Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Software for Windows 7 Media Center - the Ultimate but Affordable Installation

Here is the software that I have installed on my Media Center PC thus far. I am constantly testing software and I am finding that about 50 percent of all the software that I have tested is too buggy to run. This list of software seems to be very stable and dramatically enhances the look at functionality of Windows 7 Media Center. I will update this list as I test new software.

O.S.
Windows 7 Ultimate 32 or 64 bit (both tested) - currently using 64 bit (I highly recommend due to its ability to rip and stream at the same time. Windows 7 32bit did not perform as well while doing multiple tasks within MCE)

MUST HAVE SOFTWARE:

shark007 codecs: x32 and x64 (free)
  • http://shark007.net
  • (adds support for many audio and video formats within Windows Media and MCE)
  • Install the registry hack to allow MCE 7 to play mkv files (supported by Shark007): http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/01/playing-mkvs-in-media-center.html
  • Must install Windows 7 codecs and then the X64 Components using the website above
PowerDVD Version 9 (Pay)
  • Install this if you wish to play Blu-ray discs or Blu-ray .iso files
  • http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html
  • This or a similar player is required to play Blu-ray movies within MCE. There is currently no support within MCE for Blu-ray, which uses Windows Media Player
Radiotime plugin (free)
  • A must have. Thousands of radio stations, talk radio and police, fire etc.
  • http://radiotime.com/
  • You must install the plugin for MCE: http://radiotime.com/partners/mediacenter.aspx
Hulu Desktop from hulu.com (free)
  • Thousands of free movies and TV - another must have for MCE
  • http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop
  • You must install the plug-in for MCE: http://secondrun.tv/
Anydvd (pay)
  • I purchased a lifetime subscription. Great price for what you get.
  • Integrates with Mymovies, which is another must have for MCE
  • The best solution to rip DVDs and Blu-ray discs (I will discuss my ripping methodology in a later post)
  • http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html
'Virtual Clone Drive' (free)
  • http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html
  • Mounts DVD/blu-ray as virtual drive
  • If Mymovies is used, this is required to mount .ISO image files for DVD or Blu-ray playback
  • If native Movies is used, will interface with the MountImage plugin

MountImage Plugin (free) (only if using native MCE Movies application. Do not use with MyMovies)
  • Mounts DVDs and bluray within MCE's native Movie application
  • Requires Virtual Clone drive to be installed
  • http://www.mikinho.com/wmc/mountimage/MountImageSetup.msi
  • MountImage Plugin information - http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/09/mounting-isos-in-the-native-movie-library.html (information on MountImage plugin)
YAMMM (free) (only if using native MCE Movies application. Do not use with MyMovies)
  • Adds cover art and metadata to ripped movie images - use with native MCE Movies application
  • http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/06/yet-another-media-meta-manager-from-mikinhosoft.html
  • YAMMM info - http://mikinhosoft.blogspot.com/2009/05/yammm-yet-another-media-meta-manager.html
  • YAMMM info - http://www.mikinho.com/wmc/yammmsetup.msi

file2folder.zip (free)
  • Used to move DVD isos to their own folders to prepare for integration with MCE Movies or MyMovies
  • http://www.sevenforums.com/attachments/tutorials/12135d1243394321-media-center-setup-movie-library-file2folder.zip

Weather Plugin (free)
  • A must have weather plugin
  • http://www.vista4cast.co.uk - (must login to forum to download)

Homeworld theme (free)
  • An awesome theme. Works flawlessly in Win7 MCE 32 and 64bit
  • http://www.theme7mc.com/

MyMovies (free)
  • A must have replacement for the built-in Movies MCE application
  • 'Once installed, use Media Center Studio' to remove the built-in menu strip for Movies and re-arrange your menu strips.
  • http://mymovies.dk

Media Center Studio (free)
  • Customize menu strips
  • http://adventmediacenter.com
  • Media Center Studio Docs - http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/media-center-studio/
TESTED SOFTWARE - DOES NOT WORK WELL IN MCE - OR NOT AT ALL

deamon tools Pro Standard (pay)
  • mount iso images to be played with powerdvd Worked great but no mounting within MCE!
  • http://disc-soft.com
Heatwave weather plugin (free)
  • Im not even going to give you the URL
  • DOES NOT WORK in Windows 7 MCE at the time of my test
media browser
  • www.mediabrowser.tv
  • Complicated
  • did not work on MCE7

OTHER NON-MCE SOFTWARE INSTALLED
  • VLC Media Player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
  • AVG Anti-virus (disable auto scanning) - http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
  • CCLEANER - http://www.ccleaner.com
  • Firefox - http://www.firefox.com

2 comments:

  1. Media Browser has been working great for me in Win 7 for over a year, you may like to revise this post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment. I have not updated this blog in a while.. Phil

    ReplyDelete