This is done to make a computer much more appliance like, it may not improve performance, but will make it so your family will have a hard time screwing it up, and you won't be asked how to fix it all the time. One thing to take note of is that this can slow down the login time for the "Media Center" user.

Here is a list of common problems you may have with Media Center Extenders, and how to solve them.

First off, here is a guide for how to setup an extender: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8076aff3-16ec-4751-9f57-d36e0ff407201033.mspx

If you are having problems connecting your media center extender to your media center computer, here are some basic things to try to see where the problem is:

Here is a list of keyboard shortcuts for Media Center.

Intro

A Media Center Extender is a device that gives you access to your Media Center computer from another location. Extenders can take many shapes including the Xbox 360; products by Linksys, D-Link, and Niveus; and several TVs by HP.

Setup

This needs to be added.

Welcome to the new Media Center Guides website!

I've decided to give up on MediaWiki and change this site over to Drupal. MediaWiki is a neat program, but I found it to be lacking in a few areas that I thought would benefit this site.  I really like how customizable Drupal is and I think the change will work better for the long run.

Transcode 360 is a program that allows you to playback ripped DVDs, Divx, or Xvid files on an extenderⁱ.  This is a very basic guide and may not meet everyone's needs. If you have other recommendations, tweaks, or setting changes, please add them to this guide.

You can change how Windows Media Center starts by adding command line parameters (a.k.a. switches) when running Media Center.

The easiest way to use a parameter is to modify a shortcut to Media Center.  You can create a shortcut to Media Center by right-clicking on your deskop and slecting "New" >> "Shortcut."  For the location of the item type: "%SystemRoot%\ehome\ehshell.exe" - follow the wizard to finish making the shortcut.

Before using any of the methods on this page, it is recommended that you try using just registry tweaks first. 

Registry tweaks for customizing the Media Center interface can be found HERE.

No.

Mediacenterguides.com has no affiliation with Microsoft, it is purly an enthusiast website.  For more information please see the about page.

Not easily...

This is not supported by Media Center.  Many DVDs have copy protectionⁱ on them, and in many countries it is illegal to break this protection - even if you are legally allowed to make a backup copy.  Microsoft has not included any type of support for copying DVDs to your computer.

That said, there are ways to do this.  There are several 3rd party plugins available that assist with this.  More on this topic is covered in the Rip DVDs guide.