Sure, Microsoft already offers a slimmed down version of Windows 7 known as Starter which is light enough to run on even the trimmest of netbooks. Not to mention that standard version of Windows 7 are excellent performers as well but there’s always room for improvement and the Starter version of WIndows 7 doesn’t include things like Media Center. [...]
Looking for a way to launch commands or programs to run in the background from the Extras Library menu? When you may be in luck, CW-Kid and Andrew Cherry have come up with a .dll and a set of direction for doing just that. The process can be a little daunting for novices but if you’re looking for a [...]
Now that we’ve covered a handful of great plugins to improve your Windows 7 media Center, here and here, it’s time to go through a few programs and background plugins that can greatly improve your experience. These programs and plugins will improve on the Media Center interface as well as adding some missing options and features that are lacking [...]
We’ve already covered replacing the built in movie library with a third party plug-in like MediaBrowser or Open Media Library. There are even a handful of solutions to hide the default movie start strip and add our own, such as MC Studio and Mikinhosoft’s Hide Strips program. The one problem that has persisted, however, is that pressing the video [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
In search of an easy as pie way to relocate your recorded TV from one location to another? Perhaps a storage drive or a networked server machine? Well, Recorded TV Manager 3 has got you covered. This program is somewhat light on features but it gets the job done if you’re looking for simple and easy. Installation is relatively [...]
Wish you could start Windows 7 Media Center without the startup animation, in media only mode or without the shutdown options? Missing Remote has the details on some undocumented startup switches that will allow you to do that and more. Windows 7 Media Center comes packed with a number of ways to start up your Media Center experience just [...]
DVRMSToolbox is the Media Center enthusiast’s Swiss Army Knife due in a large part to the FileWatcher service and Media Center add-in it provides. Downloadable from Andy VT’s Tools and Blog, DVRMSToolbox comes jam packed with features and profiles which allow you to automate the menial tasks of being a Media Center user.
Using the FileWatcher feature is a lot [...]
Some 3rd-Party EPG guide programs (which we’ll be covering soon) require you to have your EPG listings in XMLTV format. It can also be handy to have a copy of the Windows 7 Media Center listings if you switch between multiple HTPC applications. The easiest method, by far, to convert Media Center guide data into a standardized XMLTV format [...]
If you’ve ever bought an OEM computer from a company like Dell, Gateway or HP you’ll know they love to brand every piece of software that comes preinstalled with their own logo. If you’d like to get rid of this logo on your Windows 7 Media Center software or maybe add some personal branding of your own then we’ve [...]
There are a number of conceivable reasons to setup a RamDisk on your Media Center PC. The biggest plausible reason is for the performance increase that can be gained by using a RamDisk as opposed to a Hard Disk to store the temporary files created for time-shifting live TV. In place of writing and erasing this data to your [...]
If you’ve participated in the Windows 7 program for some time now you may have noticed in more recent versions that the animated waterfall album art background that is displayed while playing music has slowed down considerably. Almost to a “glacial rate” as one user put it. This was done to accommodate lower performance PCs that were having trouble [...]
If there’s one thing that the majority of metadata tools are missing it’s the ability to go beyond the basic movie collection and grab information on TV series collections as well. While MetaBrowser provides a comprehensive tool for both Movie and TV series metadata, as well as a more complete integration with Media Browser’s backdrops, covers and actor images, [...]
Looking for sleeker covers to fill up your Media Browser Coverflow? Well, thanks to tyborg on the Media Browser forums you can do just that and it’s simple as pie too! Starkcovers will automatically go through your movie collection and convert any of your existing folder.jpg files into a stylized .png. Unfortunately, this will only work with Media Browser [...]
Today let’s take a minute to welcome our newer readers and Media Center comrades by highlighting a few of the older guides and posts that they may have missed. There are a handful of guides from the earlier days of Hack7MC that can still be quite useful for new Media Center enthusiasts.
For starters, interested in launching any application from [...]
