Share via

How to record TV with Media Center (Windows 7) to a network drive?

Anonymous
2010-02-20T14:30:19+00:00

Well, you would think that Windows 7's new MediaCenter would be up to the task of recording your TV to a network share/drive. Too bad, it looks like it's just not possible.

I have a windows 2008 R2 server, and a Windows 7 machine with a TV card. Since my server has 2TB of storage, it would be nice to record directly to it's networked drive. (I mounted it as Z:).

I tried the following:

  1. Selecting it in Media Center Itself: Not working. Not available.
  2. Editing the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording , setting RecordPath to Z:\TV . Not working.
  3. Editing the registry: setting RecordPath to \server\TV . Not working.
  4. Creating a Symlink (mklink \D ) to Z:\TV and \server\TV and setting that in the registry as RecordPath .

Currently I am out of options. I could ofcourse Install Windows7 on my server, but I have no license for that, and my windows 2008 r2 is free from dreamspark.

So: How in the world is it possible to make this work? And why does MediaCenter not just detect my mounted network share?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Anonymous
    2010-02-21T16:14:23+00:00

    Recording over the network isn't supported.  The smallest network hiccup would cause issues with the recording, or even live TV as the recording buffer would be located on the remote location.

    One thing you can do is to use Windows Home Server with Power Pack 3 and its TV archive function which you can setup to automatically move all your recordings or only the ones you want to.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

22 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2012-09-15T16:05:50+00:00

    Found this elsewhere and thought I should help others with this question.  This worked perfectly for me.  It saves it to my Plex server that allows it to be streamed to any ipod/ipad, android phone/tablet, or PC running Plex. 

    "I was able to get this working by running the Windows Media Center Receiver Service as a user which had access to write to the network share. (One already existed on my HTPC.) Note that on Windows, a user must exist on both the server and client machines with matching username and password, which must have access to write to the shared directory on the server.

    Once that is set up, modify the registry entries:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\RecordPath

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\LastRecordPathSet

    "

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-02-21T18:58:02+00:00

    Ok, but why disallow it? Why does setting the registry setting  to Z:\ not work? I mean, for normal users I understand that it is disabled in the mediacenter menu, but for powerusers it should be possible.

    I doubt my gigabit link to my server will fail, and if so, that's my problem.

    I tried it using a Software iSCSI Drive on the server, and the recording went perfectly well. But that solution has other problems, like not being able to share a iSCSI drive.

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-02-21T17:33:01+00:00

    ^ ^ ^ Like they said.

    One other option would be to use Robocopy to periodically move your recordings to the server.  That's about the closest that you can do - you must record to a local drive.

    HTH,

    Chris

    [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2010-02-21T14:08:14+00:00

    Hi peterdekr,     

    You cannot record TV shows with Media Center to a network drive. But you can do this by using some third party software's.

    Using Third Party Software, including hardware drivers can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Third Party Software can be solved. Using Third Party Software is at your own risk.

    Set recording options in Windows Media Center

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Set-recording-options-in-Windows-Media-Center

    Record TV in Windows Media Center

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Record-TV-in-Windows-Media-Center

    Managing recorded TV shows in Windows Media Center: frequently asked questions

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Managing-recorded-TV-shows-in-Windows-Media-Center-frequently-asked-questions

    Hope this information is helpful.

    Umesh P - Microsoft Support

    0 comments