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The key to installing Media Center Master with no problems, the first time, is preparation and learning some basic knowledge of what it does and how it works.

The first concern of installing Media Center Master is a first time installation of Media Center Master comes with a 10 day free trial of a Premium License.

For new users this is a bonus, and requires additional set-up.
There are, however, some users who wish to install/reinstall, or update to a newer version for just the basic features of the Free Version.
Whether Media Center Master is being used with a Premium, or Free License, there are specific user settings that apply to each one separately.

All of the guides for preparing, installing, configuring, and set-up are written for the use of a Premium License Version. Users wishing the use these guides with a Free Version may also use them, as limited by the license restrictions.

Media Center Master is a front-end interface that automates the organizing of a media collection with the use of a BitTorrent Client, “uTorrent” for downloading TV Series Episodes and/or Movies in the background. For Media Center Master and uTorrent to work properly together there are a few more concerns to prepare for and understand before installing Media Center Master.

The second concern is Media Center Master and uTorrent, both, require separate dedicated Folder Structures for file storage to operate correctly.

Setting up and understanding the basic principles of the two (2) Folder Structures ahead of time will make the installations, and set-ups of Media Center Master and uTorrent go a lot smoother.
This information will also assist a user in preparing an existing media collection to be added in later.

The third concern is Media Center Master uses uTorrent’s Web User Interface (WebUI) to integrate these two programs together.

The WebUI is what allows Media Center Master to hand off a .torrent file it has fetched from an online source to uTorrent for proper downloading of the desired TV Series Episodes/Movies.
It is also used by Media Center Master for monitoring the progress of downloads to inform Media Center Master a download has completed and is ready for parsing.

The fourth concern is Media Center Master requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 update.

If this is already installed on your system, there is no additional set-up for this program. It works internally with the Media Center Master program.
If it is not installed, download links and some guidance with the installation will be provided.

For most users the downloading and installing of Media Center Master is a straightforward task. Although, Media Center Master installs with a set of default options, there are several options left for the user to change, and add depending on the set-up used.

The fifth, and final, concern of installing Media Center Master is it's design to work with:

A variety of Media Center Applications/Application Add-ins
- Media Browser
- My Movies
- Windows Media Center
- XBMC

A variety of computer and/or network Set-ups
- Single computer with/without external hard drive/s
- Multiple networked computers with/without external hard drive/s
- Single or multiple networked computers with Network Attached Storage (NAT) Drives
- Networks with server

A variety of Home Theater Products
- Netgear
- Popcorn Hour
- Networked Media Tank

OR, any combination of the above

Because of Media Center Master's flexibility to work with so many, configurations, outside applications and products,

the key element to a successful first time run is
- a specific configuration set-up on one computer using only the system hard drive.

Only after a successful first run is it suggested to start making changes by moving folder locations, adding existing collections, include additional features, applications, network configurations, or outside products. Do these one by one, followed by test runs.

In order to further reduce the problems associated with an installation and set-up of Media Center Master, the information found here will not include instructions on how to set-up Media Center Master for downloading Movies. Nor will there be any information about preparing and/or adding an existing media collection to Media Center Master. There will be no information given for interfacing a media collection with any Media Center Programs, such as: Windows Media Center, MediaPortal, MediaBrowser, Popcorn Hour, or XBMC. These items/issues can be added in and set-up later through other parts of this Wiki.

These guides were written with the intent; the user has an interest in creating a media collection from scratch (has no TV Series/Movies), and has some knowledge and experience with BitTorrents. The Main focus of these guides will be to prepare for a fresh, new, installation of, both, Media Center Master, and uTorrent, for a new media collection to be used for keeping TV Series up to date with current episodes on a single computer.

The Guides that follow these notes are:

1. Preliminary Installation Guides

How to set up a Folder Structure for Media Center Master
How to set up a Folder Structure for uTorrent
How to Install uTorrent
How to Customize uTorrent for Media Center Master
How to Enable and set-up the Web User Interface of uTorrent
How to check your system for the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 update

2. Installing Media Center Master

3. Set-up and Configuring Media Center Master for First Run

Configuring the General Tab Settings
Configuring the Downloader Tab Settings
Configuring the Download Parser Tab Settings
Configuring the uTorrent Tab Settings
How to Get Media Center Master to Open After a Boot-up
How to Set Scan Folder
How to Add a New TV Series
How to Start the First Run
What to Look for During and After the First Run

After preparing, a user can install, set-up, configure, and have Media Center Master running to automatically:

fetch episodes of a TV Series from one of several on-line sources at user defined intervals,

hand the episode torrents off to uTorrent for downloading,

monitor the download process at user defined intervals,

parse/rename completed downloads at user defined intervals,

move renamed download from uTorrent to archive in

correct season folder, also

fetch, download, and archive

associated meta-data, posters, and fanart for

the episodes,

the season, and

the TV Series.

