Entries tagged with windows media center - Channel 10

Netflix HD Now in Media Center

Sarah Perez — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:44:00 GMT

Last week, Netflix began rolling out a new feature that allows subscribers to watch some titles in high-definition when streamed to the web via Silverlight. The update, supported on both Mac and PC platforms, allows the HD streaming to occur in the browser by way of the Netflix player.

Now that same HD streaming is available in Media Center too. Ian Dixon reports that Netflix members running Windows 7 will have access to over 1800 movies in HD in Windows Media Center. In addition to streaming, from within the WMC Netflix app, you can also search your Netflix library, manage your Instant and DVD queues, filter searches and more.

Macrotube: YouTube for Windows Media Center

Sarah Perez — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:41:00 GMT

The HowtoGeek just highlighted a new Windows Media Center plugin called MacroTube, whose 0.8 beta launched in March. The plugin is designed to let you watch YouTube and other Internet videos within Media Center – and it even works on extenders! After installing the plugin via the wizard, you can launch MacroTube in WMC where you’ll find videos from YouTube, Dailymotion and MSN Soapbox (which should actually be called Bing videos now).

You can browse videos by subject or category or you can use the included search feature to search for videos by keyword. Search works via remote, too. After your results display on the screen, you can further drill down by date, ratings, views and relevance.

The project is still in beta, but is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Plus, if you head over to the GreenButton forums where it was discovered, you’ll see developers are pitching in with suggestions and additional features. For example, on this post, there are SkyDrive-hosted files for adding Onion News and News of the Absurd podcasts to the app.

You can grab the beta download itself from here.

New Apps and Dev Tools for Windows Media Center

Sarah Perez — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:21:00 GMT

Former Windows Media Center team member Charlie Owen just put together a package of goodies for Media Center enthusiasts that includes a couple of WMC applications and a suite of developer tools called the “Windows Media Center SDK for Windows 7 Addendum.”

First up is a revamp of Veronica’s Radio, a demo application that was to debut at Mix 06 to show off the Media Center Markup Language. It was eventually cut from the talk, but was made available briefly to those who wanted to install it via a command line interface. Only a few folks ever did, though, due to its not so user-friendly nature. But now, thanks to an email from a WMC fan, Owen modified the markup, updated the radio stations and created an installer for the streaming music app. You can now grab it from here.

He also updated the simple “Time + Date” WMC Extra applet, which does exactly what it sounds like it does: it shows the date and time. The new version now works on Windows 7 and is available here.

Finally, he put together a package of goodies for WMC developers he dubbed the “Windows Media Center SDK for Windows 7 Addendum.” The unofficial collection includes the following tools:

A couple of new and updated loose MCML samples (mostly to fix up the URLs to the defunct play.mediacentersandbox.com).
Source code for the Sample Explorer application you find in the Extras Library after installing the SDK as well as the desktop browsing tool. This is a good example of one approach for creating a testing / automation framework for your own application.
Source code for Animation Explorer and Preview Tool Launcher desktop tools. The Preview Tool actually has a pretty robust automation model itself and this source shows you how to take full advantage for your own authoring tools.
Source code for the Visual Studio 2008 templates included with the SDK. Perhaps someone in the community will update these and redistribute for Visual Studio 2010.
Web Application Installer Template used to create the installers for the above applets. They are fully compatible with the InstallApplication Method in Windows 7 and can be used to craft installers for http://madeformediacenter.com/m4mc/.

Those are available as a zip file from here.

Add an App Store to Windows Media Center

Sarah Perez — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:00:00 GMT

The (unofficial) gallery of Windows Media Center applications, MadeForMediaCenter.com is like an app store just for Media Center users. Now that gallery is available as a Media Center addin so you can download new apps to Media Center without having to leave the Media Center user interface.

To get started, you’ll first need to create an account at MadeForMediaCenter.com, then download either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the addin. Once installed, the addin will prompt you for your credentials upon first launch. After entering in your info (username and password), you can browse the available third-party media center apps and install them immediately.

This addin is still in beta format, so report your issues in the Made for Media Center forum or to the @4mediacenter Twitter account.

Also, may I just say this to the developers: thank you for this awesome project!

