It’s been a long time since I can remember the Windows Media Center community being excited about a piece of hardware as it has about the Ceton quad CableCard tuner. The card was given an official release date of March 31st at CES. Unfortunately Ceton released a newsletter today with bad news in regards to the release date, but also with some good news.

Getting straight to the bad news, Ceton has pushed the release date to May 31st. No specific reasons were given for the delay.

There isn’t any single reason, or any major “show stoppers”, for why it’s taking us a bit longer than planned. It just boils down to a handful of small issues that are typical in new product development and that collectively add up. We’ve developed a first-of-its-kind product and that means we’re forging new ground in several areas, which always makes things a bit harder to plan for.

The news isn’t all bad though. Ceton did have three positive things to share in the newsletter. The first being that they have decided on a name for the product line. Their tuner family name is now called InfiniTV, with the quad tuner version be the InfiniTV 4. They had a naming contest back in January and due to being overwhelmed with over 1000 submissions they have decided to award not one, but three different people with a free InfiniTV 4 for their dedication and effort.

The next piece of good news is while you can’t get your hands on the InfiniTV 4 yet, you can at least pre-order one starting today. You will have to put in your credit card number, but Ceton assures us that your card will not be billed until your tuner is shipped on May 31st.

And last, but not least, Ceton has made some engineering changes to the card that have allowed them to remove the fan. You will no longer need to worry about any potential noise that the fan might have caused.

So while the delay in the ship date is disappointing, at least there is some good news to be happy about. Also, Ceton made it abundantly clear in the newsletter that they would be sticking to the May 31st date.

Josh and I are joined this week by Jose Ortiz of the TDL Mobile Show and AJ Peck, writer and sometimes co-host for The Home Server Show.  These gentlemen were willing to put up with us for a little over an hour to discuss extenders and their possible/not happening/who knows demise.  We certainly don’t reach any conclusions but it was a fun time anyway.  We thank Jose and AJ for joining us this week.  You can expect Josh and I to return live next Wednesday at 8pm EST on Ustream.

Click Here to download Episode 68!

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This week, Phil loses his ability to remember anything at the end of the show. Luckily, we were able to make it through most of the show before he loses control of cognitive thinking.

We start out with a look at a great article from Anandtech on THX certification on HDTVs. The company started by Lucasfilm to ensure theaters perform to spec evntually branched out into home video and audio. And now that the THX Certified badge is out there, what does it mean? Is a THX Certified HDTV something that would draw you toward a purchase? Or is it more of a marketing piece now?

Home Media Magazine reported on a study that showed more people have game consoles than cable boxes now (Adam and Phil both have more consoles than boxes). What does that mean for the future of TV at home?

On the 3D front, HDGure notes that Best Buy will be launching it’s full-on 3D efforts with a new promotional area inside its Union Station store in Manhattan. New stores will come online throughout the rest of the year. Also, Mitsubishi is readying a converter box that will allow legacy Samsung and Mitsubishi 3D sets to view content from the newer 3D sources at half resolution.

Finally, we do some homework from last week looking at Blu-ray market share numbers. The most recent numbers (week ending Feb. 28) show Blu-ray at 13% market share with revenue up 76.88% from last year. This is the first time in several weeks that market share was higher than the week before.

Looking historically, it’s very easy to tie large market share numbers to highly anticipated new releases. Watchmen, Up, Snow White and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen all were new releases in the four highest market share weeks since last May.

Our Blu-ray review this week looks at The Invention of Lying starring Ricky Gevais and Jennifer Garner. Delivered on a VC-1 encoded 25GB disc, the video suffers a bit from the smaller disc size. Not a bad presentation, but nothing amazing either. A lack of dimension keeps the print from being anything better than average. On the audio side, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is likewise average. None of the scenes really give the audio a chance to shine, and as such, it neither offends nor impresses. Kudos to the sound designer for realizing the brunt of this film relied on interaction between the characters, as dialogue is crisp, clean and well balanced. For fans of Gervais’ podcasts, be sure to check out the special features for a Karl Pilkington piece. The rest of the features are farily entertaining as well. Give it a rent, but only buy if you’re big fans of Gervais or Garner.