Preliminary Installation Guides

How to set up a Folder Structure for Media Center Master

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Media Center Master can be configured for automation in one of three ways, to download:

TV Series Episodes and Movies,
TV Series Episodes, only, or
Movies, only.

In either case Media Center Master will need a Separate Folder for TV Series, and/or one for Movies.

Example:

My Videos

TV Series Archive

Movies Archive

The additional information listed below is for a basic understanding of how Media Center Master works with this folder structure, and for easing through the transition of; the installation and initial set-up, to the actual use of Media Center Master.

After installation and set-up, a user will add a TV Series manually through Media Center Master. The user defined TV Series Named Folder (Covert Affairs is used in the example, below) will be created. At the same time Media Center Master will acquire other files (.xml, .jpg, .nfo) associated with the TV Series from an online meta-data source and add them to this folder.

Example:

My Videos

TV Series Archive

Covert Affairs

banner.jpg

folder.jpg

series.xml

tvshow.nfo

Movies Archive

A numbered “Season” Folder will be added after a new TV Series Episode (Covert Affairs - S02E01 - Begin the Begin.avi is use in the example, below) has completed downloading and is processed/parsed by Media Center Master into the TV Series Archive Folder. If there is no TV Series Episodes for particular season, no “Season” Folder will be created. At the same time a new TV Series Episode is parsed into a “Season” Folder, Media Center Master will again acquire other files for the season and the episode and add them to the “Season” Folder.

Example:

My Videos

TV Series Archive

Covert Affairs

Season 2

Covert Affairs-S02E01-Begin the Begin.avi

Covert Affairs-S02E01-Begin the Begin.nfo

Covert Affairs-S02E01-Begin the Begin.tbn

banner.jpg

folder.jpg

series.xml

tvshow.nfo

Movies Archive

How to Set-Up a Folder Structure for uTorrent

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The Folder Structure for uTorrent is where the .torrent files, and the actual TV Series Episode files to be downloaded will be processed. There are three (3) folders that are needed for the uTorrent program.

Example:

My Downloads

uTorrent

torrent files

New Downloads

Completed Downloads

The additional information listed below is for a basic understanding of how uTorrent works with this folder structure, and for easing through the transition of; the installation and initial set-up, to the actual use of Media Center Master with uTorrent.

The “uTorrent” folder is created just to group the three (3) required folders together. The “torrent files” Folder is for a .torrent file used for downloading a TV Series episode. Putting it simple, it is a control file uTorrent needs to gather all the pieces of a file to reassemble it back together. After the .torrent file has been read, it will be deleted. The “New Downloads” folder is where uTorrent will store New TV Series Episode files while they are being downloaded. After a download is complete, uTorrent will move the completed download to the “Completed Downloads” folder. It is at this location where Media Center Master will pick it up and process the completed TV Series Episode for archiving.

The folders created here are just temporary storage areas. They are used just for the processing of downloads. After processing is complete there is no data left in these folders. They should be empty when there is no download activity.

How to Install uTorrent

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***** Disclaimer -- read this before using Torrent Downloader *****

uTorrent v1.8 through v3.0.0 have been tested and working correctly with this guide. Downloads for these versions may be found at the following links:

uTorrent Site

Old Apps Site

For users who have a current instance of uTorrent installed with custom user settings for manual downloads and intends to use the Preliminary Installation Guides with the existing uTorrent Program, they will not find any trouble shooting information for problems in these guides, should they occur. The instance of uTorrent for Media Center Master is for automation, it is therefore suggested that the user uninstall uTorrent, through the Control Panel, remembering to tick the check box to also remove the user settings during the uninstall process, and then reinstall uTorrent using the Preliminary Installation Guides.