(via The Digital Lifestyle)

DIY Media Centers with Ceton Tuners

Larry Larsen — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:57:00 GMT

Up until recently if you wanted to have a Media Center that recorded your cable pay channels, you had to buy an certified Windows Media Center. That changed last year when Microsoft opened up the platform allowing any of us to build Media Centers that rely on CableCard. The last mile problem that remained was in finding a tuner that would take a cable card.

Ceton has done just that and are taking pre-orders on a PCIe card that will allow you to record up to 4 HD streams at once. The new card is $399 and is expected to start shipping May 31st. Ed Graczyk stopped by with one of the cards and tells us a little more about it.

Use Your Zune Remote to Control Windows Media Center

Sarah Perez — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:04:00 GMT

Did you know you can Zune wireless remote to control your Windows Media Center PC? Although not designed for this purpose, a simple registry hack is all the stands in the way of turning your Zune remote into one that controls Media Center, too.

Recently posted to LifeHacker, this tip is worth sharing:

Open the registry. Scroll down toComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
Find the REG_DWORD named CodeSetNum0 and change the value to Zero.
Reboot the PC and enjoy.

By default, Windows listens to channel 1 and the Zune remote is channel 8. This hack works by setting the ID to 0 which allows Windows to listen to all the IR ID’s. It’s been tested in Windows 7 and not in other versions, but there’s no reason to believe that it wouldn’t work in those, too. Let us know if you try it!

Songler Brings Spotify to Media Center

Sarah Perez — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:12:00 GMT

I just learned about Sonlger, an application designed by Martin Millmore which brings Spotify into the Windows Media Center desktop software. In a post on The Digital Lifestyle blog, blogger Ian Dixon notes that a recent update to the app now adds in Last.fm integration, too.

Once installed, Songler gives you access to the 6 million tracks hosted on Spotify’s streaming music service. The tracks are searchable by artist, album, or song name. Now with the new Last.fm integration, you can scrobble the tunes you listen to using Spotify back to your Last.fm account, too. You can also stream Last.fm stations directly in Media Center.

Songler is available as a free download from the (unofficial) Windows Media Center app store at madeformediacenter.com.

WMC Plugin Heatwave Now Works on Windows 7

Sarah Perez — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:31:00 GMT

A popular Windows Media Center plugin called Heatwave has now been updated to support WMC in Windows 7. If you’re not familiar with Heatwave, it’s a plugin that delivers live weather forecasts straight to your Media Center PC. The plugin shows the current temperature, wind, humidity, pressure, visibility, and more as well as the highs and lows for that day and the following week. It’s nearly as much information as your local news provides!

In the updated version of the plugin, there’s now support for widescreen viewing, an optional day/night (sun/moon) forecast indication next to the location title, as well as some other tweaks and improvements to the visual style.

Windows 7 users can download the new plugin from here for 32-bit systems or here for 64-bit systems.

(via/img credit: GeekTonic.com)

What's New with Windows Media Center's Internet TV

Sarah Perez — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:17:00 GMT

Along with the Netflix update, which brought Netflix’s streaming video feature to Windows Media Center, more content has also been added under the “Internet TV” subsection under the “TV” menu. The most notable new addition is content from CBS which includes CBS Primetime, Daytime, Extras, and TV Classics as well as full-length episodes of current TV shows, CBS Classics TV shows, short clips, and Web originals.

In addition, there’s now content available from the Zune Video podcast library, too, which includes videos from ABC News, CBS News, CNBC, CNET TV, Comedy Central, Current TV, The Discovery Channel, Fox, G4 TV, HBO, MSNBC, NBC, Showtime, Revision 3, and some user-generated videos too. Some of the Zune video content is even in HD.

Finally, both clips and full length shows have been added from MSN and MSNBC.com. This includes TV shows like Arrested Development, news and weather from MSNBC, editor picks and most popular videos, five day weather forecasts, news, video playlists, music videos, movie trailers and more.

If you haven’t gotten the update yet, you can force it to download by going to Tasks -> Settings -> General -> Automatic Download Options.

Windows Media Center for Windows Mobile

Sarah Perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:31:00 GMT

A company called OABsoftware has created a Windows Media Player clone application designed just for Windows Mobile devices. The app, called Mobile Media Center, can be used to listen to music and podcasts, watch videos, browse through photos, and check RSS feeds in a similar fashion as to what you’d see in the desktop version of the Media Center Software. However, the mobile app looks more like XP Media Center than the one bundled with Windows 7. Still, it makes for a nice alternative to using your phone’s Media Player software.