Looking to the future with the help of our friend Geek Tonic, not too much by way of new premieres this week until Sunday when HBO’s The Pacific kicks off it’s 10-episode run. From the same people that made the Award Winning Band of Brothers, The Pacific shifts focus to the other theater from WWII. Check out previews at HBO.com.

Lots to talk about in The HD Sportsman this week as March Madness hits full tilt with college hoops conference tournaments all week.

There’s some good Blu-ray deals to look at this week, including a $9.99 sale at Best Buy and a sale starting at $12.99 at Amazon.com and two more sales at $9.99. Take a look at these sales, because there’s not much worth picking up from this week’s release schedule.

Finally, Paramount might be copping to serious criticism of it’s Sapphire Series release of Gladiator last year. The disc was roundly panned for poor video quality, and rumors are circulating now that the may be looking to release a “Remastered” version of Gladiator sometime in May.

Click here to download Episode 25!

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Technorati Tags: blu-ray, Seen in HD, Invention of Lying, 3D, THX

Ahh March. Welcome, please shine your madness upon us. College basketball conference tournaments dominate the schedule this week, as March Madness gets fully underway, topped off by the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on CBS at 6 p.m. Sunday (1080i). Sunday also features a marquee NHL matchup with Washington and Pittsburgh.

SPOTLIGHT
Saturday and Sunday, when there are eight conference tournament finals on. ABC, ESPN, and CBS all get into the action. Strap on the feedback and cozy up.

Here’s the rest of the week, big games in BOLD.
Conference Championship Title Games in Red

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

MONDAY, MARCH 8

• 9 p.m. – College Basketball WCC Tourney Finals St. Mary’s at Gonzaga (720p)
• 7 p.m. – NHL Dallas at Washington (1080i)

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney DePaul vs. South Florida (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney St. John’s vs. Connecticut (720p)
• 7:30 p.m. – NHL NY Islanders at Philadelphia (1080i)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Providence vs. Seton Hall (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Rutgers vs. Cincinnati (720p)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 11 p.m. – College Basketball PAC-10 Tourney Washington State vs. Oregon (720p)

THURSDAY, MARCH 11

• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 3 (720p)
• 12:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big 12 Round 2 (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 3 (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big 10 Tourney Michigan vs. Iowa (720p)
• 3 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney UCLA vs. Arizona (720p)
• 5 p.m. – College Basketball Big 10 Tourney Northwestern vs. Indiana (720p)
• 5:30 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney Oregon/Wash. St. vs. California (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 3 (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina (720p)
• 8 p.m. – NBA Chicago at Orlando (1080i)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney Oregon State vs. Washington (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Round 3 (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big 12 Round 2 (720p)
• 10:30 p.m. – NBA Portland at Golden State (1080i)
• 11:30 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney Stanford vs. Arizona State (720p)

FRIDAY, MARCH 12

• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Big Ten Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 12 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big Ten Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 2:30 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Semis (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney Semis (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Big East Tourney Semis (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Round 2 (720p)
• 11:30 p.m. – College Basketball Pac-10 Tourney Semis (720p)

SATURDAY, MARCH 13

College Basketball

• 11:30 p.m. -  Conference USA Tourney Finals (1080i)
• 1 p.m.  – SEC Tourney Semis (1080i)
• 1:30 p.m. – ACC Tourney Semis (720p)
• 1:40 p.m. – Big Ten Tourney Semis (1080i)
• 3:15 p.m.  – SEC Tourney Semis (1080i)
• 4 p.m. – Big Ten Tourney Semis (1080i)
• 4 p.m. – ACC Tourney Semis (720p)
• 6 p.m. – Pac 10 Tourney Finals (1080i)
• 6 p.m. – Big 12 Tourney Finals (720p)
• 9 p.m. – Big East Tourney Finals (720p)

Other Sports

• 2 p.m. – PGA Tour WGC-CA Championship 3rd round (1080i)

