Windows media center learn more

Why one should use Windows Media Center? The answer is simple: because Music, Pictures and Videos are more than just files!

To explain things better, I will start by briefly describing a typical scenario: you take 200 photos on a weekend trip, you download all of your favorite music and videos and you collect huge numbers of mp3 files. What happens to them? They all end up in folders, on a partition of your hard drive and most of the times you can’t remember where they were. Windows Media Center can help you find them. In this article I will present the most important features and issues of Windows Media Center, which is intended to be an important Windows Vista tool for organizing and accessing media files.

For the moment, I will resume the presentation only to the Local Media features, like the Pictures, Videos and Music Libraries. The other features (TV and Movies, Sports and Online Media) will be presented in a forthcoming article.

The First Time / Setup Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center can be found in the Start Menu, directly in the list of All Programs. When you run it for the first time, you will be prompted by a Welcome Screen that will ask you to select a setup option. You may choose the Express or Custom setup, but either way, all the configurations will still be available afterwards so you don’t have to worry that you will miss something when setting up.

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The main setup wizards that you will need to run, not necessarily all from the first time are the following: Internet Connection, TV Signal, Speakers, TV or Monitor and Wireless Network, if you are using any. You may skip all of these wizards (if you don’t use a TV tuner or you don’t want Windows Media Center to use the Internet Connection), but I would recommend setting up the Speakers, as it is useful to have the proper configuration for audio playback. Here you only need to test the speakers and specify if you are using built in speakers or a surround system.

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If you change your mind about the media content that is displayed in the Local Media Libraries and want to reconfigure the application, you have to go to Tasks -> Settings -> General ->Windows Media Center Setup and select Run Setup Again. Here you will need to confirm that you are willing to lose all the current preferences and settings. Choose Yes and you will start the Setup Wizard again.

Media Only – or how to run completely in Full Screen Mode

When opened, Windows Media Center starts in Full Screen. But like on any regular Windows application, on the top right side of the screen you will see the window control buttons: Minimize, Resize and Close window. To make your survey among media files more independent from other applications that are opened on your computer, you may activate a Media Only option, that will allow you to disable these buttons and use Windows Media Center like an individual platform. To do this, go to the main screen, select Tasks ->Media Only and you will have to confirm that you want to enter the Media Only mode. The buttons will not be visible anymore.

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To undo this action, just go back to the same menu, select Exit Media Only and the buttons will appear again on the top right side of the window.

Tip: If you close Windows Media Center while reduced to a smaller window size, at the next run it will open with the same size and in the same location on your desktop. The same, if closed in full screen, the next time it will open in full screen as well.

How to configure more advanced features of Windows Media Center

In the Tasks menu you can access some of the practical functions that Windows Media Center provides, like: Shut Down, Burn CD/DVD, Synchronize and Add Extender. Also, as I mentioned earlier, this is the place from where you can activate the Media Only option. However, the main thing that you can access from the Tasks menu is the panel with all the Settings.

There are two Settings categories that you will need to customize: the General settings and some particular ones. I will try to give you more details about the General ones, as I find them more necessary to acknowledge for someone who’s new to Windows Media Center.

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The Startup and Window behavior settings allow you to enable or disable the ‘always on top’ option, the taskbar notifications or the start of Windows Media Center at the Windows Vista startup. You can click Save, or just go Back if you haven’t done any changes.

In the Visual and Sound Effects settings menu you may enable the transition animations used when navigating through Windows Media Center and you may also activate navigation sounds. You should disable the animations if your computer doesn’t have a strong configuration, as it will slow down the application’s response speed. The Color Scheme can be changed, and apart from the Windows Media Center Standard scheme you may change the appearance into Black or White High Contrast schemes. Finally, you may also choose here the background color for videos.

The Windows Media Center Setup menu takes you back to the setup wizard steps, so whenever you will need to reconfigure something, you will have to return to this point.

In the Program Library Options you may add shortcuts for frequently used programs that you want to be accessed directly from the Windows Media Center interface. By default, the available applications are the CD/DVD burning tool and some of Windows Vista’s standard games.