This is not to say uTorrent can not also be used for manual downloads of TV Series/Movies and other items. It is a suggestion that the automation process should come as a priority over manual downloading. If a user intends to use this instance of uTorrent for Media Center Master along with manual downloads of TV Series/Movies, other items, and wishes to make changes to the settings of uTorrent, that is not listed in the Preliminary Installation Guides, the user should do so after Media Center Master is installed, set-up, configured, and has completed a first run of Media Center Master with satisfactory results.

uTorrent v2.2.1 was used in this guide.

The set-ups and installations of the different versions of uTorrent, as a whole, are much the same in each version. All of the default ticks, options, can be used with Media Center Master. There are however two possible exceptions, depending on which version is chosen for installation. The user should make an informed choice regarding extra downloads of files/software to the system by accidentally missing the options (shown below), by systematically clicking on "Next."

1st Option - uTorrent’s Featured Spotlight Release Download, shown below. After choosing, click next.

2nd Option - uTorrent’s Browser Bar Optional Installations, shown below. Make appropriate choices, then click Install.

How to Customize uTorrent for Media Center Master

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***** Disclaimer -- read this before using Torrent Downloader *****

The customized setting that will be shown here are for getting uTorrent to seamlessly work with Media Center Master. No other setting changes will be provided to “tweak” - change the download/upload speeds, caps, queuing, scheduling …, any additional changes should be done after the user has Media Center Master installed, set-up and running with the use of this guide.

For users who have a current instance of uTorrent installed with custom user settings for manual downloads and intends to use the Preliminary Installation Guides with the existing uTorrent Program, they will not find any trouble shooting information for problems in these guides, should they occur. The instance of uTorrent for Media Center Master is for automation, it is therefore suggested that the user uninstall uTorrent, through the Control Panel, remembering to tick the check box to also remove the user settings during the uninstall process (screen shot below), and then reinstall uTorrent using the Preliminary Installation Guides.

This is not to say uTorrent can not also be used for manual downloads of TV Series/Movies and other items. It is a suggestion that the automation process should come as a priority over manual downloading. If a user intends to use this instance of uTorrent for Media Center Master along with manual downloads of TV Series/Movies, other items, and wishes to make changes to the settings of uTorrent, that is not listed in the Preliminary Installation Guides, the user should do so after Media Center Master is installed, set-up, configured, and has completed a first run of Media Center Master with satisfactory results.

Step 1 - After uTorrent has installed, open the preferences window thru the Options Menu.

Step 2 – Click on “UI Settings” in the left menu and then make sure all three (3) tick boxes are unchecked under “When Adding Torrents.”

Step 3 - Click on “Directories” in the left menu, and tick the check box for “Put new downloads in:,” then click the browse button “…”

Step 4 - Browse to your Dedicated Folder Structure you created for uTorrent and Click on the “New Downloads Folder”, then click the “OK” Button.

Step 5 - Tick the check box for “Move completed downloads to:,” then click the browse button “…”

Step 6 - Browse to your Dedicated Folder Structure you created for uTorrent and Click on the “Completed Downloads Folder”, then click the “OK” Button.

Step 7 - There are two (2) boxes to tick here, “Automatically load .torrent from:,” and “Delete loaded .torrents,” then click the browse button “…”

Step 8 - Browse to your Dedicated Folder Structure you created for uTorrent and Click on the “torrent Files Folder”, then click the “OK” Button.

Step 9 - Click on “Queueing” in the left menu, change the “Minimum ratio (%) value to 0, tick the check box for “When utorrent reaches the Seeding Goal”, and then change the value to 0.

This step will only stop torrents from seeding after a download has completed and will not affect the default settings selected during set-up for the torrent download speed.

How to Enable the Web User Interface of uTorrent

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***** Disclaimer -- read this before using Torrent Downloader *****

The following two (2) steps (show below) are what will integrate uTorrent with Media Center Master.

Step 1 - Click on “Web UI” in the left menu, tick the check box for “Enable Web UI,” enter a Username and Password (be sure to write the password down and save it in a safe location). The username will remain visible if it is forgotten. The password will be hidden at the time of typing it in and will remain hidden. The password will be needed and used again to configure Media Center Master later.

Step 2 - Click on “Web UI” in the left menu, scroll down to the bottom of the list on the right side and click on “webui.token_auth,” tick the radio button for “False,” and then click the “OK” Button to complete the custom settings for uTorrent.

