My Top Vista Media Center Add-ons
Recently, I got a great deal on a HP Slimline S3321P PC with Windows Vista Home Premium for the master bedroom that has renewed my interest in Windows Media Center. I have been using Media Center on and off since the early days, but have always gone back to the familiar and stable interface of TiVo for my primary DVR and media interface. But with the Vista version of Windows Media Center and the latest crop of add-on applications, I think Windows Media Center is here to stay. Here is a list of some of the Top Vista Media Center Add-ons….My Movies 2
MCE movie management – a must have!
Daemon Tools
For Mounting DVD ISOs
MyNetflix
Plug-in for MCE which allows you use your Netflix subscription with a remote control and view watch now videos full screen with remote control
DVRMS Toolbox
Automatically remove Commercials from MCE Recordings
WebGuide 4
WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs and to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Media Center. There is a version for Windows Home Server too
Transcode 360
Transcode 360 enables the playback of unsupported video over Xbox 360 and Media Center Extender devices
Mp3tag v2.40
Mp3tag is a powerful and yet easy-to-use tool to edit metadata of common audio formats that supports database lookups for selected files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information and album art for select files or CDs.
If I can convince myself that MCE is the platform of the future for the family, I can get a MCE Cable Card PC, get some extenders, and go the way of some other bloggers like Thomas Hawk and make MCE the centerpiece for all my media and rid myself of the Comcast DVR forever. It is going to take a lot to get that peanut remote for the TiVo HD out of my hand.
MCE movie management – a must have!
Daemon Tools
For Mounting DVD ISOs
MyNetflix
Plug-in for MCE which allows you use your Netflix subscription with a remote control and view watch now videos full screen with remote control
DVRMS Toolbox
Automatically remove Commercials from MCE Recordings
WebGuide 4
WebGuide allows you to remotely view live and recorded TV programs and to remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, music, pictures and videos on your Media Center. There is a version for Windows Home Server too
Transcode 360
Transcode 360 enables the playback of unsupported video over Xbox 360 and Media Center Extender devices
Mp3tag v2.40
Mp3tag is a powerful and yet easy-to-use tool to edit metadata of common audio formats that supports database lookups for selected files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information and album art for select files or CDs.
If I can convince myself that MCE is the platform of the future for the family, I can get a MCE Cable Card PC, get some extenders, and go the way of some other bloggers like Thomas Hawk and make MCE the centerpiece for all my media and rid myself of the Comcast DVR forever. It is going to take a lot to get that peanut remote for the TiVo HD out of my hand.
posted by Steve at 1:39 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Steve and Oasis readers,
I saw your blog post on XBMC from back in 2006 and noticed that you've done a great job of keeping up with MCE developments, but I didn't see much coverage of any of the variations of XBMC which have come out for computers in the past few years. Specifically, I think you'd like boxee, a new social media center based on XBMC that's free (within everyone's budget).
boxee integrates personal and Internet media (photos/videos/music) from premium sources like Hulu, ABC, Netflix, and Amazon with social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. so people can enjoy any media from the same place and share information about what they're watching or listening to with friends.
For a preview, check out this video and review of boxee from Webware:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9977098-2.html
If you're interested and have access to a Mac/Linux machine (we're launching Windows in the fall), I'd love to get you a copy to review.
Andrew
Thank you for the list. There are so many add-ons. Its nice to have someone else take a look and post the ones they like instead of searching them out one by one and trying them to see what is actually good.
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