Now that TV Pack has been publicly announced, when can we expect an updated SDK?

You only need a new SDK if there were changes.

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DVRMSToolbox, Recording Broker, LcdWriter, and more software
babgvant.com

I saw a post somewhere talking about a 6.0 sdk.  I'm trying to find that post now.

 

UPDATE:

Ok, I found the page, but there really isn't anything there.  Just a placeholder it seems.

Not much there, sorry.

http://microsoft-windows-media-center-sdk.software.informer.com/6.0/

babgVant:

You only need a new SDK if there were changes.

And what... You're trying to say there were no changes?

There are several well documented methods that no longer work as described (or at all) so an updated SDK is very much needed (not that the old one was that great to begin with but...).

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Thanks for the response guys but I'm looking from something from the MCE team. Sadly I have posted here, under "Ask Microsoft" and over at the sandbox with no response.

babgVant, It is true that there appears to be no API changes, but many things do not work as documented in the SDK (playstate, returntoapplication, mediastate, addin category, etc.). I didn't realize dtb was able to handle these changes as well as the wtv format.

ahelseth:

There are several well documented methods that no longer work as described (or at all) so an updated SDK is very much needed (not that the old one was that great to begin with but...).

which changes are those?

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DVRMSToolbox, Recording Broker, LcdWriter, and more software
babgvant.com

MSBob:

babgVant, It is true that there appears to be no API changes, but many things do not work as documented in the SDK (playstate, returntoapplication, mediastate, addin category, etc.). I didn't realize dtb was able to handle these changes as well as the wtv format.

I didn't say the currently documented API worked, or worked as documented.

For the most part applications that were built on implementation details (e.g. treating DVR-MS as an ASF) won't work with WTV; on the other hand using the SBE (with one exception) to interact with the files should provide a similar experience.

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DVRMSToolbox, Recording Broker, LcdWriter, and more software
babgvant.com

babgVant:

I didn't say the currently documented API worked, or worked as documented.

Don't take this the wrong way, but what exactly are you trying to say? 

babgVant:

For the most part applications that were built on implementation details (e.g. treating DVR-MS as an ASF) won't work with WTV; on the other hand using the SBE (with one exception) to interact with the files should provide a similar experience.

I'm starting to get the feeling that you know more than you are willing to disclose...

What he's saying is that developing with Media Center can be a hit-and-miss affair.  Just because it's documented that something works, doesn't always mean it actually works.  

For WTV he means that if  you use the official APIs to manipulate DVR-MS files, then the same APIs will work for WTV files.  If you use unofficial ways to manipulate files (e.g. treating DVR-MS as ASF) then it breaks your app.

Cheers,
Andrew

AndyC:

For WTV he means that if  you use the official APIs to manipulate DVR-MS files, then the same APIs will work for WTV files. 

There is one exception, RecComp (used to edit the files) doesn't work with wtv.  Annoying but not blocking; changing the container to one with editing support is straight forward.

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DVRMSToolbox, Recording Broker, LcdWriter, and more software
babgvant.com

babgVant:

ahelseth:

There are several well documented methods that no longer work as described (or at all) so an updated SDK is very much needed (not that the old one was that great to begin with but...).

which changes are those?

Are you actually asking, or just playing?

PlayMedia for example has changed (or been broken), especially in terms of DVD playback.

ReturnToApplication no longer works at all.

MediaExperience dies and throws exceptions left, right and center.

And a bunch more. There are workarounds for most (if not all) of these, but if I spend time writing code following the existing SDK to the letter I expect it to continue working [at least] for the lifetime of the platform I'm writing for. This obviously is not the case with Vista Media Center. Unless of course, this is why MS has decided TV-Pack/Fiji is a OEM release only - it's no longer the same platform.

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ahelseth:

Are you actually asking, or just playing? PlayMedia for example has changed (or been broken), especially in terms of DVD playback. ReturnToApplication no longer works at all. MediaExperience dies and throws exceptions left, right and center. And a bunch more. There are workarounds for most (if not all) of these, but if I spend time writing code following the existing SDK to the letter I expect it to continue working [at least] for the lifetime of the platform I'm writing for. This obviously is not the case with Vista Media Center. Unless of course, this is why MS has decided TV-Pack/Fiji is a OEM release only - it's no longer the same platform.

There were no changes (add/remove/deprecate) in the MC SDK for the TV Pack.  There were also some changes in implementation which produce slightly different behaviors; but those are bugs they were not intentionally broken.

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DVRMSToolbox, Recording Broker, LcdWriter, and more software
babgvant.com

Oh, I agree - they are bugs. The question is; Does MS agree. And so far I would say it doesn't look like it. I know there have been a post or two from Charlie with regards to this, but really it should have been picked up long before the product went gold and I can't believe for a second that no-one reported these behavioural bugs during betatesting (I know I did for a few of them), which completely leads me to believe it was decided that their code works as-is for their internal use - screw the third party developers. Also, I replied to your post in the sandbox, but since you're here - what numbers do you want? Actual users, or only users currently affected?

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dupe post

Personally what disturbs me more than anything is the fact that the eHome team has all but endorsed the installation of the leaked RTM. Links to the download are scattered throughout these forums and currently every other post at TGB is about the TV Pack. The uninstallable, featureless, unsupported, bug-ridden TV Pack. No offense, but TV Pack went RTM with known crippling issues with third party applications. The returntoapplication bug, for example, would dogfood this build in my opinion.

But I digress... I'm still waiting for someone from the eHome team to address our questions.

Babgvant, you asked over at the sandbox for a user count, did you mean a "legally installed" user count?