Main Menu
I. Starting up
- Introducing Windows Media Center 7/li>
- HTPC Basics : Audio-Video
II. Organizing your Movie/TV Show libraries
- Media Center Master - Automatic Movies/TV Shows library organization
II. The Frontend - Windows 7 Media Center
- Blu Ray & MKV playback
- Configuring an external player for playback (Media Player Classic Home Cinema)
- Media Browser
- Advanced Media Browser theme customization (Subdued theme)
- Windows 7 Media Center Themes
- Media Center Plugins & Addons
- AirPlay Client support for 7MC
- Blu Ray/DVD ripping from within Media Center
Tehnical specificationsSupported containers
- MKV*, M2TS/TS, VOB, MPG, M4V, AVI, ASF, WMV, MP4, MOV, DVD disk
- Physical Blu Ray disk, Blu Ray Folder Structure & Blu Ray ISO playback requires Total Media Theatre or Power DVD
- H.264, VC-1, MPEG2,Xvid, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV 9
- Dolby True HD*, DTS, Dolby Digital (AC3), LPCM, AAC, MP3, FLAC*, APE Audio, Vorbis
- DTS-HD Master Audio*, Dolby True HD*, DTS*, Dolby Digital*, Dolby Digital Plus*, LPCM
- JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF
- PGS, SRT, SUB/IDX, SSA
- Windows : DXVA (compatible with Nvidia/Ati/Intel graphic cards)
Interface (skins)
- 15 beautiful themes (Subdued theme shown in the screenshots) for the Media Browser plugin, and 9 themes for the Media Center interface
Live TV support (PVR/DVR)
- Best in class Live TV implementation
- Wide array of tuner support, including support for the Ceton Cable Card tuner
Addons
- A small selection of 3rd part addons, including Weather, Youtube, Email checker, Outlook, Remote Potato
- Built in Netflix addon
Operating Sistem support : Windows 7
Windows 7You can find and download the official Windows 7 ISO images directly from the MS Store, using these links. These ISO images are perfectly legal since they do not include any type of serial key.
The Windows 7 USB Tool from and use it to create a bootable USB drive ( a 3GB or more USB thumb drive is required) from which you can install Windows 7.
- Windows 7 USB Tool : (download)
HTPC Basics : Audio-Video
In this first section of the guide, we will discuss the basics of the home theater PC, like technical terms and acronims. The point is to familiarize newbies with technical terms and acronims used in the guide. If you`re not intrested in these tehnical matters, you can just skip this part.
Audio-Video codecs/containers/decodersContainers (video & audio)
- A container is a file format whose specification describes how different data elements and metadata coexist in a computer file. Simpler container formats can contain different types of audio formats, while more advanced container formats can support multiple audio and video streams, subtitles, chapter-information, and meta-data (tags). Some examples are MKV, M2TS, VOB.
- A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream. Example of video encoding codecs are H.264 & VC-1 used in Blu ray material, and MPEG2 used in DVD content, and audio codecs such as MP3, DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio etc.
- A splitter is a software component that splits each individual data stream stream inside a container and send it to the appropiate decoder. Some examples would be the Haali Media Splitter or MPC-HC standalone splitters
- A codec pack consists of various splitters/decoders in one single package that get installed on your computer via a single setup wizard, as opossed to manually installing each one individually. Windows uses DirectShow filters.
Outputting audio from your HTPC to your Audio-Video ReceiverThere are 2 modes for connecting your HTPC to your AVR :
a) Bitstreaming via a digital connection Bitstreaming (or pasthrough) means that the HTPC outputs the untouched audio stream to the Audi-Video receiver for decoding, and all of the decoding process is done on the AVR, nothing is being altered on the HTPC. DTS/DTS-HD Master Audio/Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital should appear on the display of the Audio-Video Receiver. Botstreming can be done via the 2 available digital connections :
- Bitstreaming via HDMI - DTS-HD Master Audio*, Dolby TrueHD*, LPCM, DTS, Dolby Digital (AC3).
