Related Posts:

1. Media Center Studio – Customize Windows Media Center Start Menu Items
2. Windows 7 Media Center Browser
3. Integrate Hulu Desktop In Windows 7 Media Center

Many Windows 7 Media Center users will have a point where they need to backup important information and settings for their Media Center machine. Information such as custom TV listings, recording schedules and certain plugin and meta data can take a fair amount of time to setup. Certainly no one enjoys missing a favorite show due to a reformat followed by forgetting to reset the schedule for that show. Ian Dixon, of The Digital Lifestyle and Made for Media Center, may just have the solution. mcBackup 3.0 can not only backup your setup but it can even be scheduled to do so regularly and for free.

To get started download mcBackup 3.0 from Made for Media Center and install. Youll need to sign-up as a member of the site before being able to download the program, there is no confirmation email. Once downloaded and installed, run the program from the start menu under TheDigitalLifestyle.com > mcBackup 3.0.

Under the Backup and Restore Now tab you can select the type of data to backup: schedule, lineup, recorded TV, extra. To do an immediate backup just check the boxes for the data to backup and hit the Backup Now button. Once a backup has been created you can restore the latest backup using the Restore Now button. However, the restore option should only be used on fresh started Media Center setups. Running the restore on an already setup Media Center will likely mess up your listings and such requiring a clearing of the data and then restoring once more.

On the next tab, Backup Location, you are able to set the location where backup images should be saved. These are the folders youll need to copy to a safe location if doing a full clean install. For listings and recording schedule backups Id even recommend having the default save location be a USB drive. This keeps your backup separate from the actual Media Centers system drive should it cease operating properly.

Also available is the option to backup another folder, important plugin data or even just large downloaded caches such as MediaBrowsers ImagesByName folder make good candidates.

Coming to the Schedule tab we have one of the more important features of mcBackup. Here we can setup a schedule to regularly backup frequently changing things such as the recording schedule. Being something that typically changes often, its an especially good idea to regularly backup the recording schedule.

Simply enable the scheduler then select the days and the time youd like backups to be created. Either restart the program or enable the service using the link on the Home tab of the program. This home tab will report the status of the backup service whenever needed as well as the option to start or stop the service.

Now as long as youve set the backup to a safe location you should have a recent backup of your scheduling and lineup data whenever you need it.

The program works incredibly well in the background requiring virtually no intervention from the user beyond the initial setup. Simply set it up and forget it, just the way regular backups should be done. Thanks to Ian Dixon for making both the program and Made for Media Center. Stick around Hack7MC for future updates and a review of the Made for Media Center platform for Windows 7 Media Center.

Want to Subscribe to Hack7MC?

Today weve got a special surprise set of downloads available. First, the popular Brokeh theme has been updated with a modified background to make reading text on the screen slightly easier. The theme has also been converted into a Media Center Studio theme package. This should make it much easier to install for everyone. Finally, weve got four additional themes that have been converted to MC Studio packages. Additionally, Theme7MC.com will be redirecting to this page for a short period while the site is folded into Hack7MC official.

You can find download links for the five themes in the first pack available below. Download them individually by selecting them below or download the entire pack by selecting the package link.

To install the themes download them to your local Media Center machine. If downloading the entire pack extract them to the hard drive. Next, be sure to have a copy of Media Center Studio installed. Under the Themes menu tab select the Import Theme button and select the theme file to import.

Once imported into Media Center Studio select the theme from the Themes tab below and press the Apply button.

Hopefully this makes it much easier to distribute themes to users and eliminates much of the complications of the old way of applying the themes. If youd like more information on making your own Media Center themes start here or check out our recent article on changing your media center background. Thanks for trying out our themes and be sure to leave any comments below.

Lets face it, after a while Windows 7 Media Centers background image can become rather dull. Luckily, sprucing it up isnt exactly rocket science. We can use Media Center Studio to quickly and easily change the default background to one of our choosing. All we need is Media Center Studio and a high resolution image from someplace like interfacelift.com. Make sure to choose an image with a minimum resolution that matches the highest resolution of your monitor. Enlarging images leaves artifacts and pixelation and we dont want that, especially on the big screen. Another good tip is to pick one with some blue in it as the rest of the Media Center elements are blue.

