Media Browser is easily one of the most popular video and movie collection managers for Windows 7 Media Center users, with good reason. The interface it provides is stunning and the number of extra “little” features available amount to a heap of Media Center loving. Out of the box, Media Browser is great but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make it just a little better.

Get all that Juicy Metadata

The first step to any good media collection is metadata. Media Browser does a fairly good job of getting comprehensive metadata for your collection on it’s own but sometimes you may want a little more control. In that case, have a look at MediaScout and Media Center Master. Both provide superior metadata retrieval and integrate extremely well with Media Browser.

Add Encoding Details to the Interface

Can’t keep track of which of your videos is high definition or which ones have full surround sound? Display that encoding info right inside Media Browser with this simple trick. Just download MediaInfo and follow these steps to get enable the feature inside the Media Browser details screen.

Fill in those Actor Images

That actors tab in your movie details isn’t very pretty with all those blank images adorning your cast list. Why not fill those blank images in using portraits from the ImagesByName project. Just follow these directions and you’ll have quite an impressive collection of actor portraits available for Media Browser to use in no time!

Add Movie Trailers to your Movie Details

While it’s not quite streaming movie trailers it’s still possible to get trailers for each of your movies inside Media Browser’s details page. Use a trailer downloading program such as HD Movie Trailer Downloader or Get Trailers, then follow these simple steps to add an icon to your movie’s details page. Then you’ll have instant access to all your movie trailers while browsing through your collection.

Give those Blank Folders a Custom Look

Why leave those ugly blank folders messing up an otherwise sleek interface? Instead download our collection of custom icons (or use you own) and add them to your folders instead. Don’t stop there either, make sure that you preserve those transparent backgrounds and avoid that homely blue box as well.

Top it off with a Custom Start Menu

Why not top it all off by creating a custom start menu just for Media Browser? You can even remove the old Movie strip so you don’t confuse your friends and family with multiple movie browsing programs. Also, for those with a few of the most popular streaming media plug-ins (secondrun.tv, playon with playit, tunerfree mce and tubecore) installed can add them to the menu as well!

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