[mortalwombat]

I am using playercorefactory.xml to launch PowerDVD as an external application. Everything works great, except for one rather minor thing. If I specify the drive for my disc, PowerDVD autoplays instead of going to an ugly blue menu that forces you to click "Restart" to play the disc. But I don't know how to do that in the playercorefactory.xml file.

Here is my playercorefactory.xml

Code:

<playercorefactory>
  <players>
    <player name="PowerDVDCinema" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
      <filename>C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD10\PowerDVD Cinema\PowerDVDCinema10.exe</filename>
    <args>"D:"</args>
      <hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
      <hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
      <warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
    </player>
  </players>
  <rules action="prepend">
    <rule name="Blu-Ray" protocols="bd" player="PowerDVDCinema"/>
  </rules>
</playercorefactory>

If I create a bat file with the following code, it works great:

Code:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD10\PowerDVD Cinema\PowerDVDCinema10.exe" d:

The bat file isn't as clean as I would like because you see the cmd prompt window in the background. I know, I'm being picky, but I like things as clean as possible. Can you specify the D: Drive in the xml file?

[mortalwombat]

I figured out how to hide the console, but there is still significant lag while it waits for powerDVD to close completely before XBMC will relaunch

[mbbransc]

I figured out how to hide the console, but there is still significant lag while it waits for powerDVD to close completely before XBMC will relaunch

Can you share what you did? I have all but given up using an external launcher for PDVD for the exact reasons you stated.

[bluray]

I have the complete info on external bat and xml files in this thread- Another External Player Code, but Very Simple to Setup. You can simply download all the bat and xml files and replace TMT5 directory with PowerDVD 10 directory.

[mbbransc]

Thx bluray, you've been a HUGE help!! I'm curious how mortalwombat was able to resolved the cmd window issue. When I launch PDVD, I see that same window.

[bluray]

Thx bluray, you've been a HUGE help!! I'm curious how mortalwombat was able to resolved the cmd window issue. When I launch PDVD, I see that same window.

Are you saying you don't want PDVD to autoplay? If that is the case, you can do as shown below for Windows 7 Autoplay option. If you are using PDVD11, I'm recommending using "PDVDLaunchPolicy.exe" instead of "PowerDVD11.exe" in cmd file.

Auto Play:

[mortalwombat]

The key to hiding the console window is actually really simple. use playercorefactory.xml just like I did above, and make sure <hideconsole> is set to true, just like I did above. I wasn't seeing it hide the console when I originally posted this, and my best guess as to why is that I hadn't restarted XBMC before trying again. Now it works quite well.

There is still a little bit of lag time when switching between XBMC and PowerDVD, but since I hide my desktop icons, hide my taskbar and have a black background with the XBMC logo in the middle, it looks acceptable to me.

The only thing I have to work out is mapping my remote's "exit" key to ctrl+x when in power dvd, but that's another issue entirely.

[bluray]

If you are interesting in the complete Playercorefactory codes for everything, here it is:

<playercorefactory>
<players>
<player name="ISO_Player" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="false">
<filename>[COLOR="red"]C:\Users\Dell\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\PlayISO.bat</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen</args>
<forceontop>false</forceontop>
<hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
<hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
<hidecursor>false</hidecursor>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>

</player>
<player name="BDMV_Player" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="false">
<filename>C:\Users\Dell\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\PlayBDMV.bat</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen</args>
<forceontop>false</forceontop>
<hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
<hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
<hidecursor>false</hidecursor>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>

</player>
<player name="Disc_Player" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="false">
<filename>C:\Users\Dell\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\PlayDisc.bat</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen</args>
<forceontop>false</forceontop>
<hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
<hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
<hidecursor>false</hidecursor>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>

</player>
<player name="Universal_Player" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="false">
<filename>C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcSoft\TotalMedia Theatre 5\uMCEPlayer5.exe</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen</args>
<forceontop>false</forceontop>
<hideconsole>true</hideconsole>
<hidexbmc>false</hidexbmc>
<hidecursor>false</hidecursor>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>

</player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
<!-- Bluray ISO -->
<rule filename=".*iso.*" player="ISO_Player"/>
<!-- Bluray BDMV -->
<rule filename=".*bdmv.*" player="BDMV_Player"/>
<!-- Bluray MKV -->
<rule filename=".*mkv.*" player="Universal_Player"/>
<!-- Bluray M2TS -->
<rule filename=".*m2ts.*" player="Universal_Player"/>

<!-- Bluray Disc -->
<rule protocols="bd" player="Disc_Player"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>[/COLOR]