Now that weve got our background we need Media Center Studio. Download and install the program from the authors site then, make certain Windows 7 Media Center is closed, and launch the program. From the start menu the program can be found under Start > Programs > Advent > Media Center Studio. To get started changing things about in Media Center create a new theme by pressing the New button in the Home ribbon.

Now to change the background we need to expand the Images > Common > Background. The images were interested in changing at this point are COMMON.ANIMATED.BACKGROUND.PNG and COMMON.BACKGROUND.PNG. Change the images to your newly downloaded background image by pressing the browse button above the original displayed on the right.

You may notice that the images appear extremely small in Media Center Studio for some reason but this doesnt seem to effect the output. After changing both images save the theme with the Save button at the top then return to the Themes tab at the top and bottom.

Select the newest theme at the bottom, which will be marked with todays date and time, then press the Apply button at the top under the Themes tab. Then just launch Windows 7 Media Center and everything should be all set, easy.

Thats all there is to it. Much easier than the last time we wrote a guide on changing the background in Windows 7 Media Center. For those looking to get rid of the animated blue images replace the rest of those images listed under background with a transparent png image (right-click -> save as).

Not a reader of our RSS Feed yet? Its the same great info delivered direct and its nice to see that reader number grow over on the right!

Sure, Microsoft already offers a slimmed down version of Windows 7 known as Starter which is light enough to run on even the trimmest of netbooks. Not to mention that standard version of Windows 7 are excellent performers as well but theres always room for improvement and the Starter version of WIndows 7 doesnt include things like Media Center. Se lets take a look at creating our own lite version of Windows 7 with a program called vLite. This will allow us to get the performance of Starter by taking out the extras but leaving everything needed for a Media Center only setup.

First well need a copy of vLite, a free piece of software that will allow us to add and remove certain pieces of Windows as well as drivers and other items to the Windows 7 installation process. Once youve downloaded and installed the program you will also be notified that you need to download the WAIK package from Microsoft. The version linked by the vLite program works well enough but there is also a version that officially supports Windows 7 here.

Either mount the WAIK ISO using a program such as Virtual Clone Drive or burn it to disk and install the package. Now we can run vLite and select the original Windows 7 installation media (the files from the DVD not the Windows install folder). vLite will ask you for a location to save the files locally.

Continuing on to the next set of options in vLite youll be presented with a number of checkboxes to determine what parts of the install youd like to configure. Check Integration, Components, Tweaks and Bootable ISO as a minimum. This will allow us to add any drivers for hardware such as TV tuners, display and sound drivers and other items as well as remove nonessential items for a Media Center only setup.

The first step is Integration. On this tab we can select drivers and hotfixes to preload into the installation process. For Media Center users its handy to include items such as TV tuner drivers, display drivers and audio card drivers. Sure you can wait until after the installation is finished but we can save some time by including it from the beginning. Though there arent many hotfixes available at this point since the operating system is so new you should have no problem running a quick Windows update after installation, however, once items such as service packs become available you can also include them in the process on this tab.

Now onto the components to remove from the default installation process. This tab can be somewhat tricky for beginners to handle as there is a large number of options. Luckily there are comments to the right of each option giving a quick description of the what it handles and whether or not its typically safe to remove. For Media Center exclusive machines there are actually a large number of options which can be checked for removal. Things such as games, paint, wordpad, printer and scanner support are no brainers for the most part (unless you play the Media Center games then leave those in of course).

Typically, novices should steer clear of the services and system options if they arent 100% sure of what they are doing. This is also where you can find the biggest performance gains however. A basic list of system and service components that can typically be removed follows and there may be more or less that suit your specific needs. You will need to examine each one and determine whether or not you need the feature enabled.

• Error Reporting
• Protected Storage
• Remote Registry
• Secondary Login
• BitLocker Drive Encryption
• Disk Quota
• Help
• Natural Language
• Performance Counters
• Reliability and Performance Monitor
• Run a Legacy CPL Elevated
• Security Center
• System Restore
• Tablet PC
• Windows Defender
• Windows Easy Transfer

Remember, turning these items off is only recommended for a Media Center run and forget type of setup. Slimming down Windows 7 for most extensive use will require different components remain installed. Also, requirements will vary from user to user and you should evaluate each component being removed based on your specific needs.

