Play
The Play button is the functional equivalent of the Play with Media Center command (Windows Vista and XP Media Center) and the Play with Media Player command (non-MCE Windows machines) in Windows Explorer. In all cases, including Recorded TV Manager, the selected TV recording is opened with the default program for dvr-ms files.
On Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center Edition, the default program for dvr-ms files is Media Center and clicking the Play button will start the selected episode in the Media Center interface.
On Non-Media Center machines, the default program for dvr-ms files is Windows Media Player and clicking the Play button will start the selected episode in the Windows Media Player interface. See below for information on how to play dvr-ms files on Non Media Center computers.
To play a specific episode, regardless of its chronological order, right-click the episode in the episode list and select Play from the drop down menu.
Click the Play button to play the next episode of the selected series. The "next episode" is chosen based on the original air date of the last watched episode. If no episode in the series is marked as last watched, then the first available episode (in chronological order) will be played.
If the Check on play option is enabled for the series, then the episode will be automatically "checked." The Check on play option is available in the Series Info dialog.
For instructions on how to enable playback of dvr-ms files outside of the Media Center user interface using a DirectShow capable player such as Microsoft Media Player, see: Playing *.dvr-ms files
On a multi-monitor system configuration with Media Center (or Media Player) running full screen on the secondary monitor, run Recorded TV Manager on the other (desktop) monitor. To transfer focus (mouse, keyboard) from full screen Media Center to the desktop use Alt-Tab. In this configuration, using the Play button in Recorded TV Manager will play the selected recording in the Media Center interface.
Known problem: In Windows Vista, in some cases, initiating a second recording using Play after the first was stopped will cause a blue-screen Media Center error "Cannot play video..." When this occurs, close Media Center and re-start the desired recording.
