Watching YouTube videos from a 10-foot experience (in Windows Media Center) is a whole new experience. The user interface of Media Center for sure is an eye candy to a lot of people (including myself), and going through media on your PC or online is just fun. Adding YouTube to Media Center is simple, you just have to install a handy little third party plug-in called MacroTube. After MacroTube is installed, you’ll see the YouTube link straight away on the main screen of Media Center and searching for video is the same as you would on YouTube’s website. You can search by relevance, by date or by rating.

MacroTube is still in it’s beta stage, and like other beta software, it has bugs and glitches and might crash in certain occasions but we really believe that with time that will be patched up. MacroTube is highly recommended for all Media Center + YouTube fanatics. You can download MacroTube from here and give it a try. And keep in mind that it only works with 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7’s Media Center. [via HowToGeek]

You may also like to check out:

• A WPF-based YouTube client for Windows 7
• Windows 7 Media Center and Windows Home Server PP3
• Upload to Facebook & Youtube using Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Organize Movies in Cover Flow Style using “Media Browser” for Windows 7 Media Center

You can follow us on twitter or join our facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google and Apple.

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I have lots of movies stored on my Windows Home Server machine. I have just pointed Media Browser on the client computers to the movies directory on the Home Server and it does it all for me automatically! plus it has got tons of customization options to choose from!

Media Browser is a free media aggregator plug-in for Media Center that takes your recorded, digital, or ripped media and presents it in a simple, easy to use interface. Media Browser prides itself on delivering a fast, intuitive, media rich experience for the whole family.

Media Browser is available for both Windows Vista and Windows 7 users and it can be downloaded from the link given below:

Installation Instructions for Windows Vista:

Make sure you have installed .NET Framework 3.5 before installing Media Browser plug-in. The installation on Windows Vista is straight forward.

Installation Instructions for Windows 7:

On Windows 7, you will need to first download and install the older version (2.0.11) of the plug-in and then upgrade it by overwriting the installation with the latest version 2.1.1.

Download Media Browser for Windows Vista/7

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Once you have installed and configured the new Media Center Connector which ships with Power Pack 3, Windows Media Center will prompt you to install Media Center Connector:

After installation is completed, restart Media Center and you should now have a new “Home Server” tab on the Home screen of Media Center which includes the following two sub menus:

a. TV Archive

In addition to recording tv directly to the Home Server, you can now also move recordings from an existing Media Center PC to your Home Server with a click of a button. You can either move individual TV shows, a series of shows, or all the TV recordings to be automatically moved from Media Center PC to the Home Server. Moreover, you can also convert the recordings to play them back on a compatible portable device such as a Zune or a Windows Mobile phone (No support for iPhone or iPod Touch).

b. Console View

Console view gives you a quick glimpse to monitor all the statistics and health statuses right from the comfort of you couch without having to run Windows Home Server Console. With Console View, you can see statistics for:

· Storage – Pie chart listing the percentage allocation of the home server storage

· Drives – List, size and health of hard drives installed on the home server

· Backup – List of computers being backed up and their current backup status

· Shared Folders – List of Shared Folders by name with health status and duplication status

· Media Counters – Count of music, photos, videos and recorded TV files on the home server

· Health – Health of the entire home network

· Home Server – System information of the home server’s hardware and manufacturer info

The final release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 is expected around the same time as the general availability of Windows 7.

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Here are the few screenshots from Windows Media Center in Windows 7 Build 7022:

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 gets a new getting started wizard.

Larger fonts makes it easier to navigate Windows Media Center with touch-enabled devices. It also makes it easier for viewing from the comfort of your couch.

Windows Media Center finally gets its own Movies Library.

You can now easily control what shows off on your Media Center start menu.

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This is an image of the Media Center Prototype, which is in working condition, as it’s being displayed at the Microsoft Home.

The Media Center Prototype being controlled with the phone.

Yes, as you can see, not even Microsoft Home has shifted to Vista. Talk about setting an example for others.

As shown from the screens in the right and left, it’s all 3D. Hmm, Microsoft? May I have this OS interface for Windows 7, please?

A conversation going on in the highly ‘glassed’ window. Where’s the taskbar?

I like this screenshot . Notice how the window in the background is tilted  in 3D. And the glass effects look much cooler.

No Microsoft Home can be complete without a Tablet PC. Are those Sidebar Gadgets on the left?

Some very cool prototypes, specially the Media Center ones, since the OS doesn’t seem to have much going on. Now, only if Microsoft would use this prototype for Windows 7 Media Center.

Where should I send my feedback? Sinofsky? or Ballmer?

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Check out Movie Browser in action in the video (Requires Microsoft Silverlight) below:

Don’t get fooled by the lag in the video which is due to the screen recording software. It runs smoothly in Windows Media Center.

As they say that looks can be deceiving.. unfortunately that’s the case with Movie Browser too. The biggest problem is that in its current beta state, one has to enter all the movies data manually by editing the XML file. Yes its tedious and there is no way to automate the process, let alone getting data from an online provider like imdb or Amazon. Wouldn’t it be great if the developer of My Movies integrates Movie Browser in My Movies as its front-end interface in Media Center? I hope he considers it especially because Movie Browser is an open source project and the source code is available publicly for everyone.

Movie Browser 0.1 beta can be downloaded here and is compatible with both Windows Vista (Home Premium & Ultimate) and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

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Case 1: When the computer you are recording on is running Windows Vista Ultimate and the client accessing the recorded tv shows is either running Window Vista Ultimate or Windows Vista Home Premium.

On Computer which is recording tv shows (Windows Vista Ultimate)

Step 1: Click on Start Orb and then click on "Computer".

Step 2: Now navigate to "C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV". This is the folder where all your recorded tv shows reside.