- Bitstreaming via S/PDIF - DTS, Dolby Digital (AC3), 2 channel LPCM.
- ATI/AMD HD5xxx/6xxx series graphic cards
- Nvidia GT430 & GT520 graphic cards
- Intel Core i3 with integrated Intel HD 1000/2000 GPU
- Asus Xonar Hdav 1.3
- FFdshow audio decoder : Can decode Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD. Cannot decode DTS-HD Master Audio, it only decodes the "core" DTS stream
- Total Media Theater 5 internal decoder : Can decode Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio
Organizing your Movie/TV Show libraries
Most programs like Media Browser and XBMC require the user to have a certain folder structure organization for their Movies and TV Shows so that the applications can use their internal metadata scrappers to identify the movies or TV Shows. Usually, also a proper name for the file + the year ( ex : Avatar (2009) ) are required. Here`s a couple of examples of how the folder structures should look like
Movies
| D:\ Movies\First Movie (2007)\ First Movie.mkv |
| D:\Movies\ Second Movie (2008)\ Second Movie.avi |
| D:\Movies\ Third Movie (2009)\ BDVM\ Certificate |
TV Series
| D:\TV Shows\ Great Show\ Season 1\ Great Show s01e01.avi, Great Show s01e02.avi etc. |
| D:\TV Shows\ Great Show\ Season 2\ Great Show s02e01.avi, Great Show s02e02.avi etc. |
Local Movie Trailers
| D:\Movies \First Movie (2007)\ Trailers\ trailer.avi |
| D:\Movies\ Second Movie (2008)\ Trailers\ trailer.mp4 |
Using Media Center Master to organize your media library
Description Media Center Master is metadata and movie collection management application. MCM is not mandatory for Media Browser or XBMC to get metadata, since these apps have their own built in metadata collection agents (or "scrappers") but it has some nice features that make managing your media collection easy. If you don`t need these features and you already have a proper file structure like the one i described above, you can skip MCM alltogether
- It allows the users to more easily organize their media, by auto-renaming and auto-moving movies and TV shows in their proper folder structure
- It stores metadata locally, inside each movie folder.
- It allows you to easily select the desired backdrop/poster or edit movie information (synopsis and stuff like that) written in the MyMovie.xml of the movie, information that Media Browser will display. It also allows you to set the maximum number of backdrops to be downloaded, download trailers for your movie collection and other advanced features
- Media Center Master (download)
- Select "Rename folder during fetch" & "Rename files" too
Click Application -> Select "Use Auto-Scan"
Application -> Set scan folders (setting up the media library directories)
- Select "Set Scan folders"
- Select your media folders and then click "Done"
Now MCM will automatically start moving/renaming files to the proper folder structure and download metadata.
Using Media Center Master to modify existing metadata
1) Changing the default poster.
- Right Click on the the desired movie name from the main list, and choose artwork manager
- Select the folder.jpg option from the list and then click "Add from fetchers".
- A thumbstrip with all available poster will show up, choose the one you like and press enter.
2) Changing/Editing the movie information (synopsis/plot etc.).
- Right click on the movie you desire to edit and select the "Edit metadata" option from the menu
- You will be presented with a menu where you can change every detail of the movie metadata. Once you`re finished, just click "Done"
Getting started : Blu Ray & MKV playback
Introduction
By default Windows 7 Media Center only supports a limited number of video containers and cannot bitstream audio. It does not support MKV or FLAC for example, and cannot play Blu ray disks or Blu Ray ISO/Folder Structure rips. To enable playback of these file types and disks, we need to use a codec pack (the Shark 007 Win7 Pack) and/or an external player like Total Media Theater 5.
- The Shark007 Codec Pack will allow 7 Media Center to playback MKV and FLAC, and enable bistreaming of DTS/DTS-HD Master Audio/Dolby Digital/Dolby TrueHD to a compatible Audio-Video Receiver from the MKV container.
- Total Media Theater 5 will allow 7MC to playback Blu Ray disk and Blu Ray rips in ISO or folder structure format, with bitstreaming of DTS/DTS-HD Master audio/Dolby Digital/Dolby TrueHD from these formats
- We also have the option to use Media Player Classic Home Cinema as an external player for MKV playback if we choose so.
