Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, Waiting For You
Tuesday is here at last, and for Windows Home Server owners that means one thing… Power Pack 3 Day! Microsoft have released PP3 for download via Windows Update, and it’s free and waiting for you to download. Simply open your WHS Console, go to the Settings dialog, and click Update Now in the General section. You’ll need to restart your home server, and each hope computer connected to Windows Home Server, after which Power Pack 3 will be yours! Let’s recap on what’s new, courtesy of the Windows Team Blog : Windows 7 Libraries integration When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries. Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression After you install the Windows Home Server Connector to enable the home server backup for your computer running Windows 7, you can suppress the Action Center warning reminding you that Windows Backup has not been set up
Made for Media Center Now Open
Two Windows Media Center MVPs, Andrew Cherry and Ian Dixon, have collaborated on a new resource for Media Center owners. Made for Media Center is an “app store” for Microsoft’s “TV on your PC” platform, combining a website for plugin authors to submit their wares, and a Media Center plugin which allows users to browse and download those applications. A growing list of free plugins are now available for beta testers – fingers crossed the Media Center developer community jump on board and help support a great resource for MCE owners. To find out more about the plans for Made for Media Center, check out Missing Remote’s interview with Andrew Cherry
Auto Rip n Compress adds DVD Ripping to Media Center (Almost)
Despite Windows 7 Media Center’s inclusion of a native movie library no function to actually rip the DVDs to the library was included. Certainly an attempt to avoid this legal grey area of copying purchased media to a secondary source, this also leaves out an important feature from the Media Center platform. This of course leaves an area open for third party developers to come up with a solution, however, up until this point very few options were available such as My Movies’ Media Center plugin. Fortunately, eMpTy3000 of The Green Button forums has taken up the initiative to create another option for Media Center users though not quite as developed as the My Movies option.
Using WTVWatcher and Lifextender to Cut Commercials from Recorded Shows
One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender , which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer , can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process each file by hand
Windows Home Server Add-ins: Lights-Out, WebGuide, and Whiist
Windows Home Server was designed to “grow with you”. That may be obvious when it comes to adding additional hard drives but also includes the option to install extra software features to help customize your Home Server. The development community has created “add-ins” for Windows Home Server that extends its capabilities in fun, exciting, and useful ways. There are currently over 100 add-ins available for download.
Bringing a Recording Schedule from Vista to Windows 7
Are you one of the many Media Center users already running a Vista Media Center and planning to upgrade to a new Windows 7 install? If so, it’s likely that you’d want to move your recording schedule over as well. For those planning to do a simple upgrade the process should be automatic, however, if you’re planning a clean install it’s going to take a bit more planning and effort. Media Center developer Danny Ton has posted the method to getting this done over at The Green Button for those planning on a clean install of Windows 7 from Windows Vista
WTVWatcher Automates WTV to DVRMS Conversion
As many former Vista Media Center users know, Windows 7 brought a new format to the Media Center in the form of the .WTV file. This new format is the new standard for recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center, meaning all recorded TV will now be saved as WTV instead of the former standard DVR-MS. Unfortunately, this also means that programs with a long history of use by Media Center enthusiasts may no longer work with this new format