A while back I started toying with playing back DVR-MS files from Media Center on Server 2003. For no particular reason really. Just thought it might be fun. I didn’t bother going all the way through it since I didn’t really see the point. Plus I was able to do it just fine with GraphEdit on Server if I really wanted.

At any rate Jon (not TReKiE) decided that he wanted to be able to watch the files in Media Player on Server so with a little help from myself and Mark Salloway he’s got a working Server install playing back his recordings. Here’s the basic details:

“First, copy the following 3 files from the \Windows\System32 folder on your Windows XP machine to the \Windows\System32 folder on your Windows Server 2003 machine:
encdec.dll 6.05.2600.2180
sbe.dll 6.05.2600.2180
sbeio.dll 9.00.00.3165

Now run the following two commands from Start -> Run…:
regsvr32 encdec.dll
regsvr32 sbe.dll

Next, load Windows Media Player (or any other media player, I presume), a .dvr-ms file, and enjoy!
Note: Like a regular Windows XP Home/Pro machine, in order to play .dvr-ms files, you will need a DVD decoder installed.”

Here’s a link to the actual posting from Jon.