Step 3: Right click on it and click Properties. Now Click on "Sharing" tab.

Step 4: Click on "Advanced Sharing…" and then check the box which says "Share this folder".

Step 5: Click the "Permissions" button, click "Add…"; type "Anonymous" in the box and then click  "OK".

Step 6: Now go to "Security" tab. Click "Edit…" button. Click "Add…" and then Type "Anonymous" in the box and click "OK". Close the "Recorded TV" properties.

Step 7: Now Click on Start Orb again and then type "gpedit.msc" in the search and then hit enter key. We will have to edit the local computer policy to allow anonymous access to the "Recorded TV" share we just created.

Step 8: Navigate to Computer Configuration->Windows Settings->Security Settings->Local Policies and then click in Local Policies.

Step 9: In the right pane, double click "Security Options". Now look for "Network access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously" and double click on it.

Step 10: Type "Recorded TV" in the box and then click ok.

Step 11: Now look for "Network access: Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts and shares" and ensure it is set to Disabled.

Step 12: Close the "Local Group Policy Editor" and restart your computer.

You are now done with the PC which is recording the tv shows.

Now to tell the other Media Center computers to look at this shared "Recorded TV" folder, you’ll simply need to use TweakMC.

Step 13: Run TweakMC. Navigate to TV Settings->Watched Folders for Recorded TV.

Step 14: Enter the path to the shared "Recorded TV" folder on the Media Center machine recording tv shows: e.g. \\YourComputerName\Recorded TV

Step 16: Restart your computer.

Now run Windows Media Center and go to Recorded TV, you should now be able to see all the recorded TV shows from the Media Center PC recording it.

Case 2: When the computer you are recording on is running Windows Vista Home Premium and the client accessing the recorded tv shows is either running Window Vista Ultimate or Windows Vista Home Premium.

On Computer which is recording tv shows (Windows Vista Home Premium)

Step 1: Follow Step 1 to Step 6 from Case 1. You first got to setup the "Recorded TV" sharing folder on the computer (in this case running Windows Vista Home Premium) which is doing the recording.

Step 2: Windows Vista Home Premium doesnt have a "Local Group Policy Editor" so to make changes to your computer’s local policies, you’ll need to edit your registry.

Step 3: Click on Start Orb and then type "regedit" in the search and then hit enter key.

Step 4: You need to now allow anonymous access to your "Recorded TV" folder. In "Registry Editor", Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters. If there is a REG_MULTI_SZ key named "NullSessionShares" then simply add the name of your share "Recorded TV" (just the name, not the path). If "NullSessionShares" doesn’t exist, create a new Multi-String Value and name it "NullSessionShares", and put the name of the share as "Recorded TV".

Step 5: Now you need to make sure that anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts is turned off. For this, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa and find the REG_DWORD "restrictanonymoussam". Make sure it is set to "0".

 Now to tell the other Media Center computers to look at this shared "Recorded TV" folder.

To do this, you will simply need to follow Step 13 to Step 16 from Case 1 and you are done!

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The Universal Media Remote works only with TVs, the Xbox 360 console, and a connected Microsoft Windows Media Center–based PC. It does not control VCRs, stand-alone DVRs and DVD players, or audio equipment.

But if you, like me are among one of those who dont have your Xbox 360 hooked up to your Media Center PC but still want to use this beautiful remote with your PC then you’ll need the following:

1. Microsoft Remote Control Receiver 1.0A for Media Center PC

2. Microsoft Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote

3. TweakMC

4. Intelliremote

If you already have Microsoft Remote Control v2 and Receiver 1.0A you will notice that when you press any button on the Xbox remote facing towards the IR Receiver, the receiver receives the signal as indicated by the blinking red light on the receiver but it does not perform any operation. Follow the following step by step procedure to enable your Xbox 360 controller to work within Windows and Windows Media Center :

Step 1: Start TweakMC (Run as Administrator).

Step 2: under “Remote Control Settings”, make sure that Universal Remote Control is enabled.

Step 3: Set Remote Control ID as:

• 0 – To enable Media Center to respond to all types of remotes.
• 1 – To enable Media Center to respond to Microsoft Media Center remote only.
• 8 – To enable Media Center to respond to Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote only.

I suggest you set Remote Control ID as 0 so that your Media Center works with both the Media Center Remote which came with the receiver and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote. If you have other media equipment in the same room as your Media Center PC and if you find its remote interfering with Media Center then you select either 1 or 8 as your Remote Control ID depending on which remote control you really want to enable.

Step 4: Restart you computer.

After the restart, you should be able to use your Xbox 360 remote with Windows Media Center. However there is still one problem. You will notice that Media Center responds to all buttons from your Xbox 360 remote except for the Vol +/- , CH +/- and the Mute button. Fortunately there is a way to get them work too. You will need to download Intelliremote from Melloware. Its a great piece of software which lets you completely customize each and every key of your remote control for specific applications. It sits quietly in your tray area awaiting infrared signals. Moreover, you can also create profiles for specific application and can switch between them anytime you want. However its not free and comes at a price of $24 but you can download the 30-days trial version from vendors web site.

Step 5: Install Intelliremote and run the application.

Step 6: Switch to “Customize” tab and then select “Media Center Vista” profile.

Step 7: Scroll down through the keys list and select “Volume Up”. Click on “Learn Code”, point you Xbox remote towards the receiver and and press Vol+ key on the remote until the popup on screen reads “Learned!”.

Step 8: Similarly re-program Vol-,CH+,CH- and Mute key on the Xbox remote by repeating Step 7 and you are done.

In the “Settings” tab make sure that you check “Launch automatically at Windows startup” so that you dont loose the control of your PC from remote when your PC is restarted.

Drop your queries in the comments box below if you run into issues getting your Xbox remote to work with Media Center.

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