mcLauncher

I haven’t added to my blog in a couple of days because my time has been spent on developing a new software application. Now it’s finished and uploaded to my website, and the website has a new page explaining it, so I have time to get back to blogging.

My computer runs Windows Vista which, despite all the bad press, I like. Windows Vista also contains Windows Media Center, which I really like. If you’ve never used Media Center, it’s like Tivo: it gets a program guide from the Internet, and you can program it to record a show or a series. You can pause “live” TV, or “rewind” a live TV show. It does other things, but it has one shortcoming.

My computer sits between my computer desk and my TV. The computer video card has two outputs. One output connects to my desktop monitor, and the other output connects to my TV. I also have three sound outputs: one output drives speakers sitting on my desk and the other output I use is the HDMI output, which is a cable going from the video card to the TV. (HDMI carries video and sound in the same cable).

When I start the Media Center, it displays on my TV auto-magically. However, it doesn’t switch the sound to the TV, so the sound is still coming from my computer desktop speakers. Therefore, before I start Media Center I have to open the Control Panel’s sound applet and manually change the default output device to HDMI. Then when I close Media Center, I have to change the default output device back to the speakers. If I forget to change the default sound device, I have to exit the Media Center, change the default sound device, then start the Media Center again.

It’s just a small hassle, but it got annoying. So I searched the Internet for a freeware program that would switch the sound automatically and then start the Media Center. Not finding what I wanted, I wrote a small application and called it mcLauncher (Media Center Launcher). It works so well that I spent another day adding a “configuration” window so that other people can use it on their computers. Like all my software, it’s free. Free, that is, until my evil twin Skippy decides you have to pay for it.

My program was written for Vista. I don’t know if Windows 7 has the same annoying issue with the Media Center sound output, but I think mcLauncher will run on Windows 7. Anyone who uses it can leave a comment here if they like it, or if they don’t like it, or if it doesn’t work on their computer for some reason. It works fine for me, and I offer it with no guarantees. The mcLauncher download page can be found here.

And for you programming geeks: it’s not written in VB or C or C# or C++ or Java. It’s written in a cool little scripting language called AutoIt. After I got the script working, I compiled the script into an executable. AutoIt can be found here.