There are also Parental Control, Automatic Downloads, Optimization and Privacy settings available. The particular settings refer to more specific configurations regarding TV and DVD playing/recording, Pictures and Music customization, and, the most important of all, the Library Setup.

How to setup and work with the Library.

First, I will shortly explain the Library setup process. As for the pictures and music settings you can read details in the next paragraphs.

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You may access the Library Setup at any time by right-clicking on each of the Windows Media Center main menus and selecting Settings -> Library Setup. There is a very simple, but yet not satisfactory method of managing the media content of the Library. The first step in doing this is choosing if you want to Add or Remove media. You can only manage entire folders, so you need to select if you want to Add Folders to Watch or if you want to Stop Watching some folders.

Then you will be prompted to browse your local or shared partitions and folders and check the ones that you want to add to or remove from the Library. Depending on the size of the folder to be added, the process may last longer or shorter. Meanwhile, you can continue using Windows Media Center as it will perform in background the update of the Library.

Pictures, Videos and Music Library

If not long ago I was saying that Windows Photo Gallery is a nice tool for picture management in Windows Vista, now I have to admit that Windows Media Center can do this job a bit better.

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When first opening Picture Library, the default content will be the Windows Vista Sample Pictures folder. You may start building the Library by right-clicking anywhere on the Picture Library main window and then select Library Setup. From here you will start adding folders or entire partitions to the Library. As seen in the image below, you may quickly burn the images onto a CD/DVD and you may also choose to see smaller thumbnails with more pictures to fit on the screen.

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Below you can see how the thumbnails are displayed; you can navigate horizontally by scrolling to left or right. When moving the mouse towards the sides of the main window some arrows will appear and they will guide you to the end of the pictures list. Double clicking a picture will enlarge it on full screen, and then you will be able to navigate through the pictures list by simply using the arrow keys.

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The same happens to the video files, but in this case, you might encounter some difficulties in actually seeing the videos. Windows Media Center doesn’t seam to recognize some video formats. So even if they have been accepted in the Video Library as available media, they will be unplayable unless you install an additional codec pack such as K-Lite Mega Codec.

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You can identify this issue simply when you look at the thumbnails. If they don’t show any frame from the video, this means they will not be playable. The solution to this is either to install some extra video codec packs, or to use another software. Otherwise, you will keep receiving this message: ‘Cannot Play Video. One or more codecs required to open this content could not be found’.

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Tip: Notice in the image below that on the bottom-left corner there is a thumbnail of a video playing. Windows Media Center allows simultaneous display of both pictures and video or music files. If the video has been started before entering the Picture Library, then it will continue to play in background. You are able to bring it to full screen just by clicking on the thumbnail, and then you can click Back and return again to the Picture Library. Of course, video or audio control buttons will be active on the main Picture Library window and you may play, stop or pause the media on the same place in which you see the pictures.

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Very few of the videos that I’ve added to the Video Library during my test have been playable with Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center allows you not only to visualize picture folders, but it also provides some basic tools for quick image editing. If you right-click on a picture thumbnail and select Picture Details, you can rotate, print or delete the file, while being able to navigate through the rest of the pictures and also to see details like title, date taken and size. The Touch Up option opens a new window where you can adjust the picture’s aspect. You may adjust Red Eyes and Contrast, and you may also Crop a certain selection of the picture.

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There are a lot of settings you can configure for the Picture Library. You may customize: the order or the structure of the pictures to be shown in a slide show, the transition type and time, the slide show background color or whether the song information to be displayed during the slide show or not. In order to do all this, you have to right-click again on one image, or on the main window of Picture Library and then select Settings -> Pictures.

Tip: Another option that you have for a picture is Delete. But different from other Media Libraries that you might know, Windows Media Center doesn’t only delete the file’s reference from the Library, but it deletes the file physically from the hard drive. Luckily there is a confirmation prompt that appears when doing this!

The Music Library works the same as the Pictures and Videos Library. The thumbnails that are shown here are the album cover arts. You may play all the music that is in the Library or you may sort it by Artists, Genres, Songs, Playlists, Composers, Years etc.

