Hacking Windows7 MediaCenter

The ability to backup and restore your recording schedule and guide listings in Media Center is something that will be necessary at some point for almost anyone. Unfortunately, up to this point Media Center doesn’t make it easy for the end user. On the bright side it isn’t very complicated either, you just need to know where to look.

Back ‘Em Up!

To begin with, Media Center creates backup files every time you schedule a new show or make modifications to the guide listings, you just need to find them. To get to the files you will need to enable the viewing of hidden folders, then open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome (by default). Inside you will find a folder, or series of folders, for each tuner you have installed marked “mcepgX-X-X”. Inside each of these folders you will find a backup folder containing backup files for listings, recordings, and subscriptions.

For each type of backup there will be a number of files inside named with a timestamp. The timestamp format is as follows:" “year month day – hour minutes seconds”. This makes it very simple to locate your most recent files. Luckily the files aren’t large at all however and you could easily backup the whole lot in most cases. For restoring the recording schedule only the latest file in recordings is needed.

Put ‘Em Back!

Once you’ve completed your reinstall of Windows 7, open Media Center and run through the setup as usual. Assuming no hardware changes or driver changes between reinstalls we should be set to continue. Retrieve your backup recordings file and copy it to your hard disk.

The file doesn’t need to be anywhere specific but placing it in the backups folder in your new “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepgx-x-x\” directory is probably a best practice. Now we will need to tell Media Center we’d like to load the information from the file. This is done through a program included in Windows 7 called “loadmxf” located in the “\Windows\ehome\” directory.

You can either open a command prompt by typing “cmd” into the start menu box or create a shortcut with the following text: “C:\Windows\ehome\loadmxf.exe –i FILELOCATION”. Replace the FILELOCATION with the location of the file to be loaded.

If using a shortcut, double-click to execute the command before continuing. Otherwise the recording schedule should be loaded into Media Center now. Loading lineup and subscription data from previous installs breaks things currently, so don’t do it!

Load ‘Em Up!

Once you’ve loaded the files back into Media Center you can see that your shows will be listed under series’ in Recorded TV’s Scheduled Recordings but no shows will be scheduled yet. Before we can load these you should be sure to have your channel lineup completed in the Media Center TV Guide. To get the proper times for each scheduled show you will need to reload Guide data.

To do this go to “Tasks > TV > Guide > Get Latest Guide Listings” and wait for the guide data to finish downloading. Then re-check your scheduled shows in Recorded TV. You should now see shows listed on the schedule to be recorded.

Congratulations. You have successfully backed up and restored your scheduled recordings.

Rawhide!

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Written by MHealy | 5 comments

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Tagged As: featured, listing, settings, tv guide, windows 7

Getting your movie collection into order, especially when you’ve got a rather large one, can be quite the chore. Each movie needs to have it’s own folder, cover art and synopsis information. Getting these to cooperate with Media Center’s native AMG information grabbing can be equally tricky. These tips can get you on your way to a great looking movie collection inside Media Center’s native Movie Library as well as the popular movie plug-in Media Browser.

Get some structure

The first step to getting your collection into shape is to get your folder structure together. If all your movies are just clumped into a single folder there’s a simple .bat file that can get things into top shape. Just download this movie organizing .bat file and place it in your movie folder. It will take the filenames of your movies (and any extra subtitle or similar files), create a directory with the same name and place all the files inside.

Find cover art and details

Finding cover art and synopsis information for each of your movies is going to be slightly trickier. There are several tools which can assist in getting the proper files downloaded, though many of them don’t quite work as well as they did in Vista Media Center.

The first such tool, DVD Library Manager, works fairly well for retrieving cover art and even editing the details of each movie. DVD Library Manager can automatically retrieve movie information from Amazon or IMDB, including the ability to save cover art as a folder.jpg file to each movie’s folder. This handy little tool can save quite a bit of time but the xml files created aren’t compatible with all features of Media Center, such as AMG information retrieval.

To get the most out of the native Movie Library you will need to use a resource like DVDXml.com. Sign up for DVDXml.com to be able to search for and download Movie Library compatible XML files for each of your movies. Downloading one of these XML and placing it in each movie’s folder will allow Media Center to automatically retrieve cover art and movie details, including AMG information. Though this method does produce better results in the native Movie Library it does not allow you to edit the details. Choosing the right solution for you, or a combination, is key to getting the best of your collection.

