Category Archives: MCE Software

MCE Software

PowerController Installation

PowerController is best installed on a PC that is always on so that it can monitor for devices being turned on and off. There are two sorts of PC that are most commonly always on, Media Center PCs and Home Servers. We therefore offer the ability to install the PowerController server on either of these systems. The server component is identical on each system, but the Media Center version has a native Media Center interface for configuring the system while the Home Server version has a Home Server settings tab for the basic settings.

Media Center

To install the Windows Media Center version of PowerController, download the latest version from here. Run the msi file to install the software, then open Windows Media Center and visit Extras -> extras library -> Power Controller. A wizard will walk you through the different options for using the system.

If you are using Z-Wave, you should install your dongle and it’s driver before configuring PowerController.

Home Server

To install the Windows Home Server version of PowerController, download the latest version from here, and put it in your Software/Add-Ins folder. Open settings and visit Add-ins, and click on Install next to PoweController. After installation, the home server console will close, so re-open it again and open the settings again. There will now be a PowerController tab in the settings. Enable the web server and enter a username and password, then visit the URL on the screen to continue the settings.

If you are using Z-Wave, you should install your dongle and it’s driver before configuring PowerController.

Mi Casa Verde

If you are using a Mi Casa Verde system then you can install a new device on your Vera to notify Power Controller whenever a change is made to your devices. Download it from here. Unzip it and upload all 4 files to your Vera by clicking on MiOS developers, then Luup files. In that tab, choose all 4 files to upload, check the Restart Luup after upload checkbox and press Go.

After the files are uploaded and the server has restarted, click on MiOS developers again, and pick the Create device tab. In there enter “PowerController Monitor” against the description field, and enter “D_PowerController.xml” in the UpnpDevFilename field, and then click the create device button. You don’t need to worry about what Room it is in, or any other fields. This will add a device which runs on the background to notify the PowerController system when there are state changes to binary switches or dimmers.

Configuration

Next configure your system.

 

MCE Software

PowerController Setup

 

There are two ways of configuring PowerController – either through the web pages, or through the Media Center interface. The web interface is more sophisticated, so is better if you have a keyboard and mouse available.

Configuration from the web page – preferred option

After installing PowerControllerWHS or PowerControllerMCE, enable the web server as described in the installation instructions. The address of your server will be shown on the configuration screen, e.g. http://192.168.0.10:53107/. Visit that link in any web browser, and click Preferences in the top right hand corner.

Configuration from Media Center

After installing PowerControllerMCE, you will be asked to choose if you want to run in Local Mode where everything is run from the local PC, or remote mode where everything is run from another PC – i.e. the settings and Z-Wave USB device are on another PC.

In local mode, enter either the address of your BBSB controller, or pick your Z-Wave USB device, or enable MiOS (Mi Casa Verde) – or a combination of all three.
In remote mode, enter the name of the server that is the master machine, along with the username and password that you entered in the server settings. Note, the default username and password is “user” and “pass”.

If you use a BBSB controller, you may want to use a static IP address. Instructions for doing that can be found on the Bye Bye Standby forums here.

After you have set that up, you can set up the Zones in your house. This might be different rooms, or different floors that you want to group your devices by.

After you have set that, you can add your devices.

Give them a name, pick a type of device. The type is simply used to give an image, so don’t stress if your device type isn’t in there. It’s just used to show an icon. Then optionally pick a scene, and the control system type. For BBSB, pick the housecode and unitcode, and for Z-Wave pick the device number. For Mi Casa Verde, you can pick the device by name. For Webcams, enter the URL of the webcam that produces jpg images (most webcams have this somewhere!). If your webcam requires a username and password enter then in the URL as follows: http://username:password@webcam_address:webcam_port/, e.g. http://martin:welcome1@192.168.0.5:81/.

You can also pick a shortcut key combination for turning devices on and off, and for dimmable Z-Wave devices for dimming it up and down. This is particularly useful for use with a universal remote control which can then be programmed to turn devices on and off without having to open the PowerControllerMCE application, or even without having to turn on your TV.

Next you can set up scenes. These are pre-set actions which can be performed such as turning some devices on and some off, and setting the dim level. You can also set up keyboard shortcuts for running scenes from your remote control too.

Once you have the system set up, you can turn on or off devices individually, or you can turn off all devices at once, all using your remote control.

You can also go in to the Scheduled Events page and set repeating times for your devices to turn on or off

You can pick to repeat the event hourly, 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours or Daily. So, for example, if you want your lights to go on at 6pm every day and off at 10pm, add one event to turn on your lights as 18:00 with a frequency of Daily, and then add another even to turn your lights off at 22:00 with a frequency of Daily. As long as your computer is running, the messages will be sent to the controller. Media Center does not have to be running for the events to be sent.

Home Server

If you are using Z-wave, install the Z-Wave USB controller software on your home server first.

To install the server version of Power Controller, download it and put it in your Software/Add-Ins folder on your home server. Then go to settings on the home server and install the add in. The home server console will close after installation, so open it up again and go to settings and choose PowerController. Either enter the BBSB controller address or pick your Z-Wave device (or both). You are then ready to start pointing your media center installations at this server.

 

Software

MCE LoveFilm

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Unfortunately Amazon have changed the way videos are played, and we can no longer work with it. MCELoveFilm no longer works. Thanks for your support over the years though. Martin.

LoveFilm for Media Center allows you to watch streaming movies from Amazon Prime Instant Video, list, all from your Media Center PC. It is compatible with amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and amazon.de*.

Windows 8 – MCE LoveFilm is compatible with both Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you are upgrading to Windows 8, you can use your original MCELoveFilm license which was e-mailed to you when you purchased your license. Don’t forget to upgrade Silverlight in Internet Explorer before playing videos.

