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Customize & Create Windows Media Center Themes

Windows Media Center (WMC) has long been a popular application for users who want to manage their digital media, from movies and television shows to music and photos, all in one place. Unfortunately, the software was discontinued with the release of Windows 8, leaving many users seeking ways to customize their existing installations. This article delves into the process of customizing and creating new themes for Windows Media Center, offering detailed guidance and tips for users looking to personalize their experience.

Understanding Windows Media Center Themes

Before diving into theme customization, it’s essential to understand what themes do within Windows Media Center. Themes are essentially collections of visual modifications that can change the graphical user interface (GUI) by altering colors, backgrounds, fonts, and overall aesthetic layouts. With a custom theme, users can reflect their personal tastes, making the interface more visually appealing and user-friendly.

Setting Up Your Environment for Customization

To get started with creating or customizing Windows Media Center themes, it’s crucial to have the right tools and a clear understanding of both the software and hardware requirements involved:

Windows Operating System: Make sure you are utilizing a Windows OS that supports Windows Media Center, typically Windows 7. Windows Media Center is not available on Windows 8 and later versions.
Backup Your System: Before making any changes to your WMC setup, ensure you back up your existing theme and settings. Use a tool like Windows Backup or create a system restore point.
Basic Software Requirements: Ensure you have basic graphic editing software like Photoshop, GIMP, or Paint.NET installed on your computer. This will be necessary for customizing images or creating new graphical elements for your themes.
Understand the Layout: Familiarize yourself with Windows Media Center’s default layout. Knowing how the various elements (menus, backgrounds, icons) are structured will make it easier to design a cohesive theme.
Accessing Media Center Themes: WMC themes are stored in the file system. You can find the default directory for themes typically in “C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindows Media CenterThemes”. Here, you can see the current themes installed and modify or replace them.

Creating Your Theme

Step 1: Gather Resources

Begin by collecting the visual elements you wish to use:

Background Images: Look for high-resolution images that reflect the mood you want to create. Websites like Unsplash and Pixabay provide free images that you can use commercially.
Icons: You’ll want unique icons for menu items. Create or download icons that suit your theme, ensuring they match stylistically.

Step 2: Edit Existing Themes

Choose a Base Theme: Identify an existing WMC theme that you want to modify. Edit an already existing theme instead of starting from scratch, aligning your changes with a theme that you like.
Open Theme Files: Navigate to the theme directory mentioned earlier and open the folder of the theme you wish to edit. Within this folder, you’ll find various files including .png for images and .xml files for the theme layout.
Image Customization: Use your graphic design software to edit any images or create new ones. Keep the dimensions consistent with WMC’s interface requirements to ensure compatibility.
Editing the XML File: The XML files govern how themes are laid out in WMC. You can tweak the properties of elements like transparency, size, and position. A basic understanding of XML will go a long way here.

Step 3: Testing Your Theme

Before you complete the theme creation process, you’ll want to test it to ensure everything looks right:

Load Your Theme: Once edited, you can load your theme in WMC. Go to the settings menu in WMC under ‘General’ -> ‘Windows Media Center Settings’ -> ‘Remote and Devices’ -> ‘Customize this program’.
Visual Inspection: Navigate through the media center, checking for visual elements that may not have rendered appropriately. Pay particular attention to overlapping text, improper scaling of images, or odd colors that clash with other UI elements.
Make Adjustments: If you find any discrepancies, go back to the image editor or XML file, make your changes, and test the theme again until you achieve the desired look.

Step 4: Finalizing and Saving the Theme

After testing and adjustments, you will want to finalize your theme:

Backup Your Theme: Save a new copy of your completed theme in a separate directory to prevent loss. Consider uploading to a cloud service or external drive.
Documentation: Create a simple README file that describes the theme’s elements, including any specific instructions for installation. This is particularly useful if you plan to share your theme with others.
Share with Community: If your theme turns out well, consider sharing your creation on forums or community websites dedicated to Windows Media Center enthusiasts. Attach the theme files and your README, encouraging others to provide feedback or suggestions.