Extra tips for Media Browser

For those of us using Media Browser for our movie collections there are a few additional steps we can take to beef up our collection’s display. For instance, add actor images to the movie actors display inside Media Browser using ImagesByName and the collection of images already compiled by the group on Google Code. Go even farther and add encoding information to Media Browser by using the MediaInfo project and adding the right .dll to your Windows system directory.

While you’re at it you may also want to take a look at your TV series  collection inside of Media Browser. Take a look at MediaScout, this handy program will help you retrieve all your series information in one easy to use application. Recent build of MediaScout even add support for movie collections, though it’s not as beefy as some other options.

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Once you’ve gone through these steps you should be well on your way to having a more enjoyable movie collection on your Media Center. Restart Media Center to find your newly organized movie collection along with cover art and synopsis information. Media Browser users of course will have a few added features over the native Movie Library. Either way you go you’re movie library will be looking good from now on.

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Written by MHealy | 2 comments

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Tagged As: featured, install, media browser, movie library

  If you’ve been reading Hack7MC regularly you’ve probably noticed that a number of tools are used quite frequently. This quick list will get you on your way to doing some Media Center Hacking of your own in no time.

Find those Hidden Folders

By default, many of the folders Media Center uses to store data are hidden from the user. To get instant access to these folders in Windows Explorer, open Control Panel then Folder Options. On the View tab, scroll until you see the Hidden Files and Folders Section. Set this option to Show Hidden Files, Folders and Drives.

Take Control of Your Files

By default, Windows will lock the user out of access to certain system files, including many of those that affect Media Center. To get around this we can use the “Take Ownership” registry fix which allows us to right-click any file and take control. Just download the fix and double-click to apply it to your machine.

Always Make Backups!

Before getting into the programs used to hack Media Center’s system files it’s important to note you should always make backups. There is absolutely NO REASON to not take the time to place a copy of those files you’re editing in a safe folder. This can save you more time and headaches than all the others Media Center hacks combined.

A Few Good Programs

Now that we have access to all those hidden and locked files and folders let’s get a few programs to let us into the meat of those files. First we need to open a few .dll files to get to the good stuff inside.

Restorator is the perfect program for editing Media Center’s dll files. This program gives you the ability to extract the image and xml files contained inside each dll. Although there are many other choices in resource editing programs, Restorator is a perfect choice for it’s ability to work natively with PNG files used frequently in Media Center.

Once you’ve extracted those files from the dlls using Restorator, you’ll need a few good tools to edit them as well. One of the main types of files besides PNG files, which can be edited in most any image editor, are XML files. These can be edited in notepad but there’s a better way.

XML Notepad 2007 is a program from Microsoft that is free to download from the Microsoft Download Center. This program will simplify the way you work with XML files by breaking them down into an easy to navigate tree view. This setup is perfectly suited for edit Media Center’s XML files and the price tag can’t be beat.

Once you’ve got the tools you’re ready to set out on your own to try out a few Media Center modifications of your own. To find the bulk of Media Center’s files make your way to \Windows\ehome\ in Windows Explorer. The database and packages for Media Center are typically stored in \ProgramData and Users\Username\AppData folders. Just poke around, make sure you’ve got backups and have fun but remember who sent you! Let me know if you come up with a great new hack at mhealy@hack7mc.com and share it with the community.

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Tagged As: featured, install, programs, settings, windows 7

Spring is only a week away, let’s take a look at a few ways your can breathe some new life into your Media Center. These five hacks can put a whole new face on the Media Center interface bringing a sense of renewal to an old box.

Bring new life to the start menu

Digging through the extra programs menu in Windows 7 Media Center can be a hassle. Even when you’ve added items to the Extras menu it’s just not as convenient as it could be. Why not use this guide to Add New Start Menu Strips to Media Center.

Add some flair to the TV Guide with Channel Logos

Staring down the default Media Center TV Guide’s channel numbers and cryptic channel names can wear a person down.  The lack of quickly recognizable stations can even waste valuable time you could be spending on spring cleaning. Spice up your listings with My Channel Logos which will Add Channel Logos to your Media Center TV Guide.