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When right-clicking on an album cover, you may choose to play the album, to add it to Queue or to edit its information. The same as with the pictures, you can burn a selected album on a CD/DVD and you may also enter the Library Setup or the Settings menus.

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The Settings for the Music Library are not that much related to the music itself, but more to Visualization options. Again, right click somewhere in the Music Library window and select Settings -> Music. Here you can check what type of Visualization to be applied on the music that you will choose to play (things like Alchemy, Bars and Waves, Battery) and you may as well set when the Song Information should be displayed on screen (whether at the beginning and end of the song, or never).

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When seeing Album Details you will be displayed the list of tracks, with their titles and duration. Even if the playback structure is based on the Queue system, you may as well save playlists to play them later or simply play a selected album.

For the Queue mode you may add albums, select a Shuffle or Continuous mode, Repeat tracks or delete them. As well as with the video files, music files can play in background while you can freely navigate through Windows Media Center’s other tools.

Another feature that is available with the Music Library is the Search option. This helps you to search music content that you know you might have in the Library. By providing an adjustable entry mode for the search tool, you may use a remote control and type the artist or song name from a distance, just like using the keys of your mobile phone. Once the searched track has been found you may play it straight away or you may add it to queue.

Windows Media Center tracks the songs you play in Windows Media Player

If you happen to use Windows Media Player and then open Windows Media Center to see some photos, you will shortly notice that the songs played in Windows Media Player are being tracked in the Media Center. This means that when you are in the middle of image slide shows and picture folders navigation you will be able to access the audio control buttons (Play, Pause, Stop, Next, Previous) and the audio volume, as well.

If music is being played during an image slide show and you don’t want the title and artist name to appear on the screen each time the songs are being changed, you can disable this option. Right-click the image, select Settings -> Pictures ->Show Song information during slide show and choose ‘Never’.

How to remove media that is no longer available on your hard drive, but is still displayed in Media Library

Go to Tasks -> Settings -> Library Setup -> Stop Watching a Folder and then select the folders you no longer want to be displayed in the Library. You will be prompted a message that says ‘Windows Media Center will stop watching these locations’. Then simply click the Finish button. If you want a shorter way to do this, you can right click on the Music/Pictures/Video Library window and then select Library Setup which will guide you to the same steps.

One curious thing that happens when adding or removing folders to be watched is that the Library doesn’t always automatically update, and it keeps displaying the same content. After restarting the application, and even after restarting Windows Vista, it keeps showing the name and thumbnails of the files that were previously loaded in the Library. So this means that when you will select a media file to be played, an error message will appear, telling you that the location of the media file is no longer available, even though you know you have removed the item from the library or you have re-added the new location of that file.

I have tried to run the Setup wizard again to see if this will work and still, after reseting the Library and adding new folders, Windows Media Center continued to display the old names and locations of the files, and was still showing error messages. I hope this won’t happen the same way for you, but this is what I got during my tests on the Music Library tool.

Conclusion

Although it is a complex and useful application, I would only recommend Windows Media Center for those of you who need to make a quick media presentation that looks nice. Compared to the traditional Windows Explorer and Windows Photo Gallery, the design of Windows Media Center is more stylish, but only use it when you know that the libraries you are referring to are properly updated. And as I mentioned before, make sure you have installed additional codecs for the videos you want to see in Windows Media Center. Sometimes it’s just easier to use specific software!

Microsoft removed Windows Media Center from Windows 10. It is only available for Windows 8.1 or earlier. Windows 10 users can get Windows Media Center (WMC) from unofficial sources which we will describe in this article.

What is Windows Media Center?

Windows Media Center is an all in one multimedia app for recording and playing videos and audio. One of the main benefit of Windows Media Center is that it can play streaming video onto the computer or the television from services like Netflix.

Technically, Windows Media Center is a media player just like Windows Media Player but with more functionality. Additional functionality includes playing TV through TV Tuner, recording, DVD Player, old MPEG-2 video support, etc.