Tips for Customizing and Creating Themes

Consistency is Key: Ensure that your theme maintains a consistent color palette and style across all elements. Clashing graphics can make the entire interface feel disjointed.
Color Psychology: Think about the impact that colors have on mood and experience. Blues are calming, while reds can be stimulating. Choose colors that align with the purpose of your media center.
Readability: Always prioritize readability when choosing fonts and background images. If users can’t read text easily, it undermines any aesthetic appeal.
Performance: Large images can slow down performance, so ensure that your graphics are optimized for quick loading while maintaining visual quality.

Exploring Existing Themes

While creating your own theme is an exciting challenge, there is also an abundance of existing themes available for Windows Media Center. These can serve as a source of inspiration or a base from which to develop your customizations.

Community Forums: Websites like TheGreenButton.com are home to vibrant communities discussing everything related to Windows Media Center. Users frequently share their themes, scripts, and insights.
Themed Packs: Look for comprehensive packs of themes. They often come pre-configured with all necessary files, plus instructions for installation. This is a great way to dive into customization with ready-made assets.
Theme Compatibility: Some themes may not fully function with newer software patches or updates. Always check the compatibility of themes if you’ve recently updated your Windows system.

Concluding Thoughts on Customizing Windows Media Center

Customizing and creating themes for Windows Media Center can significantly enhance your user experience, bringing a personal touch to how you interact with your digital media. The process encourages creativity and allows you to tailor the interface to fit your personal style or functional preferences.

As you embark on this journey, remember to experiment with different elements, seek feedback from peers, and draw inspiration from existing themes in the community. Whether it’s a simple color change or a complete overhaul of the interface, the satisfaction you find in a customized media center that reflects your personality will be well worth the effort. Happy theming!

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ABOUT MODERN8

Modern8 is a metro inspired theme for Windows Media Center. It uses Patchou’s Media Center Themer to apply the new and improved UI

Modern8 is unique to many other Media Center themes (see details & screenshots further below):

Improved modernized UI experience – clarity and usability comes first. No more fogs or ‘glass buttons’. No more blue.
500+ images have been completely redesigned or retouched
Includes genuine Microsoft Xbox One navigation sound effects
All new bar design for on-screen media controls
Choice of 5 different accent colours – standard (black), blue, green, orange and red. A light theme is also included

Splash screen animation with flattened logo (alternate files are provided if you prefer the new official Windows logo)

There are NO changes to any system files, so there is minimal risk of corruption. It is also extremely easy to apply to your system, in less
than a few minutes you can have a modern Media Center experience!

And like all Media Center themes, Modern8 is entirely customizable so you can easily tweak Modern8 to your design tastes. It already
includes some alternative artwork to try, just mix and match.

Please, if you have anything to say, be it good or bad: contributions, suggestions or problems – let me know! (:

DOWNLOAD LINKS via MediaFire

v1.3 — January 30th 2016 24MB

http://www.mediafire.com/download/1oy02koillba1le/Modern8_1.3.zip

*Please note, an alternative XML file is provided for no string changes/non-English users.

-Small improvements to start-up sound & animation

-Action icons are coloured when highlighted (e.g. record, delete, review conflict)

-Changes to guide record icons to improve contrast (red/yellow/blue instead of red/orange/blue)

-Program info panel background (see last screenshot) covers the whole screen

-New loading animation spinner

Remember to remove any existing Modern8 files beforehand, and backup the files if you have done any of your own customising

If you notice that some text is not being recoloured to white from the default blue (especially if using an extender):

An example screenshot of the issue.

Note that text which is not ‘in focus’ remains blue, this is due to a special legacy text condition in Media Center and occurs mostly in menus.