- Total Media Theater 5 (Buy/Download trial)
- Virtual Clone Drive (download) (Optional, for Blu Ray ISO playback only)
- For bitstreaming : Select HDMI (or S/PDIF if your HTPC is connected via an S/PDIF port) and "Use primary audio only"
- For analog audio : Choose your speaker configuration
2) MKV playback Software
Installation
- At the Setup Tab, choose Custom instalation
- From the dropbox, disable Thumbnail components.
- Select Next and Complete.
- For bitstreaming audio : Check use pass-through. Click on the "Setup LAV audio" and select the desired audio formats to be bitstreamed.
- For analog audio : Select your speaker configuration. Click on the "Setup LAV audio" and then close the window.
H.264 Tab
- Under "H264 Codec in Direct Show Players box" choose "Use FFdshow DXVA" button.
MKV Tab
- Select "Use LAV Splitter"
- Select "Disable thumbnails"
SWAP Tab
- Select "Use FFdshow DXVA for WVC1 instead of Microsoft"
64bit Windows users only
- Everything above + install the 64bit components. After that, go to Start Menu -> Shark 007 Codec, click "x64 settings" and do the same settings as you did with the 32bit configuration
External player playback : Media Player Classic Home Cinema
In case you are somehow not satisfied with the default 7MC internal player for MKV playback, Media Browser has the option to use an external player like MPC-HC for playback, just like we used Total Media Theater in the above section for Blu ray folders/ISO images & disks. In this case, we have 2 scenarios :
- You already have the Shark007 Codec Pack installed, in which case you do NOT need to install the LAV Filters/LAV Audio decoder and LAV CUVID decoder since they are included in the codec pack. Only MadVR is required as a separate download.
- You have not installed the Shark007 Codec Pack, in which case we need to install the LAV Filters and/or CUVID decoder + MadVR.
- MadVR is a high quality video renderer (GPU assisted), featuring high quality chroma upsampling, high quality scaling (bicubic, mitchell, lanczos, spline etc), high quality YCbCr -> RGB conversion, gamut & gamma correction for display calibration, full 16bit processing queue, final 16bit processing result is dithered down to RGB output bitdepth, bypasses graphics card's video algorithms, all work is done via GPU shaders, no shortcuts, highest quality has priority over anything else.
- LAV CUVID is a Video Decoder for NVIDIA graphics cards. It utilizes the CUDA Video Decoding API (“CUVID”), sometimes also referred to as simply CUDA decoding. LAV CUVID can use both full decode off-loading and partial acceleration, depending on your Hardware. In addition to decoding, it can also use the full hardware deinterlacer on NVIDIA GPUs, giving you the best deinterlacing quality currently possible in your system.
- LAV Audio is a multi-format audio decoder for DirectShow. It is based on ffmpeg and its main goal is to offer audio quality without compromise. LAV Audio supports Bitstreaming of DTS/DTS-HD Master Audio/Dolby Digital/Dolby TrueHD audio to a AV-Receiver through either HDMI or S/PDIF
A) Media Player Classic - Home Cinema + LAV Splitters & LAV Audio Software
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema configuration : External Filters tab
- Using the add filter option, add LAV Audio decoder, LAV Source Splitter to the external filter list
- Make sure you set each filter to preferred.
Bitstreaming audio
- If you want to configure the audio settings, specifically if you want to utilize bitstreaming, right click during playback and select Filters, then click on the LAV Audio decoder.
- Tick which sound formats should LAV pass to your AV receiver for decoding.
