q. Every time I start Vista I get a message asking me whether I will allow MCEBuddyConfig to start. Why? Can I get rid of it?
This is called User Account Control and is a feature of Vista. As MCEBuddy runs as a service in the background, the MCEBuddyConfig application needs to have higher privileges to start and stop it. However, the MCEBuddy taskbar application does not need to be running for conversions to happen. You just need it to start and stop conversions, see how conversions are going and change MCEBuddy settings. So you can just delete it from the startup (Start Button-All Programs-Startup) if you like and everything will still keep on working. You can always access the configuration tool from Start-All Programs-Tyrell-MCEBuddy-MCEBuddy Taskbar Monitor.
Q. Commercial removal doesn't seem to be working, what's wrong?
MCEBuddy uses the Comskip (default) and ShowAnalyzer (optional) commercial skipping applications to provide this function. These applications often need to be optimised for your local broadcasting areas as different TV broadcasters inject commercials in different ways using different technology. The best methods are to either try tuning them yourself (comskip.ini for Comskip or Schoolhouse for ShowAnalyzer), use one posted to the Forums or Downloads on this site or search the web to find a .ini file for either that someone else has developed for your region.
Secondly, if you are using ShowAnalyzer, you must purchase a license key and register it using the Configuration tool. Only the licensed version ("normal mode") will read DVR-MS files. It'll work for a while during the trial period ("free mode") and then stop if you haven't entered a key.
Q. I've told MCEBuddy to convert between 12AM and 7AM. It's 8AM now and it's still converting. What's wrong?
The conversion times in MCEBuddy specify the time a conversion can start. Once started a conversion will continue until its finished unless canceled by stopping the service or the system going into suspend mode. If you want to reduce the chance of MCEBuddy performing a conversion during a certain time, you need to make the end time earlier by the length of time your typical conversion takes.
Q. Does MCEBuddy support system hibernation?
Yes (1.0.6 and later), but if a system goes into hibernation it will start any conversion it was performing when it went into hibernation from the beginning. It will not continue where it was from when the hibernation occurred. 1.0.5 does not support hibernation.
Q. Can I get MCEBuddy to put the converted files on another system?
Yes (1.0.6) just browse to the path and provide the connection credentials (if required).
Under 1.0.5 it's a little trickier. You will need to ensure the service can access that location. If the network location has public access (ie. there is no username/password required to access that location) then you need to make no changes. If the destination requires a logon there are two options:
- If the MCE system is part of a domain, you need to create a domain account which has Administrative permissions on the local MCE system and full control to the destination path. Then you need to change the service account using the Administrative Tools-Services MMC. A screenshot is here. If you install a new version of MCEBuddy you'll need to set the service account again.
- If not part of a domain you need to create a local user account for MCEBuddy with the same username and password that is required to connect to the network location. Then you need to change the service account using the Administrative Tools-Services MMC. A screenshot is here. If you install a new version of MCEBuddy you'll need to set the service account again.
Q. I think my MCEBuddy installation is having problems, where can I get information as to what is going on? Also, how can I find out how long a conversion took?
Look in the Windows Event Log under the Application log. MCEBuddy puts errors and logs its activity in there.
Q. What affects the performance of the conversion and what can I do to improve it?
A faster CPU, with 2 or more cores. If you know your CPU model this graph gives an indication as to how capable it is for transcoding. Disk I/O has some impact but nothing compared to the impact of CPU. System use matters a lot as MCEBuddy encodes in the background at a very low priority. If you are using your Media Center PC for anything at the time, those activities will always take priority and as such will seriously slow down any conversion taking place.
Q. I have a quad core Media Center system, will this help?
A qualified yes. The encodes have been optimised for 1 to 4 processors. However you get diminishing returns for just the conversion after two processors, so best bang for buck is a dual core system. However, if you want to watch and convert at the same time, especially with a CPU heavy encode such as H.264 then a quad core system really pays off in this scenario.
Q. Will MCEBuddy run on Microsoft Home Server?
Yep. Its a good place for it too if you have one and its got a decent CPU. Just share out the recording location and use the network connection credentials (1.06 or later).
Q. Can feature X or conversion Y be added to MCEBuddy?
New features and conversions are added with each version, though they do take significant testing which is helped by MCEBuddy beta testers. First check the releases page to see if your feature is already planned. If not, then head to the feature request or conversion request forums.
Q. Why did you make MCEBuddy?
Windows Media Center storing recorded video in DVR-MS format in 2007 is, in my and many other opinions a design flaw if only for the huge disk space wastage. There needed to be the option to use another more efficient codec for systems capable of performing the task (probably H.264 or at least WMV). As DVR-MS is still used in Vista Windows Media Center, this isn't going to change in a real hurry, so the community needed to come up with something itself.
After using some good existing tools (notably DVRMSToolbox and Crunchie) I found they were quite capable for my own use, but did require some technical savvy. As such, they were not install and you're away applications for the average user. In addition the black art of video conversion is well beyond most people. So I thought I should put something back into the community and build an install-and-it-works application that was as bulletproof as I could make it then distribute it free under GPL.
Thanks/Credits
Special thanks go to Jelwood and babgvant's Tools & Blog for mencoder that works and a huge supply of actually useful information.
MCEBuddy uses the Jelwood mencoder and ffmpeg build libraries.