My last two MediaCenter Show podcasts have focused on the enthusiast developer. This is one areathat differentiates Windows Media Center from other DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) on the market.

Enthusiasticdevelopers can download the Windows Media Center SDK and get started with itvery quickly. While it certainly takes practice to lean Media Center's development language and to produce Media Center-compatible apps,the results can be very impressive.

TV toolbox

Olcay Buyan from MCEDEV.Com, for example,has written a great add-in for Media Center called TV Toolbox.This is an application designed for Vista Media Center that enables you to edit recorded TV files without abandoning the 10 foot experience. I.e. without getting up from the sofa.

With the remote control you can edit out commercials or any parts of arecorded TV file; maybe a film that you want to keep has the end of a previousshow on it. With TV Toolbox, you can cut that out and trim the end of the file. You can then convert the recording to WMV for a portable media player (or Zune). There's even an Audio Only option so, if you record a radioshow on Freeview, you can strip just the audio out and save it.

The nicest feature of theapplication is that it makes use of Vista Media Center's slick visual userinterface, so the menus are blended smoothly with the video making editing verysimple and intuitive.

Big Screen Headlines

The TV Toolboxapplication is a great example of what a single developer can do. Anotherexample is Niall Ginsbourg, an Australian Media Center developer who has developed awhole suite of applications.

Oneof my favourites is Big Screen Headlines, an RSSreader that Niall has developed specifically for the 10 foot Media Center experience. With Big Screen Headlinesyou can browse RSS feeds, watch video shows and listen to podcasts. I use this application from my sofa via my Xbox 360Extender, reading the news headlines and RSS feeds from Tech.co.uk all withouttouching a mouse.

Niallhas a number of other MC applications including, a flickr photo viewer for Media Center, a weather application and a contacts application.All of these have been developed by Niall and the beta versions are all free to download. You can get them from http://mobilewares.net/

Otherdevelopers are making great applications for Media Center too, all managing to take the product beyond Microsoft's standard offering. If you're a developer and want to writesoftware for the TV take a look at Windows Media Center Resourcesfor developers - the Developerforum and the SDKdownload.

Ian Dixon is a Microsoft MVP and produces a regular Media Center podcast called The MediaCenter Show (sponsored by tech.co.uk). You can find it at the TheDigitalLifestyle.com.