Windows Media Center Add-ons and Plugins – Page 2
Hulu
Another heavy hitter in the video streaming arena is Hulu. Hulu is a partnership of multiple networks including NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, Nickelodeon and others that has ad-supported streaming video of many TV shows, as well as some movies and other media. The basic version of Hulu is free, but a good deal of the content requires a relatively inexpensive Hulu Plus subscription. While Hulu does not have a built in client for Windows Media Center, there’s a great (free) plugin available from Teknowebworks that ties the Hulu Desktop application into the Windows Media Center interfact.
To get Hulu integrated into Windows Media Center you need the following three pieces.
Flash is needed by Hulu Desktop and you may have already installed Adobe Flash Player during your setup. To double check and head on over to Adobe’s site and if you don’t have it, go ahead and download/install the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player. Installing Flash Player is relatively straight forward, but make sure you choose the “Install updates automatically when available” options when asked about your update preferences. You definitely want to keep Flash up to date, and this way it will do it on its own without you having to deal with pop up boxes that you need to connect a mouse to the HTPC to deal with.
Once you have Flash installed, download and install the Hulu Desktop. The installation is straight forward, so just Next your way through the install.
Now that you have Hulu Desktop installed, we can go out and grab the Hulu Desktop Windows 7 Media Center Integration Plugin developed by the fine folks over at Teknowebworks. All you need to do is to install the application to the default install folder and the installer will take care of everything else.
Once installed, restart Media Center and you’ll now have the option to launch the Hulu Desktop right from Media Center. How great is that?
My Experience: Hulu Desktop is actually a standalone application, and the Integration plugin simply minimizes Windows Media Center and then launches the Hulu Desktop application in full screen mode. When you exit out of the Hulu Desktop, the plugin will start Media Center back up for you.
My Channel Logos
Created by the same guys that have released the excellent Tuner Salad plugin that increases the tuner limit in Media Center up to 12 tuners, My Channel Logos for WMC is a great add-on for Media Center that will flesh out the information on your TV guide. By default, the TV guide in Media Center simply shows the channel number and the station callsign. My Channel Logos lets you tweak with the TV guide including letting you add the logos next to each channel so you know whether that station is Fox, NBC, ABC, etc. at a glance.
To get MCL, head over to the MCL website and grab the latest version of the My Channel Logos application. MCL does is available in a freeware Lite version that will give you the capability to download and then manually add a logo to each of your channels. But for a donation as little as $3.40, you will be allowed to download the full version that adds in features like auto-population/assignment of channel logos for most channels, customization and reconfiguration of many of the information displayed in both the rows and columns of the TV guide. To me, it was well worth the donation to not only get access to the improved feature set, but offer support to the MCL team.
Once you have downloaded the application, simply walk through the install, choosing all the defaults and you will then be able to launch My Channel Logos from the My Channel Logos folder in your programs list.
The program will first go out and download a library of channel icons available for you to use and then load into the main interface. With the full version (if you donated), you can simply hit the “auto-populate logos” button to automatically assign logos to many of your channels. Channels that MCL can not automatically determine what logo should be used will be shown in the “channels without logos” box (If you have the Lite version, all your channels will be listed there.) To add the logos for those channels, click on the channel ID in the channels without logos box and then click on the “add logo” box that shows up to right side and you will be able to choose from any of the logos available in the library.
Using the “guide” and “settings” tabs you can tweak many more settings to configure your TV guide as you’d like.
My Experience: Even though I donated and got access to the full version of MCL, there were still a handful of channels that MCL couldn’t figure out what logo to use. I don’t blame the program, as they were some off channels that the main networks stuck on the subnetworks like LiveWell or MeTV. In a few cases the library didn’t actually have the logo I needed, but you can easily add (and submit for others to use) logos to your library with simple 42×96 pixel PNG files. There were a few channels I had to dig around online to get logo’s for, but it was an easy process to get them resized and into MCL once I found them.
Playing MKV’s on Windows Media Center
Video and audio codecs can be a giant hassle not only in Windows Media Center, but for any playback in Windows itself. Not every file type is natively recognized by Windows, and there was a time not too long ago that you had to jump through hoops and download and install all sort of sketchy software and codecs to play certain file formats in Windows. While Windows 7 added in some of the missing codecs, there are still a few shortcomings, and the capability to be able to play MKV files is a big one.
MKV files stand for the “Matroska Multimedia Container” which is an open source format that can store an unlimited amount of video, audio, pictures and subtitle tracks all in one file. In certain circles, it is the primary format used for video files and the lack of support in Windows Media Center can be an issue for some. A while back I found a great walk through on how to get MKV files to play in Media Center with groovyPost’s How To on enabling MKV in Media Center and I’ve been doing that ever since. I have just recently discovered that I may be able to enable MKV playback in Media Center with one single package from DivX+ and will be investigating. In the meantime, I know he groovyPost method works, so if MKV’s are something you want to be able to playback, check out their How To and you’ll be watching MKV’s in no time.
