Windows 7 Media Center 1.5x play speed

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rvangelder

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# 36948 4-Jul-2009 19:01

Anyone notice that Windows 7 Media Center has a "play 1.5x speed" feature?
My wife stumbled upon it, while watching recorded shows over the network (my PC is W7, the MC is Vista)

She's really keen on W7MC now, for this feature alone. Previous box (Sony DVD/HDD recorder) had 1.5x speed playing, which she misses big time.

Pretty big change of heart, from someone who claims Windows ME to be the best OS ever... "it never crashed for me" lol

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# 231049 4-Jul-2009 21:20

You can press num+skip/replay to skip forwards or back a multiple of the skip interval. ie 8+skip is the same as pressing skip 8 times.

You can also press num+ff/rw to ff or rw by the amount of time specified in mins:secs format. ie 5+ff will ff 5 seconds, 30+ff will ff 30 seconds and 2500+ff will ff 25 minutes.

mikehayton

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# 231139 5-Jul-2009 11:34

Or try holding down the skip/replay button for two seconds and a thumbnail will appear on the seek bar. You can skip/replay to move it forward/back and then press play to go to that spot.

FYI - if you go through DVB-S now with W7 media center there will be an Optus D1 (NZ) satellite option. This will set up the NZ FTA channels automatically now. Thanks to rhysb for testing this prior to publishing.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

rvangelder

352 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 231164 5-Jul-2009 13:45

Good work on the NZ set up. Does this mean that the billion-odd Australian channels dont have to be deactivated now? If so, thank you so much!

Mike/Rhys: are these tips and tricks documented somewhere?
I know my wife will appreciate both the 8+skip and preview-skip features.
Making the move from Vista to W7 is making me nervous. Inevitably, I'll lose something in the transition, and having a bag of tips to soothe the pain will help - haha

rhysb

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# 231326 5-Jul-2009 21:03

Thanks Mike. Good to hear it's gone live.

rvangelder, Yes it means that only the FreeviewNZ channels will show up by default. You no longer have to do any transponder scans.

Satch

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# 231532 6-Jul-2009 12:09

mikehayton: Or try holding down the skip/replay button for two seconds and a thumbnail will appear on the seek bar. You can skip/replay to move it forward/back and then press play to go to that spot.

Hi Mike,

I've never been able to get this working. Are you talking about the << and >> buttons or the |<< and >>| buttons. Neither seem to work the thumbnail seek for me for some reason.

rhysb

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# 231533 6-Jul-2009 12:11

The thumbnail seek uses the >| & |< buttons, labeled skip & replay on the official MS remote.

Satch

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# 231542 6-Jul-2009 12:18

Using those buttons only renders multiple 30sec skips in quick succession on my system (W7 RC).

rhysb

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# 231550 6-Jul-2009 12:27

What remote are you using? It sounds like it is autorepeating instead of registering one long button press.

Satch

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# 231554 6-Jul-2009 12:31

rhysb: What remote are you using? It sounds like it is autorepeating instead of registering one long button press.

Philips SRM 7500 RF remote. Sounds plausible that it is auto repeating now that you mention it...

doolz

35 posts

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# 231694 6-Jul-2009 16:13

Satch: Try pausing the tv/vid first - I stumbled upon it last night while I was trying to skip halfway thru a movie - very handy

That #+>>| sounds great :) will be trying that tonight - lets see -> 2.5minutes of ads, that's 150+>>| according to my maths ;)

rhysb

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# 231696 6-Jul-2009 16:17

If you wanted to jump forward 2.5mins you'd use 230+>> or to jump the ads I usually use 7+>|

Regs

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# 232210 7-Jul-2009 21:43

mikehayton:
FYI - if you go through DVB-S now with W7 media center there will be an Optus D1 (NZ) satellite option. This will set up the NZ FTA channels automatically now. Thanks to rhysb for testing this prior to publishing.

great news, thanks for getting this sorted :]

Technical Evangelist
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about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

Satch

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# 232215 7-Jul-2009 22:01

doolz: Satch: Try pausing the tv/vid first - I stumbled upon it last night while I was trying to skip halfway thru a movie - very handy

Didn't work for me. Thanks anyway.

Disrespective

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# 239846 28-Jul-2009 17:57

rhysb: You can press num+skip/replay to skip forwards or back a multiple of the skip interval. ie 8+skip is the same as pressing skip 8 times.

You can also press num+ff/rw to ff or rw by the amount of time specified in mins:secs format. ie 5+ff will ff 5 seconds, 30+ff will ff 30 seconds and 2500+ff will ff 25 minutes.

This my friend, is one of the least advertised, yet most useful features available. Why it's not more well documented i have no idea.

My partner thanks you, as do I :D

mikehayton

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# 241459 2-Aug-2009 16:20

Yeah - not very discoverable. I guess you can definitely call yourself a poweruser :)

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