Well it seems to work fine and you can combine this with the possibility of renaming the menu and tile items by editing the ehres.dll.mui in the %SYSTEMROOT%\ehome\<language> folder. The names are defined in the String node and you'll want to look at the buttom ones.

I've also tried to move a tile item (Video library) from Pictures and Videos to Tv, but there are a few things to consider. Just moving the entire element will work, but when you return from the Video library using the back functionality, focus will be in the Pictures and Videos menu strip. Also, if you move the Video Library and then remove the entire Pictures and Videos strip, then the Video Library tile item will also disappear from the Tv strip.

bluebucket:

I've also tried to move a tile item (Video library) from Pictures and Videos to Tv, but there are a few things to consider. Just moving the entire element will work, but when you return from the Video library using the back functionality, focus will be in the Pictures and Videos menu strip. Also, if you move the Video Library and then remove the entire Pictures and Videos strip, then the Video Library tile item will also disappear from the Tv strip.

Bummer - I'm looking to take only the few tiles I use, move them all to 1 strip, and delete all the others.  Any possibility you can think of to make headway towards this?

Having just 1 strip will look funny, because of how the Start menu works. It will still allow you to scroll up and down between strips, but in this scenario it will be the same strip over and over again.

It might be possible to remove this behavior but it will be more complex and would presumably require editing of the Microsoft.MediaCenter.UI.dll Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll where the core MCML files seems to be placed.

And there's still the matter of the tiles not showing if their "parent" strip is hidden.

I am going to give this a shot tonight - thanks for posting that (and finding it!)

 

Hey bluebucket!  You rock!

 

Not only did this work, but I checked my Xbox360 and the change was pushed over to the extender as well!  I really didn't expect that (thinking too good to be true), but bazaaaaaam!  (Can you tell I'm excited about getting rid of clutter?) 

Thanks!

 

EDIT - also, I saw that you're able to shift the order within a strip by changing a tile's priority (note: actually, I believe it was just the reordering of the xml that did this).  That's like a super extra bonus - the easier I can make this to use for the wife, the less likely she is going to kill me for spending our our vacation money on a PC and some XBoxen you know. 

bluebucket:

I've found a way to edit the standard start menu items in Vista Media Center, but its a hack.

Thanks very much bluebucket, I have been trying to do that for ages !!!

I saw this on another forum first, but I have to say this is absolutely awesome.  Did anyone else notice also that you can change the number of OEM strips?

bluebucket:

Having just 1 strip will look funny, because of how the Start menu works. It will still allow you to scroll up and down between strips, but in this scenario it will be the same strip over and over again.

I haven't bothered looking into this, but I imagine you are actually editing the MCML files? In which case setting Repeat="Never" in the Layout of the repeater/scroller should do the trick.

jhoff81:

I saw this on another forum first, but I have to say this is absolutely awesome.  Did anyone else notice also that you can change the number of OEM strips?

Damn, you can make many copies of the same two start menu strips (I was able to make 3 myTV strips, for example) but VMC doesn't recognize OEMPlaceholderIndex ="2" to make it a third different strip.

Also, if anyone can figure out a way to use this method to remove the "delete" button after a recording / video has finished, that'd be awesome.

jhoff81:

jhoff81:

I saw this on another forum first, but I have to say this is absolutely awesome.  Did anyone else notice also that you can change the number of OEM strips?

Damn, you can make many copies of the same two start menu strips (I was able to make 3 myTV strips, for example) but VMC doesn't recognize OEMPlaceholderIndex ="2" to make it a third different strip.

Did you change the MaxOEMStrips attribute <home:StartMenuData Name="StartMenuApplications" MaxOEMStrips="2"> accordingly in the startmenu.xml?

ahelseth:

bluebucket:

Having just 1 strip will look funny, because of how the Start menu works. It will still allow you to scroll up and down between strips, but in this scenario it will be the same strip over and over again.

I haven't bothered looking into this, but I imagine you are actually editing the MCML files? In which case setting Repeat="Never" in the Layout of the repeater/scroller should do the trick.

Well, we're really editing XML files defining the menu structure, but there are also MCML files to be found in the different DLLs. I've found a few Repeat= attributes but not the right one I'll keep looking.

Yeah, I changed that.  As I said, it just seems that Windows can't recognize the third placeholder index.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! been hating my menus forever, now all nice and clean!

P.S. tried to change "pictures & videos" to just Videos, but it didnt seem to stick.. found all my menu names under 877 in string in the mui files.. anyone else been able to change those names?

Icetech:

Thank you thank you thank you!!! been hating my menus forever, now all nice and clean!

P.S. tried to change "pictures & videos" to just Videos, but it didnt seem to stick.. found all my menu names under 877 in string in the mui files.. anyone else been able to change those names?

Changes to the following nodes stick for me:

877:
    14023 Music
    14030 Pictures and Video
876
    14002 Tasks
879
    14051 Tv og movies