Although programs like GraphStudio can help us find out what’s going wrong during the playback of our media files, it isn’t really the easiest way to fix the problems.This is where a program like Radlight’s Filter Manager can come in handy. Unfortunately, this tool is no longer in development so no x64 version exists but an x86 version can be [...]
While Media Center has no trouble playing back your ripped movies, videos and music there has been no love lost in the between it and TV series DVDs. The Media Browser plug-in for Media Center eases the situation a bit adding support for TV series’ within the plug-in interface. Once it’s in there, however, it still lacks metadata in most [...]
Sometimes a Windows Media Player database can become corrupt for any number of reasons. This will obviously also effect Media Center since it runs off the same database for videos and music. Luckily fixing the problem isn’t too difficult. First thing that needs to be done is to stop the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service. This service controls media [...]
Expanding on the article detailing how to change your Media Center background let’s take a look at building a more complete theme. The basic tools will stay the same. You will need a copy of Restorator, a paint program like Paint.net and Windows 7 Media Center. Once you’ve got the necessary tools open Windows Explorer and locate “Windows\ehome\ehres.dll”. Make two [...]
Finding the right application to move your movie collection from the shelf to your Media Center can be a difficult decision. Sometimes the best solution is to just keep it simple. There are plenty of applications that will deluge you with various options and settings. BitRipper is another beast altogether. BitRipper’s interface is minimalistic, showing you just what you need [...]
Wait! There’s an easier way. Check out our newer article on using Media Center Studio to change the background. Everyone wants to stand apart from the crowd, unfortunately Media Center doesn’t allow you to easily change the appearance of your setup. Windows 7 may have added better support for themes but Media Center has still ended up stuck with “boring [...]
Warning: This hack modifies system files and may cause instability in certain Windows applications under atypical situations. It has been tested to the extent described in the article but not beyond. When you’re done setting up FFDShow Audio check out this guide on setting up FFDShow Video as well. Many enthusiasts prefer the ability to set their favorite codec for [...]
Acquiring details for your Media Center’s Movie Library can be difficult. Built-In support for adding this information is slim and complicated, furthermore it can’t be edited by the end user. You’re stuck with what you get. There are a few other options like DVDXml.com, though searching for all those movies on the DVDXml.com website can get tiring. Fortunately, there is [...]
All too often perfectly good plug-ins get left by the wayside with their original designers moving on to other projects and interests and these programs are simply left to rot. Unfortunately this rot takes it’s toll over time with updates to the main program and even the under lying operating system. Recently, with the release of the official Windows 7 [...]
Hard drive space isn’t necessarily expensive, that is until you consider the amount of disk space required to archive your 300+ disk DVD collection to your Media Center pc. With each regular DVD clocking in at around 4gb, let’s not even mention bluray disks, the cost can add up quickly. So what we need is a way to compress those [...]
Don’t like codec packs? Try this: MKVs for Minimalists on Windows 7 The first step to playing MKV (Matroska) video files in your Media Center is to make sure your system is capable of playing MKV files in the first place. There seem to be innumerable ways to accomplish this and everyone has their own preference. For the sake of [...]
Yesterday I posted about a simple yet effective way to edit the programs in your extras library. Today I’m going to lead you to a pair of programs that make it simple to add, edit and remove new listings from your program library. The first is Media Center Launcher, which can be found for download from Mikinhosoft in both x86 [...]
