If you’d like to play your portable audio player through your Windows 7 PC speakers (without unplugging them from the back of the PC), you can use a standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable. This way you can play your songs through your PC. I realize this tip isn’t for everyone but it’s useful for me as getting to the back of my PC isn’t that easy.

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Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
5 out of 5	[ratings id=8250]

Here’s a little reminder on the JV16 PowerTools Giveaway Contest which runs through Sunday If you didn’t see the review on JV16 PowerTools 2010 you might want to do so now. Jv16 PowerTools is the ultimate Windows optimization and tune-up utility suite, and by far the best tool I have every put to the test.

The Competition is open to everyone !

The competition has now ended.

Winners will receive notification by email.
Thank you to all contributors.

Localization:

For those of you tuned in from around the world – welcome. I’m a Kiwi (a person from New Zealand) and this article was written primarily to address NZ Windows Media Center users lack of access to the Electronic Program Guide from Sky Broadcasting.

Having said that, there are topics covered herein that could well be of use to others beyond the borders of New Zealand. Our primary tool in this article is “Big Screen EPG” that’s now being used by many people around the world to push the contents of an XMLTV file (the EPG information) into the Windows Media Center database. If this sort of thing is of interest to you, please read on.

Did you miss the previous posts in this series?

• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 1 of 3]
• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 2 of 3]

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Before I sign off for the holidays, I have one last gift for you all. I know, I know, I’m a generous guy. Some may say to a fault.

After perusing many of the excellent themes for Windows 7 Media Center, I found there weren’t many dark themes out there, those that were tended to be incomplete.

So I set to work on making my own theme, it’s by no means perfect but at least makes an attempt to be a ’complete’ theme.

Hit the link below to see some more screenshots and get a link to the download.

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You’ll recall from New and Improved EPG that Big Screen has just released a final (not a beta) version of their Big Screen EPG program that grabs program guides from the internet, prepares them, and loads their data into Windows Media Center’s Program Guide to use in conjunction with the WMC Live TV function. We ran through a basic setup of the program in part I, in part II we’ll cover the setup process in more detail, examining the options and perhaps arriving at a transparent process that will provide you with the best EPG for the New Zealand broadcast area.

Did you miss the previous post in this series?

• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 1 of 3]

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First there was VGA, Video (or Component), S-VHS and Scart connectors. All of which use analog signals. Analog signals means that we don’t need any kind of computer to process images (and sound). All we need is old-fashioned electronics or even just a piece of paper and a needle. Today when “everything” has gone digital we have got two new standards called DVI and HDMI.

Though HDMI is the new all-round standard of connecting Computers and TV (and soon every gadget and appliance ) you will still come across DVI. Especially when connecting your computer to your flat screen monitor, TV or Projector.

DVI comes in several flavours, DVI-A, DVI-D, DVI-I and M1-DA. But which is what ?

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