SUNDAY, MARCH 14

• 12:30 p.m. – NHL Washington at Pittsburgh (1080i)
• 1 p.m. – College Basketball Atlantic 10 Tourney Finals (1080i)
• 1 p.m. – College Basketball ACC Tourney Finals (720p)
• 2 p.m.  – College Basketball SEC Tourney Finals (1080i)
• 3 p.m. – PGA Tour WGC-CA Championship final round (1080i)
• 3:30 p.m. – College Basketball Big Ten Tourney Finals (1080i)
• 4:30 p.m.  – NBA Boston at Cleveland (1080i)
• 6 p.m. – College Basketball NCAA Tourney Selection Show (1080i)

Technorati Tags: NCAA basketball, March Madness, SEC, Big 10, ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, Big East, conference tournaments, HDTV, NBA, NHL, PGA Tour, HD Sportsman

Due to some technical issues, and throw in a trip to Denver for my real job, and we’re posting our show a few days late this week. Keep this in mind as you listen.

We start out with a whimsical look at the Sony ApacolyPS3 (thanks to @doblu for the catchy title). A flaw in the calendar system rendered older PS3s useless for the better part of a day. 12 years later, Y2K finally catches up to us.

On the retail front, the new Blu-ray players from CES are hitting store shelves, ready for you to gobble up and bring home.

We brought up Managed Copy last week, and this week Engadget HD did a piece on the technology that we all wait for, but may never come. I’m doing my part to talk to someone at AACS, who is responsible for the copy protection behind managed copy.

It’s been barely more than a week since Walmart bought Vudu, and already the company is putting its stamp on things, removing the adult section from the movie services menus and refunding those who had made purchases. Somewhere, former Walmart MP3 customers are laughing.

As we were recording the show Tuesday night, the new TiVos were being revealed. Adam and I take a quick first look at the new boxes and GUI shortly after the press release came out, and ask some questions about what it can and can not do. We already know that Comcast OnDemand will not be a part of the new setup, despite some screenshots that showed otherwise. And a couple days later, people are wondering if this is truly revolutionary, or evolutionary. For what it’s worth, I’d go with the latter.

Finally, Showtime premiered a cool new widget with a recent MMA fight, overlaying stats, bios and more on top of the event. Neither of us got to see it, but the possibilities seem exciting. We wrap up the news segment with a new feature, a look at the weekly Blu-ray/DVD market share and revenue.

Our Blu-ray review takes a look at Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale. A movie I reviewed for my old site, the MPEG 4 AVC transfer is solid, the 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio is underwhelming, and the movie oddly uninspiring. See my full review here.

We look at Geek Tonic’s new and returning shows for the week, as well as the HD Sportsman featuring the start of March Madness.

A look at the March 9 Blu-ray releases sees a pair of Oscar nominees (Up in the Air, Precious) as the headliners. On the Blu-ray deals site, not too much to be excited about this week. Amazon has a $12.99 sale going on, and just launched a new $9.99 sale as well.

Click here to download Episode 24!

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Technorati Tags: blu-ray, Seen in HD, Rescue Dawn, Vudu, TiVo, Walmart, Managed Copy

We didn’t have a whole lot of email this week and we’re hoping for more soon!  If you use applications that we didn’t talk about this week please send them in to us so we can share them with other listeners.  As well, we’re still hoping we can get a listener from the UK on to talk about some of the great content available to MCE users on that side of the Atlantic.

Show Notes:

• Big Screen EPG—remote
• DVR-MS Toolbox
• Show Analyzer
• Guide Tool
• My Channel Logos
• Heatwave
• Media Center Health Monitor
• Playon
• Media Browser
• ngRC
• YAMMM

You can always visit The HTPC.net where you’ll find a great list of Media Center plugins.

Click Here to download episode 67!

I know we have it listed above but if you don’t want to have to watch commercials, don’t forget to visit Dragon Global and grab your copy of Show Analyzer.

