My Shark 007 Win7 Codec Configuration

Update: As of Shark 007 pack version 2.28 for my configuration to work as described below, I now also have to "Disable the DMO codecs on the SWAP TAB"

I’ve been in Codec hell again lately, ever since first connecting a Windows 7 Media Center PC to an AVR and wanting to get 5.1 surround sound working. Previously I was in bliss with a 2.0 speaker setup on my Media Center at home and had no codec / playback issues what so ever.

I also wanted to make my MKV’s look better on the XBOX 360 MCX, as with the Shark 007 codec pack and the native Windows 7 transcoding of MKV’s to the extender the video quality looked pretty bad.

First thing I tried was the DIVX Tech Preview, however I was unable to get anything other than 2 channel PCM on the HTPC when it was installed and my MKV’s didn’t really look any better on the extender, not sure why? I also found the DIVX Tech Preview pretty unstable for me. Allot of people have been raving about this Tech Preview, I guess I must be missing something.

I then tried just the Haali Media Splitter Alpha for Windows 7 and I was able to play my MKV’s and get 5.1 audio pass through to the AVR but on some of the MKV’s I would get bad pixelated blocky pictures, I also get the same thing happening when using Shark 007 but I have a fix for this which is covered later on.

In the end I’ve gone back to using Shark 007, however initially with Shark when using the AC3Filter I was unable to get 5.1 audio on AVI files (XVID) that had AC3 in them, in fact Media Center would not even play these movies and would error. I was able to get 5.1 audio however on MKV’s with AC3/DTS.

If I un-checked the Use SPDIF options in AC3Filter settings, my AVI’s with AC3 then played OK, but I lost the 5.1 audio on the MKV's so at this point I was going around in circles.

I finally cracked my configuration and below is now how I have Shark 007 configured under Windows 7 (32 bit). My system is based on a Gigabyte GA-MA785GPM-UD2H motherboard which has an onboard ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics processor. The PC is connected for video and sound via an HDMI cable to a Harmon Kardon AVR 255 which in turn is hooked up to the HDTV via HDMI.

The PC has the latest drivers installed from ATI and also from Realtek for the audio devices both the Digital Optical (Not in use) and the HDMI audio device.

The first setting I changed was a newish setting on the Realtek / ATI High Definition Audio Device properties on the custom tab. Ticking this option allows audio pass through.

I then installed the Shark 007 pack with the full installation option. The following screen shots show the options I have changed, if you cannot see a particular tab from the Shark 007 program that means I did not change any settings on that tab and used the defaults.

• TV/Projector
• No Subtitles
• Disable AC3Filter

• 5.1
• FFDShow – Use passthrough
• Enable Audio normalization

When the Use Microsoft codec (default) option is selected some of my MKV’s don’t play properly and I get the blocky pixelations as shown in the screen shot above. Enabling Use FFDshow’s codec option sorts this right out and cures the problem. Worth noting however I don’t have any live TV on this Media Center due to my locale so something to keep in mind?

I found that MKV’s with AC3 audio were crashing Media Center so I had to go in to the FFDShow audio configuration and change the decoder for AC3 to liba52.

Finally click on Output at the bottom and ensure AC3 and DTS are checked for pass-through.

With this configuration I am finally able to play all my files in Windows 7 Media Center connected to the AVR:

AVI's (XVID) with AC3 (Dolby Digital)

AVI''s (XVID) with MPEG (MP3) (2CH PCM)

MKV's with AC3 / DTS

MKV’s with AAC (2CH PCM) *

DVD rips VIDEO_TS (VOB's) with AC3 / DTS

Blu-ray ISO's with AC3 / DTS (PowerDVD9)

* The only thing I’d like to be able to do is encode on the fly MKV’s with AAC to AC3 but I haven’t figured this out yet. What are you doing with MKV’s that have AAC audio tracks?

I’ve set this up on two different PC’s and so far it seems to be working well, I’m not saying this is the only or best way to do things as I’m not a codec guru but it’s the way I was able to get my files all playing with audio pass-through in 7MC.

However my MKV’s still look bad quality on my XBOX 360 MCX, so I’ve started converting all my MKV’s to WTV using DVR-MS Toolbox, so maybe then I won’t need any codec / packs installed Amen to that!

Some related forum threads.

Shark 007 - Cannot play AVI's with AC3 audio - Using AC3Filter

How to configure AC3Filter with DIVX Tech Preview?

Phaze1 Digital

7MC Netflix – Screen shots

WThe new Netflix application has changed from the Vista version and looks more integrated in to the Windows 7 Media Center overall style with the overlays.

