Will MC7 play BTV recordings?

[sundance]

Will Media Center 7 Play BTV recordings? If it will do you need anything special or is there special setup involved?

[encoder]

With some limitations W7MC will play HD .tp files recorded from BTV. These include: No BTV meta data support; fast forward and rewind don't work; no thumbnails of videos.

If you rename your .tp files to .ts then you'll get native support in MC. If you want it to play .tp you'll have to create an entry in the registry for .tp. In addition, MC won't show thumbnails of .tp files, but will for .ts. If you want thumbnails to show for .tp files you'll have to install 3rd party codec like that comes with PDVD.

So you you are curious go ahead and play with W7MC. If you want a hassle-free interface (for BTV recordings) stick with BTV.

If anyone has any luck in or idea on converting .tp files to .wtv (W7MC's native HDTV recording format which supports fast forward and rewind and Guide Info) please post.

[encoder]

One more thing: As in Vista, you still need to install ac3filter to bring the audio volume in MC to "normal" levels when playing back videos on HDTV via HDMI. But unlike in Vista, you no longer need to put a dummy .mpeg video in your videos folder in order for MC to pick up your .tp files when building the library.