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Thanks to Dave Bryce, a Hack7MC reader and AVForums member, we have a new theme available for download today. Dave sent us this theme via mhealy@hack7mc.com and you can send your themes in as well if youve got them! Just attach the MCT file from Media Center Studio and well post it here for our users to enjoy.

Daves theme, Streaming Light is currently being worked on and has an active thread available for comments over at AVForums. Be sure to drop in and leave comments, suggestions and praise in the thread. Weve got the latest version, 1.02, available for download right here in our Download Center. Youll need Media Center Studio installed in order to apply the theme.

For those unfamiliar with Media Center Studio simply run the program and select the Themes tab. From that tab select the Import Theme button and select the Streaming Light MCT file to add it to Media Center Studios theme listing. From there select the Streaming Light theme and press the Apply button. The theme will be applied to Media Center and should appear the next time you launch the program.

Easy as that! Thanks to Dave Bryce for sending in this theme and everyone else who does the same. Be sure to share your creations with the world, just send us your MCT files to mhealy@hack7mc.com or give us a link to your custom theme.

In case you hadnt noticed previously weve added a pair of new Media Center themes to our Download Center. Future themes and updates will appear in the Download Center section and users can email their themes as attachments to mhealy@hack7mc.com to have them added to the section. This new pair of themes comes from a Hack7MC reader, Steve Firestone (thewarm). Both themes are created to be used with Media Center Studio and since this program has been having issues lately adjusting the start menu items weve included a fix for this as well at the end. Hopefully well see further updates to the MC Studio program soon.

The first of the themes, called Black Desert, features a black background with 3D style blocks as well as a handful of custom start menu icons. To use the theme using will need to have Media Center Studio. Import the theme file from the Themes tab and youll see a new selection available on the main themes window. Select the new theme and press the Apply button under the Themes tab. That should be all there is to changing your Media Center theme.

The second theme, also from Steve, is called A Touch of Red. This theme is a variation of the original with a slightly varied layout of the blocks and a slight touch of red on the forward side.

Both themes are a sleek addition to any budding Media Center theme collection and are very usable inside the Media Center interface. Users may have noticed that a recent update to the Media Center software has left certain features of the Media Center Studio program not working. The update seems to have added what actually appears it may be a simpler replacement for editing the start menu items, though its not currently supported by the Media Center Studio software.

For now there are a few temporary fixes around though to get your start menu back the way you like it. The simplest solution is a handy tool created by Tyborg of The Green Button forums. Simply download the zip file, extract to somewhere accessible and run the program. This will make the changes (described in more detail later) necessary to allow MC Studio editing of the start menu possible once more. In order to keep these changes through future updates the author advises us to add the file to our startup folders or schedule the program to run regularly. Find even more details or follow the discussion here at TGB forums.

What the program does is to rename a couple of files created in a recent update to Media Center. If youve got an aversion to handy tools or it doesnt seem to work for you try the following. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:ProgramDataMicrosofteHomePackagesMCEClientUX. Inside youll find two folders: dSM and dSM-2 with files inside each. To revert to the old method rename the files in these folders. Users have reported more permanent success by created a set of text files with the names of the originals and removing all access to the files.

That should have Media Center Studios start menu functions operating again. Be sure to try out those two new themes and read a few more Media Center Studio guides here at Hack7MC.

Choosing the right codec setup for your Windows 7 Media Center build can be tricky. Should you stick with the built-in Microsoft decoders or get something a little more tweak-able? Even the built-in decoders need some help playing a number of file formats available, including the most popular format among enthusiasts, MKV. How do we choose which route to go while installing our Media Center setups for the first time (or after having trouble with an already setup machine)? First well have to take a look at what we want from our setups.

The first question is do we need DXVA (hardware acceleration) or why would we need to use hardware acceleration? Hardware acceleration in the form of DXVA requires the proper hardware, a recent video card with sufficient power, and takes the load off of the CPU when decoding video files. With modern video formats reaching enormous resolutions some older CPUs have trouble processing them without severely crippling the frame rate, the addition of a more recent video card to an aging machine can clear this up with DXVA however and save an older box from the recycling bin.

Microsofts built-in decoders are perfect for DXVA acceleration and require only the installation of a good splitter to play most video file types. The problem with using Microsofts built-in decoders for playing back your video files is the almost complete lack of support for subtitles of any kind. In fact this is a problem youre likely to find across any DXVA enabled decoder. Most cannot decode and display subtitles while still retaining DXVA capability.

