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List your VMC best plugins here...

post #1 of 32
Thread Starter 
For those of you using Vista Media Center!

My intention is to collect user's favourite plugins in one place...so please share your best plugins by listing them in this thread.
post #2 of 32
MyMovies for DVD library management.
post #3 of 32
MCE Customizer for essential tweaks
post #4 of 32
While I can't call any of these my favorite -- all have much to be desired -- I find them useful:

MyMovies (only for HD movies - DVD Library for SD)
Napster (atrocious interface, ugly and unintuitive)
Netflix plugin by Anthony Park (native MCE, quite nice)
post #5 of 32
MCEBuddy (It converts videos 3 days and older to a h.264 format saving room)
Lifextender (removes commericals)

My two favories
post #6 of 32
SAM's Video Browser
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/219061.aspx

I went through several front ends until I found this. The latest release is still Alpha, but it has been stable for me. I use the MyMovies collection manager to create the XML files for the movies still though.

I will use this, until MyMovies finally gets updated to properly integrate into Vista
post #7 of 32
DVRMS-Toolbox with ShowAnalyzer
Yougle, especially now with the addition of adult material!
MyMovies - it's really taken a dive lately but it's still a great piece of software.

I tried one of these threads a while ago, it didn't succeed, hopefully this one does because Vista has been out longer and more people are adopting it.
post #8 of 32
Does anyone have an opinion on Lifextender vs. DVRMSToolbox for VMC? I used DVRMSToolbox on MCE and while unintuitive, it did its job.
post #9 of 32
DVRMSToolbox is a lot more than Commercial skipping, it allows for conversion and many other things to be done with the DVR-MS file. Including, but not limited to, shrinking it divx size, shrinking down to mobile size, cutting commercials out of the file.

LifeExtender cuts your file to extend the life of your Hard drive (which I am guessing that is why they called it that) and does the commercial cutting and you have no original left intact if there was an error in commercial cutting.

That's the most educated I am about LifeExtender.
post #10 of 32
Cool. Thanks for the reply.
post #11 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by lakaw View Post

Does anyone have an opinion on Extender vs. DVRMSToolbox for MC? I used DVRMSToolbox on MACE and while unintuitive, it did its job.

Since I was only interested in commercial deletions I've only used Lifextender. While it comes with Comskip I found integrating with ShowAnanyzer made the process faster.

I'm also regularly us the WebGuide Sidebar gadget to schedule recordings.
post #12 of 32
I need some more plugins
post #13 of 32
I've only got one plugin and it works great for viewing online Netflix movies: MyNetflix from Anthony Park.
post #14 of 32
you should update the first post with everyone's input and possibly links to where one could find them? if needed I can host the files on my ftp?
post #15 of 32
MyMovies
MC Menu Mender
post #16 of 32
Mynetflix for watching Netflix online.
post #17 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoNkLorD View Post

you should update the first post with everyone's input and possibly links to where one could find them? if needed I can host the files on my ftp?

Agreed. I've got some from my reserved MCE folder:
  1. MyMovies
  2. MCE Customizer
  3. Netflix plugin by Anthony Park
  4. MCEBuddy
  5. Lifextender
  6. DVRMS-Toolbox
  7. ShowAnalyzer
  8. Yougle Vista
  9. WebGuide Sidebar gadget
  10. SAM's Video Browser
post #18 of 32
Check out http://secondrun.tv/. Simple full screen access to Hulu and just about every other online video site out there.

It completely trounces Yougle which I've now uninstalled.
post #19 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by mpatnode View Post

Check out http://secondrun.tv/. Simple full screen access to Hulu and just about every other online video site out there.

It completely trounces Yougle which I've now uninstalled.

once it get closer to being out of beta maybe. right now i find it waaaay to buggy to use consistently. but yeah its going to a really good. i would pay for it.

my add-ons are

mce menu mender (for reorganizing the MCE menu)
vmcNetflix (i like this better than the Anthony Park addon)
secondruntv (see above)
MyMovies (im a sucker for a nice interface with lots of cool info)
MyWeather (nice and quick access to local weather)
utorrent (for RSS feeds)
dvrmstoolbox (for conversions)
post #20 of 32

For all those waiting for My Movies to go MCML, don't. Install Media Browser and you'll never look back. Beautiful interface. Love the cover flow and backdrops on the details page. This is hands down my favorite plugin.
post #21 of 32
1) Secondrun.tv for great Hulu interface that is rapidly improving.
2) Radiotime for internet radio
3) OpenMediaLibrary for near-seamless mounting of BluRay isos and launching in PowerDVD
post #22 of 32
Media Browser FTW!!!

Check out the icons I made in my signature.
post #23 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by lakaw View Post


For all those waiting for My Movies to go MCML, don't. Install Media Browser and you'll never look back. Beautiful interface. Love the cover flow and backdrops on the details page. This is hands down my favorite plugin.

i keep hearing complaints about MyMovies, what is MCML?
post #24 of 32
I had not realized this thread was already started when I started a similar thread here...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post15624043

I am trying to keep the thread above updated so that all the plugins are listed in the first post so you don't have to search an entire thread to find various plugins.
post #25 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_311 View Post

i keep hearing complaints about MyMovies, what is MCML?

MCML is the code in which Media Center was writen. Media Browser looks as though Microsoft coded it.... NOT!! If Media Browser was its own frontend, I'd never use Media Center again.
post #26 of 32
I'm currently using Lifextender, and it (or Comskip) chokes on 80% of my shows. I'm capturing Comcast digital with no cable card, so it's not a DRM issue.

I suspect the real problem is comskip, so I may just have to fork out for ShowAnalyzer, but I'm wondering if MCEBuddy has any problems maintaining the video thumbnail. Lifextender claims there are memory problems when trying to do this.
post #27 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by bleucube View Post

MCEBuddy (It converts videos 3 days and older to a h.264 format saving room)
Lifextender (removes commericals)

My two favories

Why both MCEBuddy and Lifextender?
post #28 of 32
Media Browser (old Video Browser)
DVD Library (registry hack)
Lifextender
Netflix
post #29 of 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by lakaw View Post

[list][*] Media Browser and you'll never look back. Beautiful interface. Love the cover flow and backdrops on the details page. This is hands down my favorite plugin.

the truth
post #30 of 32
What is the latest on SecondRun.TV? I think this will be one of the best plugins out there if only it would be a little more stable. I can't seem to get the video's to play at all and it loads very slowly and crashes often. Does anyone know if they are still in development on this or has it been forgotten? I'm really hoping to get this working soon.
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