Filter list
- Right click during playback, and mouse over filters. If you configuration is working properly the filter list should look like the one in the image below
Keys tab (Remote control button mapping) Command -> App Command
| Play -> Media_Play |
| Pause -> Media_Pause |
| Stop -> Media_Stop |
| Exit -> Browser_Back |
| Next Subtitle -> MCE_Red |
| Next Audio -> MCE_Blue |
| Increase Rate -> Media_Fast_Forward |
| Decrease Rate -> Media_Rewind |
B) Media Player Classic - Home Cinema + MadVR, LAV Splitters, LAV Audio decoder & LAV CUVID decoder Software
- Media Player Classic Home Cinema (download)
- LAV Splitters + Audio decoder & LAV CUVID decoder(download)
- MadVR renderer (download)
- Using the add filter option, add LAV Audio decoder, LAV Source Splitter and LAV CUVID decoder to the external filter list
- Make sure you set each filter to preferred.
Output Tab
- Select MadVR as the output renderer
Bitstreaming audio
- If you want to configure the audio settings, specifically if you want to utilize bitstreaming, right click during playback and select Filters, then click on the LAV Audio decoder.
- Tick which sound formats should LAV pass to your AV receiver for decoding.
Filter list
- Right click during playback, and mouse over filters. If you configuration is working properly the filter list should look like the one in the image below
Keys tab (Remote control button mapping) Command -> App Command
| Play -> Media_Play |
| Pause -> Media_Pause |
| Stop -> Media_Stop |
| Exit -> Browser_Back |
| Next Subtitle -> MCE_Red |
| Next Audio -> MCE_Blue |
| Increase Rate -> Media_Fast_Forward |
| Decrease Rate -> Media_Rewind |
Media Browser : Basic configuration
Software
- Media browser (download)
- Automatic metadata retrieval
- Streaming latest online trailers
- Media bookmarking (resume play)
- Support for external players
- Vodcast support (video rss feeds)
- Third party plug-in architecture
- Automatic updates
- Custom view layouts
- Multiple themes
- Create random / full folder playlists
- Add your media collection (movies/tv shows/documentaries etc.)
- You can add multiple folders under one media collection
- You can create separate media collections like "HD Movies", "Horror Movies" etc.
Setting up a Movies by Genre/Year/Actor collection :
- Add a new Media Collection, pointing it to the same folder (or folders) as your normal movie collection. In our example here, this is “D:\Movies". Give the collection a name of your choosing (as long as it is different then your other one) for example: "Movies by Genre”. After this, close the configurator. Start Media Browser and open the new “Movies by Genre” Media Collection. Set the view to group by “Genre”. This Media Collection will now show your Media grouped by genre. Going back to your original media collection it will still show it sorted however you have it setup.
- If you want to add a custom poster for a specific movie or movie boxset, just put a poster named "folder.jpeg" or "folder.png" in the movie folder, and MB will use it instead of the default poster.
- If you want to change the media collection icon, use the Change Icon button or put a folder.jpeg/folder.png in the main collection folder (Movies/TV Shows etc.)
- MediaInfo - Displays information about your movie, resolution, aspect ratio, bitrate, video codec, audio codec/channels in the movie description.
- Highquality thumbnails - Generates thumbnails for those items that do not have an online thumbnail from the pulled metadata
- CovertArt - Plugin that applies custom covers or other effects for your covers of your movies, TV shows, without any other effort on your part. It will treat all items whether you have local images or not.
- Subtitle Provider - Automatically downloads subtitles for your movies in the language/s you have predefined
- Music Support - Explained in Part 3
- Favorites - Creates a new top-level folder in your MediaBrowser library into which you can dynamically add items you would like to view together at some point in time
- Films Like this - Allows you to select “Like This…” on a movie and it will return similar movies (based on metadata)
- IBN People Provider - Adds photos to your actors/director section.
- MB Trailers - HD 1080p/720p trailers streamed from providers like Apple trailers
Plugins Tab : Themes
- Lotus
- Pearl
- Subdued -> Used in the guide
- Diamond
- Chocolate
- Simplicity
- Carbon
- Customize the appereance of Media Browser, including media tracking, enhanced home screen, and the theme used.
- Untick "Dim unselected posters".