You can learn more about Windows Media Center on Wikipedia.

Most of the times, WMC was used as a DVD player. That’s why Microsoft has replaced Windows Media Center with a DVD player app in Windows 10. The DVD player app can be installed through Windows Store.

Download Windows Media Center for Windows 10

Some people have extracted Windows Media Center files from earlier versions of Windows and created an installer to install Windows Media Center on Windows 10. You can download Windows Media Center from below:

  Windows Media Center for Windows 10 (Version 8.8.4) (86.2 MiB, 44,133 hits)

Note: Please note that this is a custom installation and is not from Microsoft itself. I have scanned it for viruses and have not found anything. I have also installed the executable on multiple systems and encountered no issues. I have installed it on Windows 10 version 1809 and Windows 10 version 1903 without any issues.

Install Windows Media Center on Windows 10

Once you have downloaded the WHC set from above mentioned link, you can install it on your Windows 10 system. Here is how:

1. Extract the downloaded zip file to a folder and run the files as follows:
2. Run _TestRights.cmd with administrative privileges. This will open a new command prompt window.
3. Run InstallerBlue.cmd to install blue skin of WMC or InstallerGreen.cmd to install green skin of WMC.
   

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4. Once the installation is complete, open Windows Media Center from the Start Menu.

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Using Windows Media Center is the same as the original one. All functionality of WMC will be intact and you can use any feature for free.

If you want to uninstall Windows Media Center, just run Uninstaller.cmd from the extracted folder.

Do you like Windows Media Center? Or you use alternatives for WMC? Let us know in the comments below.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center (WMC) is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, as well as all editions of Windows 7 except Starter and Home Basic. It was also available on Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro as a paid add-on. It was discontinued as of Windows 10 and the operating system also removes all of Windows Media Center during an upgrade from previous versions of Windows, although it can reportedly be unofficially reinstalled using a series of Command Prompt commands.^{[1][2][better source needed]}

Media Center can play slideshows, videos and music from local hard drives, optical drives and network locations. Users can stream television programs and films through selected services such as Netflix. Content can be played back on computer monitors or on television sets through the use of devices called Windows Media Center Extenders. It is also possible to watch and pause live TV. Up to six TV tuners on a tuner card are supported simultaneously. Both standard- and high-definition unencrypted video are supported through DVB-T and ATSC standards. It is possible to view encrypted cable television channels by using an internal or external tuner that supported CableCARD.

Shortly after Windows 7’s 2009 release, Microsoft disbanded the Media Center development team, thus abandoning any further software developments. Consequently, the Media Center interface remained unchanged for Windows 8 and 8.1 users. In May 2015, Microsoft announced that Windows Media Center would be discontinued on Windows 10, and that it would be removed when upgrading; but stated that those upgrading from a version of Windows that included the Media Center application would receive the paid Windows DVD Player app for free to maintain DVD playback functionality.^[3]

Windows Media Center, codenamed «Freestyle», was first included with Windows XP Media Center Edition.

A new version of the WMC was included in the Home Premium and Ultimate Windows Vista editions. The user interface was redesigned and tailored for the 16:9 aspect ratio. Support for multiple tuners was added in later releases and varies depending upon the version of the operating system purchased. Support for many Windows Media Center Extender hardware devices, that had been released pre-Vista, was also dropped leaving many owners out of luck if they did not upgrade to one of the supported Windows Vista versions from the Windows XP Media Center Edition. Also introduced to U.S. users was Internet TV, which allows access to streaming content through WMC. It also allows video game content.

