2012-05-13, 20:43
Here is a way to integrate MCE Live TV and MCE Netflix into XBMC in a relatively seamless and simple manner.
First some background: I moved recently to XBMC from MCE - had to upgrade to Windows 8 and MediaBrowser does not support the new version of Windows. I've come to really like XBMC (Eden), except that I had been struggling with two areas: Live TV and Netflix.
XMBCFlix is really not usable without remote control support, IMO. While XBMCFlix-o-mate provides a way to use key shortcuts for navigation, it still does not provide the seamless remote control experience I was used to in MCE.
After much searching, I found what I thought was the best solution, provided by Tuxen here. Basically, it facilitates the opening of MCE Netflix directly from a menu item in XBMC, then when the user closes MCE Netflix, they are automatically returned to XBMC. There are a few other variations on this, but Tuxen's was the simplest and most elegant I found.
I liked Tuxen's solution and I thought it'd be great to have the same for MCE Live TV, which is also a bit more polished than the live TV/PVR solutions currently avilable in XBMC.
So, here is what I came up with after collecting a bunch of information from the web, and it works well on my system (Windows 8, 64bit, XBMC Eden stable release).
This will allow you to have a menu item for Live TV, TV Guide, Recorded TV, Scheduled Recordings and for Netflix, and when you click on such item, it will directly open the appropriate MCE section in full screen. You'll have full remote control capabilities and when done, you can press ESC to close the MCE section and return to XBMC.
The reason why I am including a Netflix lnk file is because for some reason my AutoHotKey script, which is needed to close Live TV with the ESC key, seems to conflict with Tuxen's script, so I had to create my own to make both of them work.
1. Make sure you have the Advanced Launcher plugin installed in your Programs.
2. Download the archive I have placed here. It contains the following five link files and one AutoHotKey script compiled as an exe file:
StartMCELiveTV
StartMCENetflix
StartMCETRecordedTV
StartMCETScheduled Recordings
StartMCETVGuide
EscToCloseMCE.exe
3. Depending on what you need, place MCELiveTV.lnk and/or StartMCENetflix.lnk, etc., somewhere where you can find them (I use the Documents folder).
4. Use Advanced Launcher to integrate each of the MCE lnk files into the XBMC GUI (select Create a new launcher. then pick Standalone (normal PC executable), browse to and pick the lnk file you want, and then just hit Enter when you get to the Application Arguments screen with the prefilled string. Then keep hitting the Back button on the the platform, thumbnail and fanart screens).
After that, it's a good idea to make them Favorites with XBMC's contextual menu, so that they can be placed anywhere you like in XBMC's Start Menu.
5. Place the EscToCloseMCE.exe in your Windows Start folder (see here for instructions), so it starts automatically whenever Windows starts. It will listen for the ESC key whenever you are in MCE. So when you are either in MCE Live TV or MCE Netflix and press the ESC key (which can be mapped to your remote), MCE will close and you will be returned to XBMC.
6. Either start EscToCloseMCE.exe manually, or restart your computer and you are done.
This scheme works well for me so far, however use it at your own risk. I am not a programmer and this is my first attempt at doing anything in AutoHotKey (I am actually mostly a Mac user, except for my HTPC, lol).
I have mapped the ESC key to the EXIT button on my universal remote (which also works nicely to jump back to the Main Menu in XBMC as well). I have mapped the BACK command to the PREVIOUS button on my remote, which I use to navigate back one step at a time, both in XBMC, and MCE Live TV and MCE Netflix.
Cheers!
EDIT - May 15, 2012.
The archive was updated to add link files for MCE TV Guide, MCE Recorded TV, MCE Scheduled Recordings, as well as an updated Live TV lnk file. Thanks to Livin for the information provided.
First some background: I moved recently to XBMC from MCE - had to upgrade to Windows 8 and MediaBrowser does not support the new version of Windows. I've come to really like XBMC (Eden), except that I had been struggling with two areas: Live TV and Netflix.
XMBCFlix is really not usable without remote control support, IMO. While XBMCFlix-o-mate provides a way to use key shortcuts for navigation, it still does not provide the seamless remote control experience I was used to in MCE.
After much searching, I found what I thought was the best solution, provided by Tuxen here. Basically, it facilitates the opening of MCE Netflix directly from a menu item in XBMC, then when the user closes MCE Netflix, they are automatically returned to XBMC. There are a few other variations on this, but Tuxen's was the simplest and most elegant I found.
I liked Tuxen's solution and I thought it'd be great to have the same for MCE Live TV, which is also a bit more polished than the live TV/PVR solutions currently avilable in XBMC.
So, here is what I came up with after collecting a bunch of information from the web, and it works well on my system (Windows 8, 64bit, XBMC Eden stable release).
This will allow you to have a menu item for Live TV, TV Guide, Recorded TV, Scheduled Recordings and for Netflix, and when you click on such item, it will directly open the appropriate MCE section in full screen. You'll have full remote control capabilities and when done, you can press ESC to close the MCE section and return to XBMC.
The reason why I am including a Netflix lnk file is because for some reason my AutoHotKey script, which is needed to close Live TV with the ESC key, seems to conflict with Tuxen's script, so I had to create my own to make both of them work.
1. Make sure you have the Advanced Launcher plugin installed in your Programs.
2. Download the archive I have placed here. It contains the following five link files and one AutoHotKey script compiled as an exe file:
StartMCELiveTV
StartMCENetflix
StartMCETRecordedTV
StartMCETScheduled Recordings
StartMCETVGuide
EscToCloseMCE.exe
3. Depending on what you need, place MCELiveTV.lnk and/or StartMCENetflix.lnk, etc., somewhere where you can find them (I use the Documents folder).
4. Use Advanced Launcher to integrate each of the MCE lnk files into the XBMC GUI (select Create a new launcher. then pick Standalone (normal PC executable), browse to and pick the lnk file you want, and then just hit Enter when you get to the Application Arguments screen with the prefilled string. Then keep hitting the Back button on the the platform, thumbnail and fanart screens).
After that, it's a good idea to make them Favorites with XBMC's contextual menu, so that they can be placed anywhere you like in XBMC's Start Menu.
5. Place the EscToCloseMCE.exe in your Windows Start folder (see here for instructions), so it starts automatically whenever Windows starts. It will listen for the ESC key whenever you are in MCE. So when you are either in MCE Live TV or MCE Netflix and press the ESC key (which can be mapped to your remote), MCE will close and you will be returned to XBMC.
6. Either start EscToCloseMCE.exe manually, or restart your computer and you are done.
This scheme works well for me so far, however use it at your own risk. I am not a programmer and this is my first attempt at doing anything in AutoHotKey (I am actually mostly a Mac user, except for my HTPC, lol).
I have mapped the ESC key to the EXIT button on my universal remote (which also works nicely to jump back to the Main Menu in XBMC as well). I have mapped the BACK command to the PREVIOUS button on my remote, which I use to navigate back one step at a time, both in XBMC, and MCE Live TV and MCE Netflix.
Cheers!
EDIT - May 15, 2012.
The archive was updated to add link files for MCE TV Guide, MCE Recorded TV, MCE Scheduled Recordings, as well as an updated Live TV lnk file. Thanks to Livin for the information provided.