Why does Windows Media Center make http requests for watched folders on a network drive?

Question

I have a Linux server on my home LAN that has a filesystem shared via Samba (/export), where I store some older recorded TV (under /export/Recorded\ TV). The system is also a web server, running a couple web apps. Apache vhosts:

VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:80                   is a NameVirtualHost
         default server bucketwise. (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/bucketwise.conf:1)
         port 80 namevhost bucketwise. (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/bucketwise.conf:1)
         port 80 namevhost teamspeak.int.example.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/teamspeak.conf:1)
Syntax OK

I have a laptop running Windows 7 RC1 set to search for media on the shared drive in Windows Media Center. However, it appears to be trying to access through the default vhost and is spamming up the log with http error 503. From the default vhost error log:

10.13.37.10 - - [27/Sep/2009:06:46:49 -0600] "PROPFIND /export/Recorded%20TV HTTP/1.1" 503 376 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/6.1.7100"
10.13.37.10 - - [27/Sep/2009:06:46:51 -0600] "PROPFIND /export HTTP/1.1" 503 376 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/6.1.7100"

This share is used infrequently, it was more of a temporary convenience, so I can certainly stop watching it through WMC on the laptop (and will). However, I'm curious why it would attempt to access through http via WebDav, rather than use the shared drive over the SMB connection.

Answer 1

Not 100% sure, as I don't have 7, but I've got a feeling it's WMC looking for UPNP/DLNA/HomeGroup devices or services.

Answer 2

I assume that Microsoft tries to access the advanced properties for recorded shows and other streaming (they call it shared) media. Shared media mean some information marked as shared in Media center (like tv recordings), not files shared via file sharing systems. That "sharing" is designed for Internet and thus use HTTP, they simply decided to use WebDAV technology to allow 3rd party applications and devices to stream (share) media to Windows Media Center.