Hacking Windows7 MediaCenter

Getting streaming internet television and movies can be a challenge, luckily there are a few Media Center plug-ins that can help though. One of those plug-ins is TunerFree MCE which can bring content from the BBC, iTV, Channel 4, Five and Hulu directly into Media Center. The content provided by TunerFree MCE has an advantage over other plug-ins by providing content accessible from the UK and not just US based Hulu.

Using TunerFree is as easy as installing the plug-in and then allowing it to retrieve a cache of the videos available. During installation you will even be presented with the option to only include stations available in your area. For example Hulu is only available in the US while BBC is only available in the UK. Once installed the configuration options even include the ability to add a custom proxy, enabling content from both regions.

Finding your favorite show in TunerFree is a straight forward affair, just select a station or category then choose the show from a list of those available. TunerFree will even keep track of your favorites automatically and add them to a selection in the service selection screen. Each show even includes a clip from the show displayed in the selection window.

The plug-in does suffer from a few familiar limitations of streaming TV plug-ins. Listings for shows are unorganized and the episode title and number is only displayed at the bottom of the screen when hovering over an episode. The episode selection also seems a bit limited though this can be dependant on the service not the plug-in.

TunerFree also suffers from the same bug as SecondRun.tv when exiting a playing show, the sound doesn’t quite stop for a few moments afterward. The accuracy of the full screen ability doesn’t seem to be as finely tuned at some resolutions as it could be as well. The author of the plug-in, Martin "Millie" Millmore, is quite dedicated to updating the plug-in on a regular basis however and the installer already supports Windows 7.

Despite a few bugs TunerFree MCE is a solid offering in the way of bringing streaming TV into your Media Center setup. Though the full screen bugs and sound issues will keep most users from full time family room use, this plug-in is on the fast track to becoming a mainstay in replacing your cable or satellite bills. Be sure to grab TunerFree MCE and give it a try, especially if you’re in the UK!

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Tagged As: boxee, hulu, plugins, streaming tv

We’ve all thought about it, the money we could save by canceling cable and just streaming our favorite shows on demand. Of course big media does it’s best to keep us down, such as the case with NBC and News Corp funded Hulu ordeal going on with Boxee. Luckily at about the same time Boxee was coming up (and subsequently being crushed) a number of Media Center plug-ins were released to harness the power of streaming television.

Let's take a look at the first in a series of options for bringing in free television to your Media Center: SecondRun.tv. This handy little plug-in provides a ten-foot interface to some of the leading content providers of streaming media including Hulu, CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC among just a few.

The interface is fairly well thought out providing multiple views including sorting by station, title, trailers and only displaying full movies. Recent versions have even included the ability to add favorites, though it’s not immediately clear how to use them for a first time user (and the lack of any instruction to be found doesn’t help).

Most of the interface is adorned with images relevant to the selected display. Channel logos, Series posters and even fan art for some of the series’ is immediately available without any extra work for the end user. There are still a few gaps however, though these can be remedied by the developer without the need for an update.

That also includes the ability to add new stations and shows to the program without the need for an update to the code. This feature certainly gives it a leg up on some of the other options available. The ability was also used recently to alter the code to switch Hulu to full-screen automatically during maintenance to the Hulu site. On-the-fly updates without end-user work is certainly something to rejoice over.

It isn’t all glitter and gold for SecondRun.tv though, the plug-in still has a number of glitches in the code. At the time of this article the installer still requires the Orca Fix to even run on Windows 7. There are also several portions of the content provided that will cause the plug-in to crash or stop responding. Other problems range from the inability to stop or pause content from the remote to sound continuing after leaving the show and broken full screen on certain content.

The developer, Yaggs, does seem intent on squashing the problems that do arise at this point with new versions coming fairly frequently. SecondRun.tv is certainly worth a try even if not quite ready for full time use by the whole family. This is definitely a plug-in to consider when you’re looking to supplement or even replace your current cable or satellite provider.

Check out Part 2 of Canceling Your Cable for another great plug-in for streaming TV into your Media Center

Update: Secondrun.tv now supports Media Center remotes which can be used to set favorites using the 1, 2 and 3 buttons. It can also be used to control functions such as fullscreen. The latest versions no longer require the Orca fix to be installed. Enjoy!

