Hi,

I have discover that ehrec.exe try to read (at process startup) an not defined key from registry (using "process monitor" software from Sysinternals) :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\WatchedThreshold

I tried to create it (DWORD 32Bits) and set this value to 30000 (decimal value) - seems to be ms unit, so 30000 = 30 seconds.

    I have 2 Vista media center :
        _ first is a mac mini with a tuner
        _ second is my own desktop computer (without tuner)

    First step : record a show.
    On the other Media Center, this show is not shown.
    Second step : stop recording
    On the other Media Center, after a few seconds, the show is shown ... without rebooting ... without restarting Media Center ... without killing any process or restarting any services :)

Hope this will work for you too : let us know in this thread :)

I see another not defined registry key that could be useful :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\DeleteThreshold

.... but I haven't try it for now ...

Don't cry because of my english ... it's not my primary language.

Letipix

Fantastic!!  This worked.  Recorded TV on my second Vista Ultimate are updated within seconds after the first machine recording is finished.

Shame on Microsoft for not providing this as a default.

This is one of the best fixes I've seen for a multi VMC setup.

Thanks again for saving me hours of trying to get this to work and much frustration.  

Hopefully a few more will test this and make your instructions a sticky.  P.S. Your English is pretty good!

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Asus P5E-VM, Core 2 E8200, 4 GB RAM, HVR-1800 (x2), LG-GGC H20L, DMA-2100 (x5), Yamaha RX-N600, InFocus IN76, Optoma HD65, Panasonic Viera, D-LINK DIR 655, Vista Ultimate, mControl, HDHomeRun

Tried it again with a recording done overnight and it didn't work, and I don't know why.  Will test more later.

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Asus P5E-VM, Core 2 E8200, 4 GB RAM, HVR-1800 (x2), LG-GGC H20L, DMA-2100 (x5), Yamaha RX-N600, InFocus IN76, Optoma HD65, Panasonic Viera, D-LINK DIR 655, Vista Ultimate, mControl, HDHomeRun

I just tried this, and it seems to work.  I have two MCE 2005 boxes.  Here's what I did:

- add magic registry key on both machines
- restart media center and media center services (don't know if this is necessary or not)
- record 30 seconds of a show on machine #1
- meander downstairs and verify show appears on machine #2
- record 30 seconds of a show on machine #2
- meander back upstairs and verify show appears on machine #1

Note that the list didn't refresh itself.  I had to go back to the main media center screen and view recorded tv again.  I can certainly live with that though.

Thanks!

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-Gary

Hi, can you give these instructions in a little more detail, do you also have to tell the Vista machine where to look for the shared tv? Also, in what way do you share the recorded tv?

Wow, very cool, but has anyone tested this with recordings made by cableCARD?

ghackett:

Wow, very cool, but has anyone tested this with recordings made by cableCARD?

Wouldn't help.  Recordings made by cablecard PCs can only be played on the machine that recorded them or an extender.  Another MCE can not play them.

 

I've used this hack recently it seemed to work for me. Recordings I make on my main VMC PC show up pretty quickly on a secondary VMC laptop and I am able to playback the recorded TV.

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Stuart

Microsoft Media Center MVP

The Windows Media Center Blog

Tips Tricks & News!

The "WatchedThreshold" worked for me until I put the system to sleep and later resumed the system. After that it would not work and I had to reboot the system to recover the feature.

This isn't convenient since I turn the system on and off using S1/sleep and resume, respectively. Rebooting the system daily will ultimately damage the hardware.

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HP Dec z560 (VistaMCE) 3Gb RAM, Drobo 2.75Tb, and HP EX470 1Tb Windows Home Server, QAM and OTA-HD... and that's it.
Maybe time for a replacement and a tuner bank in another room.