Also there are 13 genre pivots along the top, I seem to think this is more than was visible in Vista? Search looks the same to me.

Click the images for larger views:

Windows 7 released to manufacturing

We just noticed that Windows 7 RTM has been released. More details can be found on the Windows Team Blog.

I’ve just check my MSDN subscription however and its not yet listed on there for download, looks like we will have to wait a little while longer!

(Update: 6th of August for MSDN and Technet subcribers)

“I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!

As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM. “

Full article

When will you get Windows 7 RTM?

200x200 Low-res album artwork still not fixed? - Build 7077

I've been looking at the album artwork issue again in Windows 7 build 7077 and as far as I can work out things are still the same.

Although there appears to be a bit of good news with what seems to be a bug fix in 7MC, in regards to all tracks on a single album now showing the album cover.

For the full details see this thread, I go in to quite a bit of detail so you might want to look here for the summary.

Are you seeing the same results?

Take Caution when upgrading WIN7 BUILD 7077

I recommend you take caution before upgrading to Windows 7 build 7077. Ensure you have a full back up of your data files.

I upgraded build 7022 t0 7068 with no problems and then I upgraded to build 7077 and I found that all the file security permissions on my D: data drive had been stripped off and corrupted rendering my system unusable.

See here.

Windows 7 update KB963660 - will replace certain audio and video codecs

My Windows 7 PC just picked up this update via Windows Updates. KB963660

"In prerelease versions of Windows 7, certain audio and video codecs expire after 90 days. When you try to perform certain operations in this situation, such as DVD playback, TV playback, and some device sync operations, the operation fails with an error message such as "Decoder not found." The affected codecs include MPGG-2, H.264, and AAC. Additionally, Dolby Digital-related media may not play successfully. In this situation, you also receive the "Decoder not found" error message.

This problem occurs because the trial period of the components expires on March 15, 2009. After you apply this update, certain audio and video codecs will not expire on this date."

UPDATE:

Is anyone else having problems installing this update? On my machine it says failure configuring updates, then, reverting changes.

I have FFDShow Tryouts Beta 6 and Haali Media Splitter installed.

Official Windows 7 Public Beta download? - Microsoft having problems!

As yet I have not been able to download the official Windows 7 Beta1 from the Microsoft website.
Looking at this page on their site, it says:

"Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal—we're in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We're sorry for the delay and we'll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience."

Still no official download link available?

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 Beta 1 in HD Action

A user on TGB called clifgriffin has released some rather nice videos of Media Center 7 in action on his blog. Worth a look if you have not seen Media Center 7 yet. So head over there and take a look and see what your missing!

KB961367 Fixes DVR-MS Playback in Media Center 7

I've just installed KB961367 which I downloaded from here and now I can play DVR-MS files in Media Center 7 without it crashing!

Update:

The official MS download links for KB961367

32 Bit

64 Bit

New Movie Library in Media Center 7 so what can it play?

They say a picture speaks a thousand words so here's one of my pictures.

Full Screen View here

We have been playing around with the new native Movie Library in Media Center 7 that replaces the DVD Library in Vista. It's still a little buggy in places but I have to say it's a massive improvement on the original DVD Library. It looks the same really but the main thing for me is the ability to add in lots of different types of video files.

So far we have confirmed the following types on the PC not all will play on the extenders however:

.VOB (DVD)

.M2TS (Blu-ray)

.WTV (Recorded TV)

.DVR-MS (I needed KB961367 for playback on this build of 7000. Official beta might be ok without it)

.AVI (DVIX)

.WMV

.MOV

.MKV

.FLV (Flash)

.MPG

.MP4

Not too shabby a list at all, see the updated Video File types and containers table in PDF here.

For some types like MKV, MOV and Flash you need to install additional components as these are not natively supported

How to fix ngRC on Windows 7

ngRC (Next Generation Remote Control) was not connecting on my Windows 7 build 7000 machine. To fix it you need to go to C:\Program Files\ngrc and change the security permissions on the ngrc folder, for the Users group from Read and Execute to Modify.

ngRC should then work again, you will need to go in to Advanced Settings in the Windows Firewall to add a new rule for port 8080 inbound for your Private network so ngRC will also connect from your hand held devices, that's assuming your running the Windows firewall and not something else.

I've not tested much of the functionality of ngRC but it connected and I could access my music library in the ngRC web UI so all seems well again!

Media Center 7 - Which file types and containers?

