For those comfortable with some minor system file manipulation bill24 lays out the steps to use the popular Restorator, which has a free trial, to change a few lines to enable the extra backgrounds. The first thing you’ll need to do is take ownership (Download, Apply, rclick ehres.dll and Take Ownership) of the ehres.dll file in C:\Windows\ehome. Next make two copies of the file one as a backup and another to edit. Once that’s done open up the file in Restorator.

First navigate to the html folder and locate the EXTENSIBILITY.BACKGROUND.XML, make a copy of this file on the desktop and rename it to RECORDEDTV.BACKGROUND.XML. Next open this new file for editing in any text editor (I personally prefer Notepad++) and find the following:

background=”image(Common.Background.png)”

into

background=”image(BD.RECORDEDTV.PNG)”

Now copy that file back into Restorator inside of the html folder and locate the RECORDEDTV.BROWSEPAGE.XML and edit it either inside Restorator or in a text editor. Change the following line:

<backgroundpage url=”COMMON.BACKGROUND.XML”/>

into

<backgroundpage url=”RECORDEDTV.BACKGROUND.XML”/>

This will instruct the program to load a custom image for Recorded TV’s background image. Each of these steps will have to be repeated, replacing the section name for RECOREDEDTV above. Then an image will need to be added for each background referenced in place of the Common.Backgound.png. These images should be dropped into the RCData folder inside Restorator. The following sections are known to be available: VIDEO, RECORDEDTV, PICTURES, MUSIC, RADIO and MOVIES.

Though there is a patch to make this slightly simpler it still requires use of Restorator. You’ll need to apply the patch to an editable version of ehres.dll and then replace the background images named:

BD.VIDEO.png
BD.RECOREDTV.png
BD.PICTURES.png
BD.MUSIC.png
BD.RADIO.png
BD.MOVIES.PNG

Users will simply need to drag and drop the image to replace the new black “replace me” background added by the patch. Then save the new dll file and copy it over the original in C:\Windows\ehome. Though still not particularly for novices this does make the process quite a bit easier. Even if trying your hand at the manual method didn’t work this may give better results when used on that backup file.

A great big thanks to bill24 for coming up with the work to make this possible and Australian Media Center Forums for the community to bring around these great people. Be sure to become a subscribing member of Hack7MC to catch all the latest posts, it’s free!

Update: Find more themes and the original Theme7MC archives right here!

You can find download links for the five themes in the first pack available below. Download them individually by selecting them below or download the entire pack by selecting the package link.

To install the themes download them to your local Media Center machine. If downloading the entire pack extract them to the hard drive. Next, be sure to have a copy of Media Center Studio installed. Under the Themes menu tab select the Import Theme button and select the theme file to import.

Once imported into Media Center Studio select the theme from the Themes tab below and press the Apply button.

Hopefully this makes it much easier to distribute themes to users and eliminates much of the complications of the old way of applying the themes. If you’d like more information on making your own Media Center themes start here or check out our recent article on changing your media center background. Thanks for trying out our themes and be sure to leave any comments below.

Now that we’ve got our background we need Media Center Studio. Download and install the program from the author’s site then, make certain Windows 7 Media Center is closed, and launch the program. From the start menu the program can be found under Start –> Programs –> Advent –> Media Center Studio. To get started changing things about in Media Center create a new theme by pressing the New button in the Home ribbon.

Now to change the background we need to expand the Images –> Common –> Background. The images we’re interested in changing at this point are COMMON.ANIMATED.BACKGROUND.PNG and COMMON.BACKGROUND.PNG. Change the images to your newly downloaded background image by pressing the browse button above the original displayed on the right.

You may notice that the images appear extremely small in Media Center Studio for some reason but this doesn’t seem to effect the output. After changing both images save the theme with the Save button at the top then return to the Themes tab at the top and bottom.

Select the newest theme at the bottom, which will be marked with today’s date and time, then press the Apply button at the top under the Themes tab. Then just launch Windows 7 Media Center and everything should be all set, easy.

That’s all there is to it. Much easier than the last time we wrote a guide on changing the background in Windows 7 Media Center. For those looking to get rid of the animated blue images replace the rest of those images listed under background with a transparent png image (right-click -> save as).

