A couple of questions for Windows 7 Media Center users

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › A couple of questions for Windows 7 Media Center users

freitasm

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#61083 8-May-2010 12:56

Folks, I haven't tested this yet, but...

Have you had success in having your HTPC going to sleep and returning on time to record programs? Also, do you have to have Media Center running to record, or just the PC on?

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#327979 8-May-2010 16:11

Haven't tried the sleep option - I wouldn't hold my breath for that to work.

Although I normally have Media Centre program running constantly, I've never missed recording a program when its not. And thats been the case with all OS's - XP, Vista and Win 7.

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gehenna

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#327993 8-May-2010 17:25

I haven't used Win7 MC since RC1 but waking from sleep to record worked for me, and no you don't need to have MC running for this to work :)

Disrespective

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#328136 9-May-2010 11:43

This is something i'd like to figure out actually. I've always wanted it but never bothered playing around and setting it up.

If someone could illuminate me on what i need to do to get the machine sleeping and waking for the record events that'd be grand.

freitasm

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#328139 9-May-2010 11:54

Last night I was watching an iTunes movie and when it was finished I've noticed a red circle sitting on the system tray - right-clickint it showed "Media Center recording" (or similar), so I can confirm you don't need Media Center running to record TV.

Now to continue testing for the sleep thing...

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Kraven

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#328199 9-May-2010 15:46

I've set mine up to sleep simply using the standard windows power plans and it seems to sleep/wake up as needed to record.

You don't need to leave Media Centre running, recording is done through a background system service.

mattyboy2

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#328413 10-May-2010 10:42

Yep, has worked for me since Day 1.

HTPC sleeps after half an hour of no use, then will wake up to record a show, then I think it goes straight back to sleep when recording has finished.

MC doesn't need to be running, correct, you see a recording icon in the System Tray if it isn't.

-Matt

nigelramsay

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#328414 10-May-2010 10:42

My W7 MCE puts itself to sleep when a recording finishes, and wakes itself up when a new scheduled recording is about to commence. This has worked perfectly 100% of the time.

You don't need the Media Center software running for scheduled recordings to start. There must be some background service that does all this. Again, this works great for me.

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#328415 10-May-2010 10:47

Highly recommend you have a look at the MCE Standby tool:
http://slicksolutions.eu/

I use this on all the HTPCs I have setup and it works great.

Satch

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#328455 10-May-2010 12:18

Is anyone who is using the sleep functionality on their HTPC decoding Sky within their Media Center? (ie using DVBLink and associated tools)

I seem to remember being told that sleep and Sky don't mix too well, but I've not been bothered to test it...

ZollyMonsta

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#329275 12-May-2010 11:36

I can't even get my system to go to sleep via the power settings. It just never does :-\

No luck with that MCE Standby Tool either.

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borgia

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#329423 12-May-2010 15:38

Media Center will record successfully even without a logged in user. My HTPC downloads updates, restarts and stops at the user login screen. If I am away, it still records all my TV. The process must load before login.

Ivan

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#329430 12-May-2010 16:01

Satch: Is anyone who is using the sleep functionality on their HTPC decoding Sky within their Media Center? (ie using DVBLink and associated tools)

I seem to remember being told that sleep and Sky don't mix too well, but I've not been bothered to test it...

The system I setup is decoding Sky and is using the standby tool I linked to earlier.
It is working great.
The only thing I have changed is that it doesn't go into full sleep mode, just away mode as there are two extenders that need access and if the HTPC is asleep then they don't work.

Asmodeus

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#329475 12-May-2010 17:41

ZollyMonsta: I can't even get my system to go to sleep via the power settings. It just never does :-\

No luck with that MCE Standby Tool either.

Have you enabled S3 in your bios?

mthand

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#330282 15-May-2010 06:25

Hey, I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but there is a tool to see if your system is compatible with S3. Strangely enough, it's not a 3rd party tool! (I just don't know you anymore, Microsoft!).

Wait till the machine is idle, and open an elevated cmd prompt. Enter powercfg -energy and you will get an html report showing any issues.

My report shows hardware incompatibility that I have given up trying to fix, so chalk me down as one who leaves the machine running all day and night.

dhazen

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#330399 15-May-2010 15:15

I've had good luck with WMC and Win 7 - everything seems to record OK, except when there are program clashes and I'll only get a portion of the first show, but all of the next (conflicting) show.

I have noticed, however, that some shows fail to record if I turn my PC off for any length of time -- I'm still working on that one.

(just kidding)

- Deck

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