Downloads

Magic Slideshow for Windows Media Center V1.2

Ian Dixon — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:17:48 GMT

Application by: Nick Kirkpatrick

UPDATE 1.2 Adds an option to hide the application title, to give a more streamlined UI

Magic Slideshow for Media Center

Magic Slideshow for Media Center offers an alternative to the standard slideshow that you can view whilst playing music in Media Center.
Rather than taking it's selection from all of your photos, it will display photos taken in the year that the song was released.
There are a host of options available (show images randomly, tweak the displayed information, only show highly rated photos etc.) to mould the application as desired.

How does it work?

It works by caching a file list of images found in the folders you provide, but it does this in the background (whilst the application is running) so it isn't intrusive.
It updates this cache on a regular basis (option to control the refresh rate is available) - and you can force a refresh in the application.
The year comes from the date the photo was taken (in the Tag information) or the file modified date is no Date Taken can be found.

There is also a "standard slideshow mode", which removes the link between song years and pictures, so you can ditch the built-in Media Center slideshow for good, and enjoy a fun, flexible slideshow experience every time!

Magic Slideshow for Media Center runs on Vista and Windows 7 platforms - you will find it under the Extras menu strip on Windows 7 systems and additionally under the Music & Pictures menu strips on Vista.
It's also on the More with this... menu for all music contexts (song/artist/genre/playlist/album) - so wherever you are, Magic Slideshow is never far away!

The Application in Detail

Main Screen - No Music Playing

Loading the application without music playing will show you this screen:

Here you can adjust the options, but no pictures will show until music is playing.

Options Screen

The options screen looks like this - accessed by clicking the "Options" text at the bottom of the main screen:

By default, the application will look for pictures in your Pictures folder, and will work in "magic" mode (showing pictures related to the song's release year), but you can change these and the following other options:

* The types of image you want to include in the slideshows - comma-separated list. Default: JPG, BMP and GIF.
* The folders to look in for images - comma-separated list. Default: the user's Pictures directory.
Changes to either of these two options will automatically trigger a renewal of the image cache - it will tell you when it's finished (you can carry on using Media Center during this time).

* The image to show if no matching pictures can be found in the specified folders - there is an application-default that can be overridden here - enter the path and file name. Default: empty (uses application-default).

Some simple tick-boxes:

* Show images in order (year, rating, title) or show random images. Default: In Order.
* Ask if the user wants to go to Music Library if no music is playing (when application starts). Default: No, don't ask.
* Show details of the current song (the "Now Playing" information) on the screen (bottom-left corner). Default: Yes, show details.
* Show rating of the picture currently being displayed (if available) - taken from the Tag information in the file. Default: Yes, show rating.
* Show the title (file name and month/year taken) of the picture currently being displayed. Default: Yes, show title.
* Show the year of the song currently playing. Default: Yes, show the year.
* Enable standard slideshow mode - rather than showing year-specific pictures, works as a normal slideshow. Default: No, work in "magic" mode.

And finally some numbers...

* How long should the list of images be stored before automatically refreshing it (in days) - reduce this to keep a more up-to-date list, increase it to limit the times it refreshes the cache. Default: 7 days.
* How long to show each image on the screen (also how long it takes to react to a change in year of current song etc.) - in seconds. Default: 5 seconds.
* Restrict the images shown to a specific minimum rating (between 0 and 5) - want to limit the slideshow to show just your best/favourite photos - specify an inclusive minimum here. Default: 0 or above.

From here you can also manually trigger a refresh of the image cache - if you've added new pictures and want to include them straight away... Click the text and you can continue to use Media Center as normal.

Main Screen - Slideshow Active

With music playing, and the image list populated, you'll see something like this:

Here, depending on the options you've set, you will see the year of release of the current song, the title and rating of the photo currently being shown, the "Now Playing" information, and some controls that will allow you to interact with the slideshow as it is active.

These controls, in the top-right corner will allow you to manually skip to the next image ("Next") and toggle the state of the slideshow ("Pause" which changes to "Play" when paused).
If you don't want to see these controls - untick the box next to them, and they'll be hidden - tick it again to bring it back.
They will also be hidden when music is stopped, and Play/Pause will be hidden when music is paused (the slideshow pauses in this case).