Not a reader of our RSS Feed yet? It’s the same great info delivered direct and it’s nice to see that reader number grow over on the right!

To get started just head over to the Media Center Studio website and click the Download link to get the latest version of the program. There is also a sticky thread for the app on the Aus Media Center Community Forums you can check out should you have any troubles getting started. The software is still very early beta and as a result there are still a number of bugs to be found.

Once the program has been installed launch it from the programs menu and you’ll find a well styled interface allowing you to create new themes and edit the Media Center start menu. Let’s start by creating a new theme. To do this make sure you are on the themes tab and press the New button. This will create a new tab with all the theme editing options available including changing fonts colors, fonts, and images for each theme.

Just select the item you’d like to modify on the left and use the settings on the right to change that item’s appearance. You can change font colors using a series of sliders allowing for any RGB color allow with an alpha setting. A color selector would have honestly been preferable to this system as it can take quite a bit of play to get the color you are looking for. A point and click color wheel or similar system would be much simpler. Also, under the fonts section a crash occurred whenever attempting to bring up the dropdown box to select a new font, likely due to it’s just released beta status and will likely be fixed soon.

Though the font color selector is somewhat tricky to master it is still a huge improvement over not being able to edit the colors at all. Modifying the font colors using Media Center Studio allow for successful font color changes for the first time which should open up a large number of possibilities for Media Center background images that would have previously conflicted with the bluish font colors that are default.

Changing images was also a snap. Just select the image that you’d like to alter and hit the browse button to select it’s replacement. However, after modifying the images another small bug was noticed as the option to save the theme wasn’t available until the font color was changed. There seems to be a bug in the detection of altered images and the save function.

Themes aside, Media Center Studio also provides an excellent Start Menu editor. Selecting the Start Menu tab will bring up an editor similar to the Media Center Menu Mender that was popular with Vista Media Center users. Selecting the Start Menu option at the top also allows you to create custom entry points. The editor made it fairly easy to create a new strip and add an all new application to it.

Start by creating a new strip, press the Menu Strip button at the top and a new strip will be added to the lower viewport. Edit the name and location by pressing the small notepad icon next to the name then dragging the strip to the location you’d like it to appear. Next create a new entry point by pressing either the Application or Game button at the top. This will bring up a pane allowing you to select the application and then edit the icon and details of the program.

The program options allow for some very advanced configuration of just what actions to perform before launching the program and how to exit the program and return to Media Center. There do seem to be some remaining bugs in the plugin that launches the programs however causing some Extensibility Host errors though they are being looked into and will hopefully be cleared up soon.

To add the program to your new start menu strip return to the Start Menu tab and expand the Entry Points pane at the bottom of the application. This will bring up a listing of all the available entry point which you can then drag and drop onto your new start menu strips. It should be noted that due to restrictions put in place by Microsoft you are still unable to add new tiles to the default strips.

Once finished be sure to apply any theme changes you’ve made by returning to the original Themes tab and pressing the Apply button. You’ll notice there are also options to export and import themes from other Media Center Studio users. Expect to see plenty of new themes popping up over the course of the next few weeks available for download. We’ll be bringing Theme7MC over to integrate more with the current Hack7MC setup and updating software to make submitting and download themes much easier than the current system so look for that as well.

That’s all there is to it! Relaunch Windows Media Center and bask in the glory of your newly customized interface. Be sure to stick around here on Hack7MC in the near future as we relaunch Theme7MC and bring it up to be the resource we know you’ll be needing now that it’s so easy to create and distribute your own custom themes. We’ll also be bringing you even more guides and updates on Media Center Studio so stick around and subscribe to Hack7MC!

Many of our readers most likely know that Theme7MC is our resource for downloading Windows Media Center themes but you should know that Theme7MC also provides channel logos for download and use with My Channel Logos as well. A few of our UK members have created color channel logo packs for download and are available now.

Users in the UK are lucky enough to have multiple sources of free television programming available and we also have multiple packages tailored to these services. The first of these packages is submitted by Jon and actually covers more than one service and includes including Analog, Freeview and Freesat and 132 channel logos.

The next package available is from Simon Tether and provides 66 channel logos available specifically for FreeSat users. Using channel logos from iconharmony and our guide here on Hack7MC for creating your own custom color channel logos, Simon has provided a quality icon pack for download.

Finally, the most recent submission we have a pack created by Robert Wilson with 67 high quality channel logos created for FreeView users. This high quality set looks excellent on dark backgrounds like the default dark blue of the Windows Media Center guide. Edited specifically for use in HDTV setups this set is a truly great addition to your channel logos lineup.

For even more on creating your own color channel logos for Windows Media Center check out our guide here on Hack7MC then be sure to upload your set to Theme7MC!

Special thanks to all those who create custom channel logo packs as well as custom themes for download to enhance the experience of all Media Center enthusiasts and provide them for download and use for free. If you’d like to contribute be sure to check out Theme7MC!

Thanks to forum member jsbbs from the Australian Media Center Community who has created a special tool that will allow you to remove, add or change the OEM logo in Media Center. The tool can be downloaded from Hack7MC here.

Once you’ve got the program installed using it is extremely simple. To remove an existing OEM logo just check the box marked Remove logo image and Apply. The existing logo will be gone the next time you start Media Center. There’s even a checkbox to take care of restarting Media Center for you.

Adding a new logo is equally easy. Simply double click the square on the left, that may or may not already contain an image depending on whether you’ve currently got an OEM logo installed, and select the image you’d like to use. Apply your new image and restart Media Center.

Your new OEM logo will appear in the lower right hand corner of Media Center’s 10-foot interface. You can use the PNG format to get a transparent background for your logo such as the Hack7MC logo used here.

It really doesn’t get much simpler than that. Be sure to subscribe to Hack7MC’s RSS Feed or Email Updates to keep up with the latest Media Center tools and offerings!

Now that’s fantastic but they left out any option to increase or decrease the speed through a simple settings interface. Instead the rate was locked down in the trusty old ehres.dll file. This is bad because it makes it somewhat more difficult to change but it’s good because when opening up this file we find there are a great many possibilities to create custom animated backgrounds with this same file.

For those not interested in the how-to of this, simply download this prefab patch to double the rate at which the album art waterfall scrolls. For the rest of you interested in how this is done and maybe curious about creating your own animated backgrounds you’ll need a resource editor such as Restorator and an XML or plain text editor, preferably XML Notepad which is free from Microsoft download.

Once you’ve got your tools, create a copy of the ehres.dll file from C:\Windows\ehome\. Next, open up Restorator (or your resource editor of choice) and load that copy of the ehres.dll file. At this point you should probably create a backup of this file as well, just in case something should go awry later on.

Now, with ehres.dll open in the resource editor locate the html folder and find the file named albumartbackground.xml. This is the file that contains all the information for use in the album art waterfall background. Extract this file by simply dragging and dropping the file from the resource pane onto your desktop.

Next, open this albumartbackground.xml file in XML Notepad. You should see something similar to the image above. Under the tree view, open up the first UI folder, then the Locals folder and finally the second Timer folder.

The name of this Timer should read TimerForScrolling and by default is set to 2000 (milliseconds). To increase the speed of the scrolling effect you will need to decrease the Interval at which this timer “ticks”. For instance, to double the speed of the scrolling effect set the Interval to 1000. Be aware, however, that at a certain lower interval the animation will not be able to maintain it’s rate and will likely not render properly.

Once you have set your new timer interval, save the XML file and reload it into the resource editor. You should be able to simply drag the file back onto it’s original location in the resource tree. Afterwards, save the new ehres.dll file you’ve created and copy it back into it’s original location in C:\Windows\ehome\ (you will need ownership of the original ehres.dll file).

Now, you may be wondering how you can create your own custom animations using this file. That is something that is indeed possible but somewhat beyond the range of this particular guide. Using the tools above and a little bit of trial and error, however, you should be able to work out some fairly nice effects through this XML.

You can find even more details on editing animation effects for Windows 7 Media Center on MSDN’s guide to editing MCML (Media Center Markup Language). If you do create some nice effects that you’d like to share with the community send them in! Email your custom XML files as attachments to mhealy@hack7mc.com or use this special form.

Featuring stock artwork from FractalAngel of DeviantArt the background provides an excellent contrast between vibrant color and subtle detail while still providing superior readability. Pop-up dialogs and menus provide a view of the finer details with high resolution close-ups of the more subdued areas.

To install the theme download the package from Theme7MC and extract it to your hard drive. If you haven’t previously applied a theme to your Media Center you’ll also need to download the Take Ownership registry fix and apply it to your ehres.dll file.

In order to apply the fix, download and execute the registry file applying it to your registry. Then open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\ehome\ then locate ehres.dll. Next right-click the file and select Take Ownership. A command prompt should appear, execute the command and then close.

Afterward, apply the theme by running the patch file included in the theme package. Run the patch as an administrator by right-clicking and selecting Run As Administrator. Make certain that the patch dialog points to the location of your ehres.dll file and press start. The patch should apply the theme to your Windows 7 Media Center and notify your of successful patching.

Afterward simply re-launch Media Center to see the changes have taken effect. To undo the process you’ll need to open C:\Windows\ehome\ and locate ehres backup.dll and rename it to ehres.dll.

If you enjoy this theme be sure to bookmark Theme7MC or join the RSS Feed and keep checking back for the newest themes to be released. You can also upload your own creations on the Submit A Theme page!

Today we’ve got a new application from CLSid, Doom9 member and FFDShow Tryout developer, that takes much of the leg work and guess work out of setting up your preferred codecs. To get started you can download v1.9 from Hack7MC servers here or check the thread on Doom9 for the latest version.

There’s no installation needed, just run the downloaded exe file and the program will automatically detect the installed codecs available as well as whether or not they are properly setup for playing back that particular format. For instance, if FFDShow has VC-1 enabled properly it will appear under the options, otherwise it will not.

This can actually serve a dual purpose of double checking whether or not you’ve got your configuration right. The tools currently supports the following output formats:

• H.264
• Xvid
• DivX
• MP4V
• MPEG-2
• VC-1
• MP3

In version 1.0 the following 32-bit filters are able to be detected by the program (Later versions include additional support for both 64-bit and 32-bit filters):

• ffdshow
• CoreAVC H.264 decoder
• Xvid MPEG-4 decoder
• DivX H.264 decoder
• DivX MPEG-4 decoder
• DScaler5 MPEG-2 decoder
• Cyberlink H.264 decoder (PDVD 7)
• Cyberlink MPEG-2 decoder (PDVD 7/8/9)
• Cyberlink VC-1 decoder (patched with VC1Tweak)
• ArcSoft H.264 decoder
• ArcSoft MPEG-4 decoder
• ArcSoft MPEG-2 decoder
• ArcSoft VC-1 decoder (patched with VC1Tweak)

The program also includes support for Microsoft and FFDShow filters under 64-bit operating systems.

The biggest advantage of this wonderful app is the ability to set separate decoders for each of the formats. This way you get a very customized setup allowing you to select the best suited decoder and tweak playback for specific formats.

With all these manual hacks being transformed into easy to use programs lately it seems like we may even see a comprehensive tweaking application at some point. We can all hope (and beg and plead) in any case that sometime soon getting your Media Center “just right” will be that simple.

Subscribe to Hack7MC and we’ll be sure to let you know when that glorious day comes!

Also, freshly available for download is a new theme for Media Center featuring the work of Javier Ocasio of StudioTwentyEight titled ‘Bokeh’. This theme, which was built on top of Astrotoy7’s Black theme as a base, features a colorful simulated Bokeh effect as well as the black guides and menus of the Astrotoy7 Black theme. The theme is now available for download from Theme7MC.

Still a work in progress, Theme7MC will grow better with time (just as Hack7MC has!) and some areas of the site aren’t complete at this point. For instance, the tutorial section which will provide detailed directions on creating your own themes for inclusion on Theme7MC is not currently up and running. You can still check out the guides on the basics of creating your own themes and changing your background right here.

Hopefully, we’ll begin getting submissions from the community to grow the selection of themes available. Don’t worry if you’ve only done something simple, such as changing the background, as there may be someone else out there who wants the same thing. However, you’ll need to get permission from the creators of any images you use before submitting them.

So head on over to Theme7MC.com, check out what it has to offer and bookmark it to keep coming back to check out the growing selection of Media Center themes and other content! Enjoy this new feature and if you’ve got any themes of your own you’d like to send in be sure to go ahead and send them in.

If you notice anything out of order on the new site you can use the contact form here on Hack7MC to send in the details.