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RealNetworks has decided to settle and in the process will pay $4.5 million to the studios for legal fees.  They’re doing what they feel they need to do as a business to stay in business.  The sad part of this story isn’t RealNetworks settling.  It’s that they were sued in the first place.  With more and more people learning how to circumvent copy protection everyday, why would you hammer the one company that’s actually trying to protect your content AND give people what they want?  It doesn’t seem to make sense until you start to think like a studio executive or higher-up at the MPAA.  If you can basically throw logic and common sense to the wind then you’re all set.

Currently, I can head out onto the internet, search “the googles” and come up with literally thousands (if not millions) of links that will take me to places that will teach me how to rip DVDs.  We’ve spelled it out here on The DMZ.  It’s not a difficult process and once you’ve done it once or twice, you’re set.  Not only can you rip your DVDs but you can circumvent copy protection (illegal per the DCMA) and convert them to the format you want for viewing where you want.  Using the process out there on the ‘net, you get an almost perfect copy of your movie and there isn’t a hint of DRM or copy protection included.  Meaning that you’re free to share it with anyone you want.  Yeah, it’s illegal but if that doesn’t bother you then that’s on you.  The studios can’t really do anything to stop you from ripping your discs and really there isn’t a whole lot they can do to stop people from sharing the files on the internet.  They try but it has yet to work out very well for them.

In steps RealNetworks with RealDVD.  This application would preserve the copy protection on the disc and actually adds an extra layer to ensure that RealDVD users can’t share their movies with each other.  Let me repeat that:  RealDVD PROVIDES BETTER PROTECTION THAN THE STUDIOS THAT PRODUCE THE CONTENT!

So the execs, in their infinite wisdom, decided that instead of embracing this technology which would protect their content and make it nice and safe, they would destroy it.  They would take the company that produced it, make them look like movie stealing enablers and force normal everyday folks to break the law just to use legally purchased content the way they want.  And why would they do this?  The answer here is pretty simple:  Money.  Period.

See, if you can legally rip a DVD and play back the movie on your iPod, Zune, phone, Xbox, Playstation, etc. then the studios don’t have the opportunity to charge your five times for the same piece of dreck they actually convinced you to buy in the first place.  What they don’t seem to grasp is that as they make it harder and harder to use paid for content the way you want, they are also making it easier for people to justify stealing said content.  I’m not saying it’s right but if someone gives you two options and one of them is 10x easier than the other, which one are you going to pick?  I guess this depends on how dark of a shade of grey you think downloading content is but the fact remains that a vast majority of people will take the easy way out.

The Solution

So how could Hollywood have handled this differently and made everyone happy?  When I say everyone, I mean the consumer (who gets to rip and use content the way they want), the studios (who get to continue to make money and protect their content) and RealDVD (who wants to make money too).  It’s actually a pretty simple solution:  BUY RealDVD!

Yes, Hollywood.  Like the music industry slowly learned, you too can give consumers what they want and still be profitable!  RealNetworks sells you this great software (they win) which would allow your customers to use the movies they pay you for in any format they want.  Win!  You get to charge for the software, making up for any potential losses from people not paying you 5x for the same movie.  Win!  The software produces files that have better protection than what you’re currently offering meaning that people can’t exchange them with each other.  DOUBLE WIN!  You actually come out ahead here instead of looking like a bunch of goons who can’t learn from the music biz.  But hey, just keep products like RealDVD and the number of people willing to steal your content instead of paying you for it will just continue to grow.  Up to you I guess.

Original news via CEPro

Image courtesy of Digital Digest

Let’s all take a breath after the excitement of the Olympics, especially the hockey. Don’t think you get a break, however, because this week marks the official start of March Madness. Conference tournaments are starting, league title races decided and jockeying for position in the NCAA tourney is officially underway. Ahh, Spring is in the air.

SPOTLIGHT
Take your pick of the college hoops games, there’s several the feature two ranked teams. However, Wednesday’s Duke-Maryland tilt is with the ACC title on the line (9 p.m. ESPN).

Here’s the rest of the week, big games in BOLD.