 

Thanks to Matt Matthias who came up with the excellent screen designs.

Continue reading MCE LoveFilm →

Software

My Media Center

My Media Center is a Windows 7 Media Center interface specially designed for kids. It has a simple easy to use interface, and it allows a you to set up filters on what can be watched so that your youngsters don't accidentally start watching age inappropriate programs.

Downloads

Download PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.

NOTE – when upgrading to 2 or later from 1.2 or before, the auto-upgrade will error. Sorry. Uninstall the old version then install the new version.

Key Features

  • Decide which channels, videos and DVDs are available to watch
  • Settings secured by PIN
  • All media items in a single list
  • Animated screens and exciting UI
  • Add videos and recorded TV to a playlist to set up a whole viewing session
  • Video previews
  • Can launch straight in to My Media Center, bypassing other media options
  • No option to accidentally delete precious videos

Continue reading My Media Center →

Software

Songler

Please note – Songler is no longer maintained. You are free to download it and use it, but any issues will not be resolved.

Songler (formerly SpotifyMCE) is a fantastic add-in for Windows Media Center for playing music content from multiple legal streaming music providers – currently Spotify, Last.fm and YouTube. It is the first Add-In for Windows Media Center to play Spotify content, and the most up to date Last.fm Add-In. It allows both free and premium Spotify subscribers you to play any of Spotify’s 6  million tracks instantly, directly from your Media Center, all controlled with your remote. It also allows you to scrobble the tracks that you are playing in Songler to last.fm to build up your music profile, and last.fm subscribers can stream all of their radio stations too.

 

Downloads

Download 

Continue reading Songler →

Software

PowerController MCE

PowerController MCE is a multi-standard Home Automation Add-In for Windows Media Center, controlling electrical devices that run on the Bye Bye Standby/ Domia system, Z-Wave and Mi Casa Verde devices, as well as IP webcams.

Control devices from your Media Center PC

Control your lights, your electronics, anything you want, all from your media center PC

 

Webcam integration

Monitor webcams round your house from your media center PC.

 

Multiple format support

PowerControllerMCE support both Bye Bye Standby, Z-Wave, and Mi Casa Verde devices, all in one control system. Mix and match devices as you build your system.
Note, if you are involved with another system, we are also interested in adding further support, so get in touch

Monitor your system

See which devices are on and which are off round the house – no matter how they were controlled – via the PC, a switch, remote control, over the web. PowerControllerMCE will keep track of it all.

Turn everything off

When you leave the house, turn everything off with just one click

Support for multiple zones

Split your house in to different zones or rooms to allow you to group your devices conveniently

Support for scenes

Create multiple scenes for different activities, e.g. Watch Movies, or Bedtime to set multiple devices on or off, and set the dim level, all from one control

Scheduled events

Turn devices on and off at scheduled times or at sunrise and sunset. Make your house look lived in when you are away, or just make sure everything gets turned off at night. Or have your hi-fi or TV turned on in the morning automatically. Offset the events by a random amount each day for that extra lived in look.

Universal Remote Control

You can set a keyboard shortcut for any of the devices or scenes so that you can turn them on or off and dim them without even going in to PowerControllerMCE. If you have a programmable remote control you can even program those keys in to it to control your devices without even turning on your PC

Server support

Rather than leaving your media center PC on all the time to monitor the state of your devices, you can now install a windows home server add-in to control and monitor everything. Best of all, when you do this all of the settings and state information is stored on the server and can be shared from multiple PCs.

 

Web Control

In addition to media center control, a touch enabled web interface is available – ideal for a PC, tablet or smart phone.

 

Media Center Downloads

Download PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.

Home Server Downloads

Download PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.

Continue reading PowerController MCE →

Software

TunerFree MCE

2 Comments

TunerFreeMCE is a Windows Media Center add-in for watching streaming internet TV programs on your PC and Media Center Extender. For UK users, it has support for live TV and catch up programs from the UK’s main TV providers (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five), as well as all of the BBC Radio stations, and providers from around the world.

Please note, as Microsoft stopped support for MediaCenter with Windows 10, TunerFreeMCE is no longer maintained either. You are welcome to try it out, but there’s no support any more.

Downloads

 Download

Windows 8: As of version 5.5.7, TunerFreeMCE also supports Windows 8. All you need is Windows 8 Pro with the optional extra Media Center, and .NET 3.5

Flash: To play flash content (e.g. BBC iPlayer), you need to install the generic flash player, as follows;

Continue reading TunerFree MCE →

Software

FlickrMCE for Windows XP Media Center 2005

Click here to download

FlickrMCE is a Windows Media Center application for browsing Flickr through the windows media center 10 foot interface.

FlickrMCE allows you to view your own photos, your contacts photos, your favorite photos, and your photosets. It also allows you to add new favorites. You can display the photos as a slideshow, or navigate to the next and previous photo using the left and right buttons on the remote in the same was as you would when viewing local photos on your PC. You can search for photos by tags, and you can browse flickr for interesting photos. You can even display maps for geotagged photos.

Continue reading FlickrMCE for Windows XP Media Center 2005 →

Software

ReadNews for Windows XP Media Center 2005

New! Version 1.2 – Compatible with MCE Rollup2

Click here to download

ReadNews is an RSS news reader Add-In for Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). Yes, yet another RSS reader. This one has a difference though. It uses popup windows to browse through the headlines while watching TV rather than taking you off to an html window. You just press a couple of keys on your remote while watching live TV, or Recorded TV, or a DVD, and the standard MCE popup window comes up showing you your chosen RSS feed.

Continue reading ReadNews for Windows XP Media Center 2005 →