on windows 7.

i like the idea of windows media center, but i'm having difficulty using it, since it wont recognise my divx/xvid files. I have it pointed at the right folders, but they dont show up in the menu.

so, does anyone else use MC on 7 or vista and can help solve my problem? googling only comes up with solutions to PLAYING divx etc. in media center, which i can do just fine (right click, open in media center, plays just fine), but i cant get it to display the library.

honestly, my main reason for wanting to do this is to use a remote that my buddy gave me for WMC.

any help would be muchly appreciated.

I never use it for anything other then DVDs, VLC for everything else.

BUMP?

What's their file extension?

.avi for the most part

Okay, that's fine then.

The library function is screwy, if it's not a codec it doesn't directly support out of the box then it won't add it to the library. This includes DIVX (although on Windows 7 this may change as it has many built in codecs). There are registry hacks to make them appear, but I'd have to google for it. Check The Green Button forums for info, they probably have a guide.

How about an alternative though? You might want to try X-Box Media Center. It's for Windows/Mac/Linux, and does everything Windows Media Center does, and a lot more. It will work with your remote, plays just about everything, and looks downright gorgeous. Boxee is a derivative that may suit you as well if you are big into social stuff (I'm not). They have a Windows beta.

http://www.mediabrowser.tv/

And disregard most of the above post with the exception of visiting the Green Button Forums. Any file your computer has the appropriate codec for can be played through the Library. You'll never use it, though, once you install the Mediabrowser plugin.

Disregard the above post because you don't need a plugin when you run the far superior XBMC.

Disregard the above post as installing and running a "far superior program" is not the answer to your original question. The only reason that I see some of your files do not appear in the Library is that you need to modify the perceived video files in the registry. You should be able to copy and paste the following text into a .reg file using notepad and then double click the file you create.

Wasn't this precisely the kind of post you told him to ignore in the first place?

No, I didn't say to ignore any particular type of post, just to disregard most of your post. Being that he had already searched for the answer in the terms that made sense to him to use, I just didn't see how your post was particularly helpful. I just didn't want to see him needlessly go through the hassle of installing new media center like software simply to get the slight improvement in functionality he sought.

Now, if he genuinely wants to experiment with alternatives to media center, I think that's awesome. I just think it's worth trying simple tweaks first to see if that enables the functionality he seeks.

jesus christ

Couldn't you have just said "Or you could try" rather than "IGNORE THE PREVIOUS POST", and let him decide?

No because that wouldn't be snide. Besides, I'd be surprised if his suggestion worked, since that was only handling extensions (which his are .avi, which is why I asked that in the first place). Obviously the The Green Button would be a better choice.

Considering that I actually offered a solution to his problem and merely told him to disregard most of a post that provided essentially no useful information and suggested he should try an entirely different software package I'm sure he is perfectly capable of deciding for himself.

The problem, more than likely, is that Windows Media Center or, rather, Windows is not perceiving all of his video files as video files. By telling Windows to perceive files with the above listed extensions as video files, programs such as Windows Media Center should recognize them as a file it is capable of playing. He could, of course, delete any of the entries in the code above however I see no harm in adding all of them. I found the information myself some time ago on The Green Button, a forum I have been a member of for a couple years, when I did a simple search on google for "play .mov files in media center" (which if you are interested in playing that type of file there is an extra step you will find in that thread).

I also recommend using the Combined Community Codec Pack. In the settings, on the second screen, you will see an option for "Autoload VSFilter (WMP & MC Support)" Enabling that will improve your experience in those programs as well.

I'm a big fan of the Mediabrowser plugin. Their latest stable 2.x beta is miles beyond their 1.x version and I highly recommend it. To get the most out of it it can be tedious to reorganize your collection of videos (TV and Movies). Basically a folder for each movie and a hierarchical structure for TV but once it is done it is easy to maintain as your library builds. I've been converting hundreds of DVDs to video files over the past months and it is a pleasure to view them in Mediabrowser.

Oh well, good luck Ford, no matter which route you choose to take!

oh wow. i've been using CCCP for years now. i never noticed that tic mark...

and thanks guys all very helpful. also, i dont think i've ever started a thread with such entertainment in it before.

If you had bothered to read, you'd know the problem isn't extensions, something I have established twice now, from the very first post in the thread.

His files are .avi. .avi is always by default a video filetype in Windows. Your registry listing didn't even list .avi for that reason.

So no, you didn't help him, instead you were snide and stubborn. Go back to not posting, it was much better that way.