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

MONDAY, MARCH 1

• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Georgetown at West Virginia (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Oklahoma at Texas (720p)
• 9 p.m. – NHL Detroit at Colorado (1080i)

TUESDAY, MARCH 2

• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Vanderbilt at Florida (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Villanova at Cincinnati (720p)
• 7:30 p.m. – NHL Philadelphia at Tampa Bay (1080i)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Illinois at Ohio State (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – College Basketball Louisville at Marquette (720p)
• 10:30 p.m. – NHL New Jersey at San Jose (1080i)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3

• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Connecticut at Notre Dame (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Wake Forest at Florida State (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Alabama at South Carolina (720p)
• 7 p.m. – NHL Washington at Buffalo (1080i)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Duke at Maryland (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Oklahoma State at Texas A&M (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Virginia at Boston College (720p)

THURSDAY, MARCH 4

• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Seton Hall at Rutgers (720p)
• 7 p.m. – College Basketball Penn State at Michigan State (720p)
• 7 p.m. – NHL Pittsburgh at New York (1080i)
• 8 p.m. – NBA LA Lakers at Miami (1080i)
• 8:30 p.m. – College Basketball USC at Arizona State (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball LSU at Mississippi (720p)
• 9 p.m. – College Basketball Providence at Pittsburgh (720p)
• 10:30 p.m. – NBA Utah at Phoenix (1080i)
• 10:30 p.m. – College Basketball UCLA at Arizona (720p)

FRIDAY, MARCH 5

• 7 p.m. – NBA Detroit at Cleveland (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – NBA New Orleans at San Antonio (720p)

SATURDAY, MARCH 6

College Basketball

• 12 p.m. – West Virginia at Villanova (1080i)
• 12 p.m. – Texas A&M at Oklahoma(720p)
• 12 p.m. – Florida State at Miami (Fl.) (720p)
• 1:30 p.m. – Princeton at Johns Hopkins (720p)
• 2 p.m. – Kansas at Missouri (1080i)
• 2 p.m. – Syracuse at Louisville (720p)
  
• 2 p.m. – South Carolina at Vanderbilt (720p)
• 4 p.m. – Texas at Baylor (720p)
• 4 p.m. – UCLA at Arizona State (or other PAC-10) (1080i)
• 6 p.m. – Tennessee at Mississippi State (720p)
• 9 p.m. – North Carolina at Duke (720p)

Other Sports

• 3 p.m. – PGA Tour Honda Classic 3rd round (1080i)

SUNDAY, MARCH 7

• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Florida at Kentucky (1080i)
• 12 p.m. – College Basketball Wisonsin at Illinois (720p)
• 2 p.m. – College Basketball Missouri Valley Conference tournament (1080i)
• 2:30 p.m.  – NBA LA Lakers at Orlando (1080i)
• 3 p.m. – PGA Tour Honda Classic final round (1080i)
• 4 p.m. – College Basketball Michigan at Michigan State (or other Big 10) (1080i)
• 7 p.m. – NBA Washington at Boston (720p)
• 8:30 p.m. – College Basketball West Coast Conference Tournament (720p)
• 9:30 p.m. – NBA Portland at Denver (720p)
• 11 p.m. – College Basketball West Coast Conference Tournament (720p)

Technorati Tags: NCAA basketball, HDTV, NBA, NHL, PGA Tour, HD Sportsman

Couple things to lead off with: First, this is not the only method, just the one that worked for me. Second, it’s not perfect, but I haven’t found anything yet that is, and this method produced the best results for me. Finally, I’ll be linking to some other sites where you’ll have to follow some other paths as well. Let me set the bar here, we do not condone doing this for discs that you do not own.

It looks like a lot to start out with, and honestly, the initial setup does take some time and is probably not for the novice computer user. If you have a secondary PC that you don’t use as much, it’s probably best to set this up on that machine so you can set it and forget it, and also not interrupt your main PC.