There is a “Free Version” but for as little as $3.40, you can download the full deal that automates a lot of functions.
Other Add-ons and Plugins
There is a huge number of add-ons and plugins out there to expand and improve your Media Center experience. The ones I've detailed above are the ones that we use in our HTPC, but there are many more excellent ones that I've not tried. Here's a few of them worth checking out:
- My Movies – Excellent replacement for your Movie and TV Collections
- Media Browser – Yet another replacement for your Movie and TV collections.
- Media Center Master – Backend support for managing your Media Collection
- Heat Wave – Local weather right in your Media Center menus
- mcShoutCast – Addon that brings mcShoutCast Internet Radio into Media Center
FYI – Container guidance is
FYI – Container guidance is off. Rename “C:WindowsSystem32mfds.dll”, install LAV Filters. Done.
If you want HBR bit streaming LAV Audio will need some configuring. Same is true on the video side if you want HWA decoding.
Almost forgot. The installer
Almost forgot. The installer should register LAV for MKV, but if it doesn’t put this in a .reg (mkv.reg) file and run it.
Concerning leaving the box
Concerning leaving the box running 24/7 to make sure extenders can access content on demand… I’m not 100% clear on what settings I’ve got configured for this to work but my own Media Center recording box actually just wakes up automatically if it’s asleep when I load up Media Center on my Xbox. It’s maybe an extra 2 second delay (if that) compared to loading it up when the machine is already running. I don’t have one of those Ceton extenders to see if it works with that as well, but I don’t see why not.
Too bad about your IR receiver not liking sleep mode, but I just thought I should mention that you don’t NEED to leave such a box running 24/7 if your goal is to stick it in a corner and only really use extenders.
I’m pretty sure setting up
I'm pretty sure setting up the BIOS/UEFI to wake on LAN would work fine if I can figure out why the IR receiver won't wake up. I'm going to keep experimenting 🙂
if you put a cross in the
if you put a cross in the green and black wire on the 24 pin connector, it will leave the psu on, thus leaving the IR sensor functioning. hope this helps.
Two things I would recommend
Two things I would recommend based on my own personal experience. First, if you ever plan on watching copy protected content, I can’t recommend the Gefen HDMI Detective enough. Windows HDCP support is terrible, especially if you have a receiver with an HDMI splitter. The HDMI detective stores the EDID’s of devices down the chain making the EDID always available regardless of the status of the devices. This is really useful for setups in which you want to have it go to sleep and wake up.
This also leads into my next suggestion. Media Center Standby Tool is a great utility to make your HTPC act even more like a regular DVR.
For premium cable I recommend the Silicondust HD Homerun Prime CableCARD tuner. I currently use it because cable service is included with my rent. All I pay the cable company for HD channels is a $2 CableCARD rental. The HDHomeRun is much better than Ceton’s option in my opinion because of the versatility it has by being a network tuner. Unlike the Ceton which requires the primary HTPC to be on at all times for tuner sharing the Prime is always there ready to go. I also had issues with resuming from standby with the Ceton. Having TV available on every computer in the house is really nice, and HDTV over WiFi is actually pretty good. Dropouts occur occasionally, but not much.
My HTPC:
Intel Celeron G530
ASRock H61M/U3S3 Motherboard
HIS Radeon HD 7770
4GB Corsair DDR3 1600
WD Green 750GB
ASUS Blu-Ray Drive
Corsair CX430 PSU
Hauppauge HVR-2250
Silverstone GD05B Case
Logitech K400 Keyboard/Mouse
Rosewill RHRC-11001
Silicondust HDHomeRun Prime
This build was designed with being my one stop shop for everything (TV, Couch Gaming, Blu-Ray, etc.) It has served me well as believe it or not the Celeron has more than enough juice for HTPC/Light gaming duties while running cool. It was definitely a learning process, and I went over budget when I decided to add CableCARD into the mix.
My recommendation to anyone deciding to build their own HTPC, especially if you plan to use CableCARD, is to plan ahead, do tons of research, and expect headaches.
Overall, you had a very well written, informative, and conclusive article series. Well done good sir.
Like many people who have a
Like many people who have a serious media collection I have it all stored on a NAS.
Sadly on my HTPC I installed w8 because the interface seemed more sensible on an HTPC than classic windows (rookie mistake no 1!).
The NAS is on a workgroup because I also have desktops running XP (for work, why change), laptops running Vista (the laptop was free). W8 libraries do not play nicely with this, in fact but for a dreadful fudge they will not play at all. The idea of switching everything to a homegroup may not work either because of the multiple OSs across the home network and my HTPC is not on 24/7.
