Any good media player relies on a community of plugin developers to fix the small gaps and specific features that have been left out of the original design. Windows 7 Media Center is no exception with plenty of plugins being developed and release each day to enhance the experience provided. While it’s not always easy to find the plugin you’re looking for we’ve got a short list of those available that you should definitely give a try. This short list of add-ins for Media Center is sure to enhance the basic experience with a handful of improved features and media browsers.

Movies

Media Browser is one of the most popular movie browsing plugins for Windows 7 Media Center, featuring an easy to establish library with customizable folders for browsing your media. Media Browser also provides an extremely sleek interface for browsing your movie collection with the latest versions adding a brand new style of start page to the plugin. Listing the latest additions to each of your folders as well as the weather, movie trailers and more. Be sure to give this plugin a try!

Open Media Library is an excellent option for replacing the native movie library. OML provides an extensive number of options for sorting and arranging your movie collection beyond the basic options available in the default movie library. The newest versions include the use of an SQL database and movie collection editor for managing your collection making this plugin quite a bit snappier to use than the built-in library as well. Completely free and open source, this is definitely a plugin to try and even keep an eye on in the future.

Music/Radio

Want to add thousands of free streaming radio stations to your Media Center music experience? mcShoutcast may just be the plugin for you. This handy little plugin adds the complete library of Shoutcast radio stations in an easy to browse graphical interface right inside Windows 7 Media Center. Browse through the stations, mark your favorites and listen to any of the free stations provided through the Shoutcast directory. A definite must have for music lovers and Media Center users.

RadioTime is another radio plugin boasting a collection of over 100,000 stations provided through the RadioTime service. The plugin provides a more traditional menu browsing directory listing and has thousands of stations listed in each category. The RadioTime plugin will even provide additional information about the station and currently playing selections. Also, more local and news stations seem to be included than what you get with mcShoutcast if you happen to be looking for those.

If you’re just looking for a way to browse that music collection by folder as opposed to the classic Media Center method of browsing your collection Music Browser has just what you’re looking for. Media Center plugins don’t get much simpler than this but the simple nature of browsing a well organized music collection by folders is exactly what many Media Center users are looking for. Music Browser even includes support for folder images allowing you to add custom artwork and album art to your collection.

Be sure to check back soon as we continue the list and even add a few programs to the list that are sure to enhance your Windows 7 Media Center experience.

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Plugins You Need to Try with Windows 7 Media Center

Continuing on the last article covering an assortment of movie and audio plugins you need to try with Windows 7 Media Center, we’ve got even more plugins you need to give a try. These plugins cover features that should be included in any decent ten-foot media application in this day and age of widespread internet access, Weather and Social Media. Be sure to check back again soon for the third installment where we’ll cover several programs that lend themselves to an even better Media Center experience as well.

Weather

Misleading name aside, Vista4Cast is the perfect addition to Windows 7 Media Center. This handy plugin allows you to get a quick view of the weather forecast for the next few days right from the Start Menu as well as dig deeper into future weather patterns using the main plugin. The short forecast display is very configurable including fonts, colors and more. The main plugin supports multiple cities and includes very extensive details gleaned from The Weather Channel’s forecast. Be sure to give this fantastic plugin a try today!

Heatwave is a wonderful weather plugin that’s incredibly stylish to boot. Allowing you to access a number of city locations you can set from inside Media Center through a convenient and easy to use configuration panel. The newest version, which also updates the plugin to work with Windows 7 RTM, even includes a built in on-screen keyboard (though currently not functioning). Now that this plugin has been updated to work with the latest version of Windows 7 Media Center it’s sure to return to many a Media Center thanks to it beautiful interface styling allowing for a full five day forecast to be viewing at a glance with easy to understand icons.

Social Media

Want to read those forwarded joke mails and other assorted spam on your ten-foot interface? No problem! Media Center Mail can bring you all that and more. This plugin supports multiple users and an easy to use configuration plugin to manage your email account settings. Each user can have multiple accounts and accessing email from each account is fairly easy from inside Media Center as well. If you’re looking for an email solution for Media Center, look no further.