Close out the uTorrent Application Window with the Red “X” at the top right of your screen, exit the uTorrent Program by right clicking on the uTorrent Icon located at the bottom right of your screen, and then click on “exit” in the pop-up menu.

You must exit the uTorrent Program to save your settings.

How to Check Your System for the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 Update

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Step 1 - The easiest way to find out if the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 update is required; is to use ASoft’s .NET Version Detector.

Some key features of the ASoft .NET Version Detector are:

It is a lightweight tool.

Non-installing - no need to remove it through the control panel.
Just delete the file, if saved, for clean-up.

If you have a Zip Utility installed on your system, it is not necessary to save the file.

Just open the file link, and double click the "dotnet.exe" file in your Zip Utility Application, when it pops up.

Their download link is located at the bottom of their page.

Step 2 - After the ASoft’s .NET Version Detector has opened;

If you see ".NET FW 3.5 SP1" in the list at the bottom of the detector application's "blue" window, continue on with Step 3.
If you do not see ".NET FW 3.5 SP1" in the list at the bottom of the detector application's "blue" window,

Locate and click the green download button to the left of Microsoft .Net 3.5 Service Pack 1

Follow the link and instructions to download and install the Microsoft .Net 3.5 Framework with Service Pack 1.

To verify it installed correctly:

Bookmark this page, so you may return to it after rebooting.
Reboot system.
Return to this page.
Repeat Steps 1 and 2.

Step 3 - Once you know the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 update on your system, it is time to install Media Center Master.

Installing Media Center Master

Set-up and Configuring Media Center Master for First Run

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Preliminary Installation Guides

How to set up a Folder Structure for Media Center Master

How to set up a Folder Structure for uTorrent

How to Install uTorrent

How to Customize uTorrent for Media Center Master

How to Enable and set-up the Web User Interface of uTorrent

How to check your system for the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 with SP1 update

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Installing Media Center Master

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Installation Notes - read before installing.

The installer for Media Center Master can be obtained through the Downloads Section of this site. The most current version will be listed as the third listing under the Topics Heading.

Click the Version listed to be redirected to the Downloading page.

Click on the installer you wish to download, and save it to a location on your computer.

After it has completed downloading, navigate to the downloaded file, and click on the setup.exe file to begin installing Media Center Master.

If this is a first time install or if you are reinstalling because of problems with a previous install, do not change any of the default options during this install. Please remember The Preliminary Installation Guides have been written to simplify and reduce problems with the complete install and setup of Media Center Master as one process.

After it has completed, make sure the check box for "Start Media Center Master" is checked, and then click the "Finish" Button to start Media Center Master.

During the first run of Media Center Master, the program will "Auto-Update" several files.

After the "Auto-Update" finishes, Media Center Master will open along the first run "Broadcast Announcement."

When your done reading the announcement, close it out then continue with next guide, "Set-up and Configuring for First Run."

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Set-up and Configuring Media Center Master for First Run

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Installation Notes - read before installing.

For users who have installed Media Center Master previously, and are having problems. It is suggested to do a Complete Uninstall of Media Center Master, also deleting the registry entries and the hidden user files, then reinstall with these guides.

The changes shown in this guide will optimize Media Center Master for a quick first time run, and complete the integrating of Media Center Master with utorrent.

The first changes to the time frames for automation will prevent Media Center Master from running automated processes during the configuration set-up. Later in the guide, a second change to the time frames will start the first run with a minimum processing of data. Not enabling "Allow torrents with archived files," removes any possible issues related to archived files. Not selecting a video standard, and enabling the remaining "Allow torrents with ..."; allows Media Center Master to fetch any .torrent file for a TV episode that otherwise would be missed. Only adding one (1) TV Series to the collection, and back dating the calender for one (1) month; incorporates the consideration of holidays, and/or other minor breaks in a TV Series Season for downloading just a few recent TV Series Episodes, verses several.

The settings used for integration are for a single computer set-up (Media Center Master and uTorrent installed on same computer)

Customized "User Settings" should be made after a successful first run. Take time and double check the steps which have multiple changes before continuing to the next step.

Configuring the General Tab Settings

Configuring the Downloader Tab Settings

Configuring the Download Parser Tab Settings

Configuring the uTorrent Tab Settings

How to Get Media Center Master to Open After a Boot-up

How to Set Scan Folder

How to Add a New TV Series

How to Start the First Run

What to Look for During and After the First Run