A new program we’ve all been waiting for quite some time to get our hands on, Media Center Studio, has finally arrived allowing even the most novice users the ability to create their own custom Media Center themes and Start Menu arrangements. Media Center Studio, created by Advent of the Australian Media Center Community the author of Media Center Menu [...]
Here at Hack7MC there is a lot of working going on to bring our services up to meet the growing needs of the Windows Media Center community. You may have noticed some sporadic downtime recently and it’s a problem we’re working to resolve. The issue stems from our recent switch to a dedicated virtual private server from our shared hosting [...]
Around here we love when someone comes along and creates an application to take even the simplest processes and refines them into an even easier single solution. Previously we covered creating your own bootable USB Windows 7 installation manually and today we’ve got a couple of applications that make the entire process a snap. Even better, both applications are entirely [...]
There may come a time when you want to edit the metadata of a WTV or DVRMS file manually. Luckily, Windows 7 includes a built-in editor allowing the editing of metadata of both file formats. Much like music metadata editor provided in previous versions of Windows the metadata editor for WTV and DVRMS files can be accessed by right-clicking the [...]
There are a good number of guide to creating a bootable USB disk to install Windows 7 which is handy when installing on a system that may not have a DVD drive (or any drive at all). Some people like to keep their Media Center HTPC as small as possible and taking the disk drive out of the equation makes [...]
Ever cleaned out the music library, removed some albums or updated album art only to find that Windows 7 Media Center is still using the old album art in various places throughout the program? It’s a common problem due to the fact that Media Center utilizes an album art cache that is rarely (if ever) checked for consistency. This means [...]
A default installation of Windows 7 already has incredible performance, capable of running on even the lowest end hardware. That doesn’t mean we aren’t able to eek out just a little more performance from a dedicated Windows 7 Media Center machine though. Windows comes ready to perform a wide range of functions but a dedicated machine really only performs a [...]
Open Media Library is quickly becoming a favorite replacement for the default Windows 7 Media Center movie library. Though the community isn’t quite as large as Media Browser’s the project is quickly attracting open source developers and development seems to really be picking up speed. This new release includes one major improvement over previous version in the new database system [...]
One of the advantages that most third-party movie library plugins have over the built-in Windows 7 Media Center Movie Library are their ability to mount ISO files as normal disks. The process requires additional mounting software to be installed and running in the background but has the advantage of being able to provide a full DVD experience without the hassle [...]
There may come a time when you need to completely erase the history of your downloaded guide data and tuner setup. Something may have gone wrong with your setup, tuners may have changed or maybe you’re just looking to clean house a little. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to require a complete reinstall of Windows 7, the process is in [...]
Much of the data retrieved by Media Browser is stored on the hard drive and needs to be retrieved frequently as you browse through your movie collection. Information such as movie metadata and covers is constantly being loaded up as you browse through your movie folders. This data retrieval process leads to some extremely slow performance in large collections and [...]
For quite some time we’ve been looking for a way to build our custom start menu strips using a few of the built-in functions included in the default Media Center strips. Being able to create a Movie strip using Media Browser or Open Media Library and still keep the Play DVD tile has been a long requested feature for those [...]
Looking for the ultimate in TV listing control including the ability to use third party services like IceTV or XMLTV files? Big Screen Global has got just the solution with it’s Big Screen EPG program. Big Screen EPG, currently in beta, gives you the ability to import XMLTV service files into your Windows 7 Media Center as well as manage [...]
My Channel Logos is definitely a favorite around here, partly because it’s just so darn easy to use. This handy little utility to add channel logos to your Windows 7 Media Center guide is so easy that it practically runs itself. Now the latest version of My Channel Logos even includes color channel logos and the ability to download fresh [...]
Don’t let the name fool you, recent versions of Vista4Cast have added support for Windows 7 Media Center allowing you to get the local weather at a glance. For those looking for an extremely easy way to check the weather from inside Media Center or in need of replacing an old favorite that no longer works in RTM, Vista4Cast has [...]
From an older LifeHacker article and tip form one of our readers, Conor, we’ve got a way for you to simplify the already streamlined DVDShrink process into something even less intense. Hack Attack author Adam Pash has created a few automation scripts that allow you to just enter the name of the DVD and send the program on it’s way. [...]
Looking for an easy way to bring your DVD collection into your Windows 7 Media Center movie library? DVDShrink may have just what you’re looking for. DVDShrink provide a simple and efficient method for even novice users to bring their collection to exactly where they need it. With an easy to use interface for selecting compress levels, included tracks and [...]