Twitter addicts fear not, you can tweet from your couch while watching movies and TV! TwitterMCE allows you to not only check tweets from friends while away from the PC but you can even make tweets right from Media Center. Use the full on screen keyboard, complete with character countdown, to tweet about whatever it is you just saw on TV or the movie your watching. You can even browse through a complete list of your friends and followers. This is a must have app for movie loving Twitter users.

Looking for a more hands-free method of updating your Facebook and Twitter friends to what your currently listening to or watching inside Windows 7 Media Center? Media Center Status Application has got just what you need. This little plugin lets you establish a series of rules to automatically update your status on either social network whenever you begin playing media inside Windows Media Center. With advanced rules to determine exactly what types of media to update for and exclusion rules for specific files you can even avoid being overly annoying to your social media buddies (or letting them know about that embarrassing Justin Timberlake obsession).

Be sure to stick around for the next part in the series where we’ll cover a few more plugins that take care of some of the missing features in the background of Windows 7 Media Center as well as a hand full of must-have programs that make your Media Center interface even better.

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Even More Plugins You Need to Try with Windows 7 Media Center

Heatwave, one of the more popular weather plugins for Windows Media Center has been updated to support the final release version of Windows 7. Previously, a small change to the Windows 7 Media Center code had made running the application problematic for those with the final release to manufacturing version. Luckily, version 1.2 brings support for the RTM version and Media Center enthusiasts can once again add this handy, stylized app to their complete setups. For those taking a first look at this plugin let’s check out some of the features that Heatwave has to offer.

To get started with Heatwave 1.2 just download the correct version for your operating system, either 32-bit or 64-bit and install the plugin. You’ll notice that the installer includes an option to add the plugin to the start menu, an option becoming more common in Windows 7 Media Center plugins, though you’ll need to take some extra steps to enable it after installation.

Once installed, launch Media Center and browse to the Extra Programs menu to locate and launch the Heatwave plugin. Now at the top of the screen you’ll find a Settings option where you can enable the start menu strip, add locations, change languages and more. To ensure that the start menu strip appears the next time you launch Windows 7 Media Center you’ll need to ensure that the start menu options are selected in settings and then save the options. A restart will be required to load the new start menu strip though you should probably establish your locations, language and other options first.

To add your location to the Heatwave listings select the Add Location page from the list of settings on the left and enter your city, state/province and country or your zip code to search for your location. Next select the correct listing from the results below to add it to the list of locations Heatwave gathers weather data for. Be forewarned that this version of Heatwave contains a bug that crashes the plugin when trying to launch the onscreen keyboard however, so it’s best to avoid that button at this point.

To edit, rearrange or remove locations, including those that come with Heatwave by default, enter the Edit Locations page. Here you’ll find a listing of all the locations currently saved to Heatwave and scheduled to be updated. Pressing the pencil icon will allow you to edit each location while the arrows will allow you to move the order in which each location appears in both the main menu and the start strip. Of course, pressing the X after each location will remove it from the plugin’s listings entirely.

That’s it! Just save your settings, restart Windows 7 Media Center if you’ve edited the start strip options or just installed the plugin, and you should be all set to start viewing your weather in style with the Heatwave plugin.

From the main page you’ll get a complete five day forecast for each location as well as the ability to switch between day and night by pressing OK on your Media Center remote (or Enter on the keyboard). Forecasts are retrieved from Weather.com, the official website of The Weather Channel, and each forecast has a very nice set of icons that are easily identifiable at a glance.

If you’re searching for a weather plugin to fill the gap in your Windows 7 Media Center be sure to give the newest version of Heatwave a try. It’s stylish interface and start strip support are sure to go a long way toward filling a gap in easy, accessible weather information for your ten foot interface.

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Heatwave 1.2 Weather Plugin Adds Windows 7 RTM Support