THIS SHOULD MOSTLY DO THE TRICK:

COPY THIS TEXT:

<TextFormat>
<LegacyText Color="RGB(104,185,200)">
<Replace Color="RGB(255,255,255)"/>
</LegacyText>
<Text Font="Segoe Media Center">
<Replace Color="RGB(255,255,255)"/>
</Text>
<Text Font="Segoe Media Center Light">
<Replace Color="RGB(255,255,255)"/>
</Text>
<Text Font="Segoe Media Center Semibold">
<Replace Color="RGB(255,255,255)"/>
</Text>
</TextFormat>

DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THIS TEXT

<?xml version="1.0" 
encoding="UTF-8"?><MediaCenterThemer xmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance 
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="MCTSchema.xsd">

IN MCTDEFAULT.XML (C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\MCTDefault.xml)

NOTE: 255,255,255 = white text. Changing the shell files to recolour text may have no effect if this XML is in place, you must instead change the font colours

from within MCTDefault.xml (i.e. — replace 255,255,255 with 0,0,0 (black text)

Thanks to NNate on page 3 who outlined the problem (and a solution!) with his Xbox 360

If you are not using a Media Center over an extender, try this registry method by humantorch14 on page 2 if the above does not work

Remember to also check out The Green Button Modern8 Thread

INSTALLATION AND REQUIREMENTS
1
Download and install Patchou’s Media Center Themer (v1.51 mirrored copy from MediaFire http://www.mediafire.com/download/3v2ers338cx0f3r/MediaCenterThemer_1.51.zip)
For Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 (Media Center editions) and Windows 10.
2
Download and extract all of the contents of the most recent Modern8 zip file (v1.3).
3
Copy the contents of the extracted zip file to C:\ProgramData\Media Center Themer\ or use the shortcut provided
Remember to remove any existing Modern8 files and the MCTDefault.xml beforehand

(but backup the files if you have done any of your own customising)
4

Open the newly copied Modern8 folder and run the registry file WindowsSetNewDefaultBeep.reg

This works exactly as if you were to change the default beep via Sound settings and can be just as easily undone. You may need to logout or restart afterwards.

5
Enjoy And if you really like Modern8, you can donate via PayPal and help me pay for my studies (or at least a drink or two!)

Special thanks to TheOsburnFamily and JBL!

RELEASE HISTORY

16th December 2013 (1.52MB)

Modern8 Initial Release

6th January 2014 (11.4MB)
Modern8 1.0 || Modern8 1.0 (NON-ENGLISH, NO STRING CHANGES)

9th January 2014 (11.1MB)
Modern8 1.1 || Modern8 1.1 (NO STRING CHANGES, NON-ENGLISH)*

-Fixed RDP crashes

-Minor string changes

16th January 2014 (22MB)
Modern8 1.2 || Modern8 1.2 (NO STRING CHANGES, NON-ENGLISH)*

-Tweaked EPG appearance slightly and included some alternative EPG focus accents

-Improved folder layout to be more intuitive and easier to customise

-Among other minor changes

2nd March 2014 (22MB)
Modern8 1.2.1a || Modern8 1.2.1 (NO STRING CHANGES, NON-ENGLISH)*

-Darkened default background image slightly

-Improved default text recolouring; selected text should now have greater contrast to text which is not selected (does not apply to all situations)

-Improved text readability for TV Debug menu (411 CTRL+D/411 More Info when playing TV)

ENHANCEMENT HIGHLIGHTS & SCREENSHOTS

Your choice of accent colours – a simple copy and paste is all that is required to change the accent.
There is also a ‘light’ theme available (but this doesn’t have the same polish or ‘completeness’ as the standard theme)
And of course, you can mix and match UI elements quickly and easily to suit your preferences

Start screen with metro icons. Tiles are colour coded into their respective categories (Settings, Music, Video, etc)
The background image animates in a subtle glowing cycle

Entirely new bar design for on-screen media controls

Media Center TV guide (Just note that I’m also using My Channel Logos to change the guide layout – this is not part of Modern8)

Among other minor changes

Extended time format

Improved ‘now playing-hinting info’ for TV – text should no longer be cut off for long titles