MS have not really understood the concept that home users might use a NAS.
Time to build a small server and set up an active domain !
Great article Chris!
A few
Great article Chris!
A few other things to do with your HTPC. If you haven’t checked out PLEX or XBMC, give them a look (for watching content off your network etc). I have XBMC running on my Raspberry Pi 🙂 I too have a (couple of) NAS drives/servers and like to store all my stuff for streaming around the house. I can do it with WMC, but I prefer PLEX for compatibility (too may iOS, Mac, Win, Android devices).
For control, I gave up on trying to use a remote. My Silverstone LC16M case came with a nice WMC remote and I’ll occasionally use it but for controlling my HT”PC”, I use a wireless Logitech keyboard with a built in trackpad. Its actually the one they made for their failed Google TV (have one of those too) but I picked it up online for $30. There are a few custom Google TV buttons and it isn’t backlit but I love it.
There are some great iPhone/iPad/Android remote apps out there that can be slick. Mobile Mouse is one of my favorites. If you have a smartphone or tablet already, these can give you really nice custom UI’s for different apps on the HTPC.
Boxee TV is crap, but there is a new product from a Kickstarter project called Simple.TV. Similar to Boxee but you record locally. Might be an option for those people that don’t want to build an HTPC.
There are a few alternatives out there for people if they don’t want to use WMC. I still use BeyondTV on one of my machines. I don’t think the development is too active on it but you can still buy it. It isn’t cheap, but it had a lot of post-processing features that I really loved.
I still use my old Hauppauge HVR-850 USB tuner and also a 1850. I’m lookiing to pick up the Centon quad tuner since I havne’t convinced the wife/kids to drop cable yet. (my goal for 2013).
Something to keep in mind as well for those that are afraid about lack of content. I can’t remember if you mentioned iTunes or Amazon Instant Video but both of these are great options for picking up content. RedBox has also just started a streaming service. I unfortunately have Hulu Plus and Netflix Subscriptions (dropping Netflix soon). the reason I like iTunes (no groaning) is that I can pick up a season pass for certain shows and watch them they day after they air. You may have to wait for some premium content like Game of Thrones, Homeland etc since HBO/Showtime want to milk their own services as much as possible first. Amazon has really turned out to be a suprise for me. $70/yr for Prime and I get free 2-day shipping on most purchases, Instant Video and a number of other perks. They just released a player for iPhone/iPod so they now cover the array of iOS devices for Instant Video streaming.
Brady,
I don’t know your
Brady,
I don’t know your specific use case, but I’d highly recommend looking into the HD Homerum Prime over the Ceton. The Prime changes channels significantly faster, and if you want to have your htpc go to sleep the Prime is much better at handling that than the Ceton. I kept having issues with the Ceton on resume. Plus, the Ceton gets really really hot. Also, because the prime uses your network any computer on your network can access TV using one of the three available tuners.
Just food for thought. In my experience the Ceton was nothing but headaches whereas the Prime has been fantastic. Also, keep in mind that the CableCARD tuners are only supported by Windows Media Center right now. That being said however Silicon dust just added DLNA certification to the Prime which means thou can view channels on DLNA devices like the PS3. Yet again though, the PS3 is currently the only DLNA device that will allow viewing of protected content.
When you say protected
When you say protected content, can you elaborate?
As for my use case – good luck 🙂 I just like this space so I’ve been playing with devices, hardware, software for at least 10 years now. I have 2x Rokus, 2x Apple TVs, Google TV, Sony SMP-N100 media player (tried N200), Boxee TV, Raspberry PI (running XMBC), Popcorn Hour 100, 3-4 devices no longer made, WD stuff, Seagate stuff, and 3 HTPCs.. I’m sure I’m missing a bunch too. (not including all the “smart” TV’s, Blu Ray players etc).
I’ve looked at the Home Run. I almost bit the bullet a few times on that. I’m probably picking up the Smart.TV thing I mentioned first and after that I’ll have to check out the Home Run. The Centon was really just a replacement for my Hauppauge that is getting a little old and figured I’d go with something that could do CableCard/Multi-Tuner. May have to rethink that.
In the end, the Beyond TV software I used to use would run on a box in the back (4tuner cards) it would record everything I wanted, post-process it all into various formats, move it to my media servers and bob’s your uncle. I tore apart that box 4-5 years ago so I’m looking to go back to something similar. I want the family to be able to EASILY click a few buttons and find content on the network without a lot of fuss. Since some of them are stuff watching Housewives of who gives a crap, I’m still going to be stuck using stuff like iTunes/Apple TV to give them access to that. I just picked up a Mac Mini to possibly turn into another HTPC using XBMC, PLEX and iTunes. Probably put that up with them in the main viewing room.