Each button in the main menu, which contains sections such as «Music», «Videos», and «TV», gets encased in a box when selected, and for each selection, a submenu comes up, extending horizontally. When any of the options is selected, the entries for each are presented in a grid-like structure, with each item being identified by album art, if it is an audio file, or a thumbnail image if it is a picture, a video or a TV recording, and other related options, such as different views for the music collection if «Music» is selected, extend horizontally along the top of the grid. Similarly, other items are identified by suggestive artwork. The grid displaying the items is also extended horizontally, and the selected item is enlarged compared to the rest.
Other features of the WMC include:

• Support for two dual-tuner cards.
• Native DVD/MPEG-2 support.
• Addition of Movies and DVD button which lists all the movies on the hard drive and DVD.
• Tasks button that provides access to jobs such as setting up and configuring a media center extender device.
• Any video playing is overlaid on the background of the user interface, if the UI is navigated while the video is still playing.
• Support for high-definition (HD) content, and CableCARD support.
• Uses the .NET 2.0 CLR.

Microsoft later updated WMC with a feature pack known as TV Pack 2008.^[4] This release, codenamed «Fiji», was only made available via OEMs for new computers that came preinstalled with the update. It is not available as an update for existing WMC users.^[5][6][7] The update tweaked the user interface, added support for digital subchannels, QAM, DVB-S and MHEG, and increased the total number of each type of tuner allowed. It used .wtv files instead of .dvr-ms.^[8][9] Beta versions also supported H.264 format but this feature was removed upon release to manufacturing.^[10]

An updated version of the WMC was included in all the Windows 7 editions except Starter and Home Basic. Much of the functionality added with TV Pack 2008 was included with the version of Media Center included in Windows 7, along with an update to the user interface.^[11]

The WMC has retained much of the design and feel of its predecessor, but with a variety of user interface shortcuts and browsing capabilities.^[12] Playback of H.264 video both locally and through a Media Center Extender (including the Xbox 360) is supported.

Some notable enhancements in the WMC include a new mini guide, a new scrub bar, the option to color code the guide by show type, and Internet content that is more tightly integrated with regular TV via the guide. All Windows 7 versions now support up to four tuners of each type (QAM, ATSC, CableCARD, NTSC, etc.).

When browsing the media library, items lacking album art are shown in a range of foreground and background color combinations instead of using white text on a blue background. When the left or right remote control buttons are held down to browse the library quickly, a two-letter prefix of the current album name is prominently shown as a visual aid. The Picture Library includes new slideshow capabilities, and individual pictures can be rated.

Also, while browsing a media library, a new column appears at the top named «Shared.» This allows users to access shared media libraries on other Media Center PCs from directly within Media Center.

For television support, the Windows Media Center «TV Pack» released by Microsoft in 2008 is incorporated into the WMC. This includes support for CableCARD and North American (ATSC) clear QAM tuners, as well as creating lists of favorite stations.^[13]

A gadget for the WMC is also included.^[14]

The Public folder also contains a hidden Recorded TV library that appears in the Windows Explorer side pane when TV is set up in Media Center for the first time.

The WMC was not included with any of Windows 8 editions.^[15] Instead, it was part of a Windows 8 Media Center Pack add-on available only for retail versions^[16] Windows 8 Pro, and Windows 8 Pro Pack that upgrades Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro^[17] available through the Add features to Windows 8 service. The Windows 8 Pro Pack was available for US$69.99,^[18] while the Windows 8 Media Center Pack was available at no charge from October 26, 2012, until January 31, 2013, as a promotion to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 8.^[19] After the promotion, the price of the Windows 8 and 8.1 Media Center Pack changed to US$9.99,^[18] until it was discontinued on October 30, 2015.^[20]

The WMC cannot run on startup or on top of other windows because of «new Windows OS requirements and behaviors».^[21][22]

On Windows 10 Technical Preview builds, adding Windows Media Center using a purchased Windows 8.1 product key will result in the system subsequently identifying itself as «Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center», along with a warning that the OS has not been activated. The issue also prevented users from getting updates, patches and future preview builds.^[23]
Windows 10 build 10143 is, by now, the last available build of Windows 10 that includes Windows Media Center before it was removed in the next available build, Windows 10 build 10147.

