PurePVR

I know that I have had trouble building my Windows MCE box a few times so this utility is definitely a great one to have. The Windows XP Media Center Diagnostics Kit v3.0 is a free download from Microsoft which runs a series of tests and gives you a report as to what possible problems may be.

It’s a fairly easy install which allows you to check out video details (both recording and playback) as well as details about your current system.

This free utility can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins

Anyone who uses their Windows XP Media Center Edition PVR / DVR a lot knows that video files can easily grow out of hand. If you are gone for a week and you program MCE to record your favourite shows, it doesn’t take long for a 250gb hard drive to get filled. The reason behind this is that MCE does not natively compress the video that it records. If it did, overall system performance would take a hit.

Enter Crunchie. Crunchie is a handy utility for that can be scheduled to compress MCE recordings into a xvid format which dramatically reduces their file size. The great part is that it can be run as a scheduled task (at say 3 A.M.) so you needn’t worry about remembering to run it.

Installation instructions, as well as download links, can be found here.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins. Crunchie

Who wants to watch the news or the weather channel just to wait and see the local weather forecast? Not too many people. That’s where mceWeather comes in. mceWeather is a customizable Windows XP Media Center Edition plugin that allows the user bring up weather forecasts as well maps for weather patterns all over the world.

Although this MCE plugin does not directly change how MCE PVR / DVR users watch TV, it is none the less handy to have instant access to weather forecasts.

One point worth mentioning is to make sure that your Media Center Edition PVR / DVR is up to date with at least Media Center RollUp 2 installed. There is a known bug that causes the program to hang for several minutes if you try to search for a city.

The mceWeather plugin can be downloaded from the projects web page.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins, mceWeather

Some of you who have built your own Windows XP Media Center Edition PVR / DVR may have run into issues in the past playing DivX or xvid files through Media Center. Well the reason behind that is because MCE does not natively support these formats when played on the HTPC. There are a couple of solutions to this problem, but the easiest is probably to install the ffdshow utility.

ffdshow is not necessarily a MCE plugin, but it is a utility that easily helps you play these newer media files. Aside from just letting you play these new media files, it also allows a lot of customization for you audio/video connoisseurs out there.

The ffdshow project home page can be found here.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, HTPC, MCE+plugins, ffdshow

One of things that most people notice right away when they use a Windows XP Media Center 2005 PC is that it is still Windows underneath the new interface. Whether this is good or bad really depends on your point of view, but one thing that is no doubt good is that you can sure customize it.

MCE Customizer 2005 is a MCE plugin that allows you to wield more control over your PVR / DVR running MCE 2005. This plugin adds a new menu setting that allows you to do multiple things like reset all EPG data, change the skip forward and back intervals, wake up the PC from standby using the remote and a lot more.

More information on MCE Customizer, as well as the download, can be found at its home page.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins, MCE+customizer+2005