Launch more programs from Media Center

Don’t limit yourself to programs that support Media Center out of the box. Launch any program from Media Center’s Extra Programs (or a custom start menu!) using Media Center Launcher and Configurator. These two little apps can add tons of new usability to your ten foot interface.

Replace Movie Library with a fresh solution

Media Center’s default Movie Library is a decent way to find your movie’s all in one place but let’s face it, it could be better. Replacing the default Movie Library with Media Browser can open up a world of new options. Sort your movies into folders with custom images using the new configuration program or get Encoding Information or Actor Pictures right inside Media Browser.

Add a whole new theme to your Media Center

Sometimes something as simple as just Changing Your Background can improve your whole outlook. Pick your own background to use in Media Center from a site like InterfaceLift.com or use a premade 7MC theme like Homeworld or Road to Nowhere. Even better Make Your Own Theme for Media Center and share it with the world!

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Tagged As: featured, install, plugins, programs, windows 7

Currently, in Windows 7 Media Center, there is no way to edit the default start menu items. In previous versions you were able to add items to the existing strips using a third party program, which made sense when adding a movie or TV plug-in. Unfortunately, Microsoft has gone to some lengths to disable this ability in 7MC. It is still possible to create a couple of custom strips in the start menu though.

The first step to getting your new menu strip is to choose what programs you want to be on it. These programs have to be already entered into the Media Center’s Extra Programs. You can find a guide on adding new entries to the Extra Programs using Media Center Launcher and Configurator right here. Once all the programs you want to launch from your new bar are installed open a registry editor (start > “regedit” > enter).

Once inside navigate to the following location in the left hand tree view:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Entry Points]

Listed under this key will be a number of id numbers. Each program inside Media Center will have a couple of unique keys to identify that particular program. To find the program(s) you want to add to the menu go through each entry and find the id that matches the title of the program. The title should be listed on the right hand side under an entry named “title”.

Create and Name the New Menu Strip

Once you’ve found the correct program entry select AppId, right-click and select “Modify..”. Now copy the AppId from the text box and close the box without altering anything. Now locate the following registry location:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu\Applications]

Then right-click and select “New > Key”. Paste the AppId we copied earlier into the Key name. Next, in the right hand window right-click and create three new strings: “Category, OnStartMenu and Title”. Also create one DWORD named “TimeStamp”.

Right-click to modify each value, setting Category to the name of your new strip and Title to the name to display in Media Center. OnStartMenu should be set to “True” and TimeStamp is a number value determining the position of the new strip in Media Center.

Add New Programs to the Menu Strip

Once this new strip has been created we need to add entries to it. Locate the following key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Categories]

Right-click the key and create a new key under “Categories” with the same name as the Category you set in the last steps. Now go back to the proper key under “Entry Points” as we did above and copy the correct key (not the AppId, this time get the key by selecting Rename and copying from the text box). Then create a new key under your new category with the same name as the program’s Entry Point Id number. I know it sounds confusing, take a look at the image below for an example.

Set the Program Information

Under this new key we need to create five new string values: “AppId, Context, Description, Enabled and Title”. Also, create one Dword entry called “TimeStamp. Copy the AppId from the program’s Entry Points listing (AppId value in the right pane) then fill in the Title, Description and Context with any values you want. Title and Description will appear in Media Center while context seems to go unused at this time. The “Enabled” string should be set to “True” so that the item appears in the menu strip.

TimeStamp will control the position of each item in the menu, for example one (1) would be listed before two (2) in the strip. To enter Dword values as a regular number select the “Decimal” option on the right of the dialog.

Then Repeat!

To add more entries to your new menu strip simply add a new key under the category for each program you want to add and repeat the steps above. Each program should have a different AppId, Title, TimeStamp and Description.

If your new menu strip doesn’t appear double-check the Entry Point and App Id numbers for each entry. An improper number in any of these will cause the menu strip to not be shown.

Hopefully someone can create a little program to allow this to be done without all the registry mucking but until then this will do the job. If you do create a program be sure to drop a note in the comments so we can let the rest of the community know!

Stay tuned to Hack7MC for upcoming reviews on plug-ins to add to your new menu strip!

