Setting Up WMC
1. As Windows Media Center is already preinstalled with Windows 7, the
initial setup is simple. The first stage is to find it in your Start menu and
fire it up. The first screen will welcome you to the application and ask you to
continue.
2.
You can set up WMC using Express or using Custom
settings. We recommend the latter. Decline the offer to join the Customer
Experience Improvement Program, but click Yes when asked if you want to download
cover art for DVDs, music and movie information.
2.
3. Next is display setup. This takes a while, but really does improve
the image quality of your display, particularly if you have never calibrated it
before. Naturally if you already have your screen setup exactly as you want it,
skip this step.
4. Next, follow the audio wizard to select speakers and how they are
connected. This offers you the chance to play a test sound from each of your
speakers which, if successful, will complete this part of the setup.
5. Finally it's time to add folders to WMC's music, pictures, video and
movie libraries. You can wait while this is done, or continue to use the
application while it is done in the background. We strongly recommend the
former option!
6. You are now done, at least with adding videos. All being well, the
folders you added should now appear in their respective subsection ready for
playback, if you have a range of different video formats, we are not quite done
yet, however.
7. There are numerous 'codec packs' on the internet that claim to fix
compatibility issues in one fell swoop. Resist the temptation to use these as
they're often laced with malware and break as much as they fix, Instead check
out our box out on codecs for WMC.
These codec packs contain no nasties at
all, and we are 100% sure it provides excellent, working codecs for Windows
Media Center's player for MKV, DivX and other popular video formats.
Codecs For WMC
One of the most common problems people
find when they set up a WMC-based media PC is that their downloaded MKV files
don't play properly, while other files have perfect video but the audio is
completely absent, or vice versa. More often than not, these files play back
fine in Windows Media Player or other video playback software, but stubbornly
refuse to cooperate with Media Center. Many users take the sledgehammer
approach and download huge codec packs to try to solve this issue, but all
too many of these come pre-loaded with browser toolbars, weatherbug and other
malware. It is a much better approach to keep the number of codecs on your PC
to a minimum, thereby avoiding conflicts and other issues. Fortunately there
is a simple three step process to getting MKVs to work perfectly with WMC,
and a one step process for almost everything else.
1. Download a copy of FFDShow Tryouts from
ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php.
2. Download Gabest's Matroska Splitters from
www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/mkvs-for-minimalists-on-windows-7.html. Extract the
zip file to a temporary folder on your desktop and right click
'gabest_splitter_enable.cmd'. Click 'run as administrator' to install.
3. Download the x64 registry file, again from
www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/mkvs-for-minimalists-on-windows-7.html. Add this, and
the MKV files will be seen and can be played back by WMC.
4. To handle 95% of other files, grab the DivX Pluscodec pack at
www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus/codec-pack. This contains no malware and
works with the vast majority of MPEG-4 encoded content. This will also allow
your Xbox 360 to decode MKV files if you use one as a media extender.
And you are done! MKVs will now play
properly, and you should avoid the dreaded 'I have video but no audio'
problems that cause so many users to give up on WMC in favour of XBMC or
other HTPC clients.
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