Tools:

• MakeMKV
• Media Browser
• Meta Browser
• Media Info (note there are 32 and 64-bit versions)
• DVRMS Toolbox
• ToDVRMS (1.0.0.9 and 1.0.1.0)
• Handbrake (optional for VC-1 Blu-rays)
• Edit DVR-MS Metadata (optional if you don’t want to use MediaBrowser)
• AntiPack
• Haali Matroska (MKV) Splitter (I purposely didn’t link to these last two, you’ll see why later)

What worked for me, DVD:

I’ve been able to rip DVDs to MKV (using MakeMKV) and convert them to WTV (using a couple of the other tools) and get them into Media Center using MediaBrowser and MetaBrowser.

Important notes, DVD:

DTS soundtracks are rumored to not work without changing the audio into AC-3. Ben Drawbaugh has laid out steps for this process. I have not attempted this conversion.

What worked for me, Blu-ray:

Same as above, with the catch that ONLY ToDVRMS version 1.0.1.0 worked with Blu-rays.

Important notes, Blu-ray:

The same issue exists with DTS soundtracks. Also, discs that use VC-1 for video require an additional conversion into h.264. Basically, any Blu-ray with Dolby Digital audio and AVC video should work direct from MakeMKV to ToDVRMS.

Starting out

Read this post by Adam Thursby right here on the Digital Media Zone. In it, he links to a post by Andy Van Til that lays out the proper method for installing the AntiPack and the Haali Matroska Splitter. I followed Andy’s methods very closely, be sure you do as well. Andy lays out two optional downloads in his post, it’s worth noting I installed both optional items. Even if you don’t want to install GraphStudio, MediaInfo is a very handy tool to have.

NOTE: The methods I lay out below WILL NOT WORK if you don’t follow the steps outlined in Andy’s blog, and if you don’t get familiar with the methods by reading Adam’s post. It’s also worth noting I had no problems with copyright issues, though I do have DVD Decrypter installed. I would try it without installing a decrypter program first. MakeMKV claims it handles the decryption.

Simple DVD > MKV > WTV rip (no DTS audio)

This is the simplest process of them all. In my case, I tried several discs including: The X-Files Season 1, Chicago (using the Dolby track), Finding Nemo, and The Bourne Ultimatum (HD DVD/DVD flipper disc). I was able to get all 24 episodes of The X-Files and all four movies successfully transferred, though I did have to re-do the final MKV-WTV step of Finding Nemo and a couple X-Files episodes as they wouldn’t play in MediaBrowser (Nemo buffered without ever playing, the X-Files episodes showed a error in MediaBrowser about going full screen).

1. With your disc in the drive, open MakeMKV. It’s a very simple interface, to start, click the only button on the main screen (graphic of a DVD to a hard drive).

2. After the disc is scanned you’ll see this screen:

Here is where you select what titles you want MakeMKV to convert. In this shot, I’ve selected only the main movie, and you’ll also notice you can deselect unnecessary subtitle and audio tracks as well. Once you choose the output folder, click the “Make MKV” button and that’s it. Time for completion can vary based on your computer and the disc, though most of mine took less than 30 minutes.

3. Once your MKV files is created, it’s time to open ToDVRMS. Important note, I used version 1.0.0.9 for most of my DVD conversions, though I did have success with version 1.0.1.0 for DVD as well. Version 1.0.1.3, which is the current latest version, did not work for me at all. If you want to download just 1.0.1.0 first and try that, it’s worth trying. Just note that there’s no way to know what version you have once you download it, so name the unzipped ToDVMS folder accordingly. Open todvrmsgui.exe, you’ll get this screen:

4. Double-click in the “In File” field to choose your MKV. You’ll have to change the view to “All Files” to see the MKV.

5. Double-click the  “out dvr-ms” field to choose the output path.

6. Be sure, as shown above, to select “WTV” and “Verbose” before hitting “Go” (I’ve been told “Verbose” isn’t required, but I had it checked in all my conversions). A blank DOS window will open while the conversion happens and will stay blank the whole time. When it closes, the conversion to WTV is done. See “What to Do with the WTV file” at the bottom for next steps.

Simple Blu-ray > MKV > WTV rip (no DTS or VC-1)

Assuming you have a Blu-ray drive, this process is nearly identical to the above DVD rip process. I’ll simplify the instructions, if you have questions refer to the more detailed steps above.