So...

...put on some music, sit back and enjoy a different view of your Media Center Picture Library.

I hope that you try it, and like it - any problems or feedback please let me know.

TDL Reader Beta 1 64bit

Ian Dixon — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:19:50 GMT

Get all The Digital Lifestyle.com content directly in Windows Media Center. The Media Center addin includes all the blogs, podcasts and videos all from the Media Center 10 foot UI

Works with Media Center Extenders too!

This is the 64bit version for Windows Vista and Windows 7

The download is now located in the Media Center app store: http://www.madeformediacenter.com/m4mc/app.aspx?id=6dcf4f00-a8d8-47d5-8104-3793cb0a3f69

TDL Reader Beta 1 32bit

Ian Dixon — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:18:06 GMT

Get all The Digital Lifestyle.com content directly in Windows Media Center. The Media Center addin includes all the blogs, podcasts and videos all from the Media Center 10 foot UI

Works with Media Center Extenders too!

This is the 32bit version for Windows Vista and Windows 7

The download has been moved to the Windows Media Center app store: http://www.madeformediacenter.com/m4mc/app.aspx?id=6dcf4f00-a8d8-47d5-8104-3793cb0a3f69

Developing Windows Media Center Applications Slides

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:11:55 GMT

Andrew Cherry's slides on Developing Windows Media Center Applications Slides from the user group April 21st

UK UG Windows 7 Presentation

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:10:40 GMT

Slides Garry Whittaker and Ian Dixon's Windows 7 Presentation from the UK User Group April 21st

Slides from the 1st UG User Group

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:28:57 GMT

Main slides from the 1st UK Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server User Group

April 21st 2009

A First Look: Windows Home Server

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:24:52 GMT

From the 1st User Group Meeting - Windows Home Server MVP Andrew Edney's "A First Look: Windows Home Server" presentation

Media Center Health Monitor for Media Center and Home Server

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:53:02 GMT

Media Center Health Monitor monitors the Media Center Event Log and warns of Recording errors and any service issues that would effect the recordings. The program sits in the tray has has health status, Green = All is OK, Yellow = Warnings and Red=Service Errors.

See the screen shots bellow:

Also there is a addon for Media Center Health Monitor. The addon monitors the health of all your Media Center systems whether they are clients of the Home Server or not as it uses the cloud based Media Center Health Monitor store.

You must create an signup at on the Media Center Health Monitor Site to get the download

Each of the Media Center systems that the client is install on reports back to the Health Monitor Store, so on the Windows Home Server you enter your Media Center Health Monitor account details and then the WHS addin will start monitoring the systems

It will update the heath of Windows Home Server to alert you of events and also remove the error when the issue has been fixed on the client machine

You can also see the last 50 events from your Media Center systems

To get starting with the application, go to Health.TheDigitalLifestyle.com and sign in then go to the downloads section and download the WHS addin. Then copy the MSI file in to the Windows Home Server Software Add-in folder e.g. \\HomeServer\Software\Add-Ins

Then on the Home Server console go to Settings and look at the Available Add-ins page and click Install. The application will then be install and you can enter your account details. If you add additional Media Center systems you do not have to do anything to the Home Server addin it will be updated automatically

This is the first build of the Addin so I will appreciate your feedback

Media Center Decoder Utility

Ian Dixon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:38:23 GMT

For Vista, TV Pack and Windows 7

More information HERE

A couple of big new features.

Take Ownership: To work round the issues with codecs being secure in Windows 7 and in some versions of Vista with TV Pack installed this option will take ownership of the default codec files and rename them to a .mcdu.bak file if you choose a non-standard codec If you then choose to go back to the standard decoders the utility will rename them back..

WARNING CHANGING THE DEFAULT MICROSOFT CODEC FOR LIVE TV CAN BREAK OTHER APPLICATIONS. RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR A PURELY MEDIA CENTER SETUP
Show decoders not named video or audio. By default MCDU will show all codecs that have Video Decoder or Audio Decoder in the title – even if they are not marked as Media Center decoders. By checking this option al other decoders will be included. Use at your own risk.