During the 2015 Build developers’ conference, a Microsoft executive confirmed that Media Center, with its TV receiver and PVR functionality, would not be updated for or included with Windows 10; thus the product would be discontinued. Those upgrading to Windows 10 from a version of Windows that included the Media Center application would receive the paid Windows DVD Player app for free to maintain DVD playback functionality^[3] after the first Windows Update.^[24][25]

Some users who wanted Microsoft to provide an official port of the Windows Media Center for Windows 10 created two change.org petitions and sent thousands of requests to Microsoft via their Windows Feedback app included with Windows 10. Despite all efforts, only the community maintains apps and support for the feature.^[26]

In early July 2015, Microsoft announced that the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for Windows Media Center was being updated on July 7, 2015 with new video data packages.^[27][28] This update to the EPG changed the service provider from Zap2It to Rovi. Since the update a large number of reports have been posted to the Microsoft Media Center Feedback page^[29] indicating that the EPG data feed from Rovi has significant data quality issues relating to incorrect channel lineups, outdated and incorrect program data and failure to download the EPG data from Rovi through Microsoft’s servers. This update was not given to the early Insider Preview builds of Windows 10 even though they included the WMC.

Support for Electronic Program Guide service officially ended on January 14, 2020, coinciding with the end of support for Windows 7.^[30][31] This applies to all versions of WMC including users running WMC on discontinued products such as XP and Vista. Despite the announcement, EPG data continued to be updated until the first week of April 2020. Alternatives exist that acquire program information and load it into the WMC EPG data base.^[32] Some use fee-based subscription services to obtain the information. Some require multiple processing steps but are generally automatable.

Some alternate TV listing providers are:

• epg123 (free software that lets WMC get EPG data from other sources)
• WebGrab+Plus (standalone EPG software)
• SchedulesDirect (provides EPG data for software like EPG123, at a cost of $25 per year)
• EPG Collector (open-source software to insert over-the-air EPG data into Windows Media Center 7)

Some DVR-like alternatives to WMC that support Program Guide Data:

• Emby DVR – cost $5 per month, $55 for 1 year or $119 for lifetime
• Plex – cost $5 per month, $39 for 1 year, or $119 for Lifetime
• SiliconDust Dvr – $35 per year
• JRiver – Windows license $60
• MediaPortal – unknown

Media Center uses TV tuner devices to play back and record TV shows from standard antenna, cable or satellite signals. Users can record television programs manually or schedule recording via the electronic program guide. Recordings can be burned to Video DVD or, barring copy restrictions, be transferred to a portable media player. Media Center supports both analog and digital tuners and allows up to six of each tuner type (analog, digital terrestrial, Clear QAM, CableCard) to be configured. All the tuners use the same guide data but it can be edited and configured to include additional channels such as Clear QAM not found or included in most Titan Guides. While playing live television, the program keeps a buffer that allows users to rewind or pause live TV and skip commercials. A third party program MCEBuddy allows automatic commercial skipping on recorded programs.

Media Center can stream both live and recorded contents to Windows Media Center Extenders such as the Xbox 360 console, but other Windows computers can just access recorded content. Playback of content on television is possible through Media Center Extenders or by directly connecting a computer running Windows Media Center to a television. The menus of Windows Media Center are displayed in a 10-foot user interface suitable for viewing on large screen televisions and can be navigated using various remote controls. Windows Media Center PCs require a sensor to be able to interact with the remote control. To advertise Media Center support, remote controls must also have certain buttons such as the Green Media Center logo Start button and buttons for navigation, playback and volume controls, power and channel flipping.^[33][34]

Windows Media Center organizes and displays videos and music found on both local and networked computers. Music albums are arranged with accompanying album art that can be downloaded off the Internet automatically or added manually into Media Center. Users can create playlists of different songs or albums as well. While playing music, the user can pause and fast forward songs and view visualizations. Analog FM radio support is also available if the user’s TV tuner supports it.

Media Center allows users to browse pictures and play them in slideshows, as well as play video files. Media can be categorized by name, date, tags, and other file attributes. In addition, users can organize and play films through the «Movie Library» feature introduced in Windows Vista Media Center. Through the «Internet TV» feature, users can also stream television and web shows from select content providers.

