The biggest issue you're likely to come across when ripping and converting DVDs is copy protection. Unless you drop a wad of cash for some commercial software that can rip and decrypt, converting your DVD's is often a two-step process. Enter DVD43. This handy little app will run in your system tray on startup and automatically decrypt your DVD's as they are placed in your optical drive. Once you see the green smiley face in the system tray, (typically just a few seconds) your disc is ready to be converted. This mean you can use Handbrake, VidCoder, or some other software to convert your DVD to a video file in essentially a single step process.
In my post here on How to Geek I focus more on the how to use DVD43 to copy the DVD to the hard drive without ripping software, but the primary idea is to decrypt on the fly so you can convert the movie or video in one step.
If you are a Media Center user who doesn't use all of the menu strips in Media Center, here a easy way to quickly hide the strips you don't want or need. The aptly named Hide Menu Strips app come courtesy of Mikinho, who also created YAMMM and the Mount Image apps for Media Center.
The app is portable and pretty straightforward. Simply run the .exe and check or uncheck the boxes to hide / show menu strips. You will, however, need to run as an administrator to configure it for All Users. A great way to streamline your Windows Media Center by removing unwanted strips.
Read my full post How to Geek or download it and try it out for yourself.
Ripping DVDs may not be new to you, but you may not be aware that when you rip a DVD to your Hard Drive, you can play those rips on your PC without converting them to MP4, AVI, ISO, etc. A lot of Media Players and Media Center apps will allow you to play these VIDEO_TS files natively, just as if the DVD itself were sitting in your optical drive. In my post over at How to Geek, I take a look at how to rip DVD for free using HD Decrypter and how to play them back on your PC with some common media player and media center apps. 
One of Media Center's shortcomings is the lack of native support for metadata management. Enter Media Center Master. This free application can be configured to pull cover art and other metadata, such as movie synopsis, director info, etc directly from the Internet to be displayed in your native Movie Library. MCM will also pull metadata for TV shows and you can also use it in conjunction with MediaBrowser.
Read the full Media Center Master post over at How to Geek.
As a Media Center enthusiast I found this article from GeekTonic very interesting. The article talks about Paul Thurott's recent way-too-early preview of Windows 8, in which Thurott indicates Microsoft may be moving away from TV tuner card support since recent trends have entertainment shifting more towards the web and web based applications.
We've been hearing rumblings about Hulu subscription service for months and today Hulu officially announced it's availability. Never fear free Hulu fans, this Plus service is intended to be complimentary. It's essentially an extra tier for those that want the new addition features and programming. And for those extra features and programming you'll need to pony up $10 / month.
If you are a Boxee user you already know that you can search for videos from all over the Web, watch them, or add them to your queue for later viewing. What if while you are at work doing a little browsing over your "lunch hour" and you come across a hilarious video you want to check out later? You could jot it down, email yourself the link, or try to remember it later? With the Boxee Bookmarklet, you can add that video to your Boxee queue instantly with the click of a button.
Boxee is one of the nicer HTPC solutions this side of Windows Media Center. It's not perfect by any means, but It has been slowly and surely making improvements over the last several months. It's latest version release (0.9.21.11487) features greatly improved media identification. Identifying media, movies in this case, has gone from rather clunky, to somewhat refined in a short period of time. Not only has the initial identification improved, but fixing errors and unknown files is super easy.
Boxee uses IMDB to pull it's movie information and cover art. As long as you have your movie files named properly based on IMDB standards, you're pretty much half way there.
Some Metadata managing apps like Media Center Master and YAMMM require your movie folders to be in individual (and correctly named) folders so that they can properly store metadata and cover art. Even the default Media Center library works on the same principal. So what the heck do you do if you have a large collection of movie files in a single directory? File2Folder to the rescue. This handy little application will take each movie file, create an identically named folder, and move the movie file into that folder. A huge time saver to say the least.
Check out my full write up at How to Geek or download File2Folder and have a go yourself.
If you use Windows Media Center on a dual monitor or multi-monitor system you may be aware that WMC "traps" the mouse so that you cannot work on the other monitor. This is a big annoyance for Media Center users who enjoy a little entertainment while browsing the web or doing a little work. Fortunately there is a little app called the Maxifier that eliminates this "trapping" and let's you run Media Center in full screen mode on any monitor. It also offers additional options and customizable hot keys. There is a stable version (1.4) for Vista Media Center and a Beta version (1.5) for Windows 7.
This is a really simple little app that solves a big annoyance for many Media Center users. You can download it and give it a whirl here, or read my full write up on The Maxifier at How-To Geek.
This year's U.S Open Golf Championship takes place at Pebble Beach, one of the world's most beautiful and famous courses. As if that's not enough, you've also got the ongoing saga of Tiger Woods and his "comeback" from infidelity. If you can't be in front of the TV for all the coverage, the U.S. Open Golf Championship iPhone app has you covered. The App has been fully updated for 2010 and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
I found the Masters iPhone App to be very slick, so I was anxious to dive into the U.S. Open app get a closer look.
I was very anxious to review the HippoRemote Pro 2.2 App for the iphone / iPod Touch. I had previously taken a look at the Boxee iPhone App and thought it was great, and HippoRemote promised so much more functionality. I'm pleased to say that it did not disappoint. It even exceeded my expectations. What sets HippoRemote apart from other remotes is the built-in "profiles." Each of these profiles is a user interface uniquely customized for it's specific program. For example, it has dozens of profiles for programs such as Media Center, Boxee, VLC, Windows 7, PowerPoint, all major browsers, and even web apps like Pandora. It also comes with keyboard control, game controller, and it even has the ability to turn on your computer via Wake on Lan w/ supported computer hardware.
HippoRemote can work as a replacement for your Media Center remote, or just as a supplement for when you want to use an app outside of a typical HTPC setup, or browse the web. HippoRemote works over WiFi, so obviously, you'll need a WiFi router. You'll also need to install a VNC app on your computer. The responsiveness is outstanding. I didn't detect any sort of lag. I should mention that I reviewed the full featured Pro version of the App that costs $4.99. They also have a .99 basic version, and a free lite version. You can read my full review of HippoRemote Pro 2.2 at How-To Geek to learn more and see how to get setup. Don't worry, it's pretty easy. Ready to jump it and try it out? You can check out the App here on their wesbite or download it from the App store.
This is a bit of a follow up on my previous article on how to play VIDEO_TS and VOB files in Windows 7 Media Center. The first time I focused mainly on how to play the DVD rips using the Media Browser plug-in for WMC. This time around, I'm going to focus specifically on ripping your DVD to play in the native Windows 7 Media Center Movie Library.
Once again, I'm going to use DVDFab's HD Decrypter to rip the DVD, but we're going to adjust some settings so that HD Decrypter creates an xml file that we can use to automatically pull cover art and metadata for our movie collection in the native Movie Library.
A few months ago I set out to search the interwebs for a quality armband for my Motorola Droid. As an avid runner and geek, I loved the idea of being able to run with what is basically a computer strapped to my arm. With Pandora and a run tracker app installed, I had dreams of some sort of 3G runner's nirvana. Listening to streaming music while my distance, speed, and route are tracked by a running app.
After doing a little Googling, checking some forums, and perusing Amazon, I didn't really find anything specifically crafted for the Droid. I did however come across the iArmBands Armband for the Nexus One and other Android phones. One of the reviewers stated he used it for the Droid, so I gave it a shot.
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