If subtitles arent a problem, however, we advocate a minimalist approach to everything here at Hack7MC and encourage using the built-in decoders since video quality across any set of decoders is unlikely to vary much if at all. To play most video files using the built-in decoders youll only need to install a good splitter and we suggest either Haalis splitter or Gabests splitter which you can download for x86 systems here and x64 systems here. Install the Gabest splitter package

The popular Windows Media Center plugin, TunerFreeMCE, has been updated in a release the developer, Martin Millmore, is calling a major upgrade. The new plugin is now Windows 7-only, forgoing Vista support in order to allow for the numerous improvements it includes.

Vista users can continue to use the older version of the plugin, though. The developer says that two-thirds of the plugins users are on Windows 7, so he made the decision to make improvements the majority can enjoy.

So whats new in this release? Things users have been asking for, including:

• A new popup screen for managing the TV programs, allowing you to play the program, set a timer recording to record other showings of the program if you have a TV tuner configured, and if the program supports it you can add it to a playlist or download it (the last two work for BBC WMV programs, but not flash).
• When playing flash content, sometimes the mouse didn’t click in the right place. Now you can mode the cursor round the screen with the remote by pressing the cursor keys, and OK to click. This allows you to play even the most troublesome programs.
• The interface is now touchscreen enabled, so if you have a touchscreen media center you can easily navigate through the screens.
• Plugins are now directly available within the application. When you go to preferences you will see a list of plugins. When you pick one, the system will take care of installing and updating it to keep you up to date with your favorite content.
• MSN has been removed. This is because there is now a native media center app to support MSN.
• Improved memory management – only one instance of TunerFreeMCE will be active at any one time

If youve never tried TunerFreeMCE before, I recommend checking it out. Its a great plugin for watching streaming Internet video on your PC and Media Center extender, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five for UK users and Hulu support for US users. Believe it or not, the plugin is actually free. However, donations are accepted.

(via Ian Dixon)

By now, you probably heard the news that Hulu has finally unveiled its new subscription-based service called Hulu Plus. But in case you missed the details, its worth mentioning that one of the ways youll be able to enjoy this service in the near future is via your Xbox 360. Thats right - Microsoft is partnering with Hulu to provide a native, customized experience for watching Hulu right from your Xbox. The full service wont be available until 2011, though. It will also require an Xbox LIVE Gold membership.

But I have a little secret for you: you dont have to wait until 2011 to watch Hulu on your Xbox. There are several ways Media Center users can gain access to Hulu right now. Its been awhile since I last tested these (posted here), but the one I liked the best was PlayOn, which still supports Hulu, Netflix, CBS, YouTube and more. Its kind of pricey though $39.99 for the first year and then $19.99 afterwards. But as a cancel your cable alternative, its an investment worth making since its yearly price is comparable to what many pay monthly for their cable TV.

Getting the latest film trailers inside Windows 7 Media Center seems like a perfect fit for something so focused on entertainment on the big screen. Unfortunately, its something thats also been mostly left out of the native Media Center product. A relatively new entry, Trailer Library, from MediaPCTycoon on The Green Button forums lets you stream movie trailers from Filmtrailers.com directly into Windows Media Center. Filmtrailers.com is primarily focused on the UK and European market however, so users in the States may want to take a look at other options such as My Trailers 2 or My Movies 3.

To install Trailer Library head over to the Green Button forums post and hit the download link to get the latest version. Install the plugin and open up Windows 7 Media Center. The plugin should appear in the Extras Library and can be launched from there.

For European users you can select your locale from the Settings menu at the top of the screen. Simply select Settings, mark the radio box next to your location and select the Continue button. This should change the source of the trailers being downloaded from Filmtrailers.com and give you a more localized selection (as well as your native language in the details).

Inside the main interface select from three options: Latest Trailers, In Cinemas and Coming Soon to narrow down the results. Then in the main strip displaying movie covers select the title to get trailers for and somewhat counter-intuitively youll need to press down to select from the available trailers for the title. Though it may have been more intuitive to simply have a small listing of the available trailers as opposed to this strip method it does get the job done.

Another small drawback to the current interface is the inability to select the description and scroll down to read any text that may get cut off. It also tends to be somewhat repetitive and unnecessary for movies with only a single trailer available. Though despite these few shortcomings Trailer Library is very effective at getting movie trailers into the Media Center interface. Users will be hard pressed to do much better than this, especially those looking for European listings. Hopefully well continue to see further development of this plugin in the future.

Kylo, the TV-friendly web browser, isnt brand-new, but a recent update should peak the interest of Windows Media Center enthusiasts: Kylo is now available via Media Center plugin.

With the launch of the Kylo Browser Beta 0.7, a new plugin for Media Center lets you browse the web via your HDTV after launching the browser from within Media Center. Whats even better is that you can easily close it and return to Media Center when youre done surfing the web. Thats a big plus.

The browser requires no hardware keyboard for text entry an onscreen keyboard does the job. It also lets you zoom, pan and bookmark sites. Onscreen targets, fonts and the cursor are made larger for better viewing too.

One thing it wont do: play Hulu videos. This worked at first but Hulu quickly blocked it. But for light TV-based web surfing, it does the job.

As always, note the beta label and proceed at your own risk!

While these may not be fixes in the traditional sense, nothing is actually broken, but they do go a long way to altering and improving the default Media Center experience. There are several options available for adjusting Media Centers displays that dont require extra programs or even installations in most cases. These small fixes can make a rather big difference, expanding the TV guide an extra three rows, changing skip intervals and adding support for additional formats. Heres a short guide to some of the small fixes available now here at Hack7MC.

Splitting Those MKVs

First on the list is a tiny little program which expands the number of video formats able to be played in Windows Media Center. Haalis splitter now comes in both x86 and x64 and will enable new video formats, such as MKV, by simply splitting the content into audio video streams and sending it to the already available Microsoft decoders. This sort of software is known as a splitter.

Haalis isnt the only splitter available. Gabests splitter also comes in both x86 and x64 formats and will also take care of playing MKV files inside Windows 7 Media Center. Links to Gabests splitter can be found in the MKVs for Minimalists guide here on Hack7MC. Though the FFDShow installation is no longer necessary you can expand your playback options by installing it as well. FFDShow will allow for manipulation of settings not available in the built-in Microsoft decoders.

Extended Play

Ever paused Windows Media Center for so long that when you came back the show that had been playing has now been mutilated into a worthless unwatchable mess? This is due to the default pause buffer being too small, in spite of the fact that most Windows 7 Media Center machines carry hefty amounts of storage to hold the data.

This quick fix will let you set the default pause buffer as high as 120 minutes (2 hours). Its both easy and efficient, just set it up once and forget about it from now. That is until you pause a show on the Media Center for over an hour and come back to a perfectly watchable show afterward.

Faster Forward

Ever notice skipping past those commercials in recorded television can be somewhat of a chore at the default settings? Weve got a simple set of registry fixes that will allow for easily setting the skip intervals to new values. Changing the forward setting to a minute or even just matching the forward and reverse skip intervals, which by default are 30 seconds forward and 7 seconds reverse, can make a world of difference.

Expanded View

Media Centers TV Guide defaults to a slim seven row display leaving ample room to display the Media Center background along with pertinent information. Its an esthetic choice that limits the number of rows in the EPG and can even be a waste of time. Clear up this issue and bump the number of displayed channel rows up to ten. Take that big screen TV and use its real estate for all its worth.

Made for TV

Another slightly disturbing default behavior is Media Centers habit of placing recorded from TV movies, full of commercials and cut to ribbons, in the Movie Library. Certainly this would be great if recording from HBO or Showtime but it doesnt quite work out when recording from TBS. Take a minute to apply this quick registry fix to never have recorded from TV movies added to the main Movie Library again.

7MC Doesnt Take Flac

Out of the box Microsoft seems to have a huge problem with supporting free and open-source formats, MKV and Flac among the many. Flac being a popular format for audiophiles and music lovers this can be a serious problem. The fix for this problem will require a couple of downloads but will get Flac working inside Windows Media Center and even Media Player. Though there isnt any extended track information support inside either program or Windows Explorer for that matter.

Dont Forget

Finally, dont forget to become a participating member of Hack7MC! Leave a comment below, subscribe to our feed or send us a message.

Its an often overlooked feature of Windows Media Center, the Radio, but most likely everyone has at least one FM tuner available in their Media Center machine. If youre one of those people who frequently uses Media Centers Radio feature youre likely interested in backing up your lineup of Radio presets. There currently arent any programs available that incorporate Radio presets as part of their backup process so well need to do it by hand. No worries though, the process isnt difficult.

The first step is to open up the Registry Editor by bringing up the start menu and entering regedit in the search box and pressing enter. This should launch the built-in Windows registry editor. Once inside navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionMedia CenterSettingsRadiopresets

Right-click the presets entry and select the Export option. Save the file someplace safe. Now each time youd like to restore your Radio presets youll simply need to double-click this new .reg file to restore the registry entries. Confirm the addition of the data to the registry in the pop-up dialog and you should be all set.

For those of you who arent taking advantage of the Radio section of Windows Media Center due to a lack of good AM/FM radio antenna this can make a good DIY project. There are several guide to making your very own radio antenna available online, an antenna is just a length of properly sized conductive metal after all. You can find a few good guides to creating a radio antenna here in pdf form, from eHow, or in this more complete guide to everything youd possibly want to know about antenna.

Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy Windows Media Center knowing that your personal Radio presets are backed up for posterity. Thanks to Joe Hecht for sending us this handy little tip and thanks to all for reading Hack7MC. Have a tip youd like to share? Send it to us here on our Contact Page!