1. Open MakeMKV. Select the title and audio/subtitles you want.

2. Make the MKV.

3. Open ToDVRMS version 1.0.1.0 (NOTE: Blu-ray rips require 1.0.1.0, several attempts with 1.0.0.9 were unsuccessful). Select your MKV in the “in file” and set the output path in the “out dvr-ms” field. Be sure to check “WTV” and “Verbose”. Click “Go”.

4. See “What to Do with the WTV file” at the bottom for next steps.

Blu-ray > MKV > WTV rip (no DTS, with VC-1 video)

VC-1 video complicates the process for Blu-rays. If you’re not sure what format your Blu-ray is, look it up at www.blu-ray.com, it gives all the audio and video information. The first steps are the same.

1. Using MakeMKV, select your audio/subtitle options and make the MKV as described in the steps for a simple Blu-ray rip above. Before proceeding to the WTV conversion, you must change the video to h.264 using Handbrake.

2. Open Handbrake. Select the MKV file as your source. Choose your destination path, and select “MKV” as the container under the “Output settings”.

3. In Handbrake, select the “Video” tab. Choose h.264 as the video codec.

4. In Handbrake, select the “Audio” tab. Click on the track that’s listed in the main window, and choose “AC-3 passthru” as the audio codec. The screenshot below has the output settings area and video and audio tabs highlighted.

5. In Handbrake, click “Start”. Note that this process will take a LONG time. We’re talking up to a day depending on how big the MKV file is. On my laptop, I was able to get through half of a conversion for a fairly low bit-rate Blu-ray in about 8 hours. Be prepared to wait.

6. Once Handbrake has done it’s thing, open the file in MediaInfo to be sure that your audio remains AC-3 and the video no longer says VC-1. Note you can open a file in MediaInfo by right-clicking the video file and choosing “MediaInfo”.

7. From here, you have a MKV file that will work with steps three and four in the above process for a simple Blu-ray rip. Be sure to use ToDVRMS version 1.0.1.0.

What to do with the WTV file

At this point you have a WTV file that will play in Media Center. Techincally, you could name the file and stop here. However, when you go into Media Center, all that will show up is the filename, no description or any other metadata will come with it. You now have a few choices:

1. Stop, use only the filename to organize your rips, put them in your Recorded TV or Movies folder that Media Center looks at and move on.

OR

2. Use the Edit DVR-MS metadata tool from the list at the top of the article to add basic metadata that Media Center will recognize. This tool is very basic and takes some getting used to to understand how it works. Best bet is to open an existing recorded TV file that has metadata alongside the newly created WTV file so you can see how the fields work. You can open more than one instance of this program at the same time.

OR

3. Use MetaBrowser to fetch the data for the show or movie. Hacking Windows 7 Media Center has a great write-up for this. It’s titled TV show data, but the same pattern applies for movies. If you use this method, you’ll need to install and configure MediaBrowser to be able to see the metadata you download. Media Center’s standard Recorded TV and Movies areas will not read the metadata provided by MetaBrowser. Here is a great quick start guide to MediaBrowser. Hacking Windows 7 Media Center has several handy MediaBrowser articles. I went this route. If you plan to use MediaBrowser on an extender, be sure to go into the advanced settings/extender tab and uncheck the “Transcode 360″ option and add .wtv to the list of files to watch. One other thing I plan to do is to put my rips into folders separate from those that Media Center looks to for Recorded TV and Movies. This will help me keep the two types of files organized. Of course this step is completely optional.

A couple tips for you in MediaBrowser. My folder structure for The X-Files is:

The X-Files/Season 01/The X-Files – s01e01 – Espisode 01.wtv. Note the filename will change for each season and episode. This is important for MediaBrowser and MetaBrowser to find the proper information. Season two would be The X-Files/Season 02/The X-Files – s02e01 – Episode 01.wtv and so on.

For movies, I went this route:

Movies/Finding Nemo/Finding Nemo.wtv.