Windows Vista Media Center introduced support for CableCARD devices. However, CableCARD was only supported on OEM hardware that had been certified by CableLabs.^[35] Windows 7 Media Center supports adding CableCARD to existing hardware, provided the hardware meets certain requirements.^[36] Shortly after the release of Windows 7, Microsoft released the Digital Cable Advisor tool to verify that the requirements are met before activating CableCARD support.^[37]

Windows Media Center allows synchronization with certain portable devices. These devices include Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, smartphones, Portable Media Centers and other players that can sync with Windows Media Player. Microsoft’s Zune cannot use the sync function, but can play Media Center recorder TV files when they are copied to a Zune monitored folder.

While synchronizing television shows, Windows Media Center encodes the shows using Windows Media Encoder to a Windows Media Video format at a lower quality than the original format used for viewing on the desktop media center. This is to complement the limited storage space and processing power of such portable devices. Optionally, music can also be re-encoded to a smaller file size upon synchronization.

Windows Media Center was designed as a programmable platform; other programs can tie into the Media Center UI using the WMC API, which is provided as a managed API. The functionality of Windows Media Center can be extended by three different types of applications:^[38]

These are managed applications written using the WMC API and packaged as CLI assemblies. Presentation Layer applications can have full access to both the .NET Framework as well as the Windows Media Center API, with the latter exposing a managed object model to access and manipulate the current states of the media management and playback, live television, video recording as well as the presentation capabilities of Windows Media Center. Presentation Layer applications are rendered using the bitmap-based Windows Media Center Presentation Layer, the user-input and presentation system of WMC. Presentation Layer includes support for animations, dynamic layout, keyboard/mouse as well as remote navigation. Presentation Layer applications can be streamed over RDP to Windows Media Center Extenders; so Presentation Layer applications run on the extenders without any modification. Presentation Layer, however, exists only in the Windows Vista version of WMC.^[38][39]

Presentation Layer applications are created using an XML-based declarative markup language, known as Media Center Markup Language (MCML). MCML is used to define the user interface, with animation, text input, navigation, data binding, and local storage support available from the markup itself. If custom code or other functionality is required to implement a certain feature, CLI assemblies can be referred. Any CLI language can be used to write the code-behind assemblies that implement the required functionality. An MCML document defines the interface as a collection of UI elements, each exposing four attributes: Content which defines what that UI element will display, Properties to control the presentation aspects of the element, Locals which enumerate the set of private state data for the element, and Rules which allow the attributes to be modified based on certain triggers. By modifying these attributes at runtime, either from markup or code behind classes, the interface is generated.^[40]

Presentation Layer applications can either be locally installed, or downloaded from the web as necessary. However, in the latter case, the code is untrusted; only the .NET classes that are marked as safe for use by Internet-originating code can be used. Before an application can be used, it has to be registered with Windows Media Center. An application can either register itself as a top-level menu item, in any of the sub-menus (depending on the type of application), as an autoplay handler, into the Program Library (the menu category for all programs), or as a background application without a user interface running as long as a WMC session continues.^[41][42]

WMC can also act as host for XAML Browser Applications (XBAP), which are rendered in the WMC UI itself. XBAPs are rendered using the vector-based resolution-independent Windows Presentation Foundation component of .NET Framework 3.0. XBAPs have their UI written in XAML with code behind in any .NET language. XBAPs are also limited to Windows Vista. WMC provides limited support for streaming XBAPs to Windows Media Center Extenders. XBAPs have been declared deprecated in Windows Media Center SDK version 5.3.

WMC can host Internet Explorer within its own UI (using WMC UI widgets) and can display web pages and web applications. This feature is supported in both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Web applications written specifically for being hosted in WMC can use a subset of the WMC API which is exposed via JavaScript. HTML applications are also not fully supported for streaming to extenders.

• Kodi (a free, open-source, and cross-platform media center software)
• Comparison of DVR software packages
• MediaPortal
• Microsoft Mediaroom
• Personal video recorder
• XrossMediaBar

• Official website: last archive.org copy of defunct full site
• The Green Button Forum
• The Media Center Sandbox: Official developer’s forum
• Windows Experts Community: Official user forum