One final and possibly unwelcome clarification on media options in Windows 8. If you don't install Windows 8 Pro and also buy into the Media Center upgrade, your computer may not play DVDs any more.

There was something of an outcry when Microsoft announced that Windows Media Center would only be available as an add-on to the Pro version of Windows 8. Microsoft has clarified that it will also be available to users of the Standard Windows 8 edition -- but you will still have to effectively upgrade to Windows 8 Pro to get it.

If you use Windows Media Center on your home theatre PC you can configure it to run via voice commands using macros for Windows 7's built-in speech recognition software. But just how far can you take that approach?

Windows: We've shared a few plugins to make your entire home AirPlay-compatible, but if you're a Windows Media Center user, this plugin will help you stream videos and photos right to your Windows desktop or home theatre PC.

It's frustrating that Media Centre only displays seven television channels in the program guide at a time, especially if it's part of a home theatre setup. This hack adds more channels to the program guide for easier living-room browsing.

Windows only: Media Center Studio allows you to create your own custom themes for Windows Media Center, allowing you to create a cooler, more customised WMC look more akin to what you'd expect from popular media centre, XBMC.

Windows: Free utility MacroTube adds YouTube, Dailymotion and MSN Soapbox video playback to your Windows 7 Media Center so you can stream online video from the popular online sites to your TV without firing up a browser.

I love messing with settings and geeky file-sharing programs. My spouse doesn't, but digs Hulu and appreciates free. So I set up a media centre that satisfies my geek cravings but is actually easy-to-use for non-nerds. Here's what I pieced together.

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http://www.youtube.com/v/wZd988WyfEY&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams": ,"width":570,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

Windows 7: Remote Potato is a free application that integrates with Windows 7 Media Center, allowing you to watch and schedule recorded video from the comfort of your browser, no matter where you are.

If you use Windows 7 Media Center to record TV, you'd probably prefer skipping commercials. After all, a big reason you record programs is to avoid commercials, right? Here's a fairly simple and free way to start skipping commercials in no time.

Microsoft's powerful home theatre centrepiece, Windows Media Center, is easily one of the best applications that ships for free with Windows. But you can still make it better — and take it into new realms — with these plug-ins, helper apps and tweaks.

Sometimes you just want to turn on the television and, well, actually watch TV, but maybe keep Windows Media Centre handy to record or watch something else. A quick shortcut hack can start your rig up on live television.

Windows only: Tired of bland channel listings in Windows Media Center? Free utility My Channel Logos adds nice colourful logos to Windows 7 Media Center's channel listings so they look more like what you'd expect from a commercial DVR.

Want all your downloads, streaming video and other techie media stuff on your TV? Wondering which media centre works best for you? Here's a look at the biggies in chart and Venn diagram form, followed by some lengthy breakdowns of each.

If you have a keyboard hooked up to your Windows Media Centre computer, you'll beat out any remote user with this collection of 42 keyboard shortcuts courtesy of the Simple Help blog. Hopping between live TV, recorded TV, and then jumping to the Guide is as simple as using the following shortcuts: Ctrl+T = Go to Live TV Ctrl+O = Go to Recorded TV Ctrl+G = Go to the Guide Ctrl+R = Record a TV show Ctrl+P = Pause a TV show While they note the list is for Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate media centre users, the list of shortcuts appears to have few if any variations from the list of XP Media Centre shortcuts. Would you use the keyboard to control your media centre? Share your media centre tips in the comments! 42 Keyboard Shortcuts for controlling Windows Media Center

Windows Vista only: Freeware Windows Media Center plug-in MceFM integrates music recommendation and streaming service Last.fm with your Vista Media Center. The tool actually works in conjunction with the music already in Media Center's music library, so you can get recommendations based on your music and then listen to it all within Media Center. MceFM is currently in beta and could use some polish, but it's a great start. If you haven't already turned your Windows PC into a Media Center powerhouse on the cheap, I'd highly recommend it—Vista Media Center is Vista's one feature I consider worth the upgrade. MceFM

Windows Vista only: Freeware Windows Media Centre plug-in Yougle integrates community video from the likes of YouTube and community images from sites like Flickr and ICanHasCheezburger with Windows Media Centre. Once installed, Yougle provides access to all of those wonderful videos, pictures, and even audio from the comfort of your couch. If this looks familiar, the plug-in is a Vista version of a previously mentioned and no-longer-developed Windows MCE plug-in. Yet another great plug-in for making your Media Centre life better. Yougle is freeware, Windows Vista only, requires a registration at the download site.

In pre-Vista versions of Windows Media Center, DVDs you ripped to your hard drive with programs like DVD Rip would show up for playback in the My Videos folder. For whatever reason, Microsoft decided to disable this feature in Vista as a default, requiring a registry edit to get it working, as detailed in the linked Microsoft support page below. To be perfectly honest, though, despite making this registry edit, I'm still having trouble accessing my ripped DVDs with Vista Media Center even after making this registry modification, so if you have any luck, share your experience in the comments. I'm also very curious to know if this will allow you to stream ripped DVDs to your extenders, particularly Xbox 360 extenders, so let's hear how it's working for you. Thanks jtimberman! How to enable the DVD Library in Windows Media Center on a Windows Vista-based computer

Windows only: Manage your Netflix Queue and stream Watch Now videos directly through Windows Media Center with freeware Media Center plug-in MyNetflix. Just install, provide it with your credentials, and voilà—you can tackle all your Netflix management from the comfort of your couch. Probably the most exciting feature of this plug-in is the integration of Watch Now movies with Media Center, meaning you can stream any Watch Now movie on demand directly through Media Center without going through your browser. Unfortunately the Watch Now feature doesn't yet work with Media Center extenders (like your Xbox 360), but the rest of the features should. MyNetflix is freeware, Vista Media Center only. SageTV users can get similar functionality from this plug-in. New Vista Media Center Plugin - MyNetflix (beta)