There you have it. It’s a bit long, but this has been the route that for me has provided the best results. Feel free to ask me questions @lozenp on Twitter or in the comments below. I’ll try to help as much as I can.

Technorati Tags: blu-ray, media center, dvd, ripping, mkv

We add logos to our guides, we change the colors of the backgrounds, we configure options and add-ons to make our experience more enjoyable.

That is unless you have the typical spouse who wants it to work, and when it does wonders why you had to “fix something that just wasn’t broken”.

I will go on the record and say my wife is the rare specimen that appreciates when I add another hard drive for more archived shows and movies. She loves it when she can load a movie for our daughter without having to juggle both the disc and a squirming child.

She is the exception to the rule however and I feel the pain of many of you out there. My wife wasn’t always so forgiving of this “box” in the living room that sucks out her husband’s soul.

Lets turn back the clock a few years when Vista was but a twinkle in the beta tester’s eye…

I was blissfully running Media Center 2005 Rollup 2 (MC2k5). It was the golden age of technology. I had 2 tuners recording DirecTV. The quality I saw was great and the world was a bright and shiny place.

My life had changed and I was oblivious to where I was headed.

It took me all of a month to decide that I really wish I could do X or I wonder if I could change Y. I found like minded people at The Green Button where I could spend my days debating why eHome (the group that develops Media Center at Microsoft) had left out X or the genius of Y.

One day my wife had taken all she had and put her foot down. She was using a DVR from DirecTIVO because she was tired of shows not being recorded for whatever “excuse” I gave her. She appreciated what I was doing but had felt the software and hardware just weren’t ready yet.

Fast Forward to Vista and not much had changed in my household. I began testing add-ons for developers and the never ending task of installing the latest builds of DVRMSToolbox and Showanalyzer.

My wife was still not completely comfortable with trusting her favorite shows to the “box in the living room” However she was using it more and more and generally she was content to use it daily. My HTPC was still the butt of jokes amongst her friends and when she missed a show she still let me (and everyone else) know about it.

With a few more presses of the skip button we have reached the promise land that is Windows 7 Media Center (7MC.)

Promise… as in “honey I promise this time it will be different, and this time I promise not to play as much.”

Then it happened. People started making more add-ons that I couldn’t live without. GuideTool came along to ease the pains of combining QAM and ATSC. My Channel Logos made the guide attractive and more in line with higher-end DVRs. Cable Card tuners gave us HD and we even had blu-ray inside the PC…

But at what cost? Had my wife left me and moved to Borneo? Had she taken up residence in a shack in the Appalachian Mountains?

No. She had learned to love my goal of making our viewing experience easy and full. She knew that there were issues, but they were fewer and further apart. The quality of add-ons has continually improved. 7MC itself had even grown to be a program that on its own was head and shoulders above what the local cable company offered.

So where are we now? How did I bring my wife around to allow me to do such crazy things as tinker under the TV at 1AM because I was helping someone with a update to their software or telling my wife I would be to bed “in a bit” as a I just had to install one more update?

Simple… I didn’t do anything. You did.

You or people like you in the community who make things better for us all. My wife has grown to see the value that is our HTPC. She knows the time she saves each night by skipping commercials. She loves being able to convert a show and dump it to her iPhone to watch at lunch.

This article wouldn’t be complete without asking the wife what it takes to keep the Wife Approval Factor (WAF) high.

Simple steps for a happy HTPC household.

1. Never do anything to the TV when your wife is recording something.

2. Always confirm what you are doing with the wife. Never assume she will accept a change just because you do.

3. Major changes should happen after everyone has gone to bed as to not disturb the household.

4. If something you did doesn’t work, then undo it and find out why. Don’t make your family suffer for your stubbornness. Yes you will probably fix it in a few days/weeks/months, but why should the family have to wait on your (or someone else’s) solution?

5. It’s ok to fix it if it isn’t broken. Just don’t break it in the process of fixing it.

I know I am a lucky man to have a wife who tolerates my hobby/passion/obsession. She is as tolerant of my HTPC as she is of me…