Written by MHealy | 5 comments

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Tagged As: configurator, featured, install, launcher, programs, settings, start menu, windows 7

The new theme for Windows7 Media Center based on the Homeworld background by Phil2001 of DeviantArt is now available for download.

Installation:

1. Download and install Homeworld.msi
2. Close Media Center and wait 45-60 seconds for the system files to be released
3. Run the Enable Homeworld Theme shortcut as administrator (right click and select “Run as Administrator”)
4. When the patch dialog appears press start. If you receive an error it is likely the system files haven’t been released yet, wait 60 seconds and try again.
5. If the patch fails consistently, open Windows Explorer and navigate to "C:\Windows\ehome" and locate "ehres.dll". Right-click and select "Take Ownership" then retry the patch.
6. Once the patch is applied successfully close the patch program
7. Restart Media Center

Uninstallation:

1. Close Media Center and wait 45-60 for the system files to be released
2. Run the Disable Homeworld Theme shortcut as administrator (right click and select “Run as Administrator”)
3. Optionally you can permanently remove the program files through the windows control panel but you must do step #2 first or the theme will not be reset.
4. Restart Media Center

This download is provided as a public beta release. It has been tested to work on both x86 and x64 Windows7 Beta1 Build 7000. There is a very real chance that something will go wrong with this install version for at least one person who downloads it. If you need help leave a note in the comments below this post (No Registration Required).

DOWNLOAD: Homeworld Theme 1.0.1

Written by MHealy | 6 comments

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Tagged As: featured, themes

Setting up your Windows 7 Media Center is easy, making it your own can be easy too. Here are 10 simple steps you can take to make your Media Center experience more complete, more personal, more enjoyable.

1. Add ClearQAM to Your TV Listings
2. Add Custom Apps to Your Extras Library
3. Do It Better – Add Apps with Custom Icons and Details
4. Add MKVs to Your Movie Library
5. Use A Better Movie Library – Media Browser
6. Expand Your Sound from Stereo to Surround
7. Play Your Music in FLAC
8. Check Your Local Weather
9. Listen To Online Radio through Shoutcast
10. Add Boxee Streaming TV to Your Media Center

These 10 simple hacks will create a better Media Center for you and your family to enjoy. Don’t forget to check back to Hack7MC to get the latest hacks for your Windows 7 Media Center.

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Written by MHealy | 2 comments

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Tagged As: boxee, clearqam, codec, extras library, featured, ffdshow, matroska, mkv, movie library, music library, plugins

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 blue.” There is hope though, it may not be easy but you can alter the look of your Media Center interface.

Step One: Backup Your Files!!

The first thing you should do is go to “C:\Windows\ehome\” and and make two copies of the file “ehres.dll”. Save one to a folder for editing and save the other somewhere safe just in case you want to undo your changes.

You also need to apply this registry file. Download the file to your machine and double-click to apply the fix to your machine. Once you’ve done that right-click the original file and select “Take Ownership”. This allows the file to be replaced later on.

Step Two: Get an Image

You need an image to use for the background. The default is 500 pixels wide by 300 pixels high (500x300) but you can use images of varying height. This allows for high definition 1080p and 720p files to replace that boring low-res blue. For this guide lets use this image which can be downloaded from the author below:

Step Three: Insert into the ”ehres.dll” file

To edit the ehres.dll file a resource editor is required. For this guide you should download Restorator. The program isn’t free but does have a 30 trial availalbe for download. This editor allows you to view png files inside the dll file and works on x86 and x64 machines.

Once inside Restorator open the ehres.dll file you have copied to be edited. Expand the “RCData” section and scroll down until you find “Common.Animated.Background.png”. Right-click the file and select “assign > assign to” from the menu. Then browse to and select the background file you want to use.

Once that is complete save the file.

Step Four: Replace the original “ehres.dll”

Once you have your edited file (and your backup!) copy the edited file from where you have it saved and paste it into the “C:\Windows\ehome\” directory replacing the old one. Remember you must have the “Take Ownership” registry fix applied to this file to allow it to be replaced.

Step Five: Launch Media Center

Now you should be able to launch Media Center and see your new background in place. The animated portions of the background will not have been changed, however. To change these you must replace “common.background.layer1.png”, “common.background.layer2.png” and “common.background.layer3.png”. These are the files that are loaded onto the screen to make it appear animated.