A few text changes (English only) for clarity and/or aesthetics

LIST OF MEDIA CENTER SUB CATEGORIES WITH ENHANCED MODERN UI
Picture favourites
Picture library
Video library
Music favourites
Music library
Music search
Movie guide
Movie library
Movies search
DVD
TV guide
Recorded TV
TV guide search
Power options
Settings

LIST OF REVISED STRINGS (does not apply to the NO STRING CHANGES/NON-ENGLISH VERSION)

old string new string

shut down power options
sync sync device
search search music
search search guide
search search movies
VIEW CATEGORIES GUIDE CATEGORIES

All All Channels
other showings showings
Resolve Conflict Review Conflict
resolve conflict review conflict
Programme Details Details
programme details details
programme information information (changed to ‘info’ since v1.3)
interactive tv interactive

Exit Exit Media Center
Log Off Sign Out
LOG OFF WINDOWS SIGN OUT OF WINDOWS
Are you sure you want to log off? Are you sure you want to sign out?
View Song List Now Playing List
TEXT [empty/blank string — replaced with a graphical icon on the media controls bar. This is still included with the NO STRING CHANGES VERSION]

LIMITATIONS — PLEASE READ
FURTHER DETAILS MAY BE FOUND IN THE CONTAINED README FILES

Media Center includes most of its own sounds, however it still uses one sound which is shared by the Windows OS: the ‘Default Beep’ The included .reg registry files can quickly change the ‘Default Beep’ to the provided Xbox One sound effect found in the Modern8 Audio directory. The .reg registry files work exactly as if you were to manually change the ‘Default Beep’ via the Windows control panel; but obviously much faster!

Much of Modern8’s text elements have been colourized white. This may be an issue for other add-ons such which contain predominantly light backgrounds. Alternative files are provided for darker text if needed.

If ENGLISH is NOT your operating system language, you should choose the NON-ENGLISH version to download. Modern8 makes a few subtle language changes.

As mentioned briefly above, the included ‘light’ theme currently doesn’t have the same polish as the standard theme – I have just quickly inverted the colours of the standard theme

ORIGINAL WORKS

I DID NOT create everything from scratch myself, details of original art sources are included in the corresponding README file

Big thanks to Keef and his un8y theme, which inspired Modern8. It was a great template and an inspiration for me to make this theme. (I also grabbed a few of your icons )

Edited January 30, 2016 by NeoMesal

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Theme lovers love to customize everything and now its the turn for Windows Media Center lovers who would love to add their own image, change the start menu icon, the splash screen etc of the Windows Media Center which is also one of the most common tools to watch TV on Windows Machine and used with Home Server to stream music and videos.

Coming back to Themes and Customization, Media Center Studio is one tool which lets you customize Windows Media Center. Lets see what you can do with it :

Replace Images used inside the WMC like Start menu, Icons with yours. It gives you access to each and every image available.
Create Themes like we have themes for Windows 7. You can change Colors, Fonts and Images.
This tool has separate dedicated section to customizing the start menus like renaming Picture Library, Music Library, Items in Extars, Tv Archive, favorites etc.
Create your own menu strip with
Create Packaged themes which can be used on another computer or you can share with your friends by using Export and Import Themes Option

Create Strip Menu and Add your program inside Windows Media Center

Creating another menu is bit dicy. So lets talk about it. Since this app is still in beta expect that Media Center will crash sometimes and you might have to start over again.

To start creating a strip menu first select Start Menu option. Now click on the First Option which says Menu Strip. This will not give you any popup but to find where the menu strip was added, scroll down to the last section of Start menu. Should be just below Tasks.

Now click on the edit icon to give it a name. You can click on the up and down arrow buttons on the side of the name to move it up or down.
Now lets add a new item inside this menu. Click on Application or there is another option which lets you add games like . Here you select icons, additional parameters and type of resources required like audio, video etc. The options here even allow what kind of actions you can take before launching and when you get back to media center once you exit the application. The programs lunched from here run inside the WMC console.