- Select "Hide Focus frame" & "Show Clock"
Podcasts tab
- This is where you can add your favorite podcasts so you can view them directly from the Media Browser interface
Extenders/ISO tab
- (for ISO playback) Select the mounting software, Virtual Clone Drive, the VCDMount.exe located in C:\Program Files\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive (32bit Windows) or C:\Program Files (x86)\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive (64 bit Windows)
- Select the drive letter, and tick Auto-play
External Players tab
- Here you can configure external players to be used with Media Browser for certain file type. You can add Total Media Theater 3/5* for Blu Ray and/or DVD types, and you can also add Media Player Classic Home Cinema for stuff like MKV.
* Note : For Total Media Theater 3, add the uMCEDVD.exe and for Total Media Theater 5 add UMCEDVDPlayer5.exe, not the normal TMT3/5.exe files.
Advanced theme customization (Subdued theme)
Subdued configuration
Enter Media Browser from the Windows 7 Media Center menu shortcut. Click on the wheel icon in the top right corner and select Configure
Subdued General tab
- Select Theme Style : Spy vs Spy 1
- Media Info icon sets : Mono
- Start Rating Style : Numeric
- Select : Show Clock/Config , Show Media info, Show End time and (Un)Watched indicator on Movies
Subdued Views tab
- Select Coverflow Rotation : To Right
Media Browser Customization
The ImagesByName folder allows you to customize Media Browser even further. The IBN folder can be found in C:\ProgramData:\MediaBrowser . By default, it does not exist, so you have to create it yourself, a folder called "ImagesByName". Please note that you have to have "show hidden files & folders" selected in the files & folder options, or else the ProgramData will not appear
. a) Adding custom backgrounds for the Main Media Browser menu ro each collection category (Movies/TVShows/Favorites/MBTrailers)
- Go to C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser. In the ImagesbyName folder create a new folder called General.
- In that General folder, create sub-folder named after your media collection (Movie/TVShows/MBTrailers/Favorites).
- To put a custom background, place the desired pic named as backdrop.jpg or backdrop.png into the appropiate sub-folder.
- You can download custom backgrounds from here : (download link)
b) Adding custom icons for the main Media Browser menu items (Movies/TVShows/Favorites/MBTrailers)
- Go to C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser. In the ImagesbyName folder go into the previously created folder called General.
- In that General folder, go into the previously sub-folder named after your media collection (Movie/TV Shows/MB Trailers/Favorites)
- To put a custom icon, place the desired pic named as folder.jpg or folder.png into the appropiate sub-folder.
- Go to C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser. In the ImagesbyName folder create a new folder called Studio
- Here is a complete set of 1100 color studio icons (download). Just unrar and drop them into the Studio folder.
Windows 7 Media Center themes & customization
Software :
- Media Center Studio (download)
- Shattered Glass (download)
- BokehRed (download)
- Fractal Tiger (download)
- Streaming light (download)
- More theme downloads : Hack7MC Download Center (link)
- Open up Media Center Studio
- Click the big green orb button and select Import Theme
- Select your theme from the GUI annd click the Themes tab.
- Click Apply and then close Media Center Studio
Media Center plugins/addons
- Heatwave is a Vista and Windows 7 Media Center application for displaying the current weather conditions and a four day forecast for any number of global locations.
- With Media Center Mail you can read your e-mails on your Media Center TV. Media Center Mail comes with its own mail system for receiving e-mails from POP3 servers
- With Media Center RSS Reader you can read news items from any RSS feed on your Media Center TV. Moreover, you can use it to listen to podcasts or to watch vodcasts (video blogs).The content that Media Center RSS Reader displays is the same as displayed in Internet Explorer.
- With Media Center Outlook you can read your e-mails, consult your calendar, see information about your contacts, watch your tasks and read your notes. Media Center Outlook retrieves all this information from Microsoft Outlook and displays it on your Media Center TV.
- If you're looking for a way to view YouTube videos from within Media Center then you might like to give this plug-in a go, also featuring Dailymotion & MSN Soapbox
- With Media Center Twitter you can read the messages your friends and idols posted on Twitter, but you can also post your own status updates. All on your Media Center TV.
- With Media Center Stocks you can see the current prices of stocks of your choice.
