I got a speedy response from Mike Hayton yesterday about the MXF data I had sent him and, bar one or two minor tweaks, it looks like everything is good to go! I’ve got a few more base-line features I want to build support for so you should be seeing a pre-release version of our wmcGuideCompiler7 coming soon!
The reason I’m keen for a wmcGuideCompiler7 beta/pre-release is because our current versions of Windows 7 are, obviously, still in beta. I’m sure that between now and the final Windows 7 release we’ll see some more Media Center features added, existing functionality break, and dozens of bugs fixed!
Cast + Crew Issues
One of the bugs to be fixed in the next few releases of Windows 7 include allowing custom “Cast + Crew” program information. The current Windows 7 beta allows us to load our cast information, but it is not displayed.
On closer inspection though I think the “Cast + Crew” information being displayed is actually pulled from a Microsoft web service, much like it is currently for DVD information. This might explain why (if you look very closely at the picture shown above) the actor’s name plus their character’s name is displayed (in different fonts even)!
Other Annoying Problems
There are a few little Media Centre issues that annoy the hell out of me at the moment, so if you are an “official” beta tester, make sure these have been ticked off.
- Faded EPG - Scrolling ahead in the guide to a future date the guide grid performs a “fast forward”, displaying the day you are currently up to. When you stop navigating ahead though the guide fades into the background and the more you fast forward the more transparent it gets!
- Metadata Searches - Trying to perform a guide search for a particular title, actor or keyword but nothing is showing up? Well it’s probably because your Windows indexing Service is sleeping because your machine is in “Power Saver” mode. Could be a few hours before you’re ready to search …
- Duplicating Channels – I’ve noticed that sometimes the scanned channel listings in the EPG replicate multiple times. This means you can sometimes end up with a page full of ABC1 if you leave Media Center running over night …
* Thanks to “Alexander S.” for burning the word “Mike-rosoft” into my brain … 
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Loading ...Tags: Mike Hayton, MXF, wmcGuideCompiler7
#1 by Andrew hartley on February 19th, 2009 - 9:58 am
Banger, can’t wait till we can have a play with this. have you got anything sorted with displaying guide data for One and ABC1 at the same time
#2 by mikehayton on February 21st, 2009 - 1:46 pm
Faded Epg & Duplicating Channels should be fixed. We havent dont anything to the metadata searches speed – we want Windows Desktop Search (WDS) to back off when you’re using the machine. Sure when you have the initial 14 days to index, it takes some time. However, subsequent daily loads should be mostly just one more day of new information and pretty fast. Im not sure about your machine, I usually see the initial 14 days of data indexed within 30 mins.
#3 by Phil on February 23rd, 2009 - 9:18 pm
Thanks for the update Banger!! Can’t wait either for a beta / pre-release! Anything semi working would be a great step forward for many many people