I've been doing a massive amount of testing on Windows 7 Build 7000. You can follow mine and other users findings, issues, bugs and requests etc on this thread here.

The lastest thing I've been testing is which file formats play in Media Center now? Both on Media Center on the PC and in Media Center on my XBOX 360 Extender.

I've compiled a list of my findings in a PDF table which you can view here.

If the PDF doesn't open in your browser? You may have to right click the link above and select Save Link As (Firefox) or Save Target As (Internet Explorer) and save the PDF file to your PC and then open from that location locally.

I can say at this point, DVD VOB's don't play back natively on the extender, I'm not sure if Microsoft will enable this but I certainly hope so it would make my life a lot easier! Also MKV and MOV files do not play on the extender which was to be expected. MKV support is required and I really hope Microsoft can do this? If not we need a talented developer to create a transcoder that could remux .MKV files to .M2TS ones on the fly. M2TS files are now supported in Windows 7 but it is still unclear about native support for the playback of Blu-ray disks from optical drives? As people that have tried this are saying it doesn't work and Media Center prompts for software? I've not tried this myself as I don't have a Blu-ray drive currently.

The good news is DIVX/XVID I think both? Are now supported on the XBOX 360 Extender, after re-installing an "Optional Media Update" which appeared as a dashboard type pop-up within Media Center, I was slightly confused at first as I already had said update installed on the XBOX. However re-installing the update again then enabled the DIVX playback. Also my MP4 movie files now play natively on the XBOX 360 extender.

Head over to the thread on The Green Button and take a look at the PDF table.

Head over to the thread on The Green Button and take a look at the PDF table.

Microsoft you rock!

I spoke too soon, I am now playing AVI files on my XBOX 360 MCX natively ! Even the Fast Forward is working on all 3 increments, which wasn't working properly in Media Center on my PC.

I had to reinstall the Optional Media Update, I had aleady installed on the XBOX 360 dashboard ages ago you remember that MP4 dashboard update that one. I guess there's something new in the update or the Windows 7 back-end just makes it work now!

Whatever I'm very happy now MS you rock!

Thank you! [:D]

Windows 7 Build 7000 (Beta1) Your issues and requests

I recently installed Windows 7 Build 7000 (Beta1) This is an important mile stone build and is the first Windows 7 build I have installed, I thought it was time I started testing Media Center out in Windows 7.

So far I have to say I'm pretty unimpressed, granted I've mainly been looking at WMP12 at this early stage but some of my findings are well more than a little concerning!

Some of the issues I've seen or have been having so far include the Music Wall generation in Media Center and Media Center in general using massive amount of memory resources, rending my little test laptop unusable when the music wall kicks in having to end task on ehshell.exe. I'm hoping a RAM upgrade will help me here.

The dreaded Low-Res 200 x 200 WMP issue has not been resolved despite assurances from certain Microsoft employees on the Green Button that it would be.

Issues with the WMP Media Libraries, album cover artwork images still appearing in amongst your family photos.

No Synopsis information in the Movie Library previously called DVD Library.

And more issues, granted some of these issues may only be on my system. However I strongly suggest all Media Center users especially those now running Windows 7 Build 7000 head over to this new thread on the Green Button and submit your comments and feedback as I'm certain the ehome team will be watching this thread in due course!

Thread can be found here

Windows 7 Build 6956 - Media Center screenshots

I was reading this thread on the Green Button here page 19, seems there's a newer Windows 7 build doing the rounds and here's some new screen shots of Media Center in that build.

There's an option in the guide to color code shows by category.

Similar movies and future recordings integrated.

While watching a movie you can view the cast, and view other movies they have directed, produced, or acted in.

Check out the thread here on this page where you can view full sized screen shots.

If your wondering where to get your hands on this build take a look see here.

SideShow in Windows 7

I stumbled accross this audio interview with Dan Polivy from Microsoft who talks about some of the new features with SideShow in Windows 7, most notable are TCP/IP support yeah! and Touch support.

"Microsoft has shown off some crazy features in Windows 7 over the past two weeks. Most of these additions are on the user interface level, such as the replacement of the sidebar with simply “desktop gadgets” which can pin to specific locations on the desktop. The evolved taskbar (first time a major usability change was brought to the taskbar since Windows 95 with IE4), the updated Aero features (Aero Peek, Color HotTrack, etc.), as well as Jumplists are also usability and “likeability” features which were added to Windows 7.

Beyond simply the looks, however, there’s also gesture and touch support. These two will have a significant role in Windows 7, as can be seen already via features such as Aero Shake and gesture functionality in common controls (such as scrolling) via the the tablet framework.