On the next tab you will find a list of tweaks that can be applied during the initial setup as well. Turning off further services by default, without removing them for installation, can result in even further performance gains. Examining items under services listed as Automatic start can setting them to manual or disabled can provide a bit more flexibility than removing them from installation altogether while still not running them by default. Items such as Cryptographic services and firewall are a few you may want to consider setting to manual or disabled to save some additional resources.

Once youve finished each of the tasks press the Apply button to begin creating your newly customized version of Windows 7. vLite will begin processing the changes and create a new installation build. Once complete youll be given the option of creating an ISO or burning the new installation image to a DVD. We recommend an ISO for its portability, storage and copying abilities as it can always be burned to DVD later.

Simply choose the desired option and press the button in the lower right hand corner. If you chose ISO and would like to create a DVD from the image later you can follow this handy guide to using Microsofts own USB DVD Download tool. Thats all there is to it! Youve now got a highly customized version of Windows 7 ready to go.

Media Browser(formally known as Video Browser) is a personal media aggregator that runs on Microsoft Media Center platform. In laymans term, it is a media aggregator plug-in for Windows 7/Vista Media Center that takes all you recorded, digital, or ripped media and presents you in a simple and easy-to-use interface.

You have to add the folder(s) that contains all your media. You can also add podcasts and install plug-ins, such as, film trailers, high quality thumbnails, mediainfo provider, and so on. All this can be done from the Configuration window which is automatically started after you have installed Media Browser.

Once all settings have been configured, close the configuration window and start Windows Media Center. Select Media Browser and hit Enter.

You will find your media folder along with all installed plugins listed here. When you select a movie, trailer, or a show it will automatically fetch the information. Details such as resolution, ratio of video, video/audio format, etc will also be displayed when detected.

It will automatically fetch the cover art from the internet when detected.

Download Media Browser

For full list of changes, features, etc, visit the official blog announcement page.

One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender, which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer, can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process each file by hand. Unfortunately, Lifextender doesnt work with the new WTV format so first well need to convert the files using a program such as WTVWatcher.

To get started youll need to download and install both WTVWatcher and Lifextender or, if you prefer, weve also got a guide on using DVRMSToolbox with Lifextender. Once youve got both programs installed youll need to setup WTVWatcher to monitor the Recorded TV location. Use the preferences to set the location of your Recorded TV folder, typically C:UsersPublicRecorded TV. WTVWatcher will begin to go to work converting the WTV recordings into DVR-MS files that are readable by Lifextender.

WTVWatcher uses the built-in conversion program provided by Microsoft to convert each WTV file into a DVR-MS file. For even more information on WTVWatcher check out our previous review of this handy little tool right here. Once the files have been converted we can setup Lifextender to automatically scan for and cut commercials from these files. Next, open Lifextender and choose Options by right-clicking the icon in the system tray.

Under the general settings be sure to set the TV Recording path to the same directory as the one you set previously inside WTVWatcher. Also, unless you plan to run the process by hand enable the Automated Library Scanning so that Lifextender will automatically find your new shows for processing. To test your settings you can start a manual processing of the files by right-clicking the Lifextender system tray icon and selecting Scan Media Center Library.

Lifextenders processing dialog will appear as the program scans each recorded show for commercials. This can take quite a bit of time depending on the length of the show and the complexity of commercial scanning process.

After processing each file will be added to the blacklist inside Lifextenders options. This allows you to check the progress of Lifextenders processing of files as well as preventing the program from scanning the same program each time the library is scanned for new content. You can find the blacklist under the Options > Advanced tab. Here you can also add individual files to be excluded from processing, though if you have a certain show or channel youd like to permanently exclude from processing there is an included Rules feature to allow for easier management.

Unfortunately, there has been some issues reported with Lifextender not accepting the converted files from WTVWatcher and the Lifextender program is no longer in active development. If you experience the same issue your only option may be to use the DVRMSToolbox method in this guide using an alternative program for converting the WTV files to DVR-MS. Also, be sure to drop a line in the comments below with as much detail as you can provide including which version of Windows 7 youre using, Lifextender log info and anything else noteworthy. Perhaps we can sort out the issue with more information.

For most people, however, this method should provide a simple solution to easy commercial removal from Windows 7 Media Center recordings. Hopefully the future will bring us an alternative to Lifextender and more active development (and hopefully more open source projects as well!).