That’s all there is to changing your Media Center background! Keep in touch with Hack7MC for future theme guides for Windows 7 Media Center. Hopefully, this article will be the first of many to come.

Want to get even deeper? Look at this guide on creating an entire theme for Media Center! Be sure to follow along on the RSS Feed or Twitter as well to get all the latest information.

Written by MHealy | 8 comments

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Tagged As: featured, themes

Sure there’s nothing wrong with codec packs, Shark007 and CCCP are wonderful products, but there is something to be said for keeping it simple as well. This guide will take you through the minimum steps to install a nice clean setup with the minimum software required to play MKVs and many other less popular codecs as well. For this setup we are going to install only FFDShow and Gabest’s MKV splitters for x86 and x64 if that’s what your running.

Step One: Download a copy of FFDShow Tryouts from here. Those running an x64 version will also need the x64 SVN here. Install the right ones for your system, the latest versions will work.

Step Two: Download Gabest’s Matroska Splitters. There is a version of Gabest’s with an installer for x86 here and x64 here. To install simply extract to your C:\ root drive and right-click to run “gabest_splitter_enable.cmd” as administrator. You should receive one confirmation on x86 and two for x64 versions.  To uninstall simply run “gabest_splitter_remove.cmd” as administrator.

Step Three: Enable viewing of MKV files in Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center by downloading either the x86 registry file or x64 registry file and double-click to add it to your registry. Allow it to be added when prompted. Restart your machine.

That’s all there is to it, this will take you from a clean install to playing MKVs and more in no time at all. For details on using FFDShow Audio settings for your live TV and DVDs in Media Center check this article.

If you have trouble viewing your MKVs in Windows Media Center or Windows Media Player, try deleting your “C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player\CurrentDatabase_371.wmdb” file. To enable this file to be deleted you will need to stop the WMPNetworkSvc service from the task manager (ctrl-alt-delete).

Written by MHealy | 14 comments

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Tagged As: codec, featured, ffdshow, matroska, mkv, movie library, windows 7

Don’t stop there check out these 10 other ways to customize your media center!

Many of us are used to being able to see a channel’s logo instead of just a boring old name in our TV listings from our DVRs and Media Centers but it is also one of those features lacking natively in 7MC. Fortunately, thanks to the hard work of Makryger of The Green Button, there’s a solution to this quandary.

Presenting, My Channel Logos for 7MC, a program that comes bundled with a number of TV channel logos and a simple program to assign them to any channel in your listing. You can even add your own logos through the program’s easy to use interface.

You can download this wonderful little app from the My Channel Logos website right here. At present there is a bug that did not allow the program to run on a freshly installed Windows 7 Media Center machine with no tuner setup but it did run perfectly on the pre-setup machine. If you have trouble getting the program to run on your machine check out the support thread here. Once you get into the program it’s hard to go wrong.

On your first run the readme file instructs that you must first choose a region and press the “Update” button. Once that’s been done you can let the program Auto Populate Logos, which worked very well assigning all but the most cryptically named channels the proper logo. You can also assign your own channel logos by selecting your desired channel on the left hand side and clicking the black box to the left.

It really could not be simpler. The interface is practically self explanatory. To clear logos from your channels you can select them one by one and press “Clear logo” or clear them all by pressing “Remove All”. Once your logos have been assigned just close the program and restart Media Center.

So download your copy of My Channel Logos and get started on making your dull TV listings shine in no time. For more TV listings help you can also check out our guide on Adding ClearQAM channels to your Media Center.

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Written by MHealy | 6 comments

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Tagged As: edit channel, featured, plugins, programs, tv guide

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 use in Media Center rather than the defaults. Unfortunately, this is more difficult than simply installing the chosen codec as you normally would. Windows 7 Media Center will default to the native codecs regardless of codec settings.

The fix for this situation is to install the desired codec, in this case FFDShow, then rename a system file to disable the native codec. First, download a copy of FFDShow Tryouts from the Sourceforge site right here. Follow the basic installation steps but make sure to enable FFDShow to be used for all available codecs when the option is presented. Windows 7 x64 users should download and install both the latest beta and the 64-bit SVN.

