Managed to squeeze in a little bit more tinkering with the Windows Home Server and Media Center set-up this weekend.

First of all, the WHS had updated itself to include Power Pack 3. The main benefits of this are the integration into the Windows 7 Libraries so it's a lot easier to find my stuff now. Also, the WHS integrates into the MCE shell so I can get a quick overview of the WHS via the remote, or archive recorded TV from the MCE to WHS (and compress to portable device profiles like Zune if I want to).

I heard about a plugin for MCE to get iPlayer working too (via Twitter) but didn't check it out having had unsatisfactory experiences before. Then I saw it pop-up again on the Digital Lifestyle blog so I thought I'd give it a go. The installer is here. This crowd built it.

Once installed, I had the same problem that others seemed to be reporting: no icon in the shell to access the iPlayer. There were a couple of short-cut suggestions, but the best solution was a piece of software I hadn't seen before: use the Advent Media Studio to customise menus in MCE. This is a click-once application and allowed me to drag and drop the iPlayer addin next to the Guide in the TV menu. Perfect!

The iPlayer addin itself performs well - the streaming quality from the BBC is great of course - and is usable via the remote. It'd be great to improve the navigation methods and sorting, but for the time being it means that I've always got Waybuloo on-demand, which will make someone happy.

Combined with the release of Sky Player for MCE (and XBox) then the value of the Media Center is really improving now that I can see Sky and BBC directly from the shell.

My home server has been a welcome addition to the home network and has been a trusty companion from day one. I must learn to do more with it though. Some useful stuff in the past couple of days from the Windows Blog: