The MCE customization begins.....

With the hype of the Doug Berrett's WebGuide and Microsoft Deal, I figured it was time for me to set it up for myself.  Specifically I wanted to be able to stream to my HTC TyTN II and watch recordings on my laptop while I'm on the road on my consulting engagements.  I downloaded the binaries from http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/ and began setting up the prerequisites. I'm going to go into a lot of detail here for newbies so feel free to jump around if you know what you are doing.

Install and Configure Web Guide

Run the WebGuide executable to install the software.  The setup wizard here is pretty intuitive.  My only complaint is if you choose not to install the Cassini Web Server then the installation ends.  So go ahead and install the Web Server and then after installation and configuration is complete Cassini can be removed from the Programs and Features dialog. 

Now on to configuration.  WebGuide is pretty simple to configure with most default options being reliable.  First click the Windows Accounts button from the General tab.  You'll need to setup the Windows Media Player user so that the application can retrieve information about your library from the player.  Next I went ahead and entered a username/password for the Streaming Service.  This is a Windows service that runs in the background and handles the video transcoding.  Next you'll need to setup users on the user table.  This is pretty straightforward so I won't elaborate.  The Network configuration can be crucial.  For the Web Port choose the port that will configured IIS to use.  In my case 8080.  I just left the video port set to the default but made note of the port number so that I could configure my Router later.  Finally, configure the options on the Media Sharing tab and SAVE your Settings.

IIS Configuration

Rather than use the Cassini Web Server, I decided that I might as well use IIS 7 in Windows Vista.  I navigated to the Turn Windows features on or off dialog and began to configure install the IIS components that I wanted.

Having recently installed SQL Server 2005 reporting services on another Vista based machine, I chose to install similar components here.  Detailed steps are available here:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934164.  Another important note is that since we have installed IIS after the .Net framework we should run aspnet regiis.  From an administrative command prompt navigate to C:\Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/V2.0.  Now run aspnet_regiis -i. 

Because my ISP, Cox,  blocks port 80 the first thing I had to do was configure the Default Website to use a different port.  I chose port 8080. 

• From the Control Panel Select Administrative Tools
• Double Click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
• Expand Web Sites
• Right Click the Default Web Site and click Edit Bindings
• Select the http entry from the dialog box and click Edit
• Enter the port number you want in the Port textbox and click OK
• Right Click the Default Web Site and click Restart

Now you should be able to navigate to http://localhost:8080/ from a Web browser.  Be sure to include your port number as I have done here.  This will show the default II7 page.  IIS Configuration is now complete.

Finally, we need to add a virtual directory for WebGuide. From IIS Manager perform the following steps:

• Right Click the Default Web Site and click Add Application
• Enter WebGuide in the Alias Textbox
• Choose the Physical Path by clicking the ellipsis.  Standard path is C:\Program Files (x86)\WebGuide\WebGuide4 on an x64 bit machine
• For the App Pool choose the Classic .Net AppPool from the drop down box and click OK
• Click OK and the WebGuide application should appear under the default web site.
• Restart the Default Web Site for good measure

Now we can bring up the page in a browser by navigating to http://localhost:8080/WebGuide. 

Router/Network Setup

Before you can access WebGuide from outside your internal LAN you'll need to setup some port forwarding rules on your router.   In my case I had to open up port 8080 for http traffic and port 49253 for video streaming traffic on my Dlink DIR-655 Extreme N Router.  Also, if you have a dynamic IP address you'll need to configure dynamic DNS and sign up for a dynamic DNS Service.  This configuration varies greatly for each router, so consult your routers manual.  Here are  some good links on port forwarding and Dynamic DNS.

• Free Dynamic DNS Service http://www.dyndns.com/
• http://portforward.com/routers.htm

Final Thoughts

Woot!! WebGuide is a great extension to add to your Media Center bag of tricks.  It's easy to setup and something that you can brag about to all your friends.  With terminal web client enabled machines becoming more prevalent and broadband mobile access, you can watch your recordings and even live TV from almost anywhere! Here's a screen shot from my favorite Showtime series "WEEDS" streaming over WebGuide.