Finally, Windows 7 will be much more context-aware than any other operating system thanks to a new sensor framework debuting in Windows 7.

Despite all of thiis, there are still some Windows Vista features which have not been expanded upon during PDC; SideShow, for example, was curiously absent. Will SideShow see more enhancements which will increase adoption? Here’s the quick list:

• Touch support with SideShow displays
• TCP/IP support via the updated .net micro framework
• 100% Backwards Compatibility with all Windows Vista SideShow gadgets

You can hear the full answer in an audio interview I magically recorded with the SideShow lead while at WinHEC"

What’s New In Media Player 12

I found a couple of interesting articles about WMP12...

"Windows 7 is going to ship with an updated version of Windows Media Player, WMP 12, which we’re excited to try out. In keeping with the new look of Microsoft apps, the new Media Player features a brighter, lighter look that reminds me of the new Windows Live betas. However, it’s not just the UI that looks different – the player itself offers some pretty cool new features, too"

Read the full article

And another good one here

This is the thing I am really interested to know more about, I wonder if a multi zoned audio setup with WMP12 / W7MC is now going to be possible?

Remote streaming set-up

"As well as streaming to remote PCs, WMP12 also includes support for controlling Digital Living Network Alliance v1.5 devices. These are networked devices with audio and/or video playback capabilities; so, similar to the scenario of streaming to an HTPC, you might be streaming audio to a Sonos box. Each device being Played To has its own playlist and playback settings and is controlled through its own little window"

The Play To controller for a network device

"If a device can't handle the format being streamed, WMP12 will detect this automatically and transcode it on-the-fly."

Is Microsoft finally coming to terms with the codec issues?

This is the biggest thing that annoys me about Microsoft and their claim about delivering the whole home digital eco-system dream to the masses. Codec support it sucks, it's a problem for most of us in one way or another. There is nothing worse than wanting to play your digital content than having the dreaded Codec message appear that says your device or MCX cannot play your video file.

I'm sorry but like it or not the main stream codecs that are out there are here to stay and Microsoft need to open up and support what at the end of the day their users want to play.

There maybe some light at the end of the very dark tunnel in the form of Windows 7. It's far too early to say but initial readings sound positive.

I stumbled across a few articles about Windows 7 from a media playback perspective some of them are quite intriguing.


"Windows Media Player has the most significant changes, with support for new codecs including AAC, H.264, DivX and Xvid, and support for the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) 1.5 media streaming standard, including transcoding where necessary. Under the covers lie more multimedia features, including a new animation framework and DirectX 11."

Source.

This is good news, you can get AVI and MP4 movies for example now in to your media library with WMP11 via registry hacks but native support is always desired and preferred.

DNLA is also good news, fancy streaming music directly to your Onkyo amp for example? Now you can in Windows 7.

"H.264 playback is now supported out of the box with Windows 7 -- including on Media Center Extenders – both standalone hardware implementations AND on the XBox 360 when in Extender mode. I know a few people on http://www.thegreenbutton.com who will rejoice"

Source.

H.264 in some form was always expected in Media Center due to the fact HD TV really requires it. What is not clear at this stage is what containers we can use such as MKV.

The most intriguing thing I have read about Windows 7 from a media playback perspective is this:

"Multimedia routing. Windows 7 adds features for shuttling media files from PCs on your home network to streaming devices such as the Sonos multi-room music system. Microsoft says the OS will transcode files as necessary to make your entertainment play on gadgets regardless of whether the gadgets support the file format in question. Sounds intriguing; I look forward to trying it out."

Source.

Transcoding files as necessary? Could this be the start of the end of the codec compatibility issues we know of today?

Windows 7 Media Center Revealed

Another new article revealing a few more details and screen shots on 7WMC via We Got Served

"Over in Los Angeles, attendees of Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference will today hear about the features planned for Windows 7, and receive a pre-beta version of the software for testing and feedback.

Here at WGS, we’ve had a copy of that build (Build 6801, or Milestone 3 for you build geeks) for a little while - today our NDA is lifted and we can bring you a sneak preview of some of the features planned for Windows Media Center in Windows 7."

Read the article here

What do we call Media Center in Windows 7?

Ian Dixon just raised a good point on his blog, what do we actually call Media Center in Windows 7 ?

7WMC (7 Windows Media Center)

W7MC (Windows 7 Media Center)

SWMC (Seven Windows Media Center)

SMC (Seven Media Center)

7MC (7 Media Center)