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Author Topic: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide  (Read 725 times)

branty1970

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External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« on: April 23, 2020, 12:08:27 pm »

Hi,

I've been looking for ways to make MC do more and one of the things I know has been asked many times in the past is how to integrate Netflix, Amazon and others. I get that this cannot be done by MC directly but a simple workaround would seem to be to add a link to a website. I've been trying to do this but with limited success and was hoping someone could advise me on what I might be doing wrong.

When I add a 'webpage' to the Theatre View menu structure it never sticks. It appears in the set-up panel for Theatre View but when I switch to Theatre View it's not there. When I go back to the options dialogue it's gone again. What is going on there?

No problem I thought, I'll use the External Application option instead. That's much better, I set it up to call my browser and pass it the web page of the media outlet I want to use. I've ticked the box to 'Hide Media Center While Application Is Running'. The option appears in Theatre View - hurrah - but when I choose it, MC goes away for a second or two and then comes back up. If I close Theatre View I can see that the browser did indeed open and the right page has been loaded. So why is MC not staying out of the way?

Any help would be gratefully received.

I'm running MC23 on a Windows 10 PC with Edge as the browser. If I can fix this it will be the thing that gets me to ditch the Amazon FireTV stick which as been playing up recently and to upgrade to MC26.

Thanks,
Martin
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2020, 12:33:55 pm »

Have you tried Media Center 26 and see if it occurs there? Maybe it's been fixed since Media Center 23?
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S. Pupp

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2020, 12:50:46 pm »

I was going to post this problem, too.  I have it set to open Google Chrome and hide MC while program is running.

I’m using Media Center version 26.0.56 64 bit for Windows.

It worked for me at some point in the past, but no longer; Chrome appears momentarily, but then Media Center comes back to the forefront.
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S. Pupp

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2020, 04:45:21 pm »

Problem still occurs with version 26.0.69.
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branty1970

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2020, 03:06:12 am »

Thanks for trying guys, at least I know it's not me doing something wrong.
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lepa

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2020, 03:55:43 am »

You may find below threads on third party area useful. Don't know if these still works but worth a shot I guess

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,111645.0.html
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,111519.0.html
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Hendrik

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2020, 04:14:31 am »

I'm using it to launch Netflix and its working fine with auto hide/show. But I am using the Windows 10 Netflix app, and not a browser.

One thing to consider is that it only works if MC can figure out that your application is still running. Some applications, primarily those with fancy self-update mechanisms, like Chrome maybe, the actual binary you launch might just be a "launcher" of sorts that then goes ahead and starts the actual browser, and the launcher terminates. In this case, MC thinks your application is done (because the launcher closed), and will show itself again.
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S. Pupp

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Re: External Program - Media Center Doesn't Hide
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2020, 11:41:34 am »

Thank you.  It seems you are right about the cause of the problem.
I changed from Chrome to the portable version of the Vivaldi browser (which is Chrome based) and all works as it should.
Thanks, again.
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