In order to install Mobile Media Center, you’ll need to run the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 or higher and a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device.

To download the application, visit the Mobile Media Center page here. (Note: scroll down when the page loads, there is some odd white space at the top).

How to Launch any App from Media Center

Sarah Perez — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:48:00 GMT

I recently came across a an application called Media Center Launcher that provides you with a way to launch any application from within Media Center. That’s right – any application. And unlike some similar plugins, this app also lets you close the program and return to Media Center by clicking the “back” button your remote.

Unfortunately, the one problem with the program is that it doesn’t offer a GUI front-end where you can add new entries. Instead, you have to manually configure XML and INI files if you want to add any extra program besides PowerDVD, which is included by default.

That’s why you’ll also want to grab the Media Center Launcher Configurator app from here (more info can be found on Chad Dyess’ blog). This additional application provides a simple interface to the Launcher program, allowing you to track, register, and unregister the applications.

I guess for some of you enthusiasts this will be old news based on the date of Chad’s blog entry, but I only recently came across it when searching for something similar and thought it was worth sharing with you.

Integrate the New Hulu Desktop into Media Center

Sarah Perez — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:03:00 GMT

On Thursday, Hulu announced a new desktop software program for watching videos on your PC without a web browser. The software, simply called Hulu Desktop, was designed to operate with Windows Media Center remote controls. So now, instead of having to choose from a ton of add-ins in Media Center, you can use the official software provided by Hulu themselves to see videos on your desktop.

The folks over at Missing Remote have put together a guide on how to add Hulu Desktop to Media Center as a shortcut from the main screen. This isn’t the only way to get this done, but at least it’s well-documented! Thanks guys.

STEPS (via Missing Remote):

Note, the following steps assume you installed into the default Hulu directory, which is C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\HuluDesktop. If you changed the directory, simply replace the directories in the ini and xml files.

Download the file here: HuluMCE Plugin
Unzip the folder into your Hulu directory (which default is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\HuluDesktop\)
The files should result in a HuluMCE folder (C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\HuluDesktop\HuluMCE).
IMPORTANT STEP: Browse to the above HuluMCE folder, and Right Click on the HuluMCEreg.xml file and select EDIT
1. Replace the username "Mike" from the following line with YOUR USERNAME: imageUrl="C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\HuluDesktop\HuluMCE\icon.png"
Still in the above folder, right click on the InstallHulu.cmd and select Run as Administrator
A dialog box will appear with the message Success
Close all your windows, launch Media Center with your remote, and the shortcut for Hulu Desktop will appear under the TV+Movies row, as well as in the Program Library

*NOTE: If you prefer to have the shortcut appear in the TV+Movies row, you will need to edit theHuluMCEreg.xml file (Right click > Edit). On the line which says <category category="Services\TV"/>, replace TV with Pictures. (eg., <category category="Services\Pictures"/> You can visit the followingMSDN Webpage for a full list of category entrypoints you can launch from.

For more details, check out their blog post.

Where to Get New Media Center Themes

Sarah Perez — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:49:00 GMT

The folks over at hack7mc.com have just debuted a new section of their website: a central location for Windows Media Center themes created both by the site’s authors as well as individual contributors like yourselves. The new theme directory is available at Theme7MC.com.

Now, theming your Media Center isn’t an official feature of the software, but it’s a relatively easy hack for those of you who like to tinker and personalize your PC in unconventional ways. (We have some more info on this here. There’s also step-by-step instructions for changing the default blue theme to black here).

There are already some pretty great themes available over on the new site, including this new theme called "Bokeh" which features colorful bubbles and black guides and menus.

Once you have your new theme installed, head back over to hack7mc.com and check out how you can customize your Media Center icons to match.

Make Media Center Black

Sarah Perez — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:48:00 GMT

Is the bright blue of Windows Media Center just too much of a shiny, happy color for you? If you’d rather have a darker, more minimalist look for WMC, you should check out the newly updated Black Theme for Media Center, available here on the Hacking Windows 7 Media Center blog. This theme looks great with the colorful channel logos, too.

