Re: DVD Burning in Media Center 2005 - Consumer discs

I had the same problem. I built myself a MCE computer and added a Hauppauge
WinTV PVR150 for the tuner. Everything I read from Microsoft said that it
was possible to burn your recorded shows to DVD and watch them in any DVD
player but it would not work. Finally I read about the 'Windows XP Video
Decoder checkup Utility' that is downloadable from Microsoft. This simple
little program will show you what MPEG-2 decoders are installed in your
system and tell you which ones are compatible with MCE and which one is
currently set as the 'Preferred Decoder' which in my case was not a
compatible one. Since I was trying to solve this problem for a very long
time I ended up with a lot of decoders installed and very few where
compatible EXCEPT for one from Cyberlink. The only software I've installed
in my system from Cyberlink is their PowerDVD 6. After setting their decoder
as the 'Preferred Decoder' using the checkup utility everything works as
Microsoft said it should. Within MCE I choose the Create DVD option, it asks
me which files, I typicaly will choose two one hour episodes of my recorded
shows and click create. It always asks me if I want to fit the content to
the DVD because 120minutes is a bit much. I hit yes and it burns away for
about 4-5 hours. I usually go to bed while it burns but the next day I have
a DVD that works in my 5 year old Sony player. They even work in the cheap
$20 unit I bought the kids.

I'm using MCE2005 with all the updates, including rollup2 and the Cyberlink
Video/SP Decoder Version 6.0.0.1006

I've been using DVD+RW's made by TDK. These will work for 6 to 8 sessions
and then will start misbehaving. Playback will suddenly pause. At first it
will do it once every 10minutes which is ok but when it starts doing it every
10seconds it gets irritating. Time to chuck it and reburn your show.

Hope this helps others.


"andy buchan" wrote:

I am also having trouble burning dvr-ms files to a dvd which will play in a
normal dvd player. I have installed mce2005 rollup2 and done all the updates
and have also installed Sonic prime time deluxe which has a mce type gui but
did not fully integrate with mce like sonic claim. The burn video dvd option
does not appear in mce as it is meant to, I still have to open primetime from
the normal XP program list. Once open it has the mce look and can be operated
with the remote but comes up with error reports all the time, either the
video or audio mpeg streams are not compatible. The dvr-ms files are recorded
on my hard drive in 720p I think, with a frame rate of 59.97 fps and i am
trying to burn 25 fps pal DVDs. I have the Dvico fusion twin HD tuner card.
Is there some way to change the type of dvr-ms files recorded to hard drive
and some way to install primetime so that it gives the videoDVD option in
MCE. I think the claims that MCE can burn TV to DVD are misleading and the
whole process should be much simpler.
Does someone have any answers to my problems.
cheers
andy

"Gary Tsang" wrote:

Glad to have been able to help.

--
Gary Tsang
http://www.gtsang.com

Microsoft MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp



"lewisline" <designline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BF92125A-A715-4885-B78A-8D3A88E1383A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Gary thats a big help....thankz again
--
thank-you


"Gary Tsang" wrote:

The files by default (assuming you've installed to C drive) are in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Recorded TV

If you changed the drive setting inside Media Center, then it would be in
<Drive letter>:\Recorded TV



--
Gary Tsang
http://www.gtsang.com

Microsoft MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp



"lewisline" <designline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5CDA9B8D-26C3-401D-AB0A-10FBF04055D5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Where are the files that MCE record???
--
thank-you


"Mercer" wrote:

Thanks John,
Actually, in the past month I've discovered that it's pretty easy to
do
what
I wanted to do using several different 3rd party software programs.
I'm
currently using NERO most of the time but tried a couple of others
which
worked fine. Most of the 3rd party solutions do the transcoding for
you
and
it's all much easier than it might appear. I am just unhappy that
Microsoft
doesn't make the process a little clearer by saying that "you can burn
DVD's
that will play on most DVD players but you will need to add some 3rd
party
software to do it". I wasted a lot of time and discs trying to do it
exclusively from Media Center and it appears that lots of others have
too.
Regards,
Robert

"John" wrote:


Hi,

I see that you are unable to burn DVD which can play in your home
DVD
player.

Merce, this is because the Recorded TV shows are save in the DVR-ms
format
which is different from the normal MPEG format. You will first need
to
convert these files and then use Nero to make the movie DVD.

You can download the coverter software from the following link:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/file.aspx?softwareId=11

Once you have finised with converting, use your buner software to
make
DVD's.

If still the DVD so not work, this could be due to the licence
restriction
which has been introduced by many cable providers and channels. This
is
called a DRM (Digital rights management), before you play the file
in
another computer it will first go through a stage to verify the
licence.
This way the product remains registered to you only and cannot be
ditributed.

You can visit the following URL for information on DRM:

http://www.drm.org/indexdeuz.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/drm/default.aspx

Sincerely,

John

original message:
________________

"Mercer" wrote:


Help! I'm trying to burn DVD discs from Media Center 2005 that
will
play in
my consumer DVD players. Everything from Microsoft says that you
can
burn
discs that will play only in Media Center or discs that will play
in
consumer
players but I can find no info on how to make one that will play
on
my home
players. Every disc I make will play only in Media Center and I
see
no
instructions anywhere about how to create the proper files to make
one that
will play in a standard player. I've saved TV video in Media
Center
and gone
to the Make a DVD screen, gone through the process of burning the
disc, I get
a screen that tells me all is well and the disc has been
successfully
burned,
only to find that it will not play anywhere but Media Center. My
local Fry's
store now tells me that there actually is no way to make a DVD in
Media
Center that will play elsewhere but at the Microsoft Site it
advertises that
you can do it!
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mercer







.