Moreover you can see graphs of their historic prices. All on your Media Center TV.
- In The Movies for MCE covers information about movies in theaters. The current features are "Now Playing" which shows you the movies that are currently playing in theaters. "Show Times" which gives you movie showtimes from your local theaters. "Coming Soon" a quick look at the up and coming movies. "Box Office" the weekend box office top 50 movies
- Big screen Web browser with MCE integration
- Increases the number of supported tuners for 7MC to an unlimited number. The default limit is 4.
- Remote Potato is the missing part of Windows 7 Media Center. You can manage and watch your recordings over the Internet from any web browser. Record shows, watch shows, manage recordings, browse the EPG. Home late from the office? No problem, just open a web browser and tell your Media Center PC to record that sitcom, so it's waiting for you when you get in. On holiday? Stream that sitcom you recorded direct to your hotel room!
- Now available is an application that pulls up your channel listings, and automatically adds logos for those listings. In just a minute, I went from a guide with all text to a guide with over 350 beautiful logos.
- Songler is an add-in for Windows Media Center for playing music content from multiple legal streaming music providers - currently Spotify, Last.fm and YouTube. It allows both free and premium Spotify subscribers you to play any of Spotify's 6 million tracks instantly, directly from your Media Center, all controlled with your remote. It also allows you to scrobble the tracks that you are playing in Songler to last.fm to build up your music profile, and last.fm subscribers can stream all of their radio stations too.
- With Power Manager you can tell other PC's in your network to wake-up or to go into hibernation. You can do so from a PC or even from a Windows Mobile phone!
AirPlay Target support for Windows 7 Media Center
Software Install Bonjour first, then the AirPlay plugin. No other configuration is required. Once you are done with the installation, try streaming a video from your iDevice (has to be on the same wireless network as your HTPC) to your Windows Media Center HTPC (7MC needs to be running or else you will not have the option to stream).
Automatic Blu Ray ripping on your HTPC
- Auto Rip n Compress (download)
- AnyDVD HD (download) or DVDFab Decrypter (download)
- MakeMKV (optionally) (download)
- ImgBurn (optionally) (download)
Apendix : Video & Audio test samples
Video samples :- 1080p video (download)
- Color Levels test (download) : To ensure you are getting the proper color levels (no double expansion or washed out colors), you can use the test after you finished setting up your playback software.[/b]
- DTS-HD Master Audio (download)
- Dolby TrueHD (download part 1 & download part 2)
- DTS (download)
- Dolby Digital (download)
Blu Ray ripping guide
- DVDFab HD Decrypter (download)
DVD Fab HD Decrypter is the free version of DVD Fab, with basic ripping options (main movie or full movie) for DVD and Blu Ray disks -> Select Blu Ray Copy from the left menu and select either Full movie or Main Movie if you just want the movie without menus and extra features -> Under Source select your Blu Ray disk drive letter and for Output select a path where you want to put the ripped movies. DVD Fab will automatically create a folder inside it named after your movie name. -> After you click Analyze, DVD Fab will take between 20 seconds or so to analyze the disk. After that, from the right menu you can disable the unecesarry audio tracks and if you only want the lossy DTS/DD core from the HD audio tracks there is a "remove HD audio" for this. -> Select Next and Start.
2) Ripping to MKV Software
- Make MKV(download)
Part 1 : Ripping to Blu Ray folder structure/Blu ray ISO images Software :
- Clown_BD (download) - Download the nr 3 link, it`s the entire package (eac3to/tsmuxer/bd2sup)
- DVD Passkey (download) or AnyDVD HD (download)
- (Optional]) ImBurn (download) - for ISO burning, if you plan to use BR folder structures directly on the HDD, don`t download.
- Unconverted -> This will keep the audio selected as is.
- Core -> Select this if you want to extract the DTS or AC3 core from a the DTS-HD/True HD tracks.
- AC3 -> Select this if you want to convert the selected audio stream(s) to AC3.
- DTS -> Select this if you want to convert the selected audio stream(s) to DTS.
