One of Windows Media Centers many self-imposed limitations is to prevent the user from utilizing more than four tuners of any one type at the same time. With many tuners commonly coming with more than one tuner per card these days its easy to reach and pass this limit even on a tight budget. Its hard to image why Microsoft continues to impose these arbitrary limits on the end user but as with most of these limits users have found a way around it. The creator of My Channel Logos has found a way to fix the limit and increase the number of tuners that can be utilized to eight.

TunerSalad is a simple program that will allow users to increase the number of tuners of each type able to be used with just the press of a button. To get started visit the TunerSalad page to download the application. Once downloaded just extract the program from the zip file and run the application.

The first step to updating the tuner limitation is to select your region from the dropdown box. This ensures that the program makes the correct modifications (just as with My Channel Logos). Afterward just press the Increase tuner limit button and wait for notification that the process is complete. Simple as that. To return to the default configuration press the Reset button.

As with past software from the author its completely free to use but donation are appreciated. The program will compel you to do so each time its closed as well though it shouldnt pose too much of an inconvenience being something that wont be run regularly in most cases.

Simply put TunerSalad is incredibly useful for anyone whod like to employ even more tuning power in their Media Center machine. After all if we wanted to stick to mediocre capabilities wed have gone with the cable companys DVR. TunerSalad is another amazing program, well worth a donation to keep them coming from the same author that gave us the incredible My Channel Logos program which is also well worth using for Media Center enthusiasts.

Be sure to give both programs a try and stay tuned to Hack7MC for even more useful Media Center information, tips and tricks.

Read/Leave A Comment – Find More on windows 7

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.

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.

Windows Media Center is a nice piece of high-functionality software from Microsoft. While it is aesthetically pleasing and convenient, one issue that users with dual or multiple displays face is the restriction of mouse to only the WMC window, especially when maximized. Maxifier is a free tool that answers this problem, freeing mouse movement even when Windows Media Center is itself running full screen mode.

Note: Maxifier is only useful if you have two displays or more. On a single display most of the features are not even noticeable.

Once installed, the utility will sit in your system tray and show two different menus depending on whether Media Center is running or not.

If WMC is not running, you will get this menu.

Here, clicking Start Media Center will start the Media Center application, or you can click one of the page names shown to go directly to that page.

If WMC is already running, then you get the full menu.

Here, you get five additional options. Full Screen will maximize Media Center to the secondary display, but unlike standard maximize, the mouse will not be captured by WMC so you can easily move it between the two displays and continue to work on your primary display. Fit to Screen will also maximize to the secondary display but retain windows borders. Minimize is self-explanatory, while Fit Screen on Main Screen and Full Screen on Main Screen will utilize the primary monitor for these functions rather than the secondary one.

Clicking Options will bring the preferences dialog, where you can tweak the application settings.

You can also select HotKeys from the menu to configure hotkeys for various actions.

Maxifier is an essential accompanying tool for Windows Media Center if you are running your PC on a dual display setup. It is free and lightweight, and although the developers website claims it to be stable on Windows Vista yet, we found it to be working perfectly fine with Windows 7 as well.

Download Maxifier

If you are a big fan of the Windows Media Center and want it to run smoothly then you should schedule the optimization. The Windows Media Center performs optimization itself to make it run more smoothly, please note that during the time it is performing optimizations, you can not use it.

Type Windows Media Center in Start Search and hit Enter to launch it. No head over to the Settings.

Under the General Category, choose the Optimization Option.

Now Check the Perform optimization checkbox and set the desired Optimization schedule time.

PowerPlaylist adds a strip in the start menu of Windows Media Center which adds five different tiles. These tiles represent audio, slideshow, and/or virtualization combination and according to the developer they are highly customizable. In order of appearance, they are Audio only, Slideshow only, Audio+Slideshow, Audio+Visualization, Audio+Slideshow+Visualization.

Here is how the Audio+Visualization looks like. Note that I have selected bars and you can change the visualization by hitting the Ctrl -/+ hotkey.

Download PowerPlaylist

Apart from Windows 7 Media Center, it also works with Windows Vista Media Center. Enjoy!