Here’s how to get this theme installed, (per the blog post):

Download this zip file from Hack7MC.com and extract it to C:\Windows\ehome\
If you haven’t already installed the “Take Ownership” registry fix, do so now. Then right-click “C:\Windows\ehome\ehres.dll” and select “Take Ownership”.
Once you’ve taken ownership of “ehres.dll” (if you have previously installed a Media Center theme ownership should already be set) right-click the patch file and select “Run as Administrator”. Start the patch once the window appears and wait for it to complete.
Re-launch Windows 7 Media Center to make sure the new theme has been applied.

Tweet What You Watch with TunerFree MCE

Sarah Perez — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:39:00 GMT

Earlier this month, we reported on a way that you can get Twitter updates in Windows Media Center using the Media Center Status Application, but now there’s another option. Now you can tweet from TunerFree MCE, the Media Center plugin that delivers a variety of live TV shows and programs from Hulu, British Radio, and British TV, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Five. The latest version of the TunerFree plugin addsTwitter integration so you can now tweet what you’re watching in Media Center. Using the plugin is simple – just go into TunerFree’s preferences and enter in your Twitter credentials. After doing so, you’ll get the new Twitter icon which appears on the TunerFree start page.

Get Twitter Updates in Media Center

Sarah Perez — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:08:00 GMT

The latest version of the Media Center Status Application (version 0.5.1) has added in additional Twitter support for receiving updates while in Media Center. This tool already let you update your Facebook or Twitter status to reflect what you’re doing in Media Center (ex: “is listening to…”, “is watching….”, etc.), but now the app pulls in updates from your friends, too, and displays them on the screen. The updates appear in a pop-up window that appears at the bottom-right where it looks very much like the windows that appear when using native applications. Depending on how long the message is, the status updates will appear for anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds. The app’s configuration tool also lets you define the interval for how often updates are fetched from Twitter. (Don’t set this over 99 per hour as Twitter limits the queries to 100 times per hour.) You can get the latest version of this application from here.

(via How to Code)

Add Nasa TV to Media Center

Sarah Perez — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:57:00 GMT

Beullpilot on The Green Button forums has offered a tip on getting NASA’s streaming TV feeds into your Windows Media Center. He directs us to the website http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ where you can access the Windows Media download by right-clicking where it says “Windows Media” and choosing “Save Target As.” However, the Hack7mc site made it even easier by providing a downloadable zip file in their SkyDrive that contains all the files you need. After adding the contents provided to the Videos section of your Media Center, you should be able to then see the four NASA feeds available.

Since this trick is accomplished by downloading ASX files from sites that stream Windows Media files, it could be done elsewhere on the web, too, anywhere ASX downloads are available. Know any others? Comment here or on the original post.

The Hulu Plugins Just Keep Coming!

Sarah Perez — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:05:00 GMT

You know something’s a hit when you just can’t stop hearing about it. Such is the case with Hulu, the online site where U.S. users (sorry, world!) can watching popular television programs for free. Since Hulu is a web service, we’ve started to see many different ways which people are integrating Hulu with their Media Center PCs including the new PlayOn plugin, the XBMC plugin for Hulu, the upcoming software from Boxee, and soon-to-launch plugin from SecondRun.tv.

But still there’s more coming. The latest tip comes from The Media Center Blog, where we learn that the beta version of the TunerFree MCE plugin delivers Hulu to Media Center, too. Why choose this one over the others? Well since developer Martin Millmore is in the UK, his plugin also offers some of the best British IPTV content, including BBC News, ITV, Channel 4 and 5. You can download his plugin (beta) from here.

Change Your Windows 7 Media Center Background

Sarah Perez — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:53:00 GMT

Did you know you can change your Media Center background? Neither did I until I read this recent post. Although not officially a part of the Media Center software, there is a way to do it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world as it involves applying a new registry file and editing permissions. But if those sorts of things are second nature to you, it’s definitely worth checking out the tutorial on this hack.

If you want to get even crazier, there’s also a guide available on making new, complete themes for Media Center using a software program called Restorator.

However, if all that sounds like way too much geeking out for you, then you can simply download and install this new Media Center theme called “Homeworld” from the Hacking Windows 7 Media Center blog. The download works on Windows 7 Beta1 Build 7000 – both x86 and x64 versions.

Here are some screenshots of what it looks like:

That is just awesome.

