How to run DivX Connected like a service (without having to log in)
Anyone out there running DivX Connected on a home server will no doubt be as frustrated as me that it runs as an application not a service, meaning you have to manually log-in to start the software. This is a particular problem if Windows restarts unexpectedly thanks to a crash or Windows Update.
I may have found a solution:
1. Open DivX Connected and then the "Options..." dialogue, un-tick the "Start with Windows" option and press "OK", then "Exit".
2. Open the Windows Control Panel (Start > Control Panel).
3. Open "Scheduled Tasks" and then "Add Sheduled Task" (if you can't see it, try clicking "Switch To Classic View" top-left of the Control Panel).
4. In the "Scheduled Task Wizard", click "Next", then select "DivX Connected" from the list (if it's not there, click "Browse..." to find it manually) and "Next" again.
5. You should now see a list of options, select "When my computer starts" and then "Next".
6. Fill in your username and password and then select "Next", followed by "Finish".
7. Restart your PC.
Once your PC has restarted, DivX Connected will run like any other server software, meaning you no longer have to log in for start.
The only drawback to this method is that you need to log-in, manually close DivXConnected.exe from the Task Manager and re-open it if you want to change your settings, but I think that's a price worth paying.
The instructions above are based on Windows XP.
That's similar to how we restart user-mode services under unix, and I was hoping to figure out a way for doing it with Windows, thanks for posting this!
Now, to be perfect, it'd restart if there was no running service, or if the running service wasn't accumulating CPU seconds...but I'm not sure how to do that, we'd need some kind of monitor that could also terminate an unresponsive job.
My 1.4 connected server very occasionally does sort of lock up. It's probably happened once a month since I got the DSM-330. I have to admit I work the server it's on hard with encoding (usually I have at least one encode job running 24/7, sometimes I might even have one handbrake job making AVIs for 1.4 and another AutoMKV job making MKV files for the future 1.5)
Great to hear people are finding this useful!
A monitor sounds good and, in case anyone from DivX is reading this, a simple web interface would be fantastic given the effect that configuring the server via Remote Desktop has.
I finally got a chance to try it, but I found one small hiccup.
I usually don't put a password on my home PC user account, when I went to set up the schedule task, Windows gave me an error about access denied when it tried to apply the new task. The task stayed there, but when I rebooted it didn't work. I was able to apply a password to my account and try it again and it worked fine.
I'm inclined to setup a 'media' account in the future to own Connected (and Itunes and other stuff) in the future, I've found a few issues that having a 'faceless' account would make less confusing.
MKV is new and great and all, but for the DSM-330, the best choice for encoding into HD is to use the DivX 720p profile (MPEG-4 ASP). This will give the best performance overall in terms of CPU usage and network bandwidth during file playback to the DSM-330.
I've been thinking about this for a few days.
Here's where I'm at. I have an SDTV right now, but plan to get 720p in the near future.
I want to have chapters, subtitles and multiple audio tracks.
I could use the Dr. to get that, but not the chapters. The Converter doesn't give me much control over which PGC I'm getting from the VOB.
I'm considering hacking on the Dr. to do chapters, but where are the .divx format chapters published (is that the same as what MP4 would use for chapters?)
So, the easiest thing I have at hand is AutoMKV, which gives me almost everything (but limits me to two audio tracks and two subtitles.) It also sometimes seems to drop the PGCs.
Now, to address the CPU usage, I'm converting my videos to MKV with my Divx Pro (6.8) Codec...
But there I'm at a disadvantage again, I'm not even sure exactly what profile it's using, the profiles for AutoMKV don't match the DiVX profiles. There's something else to look into.
For audio I'm putting everything to AC3 unless the DVD came with an LPCM track, in that case I'm converting it to MP3 if it's the primary track or AAC if it's a secondary (thinking it'll be usable with Connected 1.5)
I don't see how I'd get a lot out of H.264 unless I start encoding everything in high-def (and frankly most of my content is somewhere between PAL/SECAM to 720p.)
I still have a lot to learn!
Thanks for figuring this out and sharing it.