Many Media Center enthusiasts have begun to supplement their viewing options with the PlayOn Digital Media Server. Using PlayOn along with one of the available plug-ins such as PlayIt or Tubecore you have instant access to your Netflix account, Amazon VOD, Hulu, CBS, ESPN and more using the default installation.

However, PlayOn’s media server also allows for plug-ins to add even more services to the lineup. A small community of plug-in creators have cropped up at playonplugins.com where you can find a number of plug-ins for the PlayOn server. You can also find information on developing you own PlayOn plug-ins or get support for any of the plug-ins available from the site.

Now, the same people who developed Tubecore are also providing a plug-in pack to extend the number of services provided through PlayOn. The pack comes with a convenient installer which will take care of setting up the plug-ins and restarting the PlayOn server to enable them. Once finished just open up Media Center and browse to your favorite PlayOn plug-in.

Now you’ll see a number of additional options available including:

• Adult Swim
• Channel 9 Plugin – includes Channel9PluginLicense.rtf
• Food Network
• Game Trailers
• HGTV
• Local Files Plugin – makes files on your computer available within PlayOn
• NBA
• NFL
• Revision3

You’ll also get support for podcasts with the following included:

• ABC
• ABC TV Good Game
• Best of Tech
• blip TV
• Broken Pixels 1 Up Show
• CBS
• CNET
• CNET HD
• CNN
• College Humor
• Web Design
• Discovery Channel
• E Online
• G4 TV
• Geekbrief.tv
• Miro HD (beta)
• MLB
• MSNBC
• NASA
• NBC Nightly News
• Nick Jr.
• PC Magazine
• Skateboarding
• TED Talks (has problems in this version)
• The Onion
• Cartoons
• TWiT Network
• VH1
• Wired
• Arizona Cardinals

Unfortunately, the installer doesn’t allow for the selection of which plug-ins you would like to have installed. To remove plug-ins that have been installed by the package you’ll need to open Windows Explorer and go to the MediaMall\Plugins folder in Program Files (x86 for 64-bit machines). Then locate the .plugin file for the plug-in you’d like to remove and delete that file. Afterward you’ll need to restart the PlayOn server.

MediaMall’s PlayOn software can also be used on your Media Center extender, with native support built-in to Xbox360 (as well as Playstation 3) or through one of the available Media Center plug-ins. Find our article on the PlayIt plug-in here if you haven’t installed your Media Center plug-in yet. PlayIt provides an excellent interface inside Media Center for using PlayOn Digital Media Server.