Is there anyway to add links to the menu strip?  By links, I mean shortcuts to a music playlist, video, or music album.

Apparently the next version of EMUCenter will be to do this (add programs to the main menu that is).

You can use Menu Mender to add an item to the menu that will run any exe that you want, so you might be able to figure out how to start media in Media Center using that.

By the way, version 0.3.3 of Menu Mender is available:
http://rapidshare.com/files/124177662/MC_Menu_Mender_0.3.3.msi

This will fix the problem that users of non-english Vista were experiencing.

michaeljc70 - It's your lucky day!

http://www.codeplex.com/powerplaylist

Lots of interesting open source MCE plugins on this site.

Thanks for such a critical plugin! However, I have a problem with Menu Mender being out of sync with my VMC from the get-go. When I first opened Menu Mender, there were a lot more menus than what I was seeing in VMC. After tinkering around a bit, I decided to "restore default". Menu Mender went back to enabling a lot of the menus I never had to begin with (such as a link to the Hancock trailer), but I still don't see them in VMC. In addition, I seem to have permanently lost the "play DVD" option. It just won't appear, even after restoring defaults. Should I PM you a support package?

PartEleven:

Thanks for such a critical plugin! However, I have a problem with Menu Mender being out of sync with my VMC from the get-go. When I first opened Menu Mender, there were a lot more menus than what I was seeing in VMC. After tinkering around a bit, I decided to "restore default". Menu Mender went back to enabling a lot of the menus I never had to begin with (such as a link to the Hancock trailer), but I still don't see them in VMC. In addition, I seem to have permanently lost the "play DVD" option. It just won't appear, even after restoring defaults. Should I PM you a support package?

 

possibly a silly question but--- do you have a valid movie dvd in the drive?  the play DVD option only appears when there's a DVD in the drive.  Much like the Now Playing option only appears when something is actually playing...

 

The latest version of Menu Mender allows placement of PowerDVD (or any other HDDVD/BR player) as an Item in the VMC Menu.

It works perfectly: When you select PowerDVD, VMC minimizes and we go into the PowerDVD screen. Then we can watch a movie in PowerDVD, using the same remote controls as for VMC.

The problem is, once the movie is over, the only way to close PowerDVD, is by using the mouse (Once PowerDVD is closed, VMC automatically comes back, which is great.)

Is there a way to be able to close PowerDVD when pressing the Back button on the remote, which will then bring back the VMC screen, and make the whole thing pretty seamless?

I remember a plugin for MediaPortal, which seemed to be able to do this (although it may have been just bringing VMC in focus, over PowerDVD - I don't remember.)

It'd be great if someone can figure out how to do this.

Musictype:

The latest version of Menu Mender allows placement of PowerDVD (or any other HDDVD/BR player) as an Item in the VMC Menu. It works perfectly: When you select PowerDVD, VMC minimizes and we go into the PowerDVD screen. Then we can watch a movie in PowerDVD, using the same remote controls as for VMC. The problem is, once the movie is over, the only way to close PowerDVD, is by using the mouse (Once PowerDVD is closed, VMC automatically comes back, which is great.) Is there a way to be able to close PowerDVD when pressing the Back button on the remote, which will then bring back the VMC screen, and make the whole thing pretty seamless? I remember a plugin for MediaPortal, which seemed to be able to do this (although it may have been just bringing VMC in focus, over PowerDVD - I don't remember.) It'd be great if someone can figure out how to do this.

I use Intelliremote for this, see http://melloware.com/products/intelliremote/.  You can setup a profile for PowerDVD and reassign a button for closing it.

VMC contains quite a few menus whose visibility is determined at run-time, based on your region, whether you have a DVD in the drive, whether you're on a wireless network, whether you have a USB storage drive attached, and goodness knows what else. Menu Mender doesn't try to work all this out - it just shows what could possibly appear, if all the correct circumstances are met. For example, i'm in Australia, so no matter whether I enable or disable the sports strip, i'm never going to see it in VMC - but as soon as I change my region to the US, then whether the sports strip is enabled or disabled is suddenly important.

If, on the other hand, you are seeing an item in VMC that doesn't appear in Menu Mender, then that would be a bug and by all means send me a support package.

TheOsburnFamil:

possibly a silly question but--- do you have a valid movie dvd in the drive?  the play DVD option only appears when there's a DVD in the drive.  Much like the Now Playing option only appears when something is actually playing...

Of course I have a DVD in my drive! For some reason Menu Mender isn't fully functional for me. It's only able to enable/disable the start menu strips (like music, pictres + video, etc.) and move around plugin links. I can't move or disable the links to default applications like movie guide.

mikinho:

I use Intelliremote for this, see http://melloware.com/products/intelliremote/.  You can setup a profile for PowerDVD and reassign a button for closing it.

Thanks, mikinho.

I looked into it and it sounds great, but $24 just for this is a bit much, plus it runs all the time.

I cobbled together a little script, which actually does all this and also closes PowerDVD (or any other application). It's here: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/276004.aspx

If you upload a support package (via Menu Mender about box) then I might be able to help you.

You can also try setting up Menu Mender how you like it, opening a command prompt and entering the command "mcbuilder" (which may take a while to complete) and then rebooting.

Thanks for the help! I tried it out again, and the menu customization is working now. I'm able to rename, disable, and move things around.

But I still don't get a play DVD option. I can't upload files on the forum yet, so I uploaded the support package to rapidshare here

To those who might be wondering, Fiji restores VMC's default configuration and MC Menu Mender no longer is able to edit it.

Out with Fiji for me.

I created a plugin for VMC (which is tested for x64 but should be fine in x86 as well) that closes VMC (because VMC still grabs some buttons if it's open in the background) and opens PowerDVD when clicked, and closes PowerDVD when VMC is opened again (just push the Green Button!).  Give it a try at:

http://insightonsite.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=vmcreleases&action=display&thread=15