Entries tagged with windows media center - Channel 10

What’s New With Windows Media Center in Windows 7

sarahintampa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:59:00 GMT

In Windows 7, Windows Media Center is getting a makeover. Nothing too radical is changing, and that’s good, because WMC is a pretty solid program already. Some of the biggest changes involve the back-end and how content is moved across the network. The new code reflects this shift towards more seamless interconnectivity between our devices as well as a desire to make third-party WMC applications feel more like the native elements of the program. To that end, developers of WMC apps should definitely check out this post which details some of the code changes in the version of WMC found in the PDC build of Windows 7.

However, it’s Charlie Owen who gives us the most complete run-through of the front-end changes. We've summarized them here:

Start Menu: text and iconography size changes
Music: for albums with no album art, tiles will display a random color with album title instead of just blue background and white text like before:

Details: Details is a new feature found throughout WMC that puts frequently accessed features within closer reach. (Reminds me of jump lists, but for WMC.) Album Details:

Music Now Playing: As music plays, action items (menu options) fade away and the album art is animated into a slowly scrolling wall of covers and occasionally switches the currently playing album cover and metadata.
Rating Shortcuts: you can enable rating shortcuts to easily rate content from one to five using your keyboard:

Turbo Scroll: Holding down left or right remote buttons will begin to scroll through libraries at faster speeds, presenting content in alphabetical chunks.
Shared Libraries: Like in Windows 7 itself, Shared Libraries let you enjoy media content from multiple computers across your home network.
Ambient Slideshow for Photos: The new ambient slideshow feature will launch as a screensaver with you start the new “Play Favorites” on the Start Menu. It pulls in pics rated 3 stars or higher. Pictures zoom in and out in an unstructured way.
Enhanced Libraries: The new picture library highlights ratings, slideshows, and shared photos all new selections from the top menu. The video, music, and recorded TV libraries also get the Shared feature. New Picture Library:

H.264 Support: H.264 support is enabled out-of-the-box on Windows 7 and on the Xbox 360 when in Extender mode.
Video Play All: Plays all the videos in a specific gallery. Videos also resume where you left off.
TV Pack: The new WMC will feature all the enhancements found in the TV Pack (more on that here). Among other things, this includes:
- A clickable seek bar when playing videos
- Press the right or left arrow buttons when playing a video for more functions like zoom or settings that were previously buried:

Recorded TV gallery gets an “All Content” view
HD channels are mapped and emblazoned with the HD logo:HD Movies: a new HD pivot is found in the movies section
The TV Guide turbo scrolls:

New Extras Section Replaces Online Media: More details coming soon on this…hmmmm:

On screen keyboard: A new on screen keyboard is now available for text entry:

Desktop Gadget: A new desktop gadget is being made available for quick access to music, slideshows, or both. The green button on the gadget will also launch WMC. Gadget + Gadget Details:

For more details and additional screenshots, click through to Charlie Owen’s post.

Windows Media Center Sideshow Gadgets Have Arrived

sarahintampa — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:21:00 GMT

Today the Windows SideShow Team Blog announced the long-anticipated Windows Media Center SideShow gadgets. In case you’re not familiar, Windows SideShow is the technology that delivers information from a PC to a secondary display.

That display can be a small LCD screen on your desktop or laptop computer:

LG R200 laptop

…a digital picture frame:

…a remote control:

Ricavision VAVE100 SideShow-enabled remote

…or even on a Windows Mobile phone, thanks to the Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile Developer Preview which lets you install Sideshow apps onto a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device. That technology lets you use your phone’s Bluetooth abilities to control your Media Center PC. (For more info on this, check out our earlier post here).

Today, there are now 4 new Media Center SideShow gadgets which do the following:

TV Gadget: Browse the program guide, schedule recordings, and browse and play back recorded TV shows
Music Gadget: Browse and play music
Pictures + Videos Gadget: Browse pictures on your device and play slideshows and video
Now Playing Gadget: Provides information on what is playing in Media Center and provides playback controls like those on your Media Center remote

Both 32-bit versions and 64-bit versions are available for download, just click the link for the version you need. Now I just need one of these killer remotes and I’ll be all set.

Election News Comes To Media Center

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:59:00 GMT

A recent post on the Windows Vista Blog provides info on a great new resource for Media Center PC users just in time for the vice-presidential debates tonight: Election News! Under the TV + Movies section in Media Center, you’ll now see a new title called MSNBC News Beta. This title will be available to Vista Home Premium and Ultimate users in the U.S. and Canada.

Here, you’ll find a selection of MSNBC’s top stories and weather listings, including Editor’s Picks and Most Popular videos. Under the Politics section, there’s a category for “Decision ‘08” where videos pertaining to the current U.S. Presidential elections will be displayed. As you browse through the videos, you may notice a plus sign “+” appears when you click on a video. Using this plus sign, you can create your own custom news video playlist which you can play back any time you want. There’s nothing to download to start using this new feature so you can simply begin using it the next time you run Media Center.

