Watching home movies and video files

You can play your home videos and view your video files in a number of fun ways with Windows Media Center. You can also organize your digital media files to make them easier to access from your computer's hard disk.

This tutorial provides instructions for the following:

• Accessing your videos

• Finding and playing videos

• Changing video background color

To access your videos

1. To access your videos from the Windows Media Center start screen, scroll to Pictures + Videos, and then click video library.

2. You can scroll left or right through your digital media collection by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen, or by using the left and right arrow buttons on your keyboard.

To find and play a video file

If you're having trouble finding a particular video file, try changing the way that Windows Media Center groups your videos.

1. On the start screen, scroll to Pictures + Videos, and then click video library.

2. Click folders to sort your folders and files alphabetically, or click date taken to sort your folders and files by date.

3. Find the video that you want to watch and then click the video file to play it.

To change the video background color

To avoid screen burn on your display during video playback in Windows Media Center, you can change the shade of black that might appear to the left and right or at the top and bottom of your video. “Screen burn” is when an unchanging image stays on the screen of some displays for too long, and a faint remnant of the image might stay on the screen even after a new image has replaced it.

1. On the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, click General, and then click Visual and Sound Effects.

2. Under Video background color, click the - or + button to change the color. The default color is black—you can change it to different shades of gray, or to solid white.

Learn more: Troubleshoot problems with playing video