MCEBuddy

Answer:

• Windows 7
• Most everything Apple
• Most portable devices

• Windows 7
• Most DVD players
• Many portable devices

Answer:Yes, with version 1.0.9 onwards on Windows 7 (only).  But only for WTV/MPEG recordings.  Some HDTV channels broadcast in H.264 and are recorded in WTV/H.264.  MCEBuddy 1.x cannot convert these files.  You can either experiment with MCEBuddy 2.0 or record the non-HDTV channel equivalent if one is available.

Answer: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.

Lastly, if you are using MCEBuddy 1.x there is a known bug in the mencoer version it must use.  In some cases with large recordings the discovered commercials are ignored for cutting when the file is converted.  Unfortunately in these cases there is little that can be done under the 1.x framework.

Answer: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.

Answer:Yes, since version 1.0.6.  It doesn’t speed things up any over 32 bit though.

Answer: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.

Answer: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.

Answer:The most likely reason is you are retaining HDTV resolutions, which means a LOT of pixels to push through the encode.  As many 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.

For version 1.0.9 and later, choose one of the top group of default profiles, which forces 720 wide resolution instead of the “No Resize” options.

Answer:1.1 only – first check the file conversion log and the event log to see what MCEBuddy tried to do.  For example WTV/H.264 files cannot be converted by MCEBuddy 1.x.  These files will be ignored by MCEBuddy and left as is.  Also, if the files you want to convert are already in the file log, delete them from the file log to get them to convert again.

The next most likely cause is that something is holding a file lock on these files.  MCEBuddy will not convert a file if anything else is using it.  Media Center sometimes holds a lock on a file a long while after it has finished really doing anything with it, particularly Windows 7.  So having it selected within Media Center or having Windows explorer viewing that directory and thumbnailing the file can create a file lock.  Media Browser and MetaBrowser can also cause a file to be locked.

Otherwise, check to see your file mask is OK and that there are no unusual permissions set on those directories.  MCEBuddy uses the local SYSTEM account to access files by default so ensure this account has access to the source directory.

Answer: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 from where it was up to when the hibernation occurred. 1.0.5 does not support hibernation.

For 1.0.9 and later, advanced power management is supported.  MCEBuddy will wake a system for conversions (if a time is specified) and will stop a system from automatically sleeping while a conversion is occurring.

Answer:No,  MCEBuddy will not be doing this as it works with open source libraries and what few free directshow filters are available.  To do all of what MCEBuddy does now and write back to WTV or DVR-MS would require me to charge for MCEBuddy.

If you are just looking for commercial removal, you should look at another simple freeware app – LifeExtender http://www.lifextender.com/.

Answer:Yes (1.0.6 and later) 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.  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.

Answer:MCEBuddy is designed to perform what is a pretty complex activity as simply as it can.  If you need more control than MCEBuddy provides I’d suggest you try DVRMSToolbox.  DVRMSToolbox is a pretty complete ‘swiss army knife’ -like application for this sort of activity http://babgvant.com/files/folders/dvrmstoolbox/default.aspx.

Answer:Three letter answer – CPU

• For H264 conversions the fastest quad core is best
• For all others, the fastest dual or more core is best (only 2 cores are used effectively)

Answer: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 and now WTV is still used in Vista Windows Media Center and Windows 7, 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 beyond most people’s interest.  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 if I could.

Answer: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.

Answer: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).

Answer: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.

This should no longer occur with version 1.0.9 and later as converted files are now recorded in the file log.

Answer: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.

Answer: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.

Answer: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.

Answer:Look in the Windows Event Log under the Application log.  MCEBuddy puts errors and logs its activity in there.

For versions 1.0.9 and later you can do this by using the configuration tool looking at both the event log and the file log.