Vista: New Theme for Vista Media Center (Back In Black)

[JNRidgway15]

Here's another theme I have been working on after my 5231 Theme as I have been asked by a few mebers to make a black version of the original VMCE theme so I have. This theme is a simple version of VMCE using black and touches of blue enjoy. No third party software required to run this theme.

-Black Style Menu's
-New Now playing Music Screen
-New EPG Underlay
-New Aero power panel
-Black Background
-and much more

How to install: Take ownership of ehres.dll found at %WinDir%\ehome
rename ehres.dll to ehres.dll.bak then cut and paste the ehres.dll from the download link below.

Original Download Here
Revision Download Here
Evaluation Update Download Here

Comments and feedback welcome

This is Only available for Vista Media Center

Revision Notes:
I could not change the slight Blue overlay on the recorded TV Even if I change the font colour it still stays the same. The Resource I thought it was doesn’t change it but I’m still looking into it. Basically I just went through and did a tidy up of the theme made the whole them more “Uniform”. The major UI changes are...

Seekbar is now in black white and grey


Tac buttons now all white black and grey no tinge of blue


And many more small changes not worth mentioning.

Once Again Enjoy and feedback welcome

[Astrotoy7]

Havent tried it yet, but just a thank you simply for the amazing effort yet JN

really looking forward to see how it turns out !

astro

EDIT: Great stuff JN Perfect IMO. For those who have been using the MCFX black, this is slightly different, and has some more blue to make writing and selected folders stand out. The mcfx had grey/white for this. Both look great, so it comes down to what you prefer

once again. super stuff JN ! Just shows what a talented photoshopper with keen eyes can do !! btw, I did notice you replaced the green orb with the 'play' icon..

The aero power panel is pretty, but maybe a little too translucent(only notice this when theres menu in teh background, looks good with TV/video) but the blue writing that is in now playing/mini guide is great amazing attention to detail JN !

I love Blizo's work too, but unless he figures out the menu re-ordering bit, I currently have no reason to use mcfx !

astro

[JNRidgway15]

EDIT: Great stuff JN Perfect IMO. For those who have been using the MCFX black, this is slightly different, and has some more blue to make writing and selected folders stand out. The mcfx had grey/white for this. Both look great, so it comes down to what you prefer

Glad you like it Astro. I was going to make the theme exactly the same as the "Black" theme but I wanted to put my own spin on it.

The aero power panel is pretty, but maybe a little too translucent(only notice this when theres menu in teh background, looks good with TV/video)

I wasn’t going to put that in this version but I wanted to get people’s views as I’m fiddling with a Aero Theme ATM and everything is going to be glass for the Aero fans out there

I love Blizo's work too, but unless he figures out the menu re-ordering bit, I currently have no reason to use mcfx !

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[warren13]

Love the pics, haven't used it yet, downloading....35MB dll will let you know how I go. What changed in the guide?? The pic didn't tell the story for me, unless you just ment the black colour.

Love the work JN!! if Astrotoy has no reason to use MCFX...I guess I'll stick with a dll file change too.

P.S. What is the most seemles way to get Media Centre loading on startup? Is there any tricks out there so WAF of PC in lounge is high because she doesn't even know it's a PC!!

I love Aero glass, but makes it a jittery experience with 1GB RAM...I am getting two delivered this week I hope!!

Staying tuned....

Added Below in Edit,

Tried it and looks fairly nice but that default blue on non-highlighted text is an ugly colour and makes it very hard to read on black background. I really couldn't stand that blue on black so I changed back...just thought you might like the feedback JN. Other than that great work and looking forward to the next iteration...i'd suggest an off white or silver/grey for non-highlighted text on black bg in future.

[JNRidgway15]

Go to Tasks - Settings - General - Startup and window behavior in MCE then tick Start windows MCE when windows start's.

Just the black colour bars and the Underlay when you push the guide button whilst watching live TV and the Guide text

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by JNRidgway15

Glad you like it Astro. I was going to make the theme exactly the same as the "Black" theme but I wanted to put my own spin on it.

Im glad you did JN. Having that black/blue/white running through it makes it look more polished and attractive than the black/grey/white IMO

when you figure out how to add "video library" to "TV & Movies" - you will need to make yourself a new custom tag, assigning "legendary" status

good luck !

EDIT: Just another little observation JN. In Rec TV, all the unselected thumbnail pics of the recording in list view has a blue tint over it. This is more noticeable in the smaller list view. Im assuming this may be related to the writing being changed to teh blue colour ?? Im nit sure if you put that in deliberately or if its changeable, but just thought I'd mention it for those reading and wanting to know some more details

astro

[warren13]

Originally Posted by JNRidgway15

Go to Tasks - Settings - General - Startup and window behavior in MCE then tick Start windows MCE when windows start's.

Just the black colour bars and the Underlay when you push the guide button whilst watching live TV and the Guide text

Any way better than this??

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by warren13

Any way better than this??

how much easier do you want it - that is done within the mediacenter interface. You could do it with your remote in less than 20 secs ! not exactly hard yakka

astro

[Retired1]

Just found this post!!
Awesome JNR I am going to install it tonight!!!
Ill give some feed back

[JNRidgway15]

Originally Posted by Astrotoy7

EDIT: Just another little observation JN. In Rec TV, all the unselected thumbnail pics of the recording in list view has a blue tint over it. This is more noticeable in the smaller list view. Im assuming this may be related to the writing being changed to teh blue colour ?? Im nit sure if you put that in deliberately or if its changeable, but just thought I'd mention it for those reading and wanting to know some more details

astro

Its due to the overlay PNG/Text colour. Im looking into it for you

[warren13]

Originally Posted by Astrotoy7

how much easier do you want it - that is done within the mediacenter interface. You could do it with your remote in less than 20 secs ! not exactly hard yakka

astro

I didn't say easier I said better, this still briefly shows the desktop and the Windows Vista Startup, I am looking to replace all this like the startup screen and the deskop view completely with WMC interface....I geuss first port of call is a ready-boost/SSD for quick boot and find out how to replace the current Vista default or non-default startup screen with my own.

I will get on to this over the next few days and see how seamless I can get it.

[JNRidgway15]

Why dont you Use the atached wallaper set as you background hide the task bar and set MCE to auto start on boot up This is the un-edited wall extracted from Vista MCE RTM ehres.dll.