Adding Entry Point to Windows Media Strip Menu. To add an entry point to Start menu, you will need to open the Entry Point area which is under start menu. This was bit difficult to find on first look.

Once you are done with this. Save the start menu and apply the theme.Remember even if you don’t have a theme you can still change the start menu any time. I wish there was an option to add YouTube video link here so I can watch my subscribed channels here.

Here is a video describing more about it:

Few places where I find the plugin crashes the Media Center is when you leave a new Start Menu Strip empty or when you add a program where settings ar wrong with it for example when you gibe in correct path. Rest works fine.

Download Windows Media Center Studio.

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Are you tired of the same Windows Media Center look and feel? Today we’ll show you how change the background and apply themes to WMC.

Changing the Basic Color Scheme in WMC

There are a couple of very basic color scheme options built in to Windows 7 Media Center. From the WMC Start Menu, select Settings on the Tasks strip and then select General. On the General settings screen select Visual and Sound Effects.

Under Color scheme you’ll find options for Windows Media Center standard, High contrast white, and High contrast black. Simply select a color scheme and click Save before exiting.

If you have used Media Center before you are familiar with the standard blue default theme.

There is also the high contrast white.

And, the high contrast black.

Changing the Background Image with Media Center Studio

Themes and custom backgrounds need to be added with the third-party software, Media Center Studio. You can find the download link at the end of this article.

You can use your own high resolution photo, or download one from the Internet. For best results, you’ll want to find an image that meets or exceeds the resolution of your monitor. Also, using a darker colored background image is ideal as it should contrast better with the lighter colored text of the start menu.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed Media Center Studio (link below), open the application select the Home tab on the ribbon and make sure you are on the Themes tab below. Click New.

Select Biography from the left pane and type in a name for your new theme.

Next, click on the triangle next to Images to expand the list below. You’ll want to browse to Images > Common > Background. You should see a list of PNG image files located below Background. We will want to swap out the COMMON.ANIMATED.BACKGROUND.PNG and the COMMON.BACKGROUND.PNG images. Select COMMON.ANIMATED.BACKGROUND.PNG and click on the Browse button on the right.

Browse for your photo and click Open.

Your selected image will appear on the left pane. Now, do the same for the COMMON.BACKGROUND.PNG. When finished, select the Home tab on the ribbon at the top and click Save.

Now switch to the Themes tab on the ribbon and the Themes tab below. (There are two Themes tabs which can be a bit confusing). Select your theme on the right pane and click Apply.

Note: You won’t see the image backgrounds displayed.

Your theme will be applied to Media Center.

Close out of Media Center Studio and open Windows Media Center to check out your new background.

You can load multiple backgrounds images and switch them periodically as your mood changes. You might like to find a nice background featuring your favorite movie or TV show.

Perhaps you can even find a background of your favorite sports team.

Installing Themes with Media Center Studio

Theme7MC has made available a small group of Media Center Studio Theme packs that are simple to download and install. You can find the download link below.

Note: Before installing a theme, turn off any extenders and close Windows Media Center.

Download any (or all) of the Theme7MC theme packages to your Media Center PC. Open Media Center Studio, select the Themes tab (the one at the top) and click Import Theme.

Browse for the theme you wish to import and click Open.

Select your theme from the themes pane and click Apply.

Media Center Studio will proceed to apply your theme.

You should then see your new theme appear under Current theme on the left theme pane.

Close out of Media Center Studio. Open Media Center and enjoy your new theme.

Conclusion

Media Center Studio runs on Windows 7 or Vista and gives users a solution for personalizing their Media Center backgrounds. It is a Beta application, however, so it still has a few bugs.

Currently, there are only a handful of themes available at Themes7MC, but what they have is pretty slick.

If you’d like to further customize the look of Media Center, check out our previous article on how to customize the Media Center start menu with Media Center Studio.

Downloads

Media Center Studio RTB

Theme7MC (Japanese)

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