This is the problem with this space, so many options, so many media content owners, so many people trying to “own” it. As a result, consumers get the shaft. I don’t pirate content – period. But here I am waiting more than a year to PAY for it on iTunes because HBO is such a dumbass company. Drives me nuts.
I ranted about this on my site…
Oatmeal has a great comic about this too… awesome stuff
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones
Yeah, for you I would not
Yeah, for you I would not recommend either the Ceton or the Homerun Prime because of the CableCARD requirement. Those tuners will function without a CableCARD after initial setup, but they, and I can’t stress this enough, can not tune anything other than digital or clearQAM streams. For you I would recommend a Hauppage 2250. It supports ATSC and ClearQAM with the ability to tune 2 streams at once. Your other option could be the regular HD Homerun which is an ATSC/ClearQAM network tuner with 2 tuners as well. You could get two of them which would provide a total of 4 streams for any compatible device on your network.
Now, to explain what I meant by protected content. TV programming has two flags that the companies can set: copy-freely or copy-once. Copy-freely has virtually no restrictions allowing it to be played back on pretty much any device. Copy-once are your protected channels which only allow playback on the device they were recorded on. The flags are set differently by each cable provider. My cable provider sets the standard OTA networks (Fox, ABC, etc) as copy-freely, and everything else to copy-once. This means that Discovery HD, BBC America, etc are all copy-once and can only be played back on the HTPC that recorded them. You can’t even use a media center extender to watch those recordings. The DRM system implemented for cable is a total pain, and based on what you told me digital cable is really not an option for you unless you decide to go ahead and run Windows. As I said before Windows Media Center is currently the only software that supports CableCARD devices, leaving Mac and Linux users out in the cold.
I hate DRM, but like you I choose to enjoy content legally and as such I have had to work through several headaches to get everything working as I like. If you read further up you will see how my setup is arranged.
If you would like to see the backbone of my cable setup:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e331/lunarx3dfx/2012-09-05184832_zpsb4f72716.jpg
The way I have everything setup is the router serves as my NAS with the 2 TB hard drive (mainly for XBMC and backups), and you can also see my Prime and the SDV adapter provided by the cable company. SDV is also another PITA that you have to deal with. I wont go into detail about what it does, but I will just say that it is required to view certain channels (yet again depending on who your cable provider is).
Thanks. Thats what I
Thanks. Thats what I thought you meant about the protected content, but wanted to make sure they didn’t slip in something else when I wasn’t paying attention.
Lunar, I did get a laugh out of seeing SIN on the shelf. I was at BFG when NVIDIA suckered us into paying to bundle SIN Episodes… We had so many of those laying around.. (That and GRAW).
I’ll take a pic and diagram my stuff some time.
SIN lol. I actually enjoyed
SIN lol. I actually enjoyed that game even though it wasn’t good by any stretch. I can’t believe you worked for BFG. I loved BFG products. I was sad to see them go. Although, it sounds like you guys were screwed by NVIDIA.
I would like to see your setup. I love to see the different HTPC setups that people have.
It is perfect time tto make
It is perfect time tto make some plans for the future and it’s time to
be happy. I have read this post and if I couyld I wish to suggest you some interesting things or advice.
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Chris,
Do you use an amp on
Chris,
Do you use an amp on your antenna? I’m about 50+ miles from Chicago (and Milwaukee) and pretty much north/south so I picked up a decent antenna http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-DB2-Directional-Antenna/dp/B000EHUE7I/ref=sr_1_44?ie=UTF8&qid=1355795171&sr=8-44&keywords=hdtv+antenna+outdoor
I get about 30 channels (some dupes) but with a $20 amp from local home improvement store, it cleans up the signal on a few and brings in another 7 channels I didn’t get before. I’m sure there are better/cleaner amps but for $20, I’m not complaining.
I watched the SuperBowl in Jan on the projector 100inches, 720P and full surround – all over the air. Was amazing. Way better than the “HD” from comcast.
Yeah, I have an inline
Yeah, I have an inline booster on the antenna to help boost the signal and push it down the coax. I was using a simple Radio Shack inline booster that I don't believe is available anymore. I've since gone with the Antennas Direct CPA19 booster and had pretty good luck with it.
Yeah I need to look at some
Yeah I need to look at some other stuff. I have one channel I’d like to get a better signal on. The booster I’m using is only a 10db gain but then again it was under $20 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/RCA-10dB-Video-Signal-Amplifier/dp/B000N7FQB8/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1356047570&sr=1-5&keywords=RCA+Antenna+booster
An impressive share! I’ve
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a co-worker who has been conducting a little research on this. And he actually bought me dinner because I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this issue here on your web page. watch Bethlehem online