Such a girlie-man thing to get so worked up by my simply telling him to disregard most of your post. I didn't tell him to disregard you, I just wanted to catch him before he went down a path he didn't necessarily need to go down. According to him, we have all (which I guess would just be you and me) been helpful so apparantly he disagrees with your opinion that I have not. He also said that his files were mostly .avi which means that at least some aren't.

Media Center can do some strange things. On my newest computer, the first time I played a DVD I used the quick play option which opened the DVD in the proprietary HP gimped Cyberlink player. From then on any DVD or DVD files I tried to open in Media Center would open with that. Problem was, the ability to play files from the hard drive was nonexistent in that player so I could not view any DVDs I had ripped to the hard drive within the Media Center interface. Trying some alternative software seriously altered my autoplay options so that when I uninstalled that software I ended up having to do a complete restore of the computer. Turned out to be the best thing I could have done as doing so restored whatever invisible (or burried somewhere unknown to all) setting that stopped Media Center from only opening DVDs with the external program.

Which also means that whatever problem he was having wasn't related to file extensions whatsoever. I offered my suggestion as an alternative, not the solution, and pointed him to somewhere where he could get his answer. You just rejected it outright and offered up some registry entry that won't solve his problem. Hurf durf, fail less.

If there is one thing I've learned in life, it is that making conclusions based on limited and unverified information is unreliable. You conclude that the registry changes I suggested won't help him based on the assumption that the information he provided is complete and accurate. You also were mistaken, I believe, by saying that the items would not show if it wasn't a codec supported out of the box. Although some of the first improvements I made to Media Center were the registry entries I suggested as well as CCCP which have enabled me to view all of my media in WMC, I believe that files with codecs not supported out of the box but that are of supported filetypes are still shown in the library even though WMC scoffs at playing them.

Look, I agreed that your suggestion to visit the Green Button was a good one and I whole heartedly support trying alternative programs (just not as an alternative to fixing whatever issue he is having). I really don't see what has you're panties all in a bunch. For the most part I have left your little, ever degrading, forum alone. That's should make you a least a little happy or, perhaps, the right words would be slightly less miserable.

Can't we all just, get along

if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that you guys are dumb

Usually I either agree or, more likely, disagree with you. However, this time I agree with you exactly 50%.

well matty was right, the registry settings did not help. and yeah, i'd been searching the green button forums before i even asked you guys but didnt find much about my problem. probably using the wrong search parameters. i did try that plugin and it works like a charm though.

i might try XBMC at a later time, but for the nonce, this will do. thanks to both of you, for your help and entertainment.

WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN :saddowns:

Do you see any files in the video library?

If so, are any of the files from the directory containing the files you don't see?

If not, I would confirm that you do in fact have the folders watched. I know you said they were but, not to insult your intelligence, the easiest way to confirm is to right click inside the video library and select Library Setup. If all apears as should be you might have a problem similar to the one I described about DVDs on mine in that WMC simply is not working right. Nobody could help my problem because it was unique and unusual and nothing that an adjustable setting related to. The video library is pretty much rendered moot by Mediabrowser but the malfunction would still annoy me because I know it is there.

I don't know if you have any DVD files residing on your system but google for adding DVD Gallery view to WMC and there is a simple registry change that enables that ability. However, I use that less frequently due to the fact that you can view the same in a more organized manner inside Mediabrowser as well.

If you are using Mediabrowser to view movies and tv shows it will fetch metadata and images for you but it stores them in kind of a quirky manner. I recommend Media Center Master as a good program to fetch that data and store them locally in each folder for each film or tv program.

Glad to hear Mediabrowser worked well for you. I have XBMC on a Maximum PC disc and was thinking about trying that or Media Portal, another alternative, on my XP Pro laptop. Just depends if I end up mailing my Vista machine home early from deployment.

actually, your story about your DVDs helped with that point. from your story i got the idea to rightclick -> open with -> Media Center. now everything shows up just fine, although i like the plugin more, because it displays my folders properly, rather than just showing everything in one giant list.

also, yay! no more getting out of bed to change what show/movie i want to watch!

Right clicked the actual file in Explorer? That's odd. The cool thing about AVIs is WMC auto-generates thumbnails. I use MP4s for the most part so I either have to have Mediabrowser fetch them for me or some other alternative.

If you take the time, which is a pita, to organize your movies in individual folders named with the film (and year in parenthesis helps) Mediabrowser will fetch folder art, backdrops, film information for you. Once you do so, however, it is easy to maintain.