The Windows Home Server Team has announced today the beta of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3). And if youre running Windows 7, Windows Home Server PP3 comes with several new features designed to take advantage key Windows 7 features:

• Full Image-based Backups of Windows 7 PCs. After the Windows Home Server Connector is installed on your Windows 7 PCs, Action Center should no longer display that your files are not being backed up.
• Windows 7 Libraries Support. Music, Photos and Videos shared folders from your Windows Home Server will be added to Windows 7 Libraries. Content saved to these shared folders will be able to be quickly accessed through your Windows 7 Libraries. And any application, like Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center, will be able to access content saved on your Windows Home Server through Libraries as well.
• Windows Search 4 is now included. With Windows Search 4, PP3 offers improved query search times, indexing times and reliability. Easy search through a Library in Windows 7 with files stored in multiple locations.
• Windows Media Center Enhancements. Archive old recorded TV shows onto your Windows Home Server in a variety of formats. Use Console Quick View to see statistics about your Windows Home Server through Windows Media Center.

More in-depth information on these features see their blog post on PP3.

The Windows Home Server Team does not yet have a final release date for PP3 however they are shooting to have PP3 available shortly before GA of Windows 7. If youre running Windows Home Server and have several Windows 7 PCs I encourage you to give PP3 a try and help the Windows Home Server Team make PP3 rock.

To beta test PP3, please sign up as a beta participant of the Windows Home Server program on Microsoft Connect. Once youve signed up, youll be able to download PP3.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 will be a free update to existing Windows Home Server users via Windows Update.

Ill be installing PP3 on my HP MediaSmart Server EX470 either tonight or sometime over the weekend. Im stoked about the Windows 7 integration!

Sean Alexander recently posted a good tip for Windows 7 Media Center users which is something that some of you may have overlooked: turning on color-coded program categories in the on-screen guide. With this option, you can easily see at a glance which channels are Sports, which are News, which are Movies, etc., just like what you would see in the guide on your home television. To turn this option on, go into Settings>TV>Guide Page Options, and click the first checkbox option which is “Apply colored backgrounds to shows, based on their category”.

After turning this option on, your channels will be identified with the following colors:

• Green – Sports
• Purple – Movies
• Light Blue – Kids & Family
• Orange – Special
• Yellow – News

While youre in the settings there, you can also set channels to display by name instead of number an especially useful option for identifying which channels are which if you cant remember them by number.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Windows Media Center Team here at Microsoft and shoot some videos of the new features that are currently in the Windows 7 Beta. Im a fairly heavy user of Windows Media Center and know many of our readers are too. This post highlights many of the the changes and new features that people can enjoy for themselves as they try out the Windows 7 Beta.

In the first of several videos I shot, Windows Media Center Program Manager Noah Spitzer-Williams takes us through the new Pictures + Videos features in Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta

In the above video, Noah demos the following new Windows Media Center features and changes in Windows 7 (in the order of appearance in the video) to the Pictures + Videos experience:

• Changes to the way videos are displayed in Video Library to include Thumbnails AND Names for each video.
• Support for H.264 Video – no 3rd party codecs are required to play H.264 content.
• Video Play-All Option (think of it as a Video Slide Show) with ability to navigate between each video.
• Developers can take advantage of the new Import API for Windows Portable Devices. The new API enables photos AND videos from portable devices to be imported directly within Windows Media Center.
• Ability to create Slide Shows (new Slide Show pivot) with your pictures and can contain pictures or music or both.
• New On-screen Keyboard (Touch-enabled).
• Improved Rating Controls within Windows Media Center UI.
• New Ratings Pivot for quick access to your favorite content.
• Play Favorites feature with new Slide Show style.
• Auto Slide Show feature acts as a screensaver for Windows Media Center.

You may have caught PowerPlaylist in the Windows Media Center menu in the video. PowerPlaylist is an application originally released by the Windows Media Center Team for Windows Vista and can be downloaded here via CodePlex. The Windows Media Center Team is revising PowerPlaylist for Windows 7 and an early copy was installed on the PC running the Windows 7 Beta in the video. They plan to release an updated version to CodePlex soon. Ill be covering that soon as well.

Expect more videos to follow shortly!