Netflix has a great plugin for Windows Media Center. In my opinion it is th best interface for Netflix’s Watch Instantly catalog. The onlt drawback is it can be difficult to browse for a movie without being overwhelmed.

Netflix really needs to add a “Most Popular” view in their Watch Instantly interface. It would help me wade through all the crap that is in their streaming catalog. Luckily a website, Instantwatcher.com, fills that niche for now.

Instantwatcher is a fairly simplistic website. It provides lists of movies available for streaming through Netflix. You can sort movies by Most Popular, New & Noteworthy, or even Expiring. If you find yourself wtaching more and more streaming movies and show through Netflix, take a look at Instantwatcher.com to see what you have been missing.

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.

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.

Kevin Purdy from Lifehacker posted earlier this last week about how to “geek out” with Windows Media Center but in such a way that non-geeks can take advantage and use. For you Windows Media Center geeks (or aspiring geeks) out there – this post is a must read. In the post, Kevin talks about Netflix, easy sharing of media using Windows 7′s HomeGroup feature, Internet TV, and installing a TV tuner turning your PC into a DVR.

By default the new Netflix application remembers a users login information for use each time you enter the movie browser. However, what if you should change your username or password via the Netflix website? Unfortunately at this point instead of allowing you to re-enter your information the Netflix app simply returns a login error and sends you back to the start menu. In order to re-enter our login information and once again be able to login to the Netflix app we need to clear the registry entries containing the login information.

To get started we need to launch the Windows Registry Editor by opening the start menu and enter regedit into the search box and press enter. A dialog will appear asking you to confirm, since the program needs administrator privileges to run. Once inside youll see a folder style listing on the left and a few entries on the right. In the left hand pane navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionMedia CenterExtensionsNetflix.

Delete the Netflix folder or just the entries on the right hand side to erase the saved login information and once again be able to re-enter your login information. Just relaunch Windows 7 Media Center and enter the Netflix application and you should once again receive the login prompt.

For those not comfortable with editing the registry weve got a registry file available for download right here. Just download the .reg file and double-click to run then confirm that youd like to apply the changes to your registry. Afterward re-launch Windows 7 Media Center and you should be presented with the login screen next time you enter the Netflix application.

Today, Windows 7 controls my home entertainment experience in my living room. It does so through Windows Media Center. I am using the same setup I blogged about here in 2007 with Windows 7 and its an amazing experience. Because of how well it works for me, I wanted to highlight 7 great things you can do with Windows Media Center in Windows 7. Windows 7 can easily be the center of your home entertainment experience just like it is with mine.

#1: Watch Live TV on your Windows 7 PC.

If your Windows 7 PC has a TV tuner, you can use Windows Media Center to watch, pause, and rewind live TV directly on your PC! If youre Windows 7 PC doesnt have a TV tuner, you can always add one they are quite inexpensive.

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 supports High Definition TV (HDTV) capabilities as well. Earlier last month, we announced support for Switched Digital Video (SDV). We also announced that customers will now be able to add a digital cable tuner with CableCARD support to their PC. Previously, digital cable tuners with CableCARD support were only available on new PCs from OEMs that supported the configuration. Digital cable tuners with CableCARD support differ from standard TV tuner cards as they support digital cable through CableCARDs rented from your cable provider for digital cable channels. Assuming you have the right subscription, this enables you to access the full line-up of channels offered by your cable provider, including the premium channels.

There are also TV tuner cards that support over-the-air HDTV (ATSC) with an antenna as well as Clear QAM.

#2: Turn your Windows 7 PC into a DVR (Digital Video Recorder)!

Windows Media Center lets you schedule recordings of TV shows and movies. You can even schedule to record all instances (new episodes) of your favorite TV show! Windows Media Center also makes it very easy to view all your recorded content.

I talked about HDTV and the use of digital cable tuners with CableCARD support above. Microsoft and CableLabs are working together to allow people with digital cable tuners with CableCARD support more portability with their recorded digital cable TV. Recordings that are marked as copy freely (CF) will now be able to play on other PCs and portable devices.