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Tagged As: boxee, hulu, plugins, streaming tv

 
We all love those boxes, our DVRs, PVRs and Media Center PC setups. The problem with all our boxes are similar: there is never anything on and when there is it has too many commercials.  Even our precious DVRs can’t go back in time to fetch that episode we forgot to setup to record.  Our precious Media Centers are consistently lacking decent internet streaming support for all those stations giving it up online. Now there’s a solution: Boxee. 

The new holy grail of the new age in entertainment is being able to pull down any episode, movie or album we desire from the web and enjoy it immediately. Boxee comes close to that goal, allowing you to pull down media from a slew of online providers including CBS, Comedy Central, Hulu, Joost, Shoutcast and Last.FM.  All those options under one roof, unbelievable!

Getting started with Boxee is about as simple as it gets in the Media Center world.  When you first load up you’ll have to provide some basic login information and then you’ll be taken to a front page that features a social-media feel to it with the ability to display what your friends are viewing/listening to, things you have recently viewed, and recommendations from the Boxee network.

Navigating to the left hand side of the screen reveals a sliding menu providing you with easy access the various types of content that Boxee handles.  Also on the menu are your user profile which will display your friends and recently viewed items and the settings page.  Starting off on the settings page will allow you to configure your local and network media such as any movies or music you have stored on your hard drive.  There are a number of options for customizing the appearance of Boxee though these seem to be somewhat lacking in their ability to personalize the interface.

Now on to the big show, navigating back to the sliding menu and browsing to the video section will give you further choices including Movies, TV Shows, and Internet.  Movies and TV Shows will be loaded from your hard drive and identified by Boxee with Title, Description and a bevy of other information but we’ve seen all that from other media center products in the past.

The big feature of Boxee is it’s support for a large number of online streaming video sources. From the outset you’ll see that Boxee supports some of the major players that Media Center users have been clamoring to get there hands on for years including Hulu, Joost and Comedy Central. There are also a large number of lesser know channels and undoubtedly support for adding even more channels in the future.

Delving into the channels themselves you’ll find that each channel has a custom tailored video browser providing for easy access to each channel’s unique features.  While the Hulu browser gives you fast access to the newest featured content, tv shows and even movies, the CNN channel gives you fast access to the latest news stories and popular picks.  With so many streaming video options a user could easily get lost for days watching their favorite episodes of Futurama.

Browsing through online music and photos is equally impressive.  Options like Shoutcast and Last.FM open your music experience up to a multitude of online radio stations at your fingertips. The pictures section even has online media support with services like Flickr and Picasa. Some services will require further login information including Last.FM, Flickr and Hulu if you wish to view mature rated content.

With all these exciting features for bringing streaming online media to your Media Center it’s hard to find fault with Boxee, especially considering the software is still in Alpha with only selective release at the moment.  A few snags did come up during our limited run however.

Though Boxee seems to have a well integrated social networking system in place it’s usability is limited at best currently with no easily apparent method for browsing or adding new friends from inside the program. This also tends to put a serious damper on the home page as the content displayed there is primarily based on what your friends and neighbors are viewing.

Early setup of our local media libraries was also slightly difficult if your using anything other than the default Windows media locations. When it came to network media the program wouldn’t allow browsing of the network at all, crashing whenever proceeding to choose our network locations. The settings page can also be fairly confusing at first with only minimal descriptions for what certain items do.

Barring these few issues Boxee provided an exceptional browser for watching streaming TV and listening to our favorite radio stations like Last.FM. The picture quality is almost better than you would expect from an online media source and audio performed flawlessly.

All in all, the Boxee experience is an exceptionally good one especially when utilized as an addition to your existing Media Center setup.  The unprecedented access to streaming online media will soon become irreplaceable as more and more users move away from standard cable setups for less traditional media. With the ease of access to more services with more content than any other Media Center application Boxee is sure to become a fast mainstay in the Media Center world.

Be sure to check out this article to find out how to add Boxee to your Media Center setup.

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

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