Although there are a growing number of users who have dedicated Media Center systems, a large number of users are still using an all purpose machine. Often times these users will switch to a secondary set of outputs (a second monitor and audio outputs) when using Media Center for their entertainment. The problem for many of these users is [...]
One of Windows Media Center’s many self-imposed limitations is to prevent the user from utilizing more than four tuners of any one type at the same time. With many tuners commonly coming with more than one tuner per card these days it’s easy to reach and pass this limit even on a tight budget. It’s hard to image why [...]
Choosing the right codec setup for your Windows 7 Media Center build can be tricky. Should you stick with the built-in Microsoft decoders or get something a little more tweak-able? Even the built-in decoders need some help playing a number of file formats available, including the most popular format among enthusiasts, MKV. How do we choose which route to [...]
Getting the latest film trailers inside Windows 7 Media Center seems like a perfect fit for something so focused on entertainment on the big screen. Unfortunately, it’s something that’s also been mostly left out of the native Media Center product. A relatively new entry, Trailer Library, from MediaPCTycoon on The Green Button forums let’s you stream movie trailers from [...]
With this handy tip from Marc, a reader of Hack7MC, we can setup a regular alarm clock using Task Scheduler, mcShoutcast and Media Center. Much like your standard alarm clock this setup will be set to wake each morning and start a radio stream. Users can setup the alarm to wake regularly on weekdays, weekends or whenever you need [...]
There are a number of other media center solutions that provide the ability to have a different background for each area of media. Movies, Music and TV all come with various different backgrounds to represent their different content. Now, thanks to bill24 of the Australian Media Center Community, Windows 7 Media Center users can as well. The end result [...]
So you’ve sprung for one of those fancy new ATI GPUs and downloaded the newest drivers but you’ve got black bars all around the screen? I thought so, it’s a common problem recently and with ATI having some of the best GPUs on the market currently for HTPC playback with their onboard HDMI sound output and sheer video processor [...]
It’s not always ideal to do maintenance and metadata tasks for a Media Center on the Media Center machine itself. For users of My Movies 3 there’s no need to. My Movies 3 allows for remote editing of collection data through an SQL database editing tool called, aptly, My Movies 3 Collection Management. The capability to remotely edit and [...]
Due to the popularity of our (fairly outdated) top five plugins post here at Hack7MC let’s take a look at some of the new plugins that have come out since then and look at what is available now. Let’s not limit it to purely plugins however instead focusing on the whole range of programs that make your Windows 7 [...]
There have been a number of requests for access to the files that were formerly available on Theme7MC.com but hadn’t been released with the revised themes here. Also, the original patch files for the themes that have been revised may help alleviate problems being had by users with Media Center Studio. Hopefully, all or most of the themes available [...]
While these may not be fixes in the traditional sense, nothing is actually broken, but they do go a long way to altering and improving the default Media Center experience. There are several options available for adjusting Media Center’s displays that don’t require extra programs or even installations in most cases. These small fixes can make a rather big [...]
It’s an often overlooked feature of Windows Media Center, the Radio, but most likely everyone has at least one FM tuner available in their Media Center machine. If you’re one of those people who frequently uses Media Center’s Radio feature you’re likely interested in backing up your lineup of Radio presets. There currently aren’t any programs available that incorporate [...]
Bear with us now, not being native to the UK we haven’t been able to get this one to work locally but with such hard work going into it this fix appears to warrant some attention. Apparently, you in the UK have a new channel that’s acting up in the Windows 7 Media Center guide. More accurately it’s not [...]
Many Windows 7 Media Center users will have a point where they need to backup important information and settings for their Media Center machine. Information such as custom TV listings, recording schedules and certain plugin and meta data can take a fair amount of time to setup. Certainly no one enjoys missing a favorite show due to a reformat followed [...]
Today we’ve got a special surprise set of downloads available. First, the popular Brokeh theme has been updated with a modified background to make reading text on the screen slightly easier. The theme has also been converted into a Media Center Studio theme package. This should make it much easier to install for everyone. Finally, we’ve got four additional [...]
Let’s face it, after a while Windows 7 Media Center’s background image can become rather dull. Luckily, sprucing it up isn’t exactly rocket science. We can use Media Center Studio to quickly and easily change the default background to one of our choosing. All we need is Media Center Studio and a high resolution image from someplace like interfacelift.com. [...]
One of the advantages of having your own personal Windows 7 Media Center setup is the ability to automate mundane tasks, like metadata retrieval. Many of the metadata retrieval tools available feature ways to completely automate the process as they run in the system tray. Media Center Master does all that and more, checking multiple sources before deciding whether [...]