#3: Easily find the TV shows and movies that you want to watch.

Windows Media Center has great search capabilities built-in so you can easily find all your favorite TV shows and movies. This makes it easier to schedule recordings.

#4: Access all your personal media in one place – no matter where it is.

Windows Media Center brings in all your digital media photos, movies, music, and recorded TV shows into one place. Windows Media Center also takes advantage of HomeGroup in Windows 7 and allows you to access digital media content from other PCs!

With recorded digital cable TV content marked as CF you can share this content throughout your home network of Windows 7 PCs using HomeGroup (see #2 above). You can even access it when you are away from home with Remote Media Streaming in Windows 7.

#5: Track your favorite sports, players, and leagues.

If youre a sports nut, you can use Windows Media Center to track your favorite teams and leagues. Windows Media Center lets you track scores, players, and leagues natively within Windows Media Center. You can also see quickly jump to sports on now and check sports coming on later in Windows Media Center too.

#6: Access your recorded TV and digital media where you want: on the PC or on the TV.

Windows 7 supports a variety of high end displays including HDTVs. You can connect your PC to your HDTV and use Windows Media Center to watch and view all your media. Of course this works with a standard PC monitor too. But because Windows 7 makes it easy to share your digital media, you can have 1 PC connected to your HDTV in your home for Windows Media Center and bring in content from all PCs on your home network to that single PC connected to your HDTV. You could also use the Extender for Windows Media Center technology built into your Xbox 360 to access the same Windows Media Center menu you are used to using on your PC.

#7: Watch movies and TV episodes instantly from Netflix in Windows Media Center in Windows 7.

Watch streaming Instant Play movies and TV shows from Netflix! Also add movies to your DVD queue if Instant Play is not available. Full control of your Netflix account right from Windows Media Center!

I hope these 7 great things about Windows Media Center give you some great ideas on how to bring your home entertainment together using Windows 7!

You can find Netflix under TV & Movies section of Windows Media Center.

Last year, Neflix started offering the ability to stream movies over the internet to your PC. Of course, for Windows Media Player enthusiasts, the next logical step was to port Netflix into Media Center by way of a plugin. Luckily, there’s a pretty active developer community for WMC, so we ended up with not one, but three, Windows Media Player plugins from which to choose: vmcNetflix, MyNetflix, and NetflixMC.

But which one is right for you? Let’s compare:

MyNeflix

• System Requirements: Vista MCE, .NET 2.0, Netflix WatchNow player
• View Netflix queue
• Manage Netflix queue
• View history
• View recommendations
• Browse movies by title, genre, or top 100
• Browse “Watch Now” movies
• Play movies in full screen
• Nice interface, very responsive
• Does Not Work With Extenders
• Download MyNetflix

vmcNetFlix

• System Requirements: Vista MCE and Netflix WatchNow player
• View Netflix queue
• Manage Netflix queue
• View history
• View recommendations
• Browse movies by genres; sort by title or year
• Browse “Watch Now” movies
• Keyword Search
• Play movies in full screen
• Support for x64 and x86
• Support for Netflix Instant Queue
• Support for Episode Listings
• Prevents standby/sleep mode while downloading
• Clean interface, easy to browse, runs smoothly
• Works With Extenders
• Download vmcNetflix

NetflixMC

• System Requirements: Vista or MCE 2005 and .NET 2.0 or 3.5
• Browse movies by genre
• Browse “Watch Now” movies
• Fast, Real-time “Watch Now” search
• Bookmark “Watch Now” movies
• TV Series episode selection
• Image caching stream speed settings
• Menu Personalization
• A bit slow, still a beta app
• Runs on extenders but WILL NOT play WatchNow videos
• Download NetflixMC

So which one should you choose? The quick answer here is that if you have Windows XP, you only have one choice: NetflixMC. For Vista users, both MyNetflix and vmcNetflix are nice, but the extender support that vmcNetflix has makes it the clear winner. You can download vmcNetflix here.