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[Windows] GUIDE: XBMC with HD content, Logitech Remote under Win7 on Acer REVO - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: [Windows] GUIDE: XBMC with HD content, Logitech Remote under Win7 on Acer REVO (/showthread.php?tid=62718)



[Windows] GUIDE: XBMC with HD content, Logitech Remote under Win7 on Acer REVO - hades_2100 - 2009-11-27

Hello,

Please note. This guide is NOT considered finished until this statement is removed. I will finish it over the weekend as I go through it a few times and streamline it. This guide will take me a few days to write up, so I will revise it frequently.

Apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum. I couldn't seem to post in the 'GUIDES' sub-forum.


Motivation
I am replacing the aging XBoxes I have around the house running XBMC. So I need to set up 3-5 computers with something that will play everything including HD content, DVD Menus, has cover art, and be easy to navigate (otherwise there's no wife-approval). My end goal was to make the installation as simple and portable as possible, so I can COPY the settings over to the other machines and not go through days of tinkering with each one. This is my guide on how I did it.

Equipment 1&2
- Acer Aspire REVO 1600 [THIS]
- MCE Remote [THIS]
- Logitech Harmony remote 550

Equipment 3&4
- old DELL system
- 2gigs RAM
- cheap dual-core CPU
- ATI HD4350 video
- MCE Remote [THIS]
- Logitech Harmony remote 550

Setup
All my media is stored on a 5.25TB file-server (running UnRAID), so everything is networked through Windows file-shares.

Although I have enough Windows 7 licenses to do this, I do not see why the same process cannot be repeated under Vista or XP. XBMC Live was a total disaster on the REVOs, it crashed left-right. I am assuming you have a (clean?) installation of some Windows OS. If it's a 32-bit system, replace all my references to C:\Program Files (x86)\ by C:\Program Files\.

Step 1 - Install XBMC
Action: Install a standard version XBMC. During setup, it will ask whether you want to do a portable installation or not. Select *portable*.

Step 2 - Install MPC
Action: Extract MPC.rar [THIS] into C:\.
Notes:
- You should have about ~20 files in C:\MPC\.
- This is the player I use for HD content.
- This is a customized version of the player. The settings have been changed so the keys correspond to the keys XBMC accepts. This way there is only one keymap to worry about.

Step 3 - Set MPC as external player
Action: Extract playercorefactory.rar [THIS] into C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\userdata\
Notes:
- The external player (MPC) is invoked if the filename contains '720' or '1080'. This was an easy way of marking HD content. Change this to your will.

Step 4 - Remap some XBMC buttons - Optional
Action: Extract keyboard.rar [THIS] into C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\system\keymaps\
Notes:
- I do not like the way the SELECT/RETURN buttons work when you are watching a full-screen movie. I like the original XBox solution where those buttons toggle the zoom-modes. This fixes it.

Step 5 - Set up the Logitech Remote
Action: Create a new account on the website. Then follow the below screenshots.
Notes:
- The Logitech Remote is now configured to send out commands that equate to key-presses on the keyboard.
I WILL POST SCREENSHOTS AS SOON AS I MAKE THEM AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO POST IMAGES


Saving before I loose all my steps. Will continue shortly.

hades


- uncertainty - 2009-11-28

Someone will probably move this to the How To/Guide forum...

http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=110


- Bedpan - 2009-11-28

Hows it the MPC integration with XBMC? I thinking of trying this on an Acer Aspire that I am running. It has the horsepower to play most 1080p content but a few movies it does struggle with.. Once this is setup and running is it transparent to the user? Everything works the same, just playing with a different program?

Thanks for the write up.

Mike


- hades_2100 - 2009-11-28

Bedpan Wrote:Hows it the MPC integration with XBMC? I thinking of trying this on an Acer Aspire that I am running. It has the horsepower to play most 1080p content but a few movies it does struggle with.. Once this is setup and running is it transparent to the user? Everything works the same, just playing with a different program?

Thanks for the write up.

Mike

Heya. Integration seems to be seamless, you click the movie, MPC starts fullscreen, plays the movie, then quits and you are looking at XBMC.

The differences I've seen are:
- the OSD is different
- don't know how to allow XBMC to set whether MPC will resume or not. For now I've set MPC to resume from where it left off. If I want to start from the beginning, I can always press 'skip back'.

hades


- hades_2100 - 2009-11-28

Bedpan Wrote:Hows it the MPC integration with XBMC? I thinking of trying this on an Acer Aspire that I am running. It has the horsepower to play most 1080p content but a few movies it does struggle with.. Once this is setup and running is it transparent to the user? Everything works the same, just playing with a different program?

Thanks for the write up.

Mike

Hello,

MPC is configured now, attached to the original post. Integration is nice and smooth. The same buttons that work for XBMC work for MPC. The only thing you notice is the slightly different OSD.

According to MPC's stats, it doesn't drop any frames, but the video is not as smooth as I would like it to be. Haven't figured it out yet. It's definitely watchable.

hades


- Swwethip1 - 2010-01-06

have you had any luck with the built in dsplayer on your 1600?


- mcoto - 2010-01-06

I use the dsplayer and it works awesome. The only negatives are

1) Doesn't seem to bookmark
2) No subtitles or alternate audio tracks

It plays 1080p content at 15-20%cpu usage for me on a revo 1600

M


- Swwethip1 - 2010-01-06

mcoto Wrote:I use the dsplayer and it works awesome. The only negatives are

1) Doesn't seem to bookmark
2) No subtitles or alternate audio tracks

It plays 1080p content at 15-20%cpu usage for me on a revo 1600

M

Nice.. i wonder if adding the HD Decoder card will improve this !!


- TheClaus - 2010-04-26

hades, Are you still running this setup? I am curious what you setup the logitech remote control to be? Looks like keyboard but which media keyboard did you use?

Thanks

Claus


- Rogue26 - 2010-05-19

Just wondering if people are still using this install method and if it is working good. I am thinking about reinstalling from live to this windows install due to networking issues with live and homegroup in windows 7.


- pettergulbra - 2010-05-19

Me to wonder about this... And if I can get it to read the index.bdmv file...

And there is no where it is posted what buttons he have changed in the key mappings eather...

But this thread looks dead.....


New alaska - Gelar - 2010-05-19

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- pettergulbra - 2010-05-23

Is this thread still dead??