Add Channel Logos to Media Center

Sarah Perez — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:22:00 GMT

When you’re browsing through the TV guide in Windows Media Center, have you ever thought it would be nice to see the logos for the television channels in addition to their name? Well, there’s an add-in application that can do this. The program called My Channel Logos comes bundled with a number of TV channel logos and provides a simple application that lets you assign them to any channel in your TV listing.

In order for this program to work, your Windows 7 Media Center (yes, it’s Windows 7 only), will have to already be set up with the TV tuner configured. If that’s the case, you can then just download and install the software from the website here. If you have any trouble, check out this support thread for help.

The end result is a TV guide that more closely resembles the one you see on your cable company’s DVR. Best of all, the software is free.

(via Hacking Windows 7 Media Center)

Hulu Coming Soon to Media Center via SecondRun.tv

Sarah Perez — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:39:00 GMT

Forget paying $30 for PlayOn, if all you want is Hulu on your Media Center PC, it looks like there will be yet another option soon. A new third party extension called SecondRun.tv is coming soon which will let you browse and watch Hulu video on any machine that runs Windows Vista Media Center. According the developer, the plugin is already fully functional, he’s just ironing out a few kinks. He also noted that he plans on testing it on Windows 7 and media center extenders, as the goal is for it to work on extenders (He has 2 Xbox 360’s, so you know he’s motivated!). He said that it will probably work on extenders now, though.

To find out when it gets released, keep checking the http://www.secondrun.tv site – it looks like it will be very soon. It also looks like this plugin will be beating Boxee to the punch, whose Windows version of their software is still in alpha.

Cover Flow Add-In for Media Center

Sarah Perez — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:26:00 GMT

Software developer Jas Manghera (by way of Ian Dixon) recently teased us with a screenshot of a new feature that will soon be added to his Windows Media Center add-in called “Media Browser.” The new feature is called “Cover Flow,” and, like it sounds, it will let you browse through your media in using the beautiful cover flow technique that displays cover images and their reflections against a darker greyish-black background. The screenshot represents what he has so far and he hopes to have the feature available soon in the next beta release of Media Browser. It looks great – I can’t wait! In fact, I think I can sum up my feelings about this in one word: WANT.

Resume Video in Windows 7 Media Center

Sarah Perez — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:40:00 GMT

Media Center MVP Mike Garcen recently pointed out a great feature in the new and improved Windows 7 Media Center application – video resume. According to Mike, in previous Media Center versions, you could stop the playback of Recorded TV and then later resume the shows where you left off, but regular videos didn’t have the same option. That discrepancy has now been fixed. You can resume the playback of any video (that is, non-DVR-MS or WTV) in Media Center – not just Recorded TV.

To see this feature in action, just add some videos (DivX, Avi, wmv, etc.) into your Windows Media Center Video Library and click on one of the files to start playing it automatically. Then click Stop. Now, go do something else like play another track or even close Media Center entirely. When you return to Media Center and click to play that same video, you will be given the option to either restart or resume playback. How convenient!

This is one of those things that isn’t a huge announcement in and of itself, but just another minor enhancement that, when combined with slews of others like it, make for a better overall computing experience in Windows 7.

(Thanks Ian Dixon!)

CES 2009: Windows Media Center on Windows 7 with Touch

Max — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:51:00 GMT

We met up with the Windows Media Center team at CES 2009 and had the opportunity to get a run-down of some of the coolest features coming at you in Windows 7’s Media Center. One of my favorites is the “play to” capability that Ben showed us.

Also, the PC that Ben is using is available today and has touch capabilities itching for Windows 7 usage!

Windows Media Center Sideshow Gadgets on Windows Mobile

Sarah Perez — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:16:00 GMT

Ian Dixon has posted a video giving us an up-close look at the new new Windows Media Center Sideshow gadgets (64bit and 32bit) running on his Windows Mobile phone. After downloading and installing the Sideshow Developer Preview update onto his phone, he then paired the phone with his PC via Bluetooth and accessed the Sideshow Control Panel in Windows to enable the Windows Media Center gadgets. Once he had everything up and running, he shot the video of the gadgets in action – specifically looking at the Now Playing feature, browsing the guide data, playing music and selecting picture. Here’s the video of those gadgets in action: