Despite Windows 7 Media Center’s inclusion of a native movie library no function to actually rip the DVDs to the library was included. Certainly an attempt to avoid this legal grey area of copying purchased media to a secondary source, this also leaves out an important feature from the Media Center platform. This of course leaves an area open for [...]
One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender, which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer, can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process [...]
Are you one of the many Media Center users already running a Vista Media Center and planning to upgrade to a new Windows 7 install? If so, it’s likely that you’d want to move your recording schedule over as well. For those planning to do a simple upgrade the process should be automatic, however, if you’re planning a clean install [...]
As many former Vista Media Center users know, Windows 7 brought a new format to the Media Center in the form of the .WTV file. This new format is the new standard for recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center, meaning all recorded TV will now be saved as WTV instead of the former standard DVR-MS. Unfortunately, this also means [...]
By default the new Netflix application remembers a users login information for use each time you enter the movie browser. However, what if you should change your username or password via the Netflix website? Unfortunately at this point instead of allowing you to re-enter your information the Netflix app simply returns a login error and sends you back to the [...]
With the release of My Movies 3 one of the most popular movie library plugins for Media Center makes it’s way into Windows 7. The plugin has received a complete makeover to the user interface as well as updated code to work with the new structure of the Windows 7 Media Center platform. How does this update to an old [...]
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 in [...]
Many movie enthusiasts prefer to watch content in it’s original resolution and refresh rate. Unfortunately, Windows 7 Media Center doesn’t automatically adjust the refresh rate or resolution of the program to suit content instead resizing and adjusting the content to suit Media Center’s settings. This of course distorts the content from it’s original format. Luckily for purists, Dgaust of the [...]
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 button [...]
Looking for an easy way to get DXVA MKVs in Media Center? Just Install Haali’s splitter! Previously, getting MKV to work properly inside Windows 7 Media Center has required quite a bit of effort on the part of the end user. It was necessary to install a number of third party codecs, make modifications to the registry and tweak codec [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Now that ShowAnalyzer has support for WTV just how do we get this setup to skip commercials for us automatically in Windows 7 Media Center? The solution is actually surprisingly simple. Before we get started have a look at our guide to installing ShowAnalyzer and we’ll cover more of the options for setting it up to work with DVRMSToolbox in [...]