Enabling FFDShow for all audio codec types will lower the chance of instability in Windows 7 default applications such as Media Player. If you are confident in your codec setup you can most likely skip this and use your desired codecs.

Next you will need to have the “Take Ownership” registry hack we’ve used before in changing our Media Center theme. You can download the registry file to enable this menu here. Once you have the .reg file downloaded double-click to install the registry fix and permit it to change the registry when prompted.

To enable FFDShow to play your mp3 files in the music section, open Windows Explorer and navigate to “C:\Windows\system32\” and locate the file name “MP3DMOD.DLL”. Right-click to bring up the menu and choose “Take Ownership” then rename the file “MP3DMOD.DLL.bak”. Windows 7 x64 users will need to repeat this step for the C:\Windows\SysWOW64\" folder as well. This will disable the native filter and can be reversed by changing the file name back at any time.

To enable FFDShow for live television and other formats using the MPEG2 codec inside of Media Center there is also a registry entry that needs to be changed. First we need to find the CLSID for FFDShow. To do that download Radlight’s Filter Manager right here. Extract the files to any location and run the exe file inside. Inside this program expand DirectShow Filters and scroll down to FFDShow Audio Decoder. Right click the entry and select “Copy CLSID to Clipboard”.

Next, open regedit in Administrator mode: using the start menu type regedit then press ctrl-shift-enter. Then navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\MediaCenter\Decoder”. Inside there should be two strings, right-click “PreferredMPEG2AudioDecoderCLSID” and choose “Modify..”. Then enter the CLSID that you’ve copied from FilterManager in the box and press ok.

Media Center will need to be restarted before the changes will take effect but that should set your music, live television and most anything in Media Center to use FFDShow Audio instead of the native codecs included in Windows 7. The stability of this hack has not been tested outside of systems using purely Media Center as the user interface and may carry unintended consequences, perform at your own risk.

Check out this article for more detailed information on using the FFDShow codecs to tweak your sound and video settings in Media Center, including enabling surround sound for your stereo music files. Stay in touch using the Hack7MC RSS feed or follow along on Twitter!

Don't forget to check out this guide on setting up FFDShow Video in Media Center once you're done here!

Written by MHealy | 19 comments

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Tagged As: codec, featured, ffdshow, music library, programs

Windows 7 Media Center’s Movie Library is good, certainly much better than it’s predecessors, but still somewhat lacking. Features like fanart and automatic retrieval of metadata have long been standards in other media center applications. While 7MC has come a long way these features are still sorely missed.

This is where a plug-in called Media Browser comes in. Media Browser provides an alternative to the default Movie Library by scanning a your video folders and letting you browse a folder based structure instead of simply piling everything into one section. Just this makes Media Browser a worthwhile download for anyone who has several different types of videos such as Movies and Television Series DVDs.

On the first run there is a prompt that allows you to set some basic options that can also be changed through the user interface later on. Set the startup folder to the base folder for your movie collection and Movie Browser will begin to scan for content. This is where Media Center really begins to kick.

Not only will Media Browser display a list of your movies in several different display formats it will also automatically retrieve information for each of your titles. As long as your folders have the appropriate name for the movie a good amount of metadata including covers, description, fanart, actors, genre and more will be pulled down without having to do any extra work. This setup is much easier than locating dvdid.xml for each of your titles for the default Movie Library. It’s not a perfect system however, small differences in titles can be the difference between getting the correct metadata and getting nothing.

The various display types are easy to cycle through using the menus located at the top of the display. Media Browser can arrange your media on several different criteria from the metadata that has been retrieved. This level of customization ensures each user can find a display that is comfortable and easy to use.

While Media Browser has support for TV series metadata as well the base support isn’t quite as solid at this point as the regular movie sections. A trip to the Media Browser forums and you can find several solutions to finding the appropriate information for your series.

A strong community at present provides even further options for customizing the plug-in. There are several programs provided from forum goers for doing any number of tasks such as retrieving TV Series metadata and even HD movie trailers.

Media Browser is definitely a solid solution for anyone looking to move away from the default Move Library to something a little more robust. Though this plug-in doesn’t currently integrate with the main menu in Windows 7 MC it can still be found under the Extras Library and added to the Extras menu from there.

