As Ian Dixon reported earlier today, Media Browser has released a new beta update numbered 2.0.10.0.  Being dubbed (on Jas Manghera’s blog) Vanilla, beta 10 includes a new theme as well as some changes to the UI.  As well, various bugs have of course been fixed.

From Jas’s blog post:

Let’s jump right into it the second biggest news of the day first (no that’s not a typo). The Media Browser project going forward now requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Those of you have been putting off the .Net 3.5 update can download the framework here.

Users who already have .Net 3.5 installed (standard on Windows 7) can leverage the beta updates to automatically update to the latest version.

As of this writing I haven’t had a chance to install the latest beta but it will be on my system before the end of the day.  I always look forward to new MB updates and I’m sure this one will just as good as the previous ones.  Hopefully Josh and I will be able to get these guys on the show soon!

Click here to go to Jas’s blog, read the rest of the post detailing the updates and download the latest version.

(A note on this article:  I am using and testing Media Browser using Windows 7.  While it has been updated, I cannot state whether or not the developers support Windows 7 at this time.)

Media Browser, oh how I love thee, and loath thee.  You’ve made my video cataloging dreams come true and yet, at the same time, made the WAF drop slightly in my home.  How did you accomplish both of these things?  Let us count the ways…

Media Browser is a Media Center plugin that will catalog and organize all of your video files.  It has the ability to handle both TV and Movies which is great.  I love having one application that does all of my video for me.  It’s also the only app I know of that has a resume feature for video.  While 7MC now offers this from the video library, no other video app on the market right now is taking advantage of this.  While I’ve had trouble with it hitting the mark with TV shows, it’s been consistently dead on for movies.  I’m not sure what the difference is but such as it is, it’s better than what you’ll get from other applications.

While I love the features in the latest beta (2.0.8) including the cover flow option, it’s the customization options you have that really make it nice.  Whether you want cover flow, a list with screenshot and synopsis or a wall of movie posters to show off your collection you can have it with Media Browser.  Not only that but, during setup, you can make it so that your movies are arranged any way you’d like.  More on that in a second, because it’s that setup process that is part of the problem as well.

When it comes to using Media Browser I’m extremely happy.  The customization that is available is amazing and on the local machine, it runs much faster than My Movies or myTV with a collection as large as mine.  The issues I have with it have to do with setup and extenders. 

I currently use an Xbox 360 extender in my living room for viewing our media.  This is our main viewing area and although we’ll be changing things around soon, for now this is how it works.  The problem with Media Browser is this:  It only works on my extender about half the time.  Let me see if I can walk you through the setup process and you’ll see how it works.

After installing Media Browser, if you have multiple video locations you have to create what are called .vf files and place them in your “My Videos” folder.  These files tell Media Browser where to look for your content.  They’re easy to create and all, but I wonder if there’s something even easier to implement such as just pointing to the folders in the settings.  This is how things are accomplished in myTV.  The one good thing about the .vf files is that you can customize how your files are arranged.  To give you an example, because I have my movie files arranged by genre (D:\Action\Movie Title) I was able to split my 330 files into something more manageable.  When I access Media Browser, I can select from each genre or go to TV.  This makes it a lot easier to browse the titles I have and I don’t think it would be possible without the .vf files.

The problem with doing it this way is that you have to copy these files into each of the “My Video” folders for each extender user.  (I have two extenders so I had to do this for both.)  Many people may not even know these “users” exist on their machines.  They’ve simply set up their extender and that’s it.  Not only that but you have to give each extender user profile “modify” access to the ProgramData/mediabrowser folder.  Again, this isn’t something the standard user is going to understand nor want to undertake.

After reading the forums and taking the above listed steps, there are still times that Media Browser won’t show up on my Xbox 360.  All I get is the Media Center background and I end up having to exit out to the 360 dashboard and reload Media Center.  This has yet to happen on my Linksys extender, main Media Center or on my kitchen PC.

With all that being said, Media Browser is still a beta.  I sincerely hope that extender issues can be looked at as well as making the setup for multiple media locations a bit easier.  For a beta app and an app in general I love it.  Even with my extender issues, it’s taken the place of My Movies and myTV on my network.  It will continue to do so for a long time.  I continue to check for updates and I’ve turned on the beta updates so they happen automatically.  I can’t wait to see what direction the development takes!

If you want more info you can click here to go to the forums and find answers or ask questions.  You can go here to download the latest beta and give it a try.

With the Windows 7 beta going public today, should you decide to try out the new OS, you have to wonder if any of your current Media Center applications are going to work.  Well, I’m here to help as much as possible.  Here’s what we have so far:

• I received a tweet from Ogre stating that Media Browser would ready for Windows 7 very soon.
• My Movies installed on a pre-beta version of Windows 7 for me and seemed to work just fine talking to the database on my main VMC machine.  The icon on the main menu was a little lowered but it worked.
• Ian reported earlier this week that Niall of Big Screen has already updated his applications to run under Windows 7
• The last time I tried, myTV would not install under Windows 7.  There is a hack for it reported on the site, and the developer may have updated at this point.  This one is a killer for me…I need my myTV!  If anyone is using the app and gets it installed, let us know.

That’s all I have so far.  With an upgrade from Windows Vista possible, I have to think that most applications are going to work just fine, but you never know so back up before you try! 

I’ll continue to add to this if I get any notifications of other Media Center applications.