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21 January 2010
The Holy Trinity of Matroska (.mkv) Filter Packages for Windows 7

This is a follow-up post to my earlier post about how-to get Matroska files to play on Windows 7 . Now that 7 has been released, goofy codec packs are no longer needed, except for special circumstances. The “Holy Trinity” of MKV filter packages is: Haali Media Splitter AC3Filter VSFilter Not technically... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows 7, Matroska, Haali Media Splitter, DivX Labs, H264, AC3Filter

03 December 2009
Comprehensive Report of Relevant Container and Codec Support in Windows 7 and Media Center

Containers   FF/RW Subtitles Selectable audio tracks Useful metadata Chapters AVI No No No *** No No MP4 Yes No * No **** No ***** No TS No No * No **** No ****** No M2TS No No * No **** No ****** No WTV Yes Maybe ** Yes Yes No ******* * Despite the spec requiring this, Microsoft decided not to... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows 7, WTV, TS/M2TS, H264, Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder, AAC, AVI, MPEG-4, MP4

15 October 2009
On the Path to the Ultimate Media Center Media Library (Part 1)

Introduction For the past few months, I’ve been working on and off with the Media Browser team to help create the ultimate media library solution for Media Center . I’ve come to realize that Media Browser’s folder based system has some major drawbacks and I’ve been unable to convince the team to switch... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows 7, Matroska, Media Browser, Media Center, Media Library, Libraries

29 September 2009
Fun With ToDVRMS v1.0.1.0

I managed to get a hold of the “Early Access” version of Andy ’s ToDVRMS tool specifically to test out the WTV file creation features. So far, every h264 encoded Matroska file I’ve tried converted to WTV and played back properly in Media Center. There are a few issues however: ToDVRMS doesn’t support... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows 7, Matroska, Media Center, ToDVRMS, WTV

19 May 2009
How-To Set Up a Build Machine to Compile Media Center Projects

Depending on the requirements of the project, install the appropriate version of .NET Framework . Install Media Center SDK . Either the Vista or 7 version should work. If your build machine is Windows Server 2008 , find an already running Windows Vista installation and copy Microsoft.MediaCenter.dll... Read More...

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Filed under: Programming, Windows 7, Media Center, MSBuild, GacUtil, Build Server, Continuous Integration, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, McmlVerifier, .NET Framework SDK, .NET

02 May 2009
How-To Get Matroska (.mkv) Files to Play in Windows 7 RC (Build 7100) using FFDShow-tryouts or MPCVideoDec

It seems like all the buzz in the Media Center community lately is about DivX Labs latest project: A “Technology Preview” of Matroska support in Windows 7 . I’ve tried out their solution and it seems to work, however, I need to have subtitle support and alternative audio stream support (for reasons that... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows, Windows 7, Matroska, Media Browser, Media Center, MPCVideoDec, Haali Media Splitter, DivX Labs

30 January 2009
How-To Configure Windows 7 To Play Matroska (.mkv) Files

UPDATE : Now that the Release Candidate (build 7100) of Windows 7 is out, only the Haali Media Splitter or the DivX Labs MKV Splitter are needed to get Matroska files playing in Media Center and Windows Media Player. However, neither splitter supports subtitles yet, so if you need subtitles, check out... Read More...

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Filed under: Windows, Windows 7, Matroska, Media Browser, Media Center