Head on over to the Media Browser forums to pick up your download of this fine plug-in and give it a run on your Media Center today, you won’t regret it. Be sure to check back to Hack7MC for more coverage of this app in the future as well. Follow on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed for even easier access!

Written by MHealy | 11 comments

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Tagged As: dvd, featured, media browser, movie library, plugins

Sometimes a change in scenery is in order or perhaps you’ve just got something against the color blue. Either way there is a solution to the predicament. Thanks to Astrotoy7 of The Australian Media Center Community you can change that same old blue Media Center into a sleek black.

Installing this new look couldn’t be much simpler. Just download the x86 file or x64 file depending on your version of Windows 7. Once you’ve got the right file for your system run the own.reg file included. It will show a prompt asking whether or not to continue, press “Yes”. This will allow you to take control of the file that needs replaced to change the theme.

Once the registry entry has been updated navigate your Windows Explorer to “C”\Windows\ehome”. Locate the “ehres.dll” file, right-click and select "Take Ownership" then rename it “ehres.dll.bak”, a prompt asking you to continue will appear – press “Yes.” Once the old file has been renamed transfer the ehres.dll from the download into the same location.

Restart Media Center and that should be all there is to it! Welcome to a new sleek black theme for Media Center.

To revert back to the default theme, simply remove the new “ehres.dll” file and rename the “ehres.dll.bak” to “ehres.dll”. This will restore the system to the original default theme.

For even more customization options check out our articles on plug-ins here!

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Tagged As: featured, install, plugins, themes

Missing Remote has a wonderful write-up and download available to help those who have been lucky enough so far to get in to the Boxee alpha test. Boxee is a media center style application that has gained popularity for it’s ability to stream video from online sources such as Hulu and Joost. These two services provide a wealth of content including full length shows from many of the popular TV networks and even full length movies. The problem is, how do we get these great features into Windows 7 Media Center?

For Windows 7 x86 users they can follow the guide at Missing Remote. Download the original Zip file, made by Missing Remote with help from Andrew Cherry, and extract it to your Boxee installation directory. Once you have a new directory under your Boxee installation (“C:\Program Files\Boxee\BoxeeMCE\”) navigate to that directory and right-click to lauch “InstallBoxee.cmd”. A dialog will appear noting the success of the install.

For x64 users you will need a slightly modified version of the Zip file (Alternative Download). This version allows your to install Boxee to the “Program Files (x86)” location that is the default for x64 users.

The process for getting Boxee onto the start menu is also slightly different in Windows 7 Media Center than it was in Vista. Once you’ve run the “InstallBoxee.cmd” from your Boxee\BoxeeMCE directory open Media Center and navigate to the Extras menu. Boxee should now be listed inside the Extras Library.

Unfortunately, there’s currently not much information on adding icons to the default menus such as TV or Movies. We can, however, add an icon to the main Extras menu from inside Media Center. To do this simply bring up the right-click (remote button “i”) and click on “Add to Start Menu”. You should now have access to Boxee from your Media Center in Windows 7 x86 or x64!

Be sure to check out the plug-ins section for more great additions to Media Center or Hack7MC’s preview of Boxee!

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Tagged As: boxee, extras library, featured, hulu, install, launcher, plugins, programs

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 Beta, a common problem is MSI installers coded to only work on older versions of Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.  Fortunately, there is an easy fix for most of these installers.

The first thing you’ll need is a program from Microsoft called Orca.  Orca allows you to edit variables inside MSI installer packages and will enable us to remove that pesky Windows version check.  Of course this will not guarantee that our particular plug-in will work in Windows 7 but it will give us the opportunity to at least give it a try.  So get yourself a copy of the Orca setup either through Microsoft’s SDK or by downloading just the Orca program here.

Once you have Orca installed, open up the program and locate the MSI file that you wish to edit. Then you should see a list of keys on the left hand side, locate “CustomAction” and select it.  Once selected an additional listing of values will appear on the right hand side.  Locate the variable named “CA_ErrWrongWindowsVersion” and rename this variable to something else such as “dummy”.

Once you’ve done that save your work and close Orca.  That should be all there is to it, your plug-in should now install correctly.  There is of course no guarantee it will work correctly on a newer version of Windows or Media Center than it was designed for however.  Good Luck!

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Tagged As: featured, install, plugins, programs, windows 7