The Command Line

Media Center can be controlled by command line parameters.

Execute parameters will start Media Center if it is not already started.

Control parameters are ignored if Media Center is not currently running.

If using Media Jukebox, the command to use is mjextman.exe, for Media Center, MC11.exe or MC12.exe. This document uses MC12.exe.

Execute Parameters

Executing MC12.exe with one of the following parameters starts Media Center if it's not already running.

Playback Execute Parameters

MC12.exe [item1|item2|...] If playback is currently stopped, Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts, otherwise the item(s) are appended to Playing Now and playback jumps to the first specified item.

MC12.exe /Play [item1|item2|...] If playback is currently stopped, Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts, otherwise the item(s) are appended to Playing Now and playback jumps to the first specified item.

MC12.exe /Append [item1|item2|...] Appends item(s) to Playing Now without changing the current play state.

MC12.exe /PlayReplace [item1|item2|...] Playing Now is replaced with the item(s) and playback starts.

Each item can be one of the following:

• A filename: C:\song1.mp3
• A URL: http:\\www.somewebsite.com\station.pls
• A location within the Organization Tree: TREEPATH=Playlists\Playlist1
• A device under CD & DVD and Handhelds: DEVICE=G:

Note: The TREEPATH=Location\Item specification is case-sensitive for Location and Item and the hierarchy separator is \.

Note: For Media Center 10 or greater, the Playback Execute Parameters can be issued to a specific Zone by adding Zone=x as one of the items in the | delimited list. e.g. "MC12.exe /Append C:\1.mp3|C:\2.mp3|Zone=3".

Media Core Command Parameters

These are only available in Media Center.

MC12.exe /MCC [Command],[Param] Sends the desired command to Media Center.

Note: [Param] is optional, and will default to 0.

Note: The full Media Core Command list is available here.

Other Execute Parameters

MC12.exe /Import [filename] Imports the specified file into the Media Center library and launches Media Center.

MC12.exe /Connect m01p://[ip address or host name] Establishes a connection to the specified remote Media Server.

MC12.exe /SilentImport [filename] Imports the specified file into Media Center library but does not launch Media Center.

MC12.exe /Clear [mode] Clears Playing Now. If mode is DontRemoveCurrent, the currently playing file will not be removed and playback continues, otherwise all files will be removed and playback is stopped.

MC12.exe /Mode [modename] If Media Center is not currently running, this starts Media Center in the specified mode, if it's already running this switches Media Center to the specified mode.

[modename] can be one of the following:

• Standard, Megame, Windowed Standard View
• Minime Mini View
• Fullscreen Display View
• Theater Theater View

Note: An empty [modename] is the same as the user's chosen startup mode if Media Center is not running, or Standard if it is already running.

MC12.exe /Start Starts Media Center or brings it to top.

MC12.exe /Close Closes Media Center.

MC12.exe /Power Starts Media Center if it's not running, or closes it if it is.

Command Parameters

Executing MC12.exe with one of the following parameters controls an already running instance of Media Center. If Media Center is not running, the following commands will be ignored.

MC12.exe /Command Play Starts playback of the selected track(s).

MC12.exe /Command Pause Toggles between play and pause states.

MC12.exe /Command Stop Stops playback.

MC12.exe /Command Next Skips to the next track.

MC12.exe /Command Previous Skips to the previous track.

MC12.exe /Command FastForward Jumps 5 seconds forward.

MC12.exe /Command Rewind Jumps 5 seconds backward.

MC12.exe /Command Mute Mutes the sound.

MC12.exe /Command VolumeUp [Value] Increases the sound volume by [Value]. Default is 5%

MC12.exe /Command VolumeDown [Value] Decreases the sound volume by [Value]. Default by 5%

MC12.exe /Command VolumeSet [Value] Sets the sound volume directly to [Value]. If [Value] is not specified 50% is used.

MC12.exe /Command ToggleShuffle Toggles shuffle mode

MC12.exe /Command ToggleContinuous Toggles continuous mode