If you are running Windows 7 Take Ownership will be checked at start up.

IMPORTANT IF YOU HAVE ALREADY RENAMED THE DEFAULT MICROSOF CODEC FILES THEN THE AUTO RENAMING WILL NOT WORK. RENAME THEM BACK BEFORE USING THE UTILITY.

And finally the holy grail…. FFDSHOW being used for live tv in 7 Media Center. To get FFDShow to recognise Live TV you will need to enable the MPEG in AVI option.

mControl v2.00 (Home Edition) 30 Day Trial

Ian Dixon — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:40:36 GMT

mControl is software for your digital home. From your Media Center PC, via Internet Explorer or through your Windows Mobile device, you can control all aspects of your home with a touch of a button.

download mControl v2.00 (Home Edition) Build 2811 (2007-09-12)

Requires Microsoft .NET 2.0

mControl digital software home:

It is easy. mControl fits right into your media center system so that it can be viewed from your TV and operated with a remote control.

It is convenient. mControl runs on virtually all Microsoft Windows systems and can be accessed using a browser from anywhere.

It is easy on your wallet. mControl has been designed to work with off-the-shelf components so that no expensive and/or complicated back-end equipment is required.

It is powerful. mControl supports leading-edge technologies, like INSTEON and Z-Wave. mControl features a powerful, but very easy to use, macro engine which allows you take control of your digital home.

It is expandable. mControl can be used to control a couple of switches/devices or it can be expanded to control thermostats, security system and other systems.

It is all you need. There is no need to learn additional software packages. From within mControl every element of home automation can be set and adjusted.

For more details go to http://www.embeddedautomation.com/EAHAmControl.htm

De-Dupe DVRMS

Ian Dixon — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:40:24 GMT

A Windows utility to search your Recorded TV or any other folder containing DVR-MS (Media Center Recorded TV) files and scan the metadata to identify duplicate episodes and list these with an option for easy deletion

by Garry Whittaker

http://mediacenterexpert.blogspot.com/

mceBackup 2.0

Ian Dixon — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:09:44 GMT

EDIT

This is V2 for Vista Media Center for Windows 7 you need mcBackup 3.0 available from MadeforMediaCenter.com

I have finally got round to getting a beta version of mceBackup 2.0 out. This is totally new version of my backup tool for Media Center

Features:

Backs up TV channel assignment
Backs up Scheduled recordings and series recordings
Backs up recorded TV to local drives, or networked drives (via UNC paths)
Backup up an additional folder
Has its own schedule engine for automating backups
Displays the status of critical Media Center services
Command line and GUI version available, 10 foot version coming soon
Works with Vista and XP
Can be used to transfer settings from one Media Center PC to another

Requires .net framework 2.0 to be installed

Download the beta

Your feedback will be appreciated please leave comments at

http://iandixon.co.uk/cs/forums/17/ShowForum.aspx

Notes:

mceBackup 2.0 Beta

This tool enables you to backup Media Center TV settings (including scheduled recordings) and Recorded TV

There is a GUI tool, a command line tool and a service for scheduled backups

I have tested the application under Vista and it all works but to enable restarting of the Schedule service the GUI tool
launched a external program to restart the service and that program will prompt for system access.
If the service is not restarted the automatic backup will not see the changed to the schedule.

When installing on Vista run the Setup.exe and not the MSI, also the first run startup time

The command line options are not as rich as the GUI version at the moment.

UPDATE to this build (0.70) now backs up atsccprefs.xml and works with non-english locals

To backup now:
Load the GUI tool
Set the backup paths on the Backup Location Tab
click on the Backup and Restore Now tab
select the type of backup
click on Backup now

To set a automatic backup
Click on the Schedule tab
pick the days of the week and the back time.
click apply
the backup service will be restarted

Restoring Media Center Settings
Click on the Backup and Restore tab
Click on Restore Now
Media Center Services can be restarted to avoid rebooting

Getting it working with Vista was a real challenge with the changes to user access security!