Coming Soon: Premium Channels on Media Center PCs

sarahintampa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Recently, Microsoft announced a new platform that will permit the manufacturers of media center PCs the ability to support “premium” channels on their devices. These channels have been difficult to get access to in the past due the the TV industry’s requirements that they are covered by copy protection technology. The Microsoft platform called Protected Broadcast Driver Architecture (PBDA) extends the previous Architecture known as Broadcast Driver Architecture (BDA), which has been in use since Windows 98. PBDA, in development since 2005, was recently delivered as a part of the new Windows Media Center TV Pack, which made the software available to Media Center PCs. Now, all that’s needed is for manufacturers to build and ship PBDA-compatible cards. Two manufacturers overseas have already stepped up to the plate (Happague and AverMedia) and Microsoft believes that pay TV reception over-the-air will be possible by 2009. (Image credit: Windows Vista Blog)

New Version of Windows Media Center Status Tool Available

sarahintampa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:09:00 GMT

There’s a new version of the Facebook app called the Windows Media Center Status Tool now available. (We first mentioned this tool back in February.) This app lets you update your Facebook user profile status based on what you are doing in Windows Media Center. For example, if you’re watching a DVD or TV show, it will change your status to “is watching [name of program/movie].” The latest version of this app (version 0.4.2) can now be configured to request confirmation as to whether or not you want your Facebook status updated. This allows you to have a bit more control over your privacy. However, the configuration must be done via a registry edit. You have to set "ConfirmUpdate_Facebook" to "1" in "HKLM\Software\Hamar Data\FBMCE". There have also been some minor improvements in this latest update and you must now give the app special permissions on a new page, too. That page is available here and you must configure those settings before you’re able to use the tool.

On a side note, I have no idea why the developer, Jussi Palo, chose to use a picture of eggs, ham, and sausage on his Facebook app’s page. Any ideas on that? Color me confused.

Olympics On The Go Has Arrived

sarahintampa — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:09:00 GMT

At the end of June, we told you that the Olympics were coming to Media Center. Well, now they’re here! If you haven’t already done so, you have to try out NBC Olympics On the Go on your Windows Media Center PC. This internet-driven TV service from NBC Universal is powered by TVTonic’s platform and brings you all the latest from the games in HD. Even if you don’t have a TV tuner for your Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC, you’ll still have access to HDTV coverage from NBC, USA, and Universal TV networks for a total of 225 hours of coverage over 17 days. This includes 24 sports, the full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage. What’s really cool about this service is that you can sign up to get automatic downloads of all the available coverage for any particular sport – this way, you’ll never have to miss any of your favorites. The content is downloaded and cached on your PC, so you can watch it whether you’re online or off. It even works through any Extender device! To get access to NBC Olympics On the Go, just launch Media Center launch and scroll down to the Online Media strip where you will find a link to NBC Olympics On The Go in the default view. (If, for some reason, you don't have the option, you can also download it from here.)

My Movies Media Center Plugin

sarahintampa — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:51:00 GMT

WeGotServed has the scoop on another new plugin for Media Center - and it’s one of the more useful ones we’ve seen, too. This plugin, called My Movies, adds an extra tab to the “TV+Movies” button in Media Center and shows a list of all the ripped movies stored on your Windows Home Server, including cover art, cast and crew info, and even a link to a trailer. Of course, we can't condone ripping DVD's, but there is plenty of info on the subject.

With My Movies you are able to index your movies, browse them, stream them for viewing, share your movie database with multiple clients, and configure each client with its own parental control limitations. You can download the MyMovies plugin from here.

Microsoft Buys “The Green Button”

sarahintampa — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:03:00 GMT

Windows Media Center enthusiasts are definitely fans of The Green Button. The site is one of the largest and most active forums for everything WMC on the net today. Recently, The Green Button was purchased by Microsoft, who will continue to run the site with a few changes. One of the big changes is the elimination of ads. (Well, at least for the moment. They may come back, but definitely not as many as before.) For now, the ads have been removed completely.

There will also be a few cosmetic changes to the site and the site will be moved to Microsoft’s data centers where its infrastructure will be much better supported. The site’s admin, Daniel Sterling, assured forum members on this thread that the site’s main focus will remaining on connecting the Windows Media Center community. In fact, he even hinted that it will be adding more socialization features in the future, but no world yet on what those specifically might be. It sounds like TGB might be morphing into more of a social network in the future, though, doesn’t it? (Thanks to We Got Served for this news.)

Media Center University Part 4

brianjo — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:07:00 GMT

The CE Installer blog has posted Part 4 of the Media Center University series. In Part 4, Whole House Integration of Media Center Systems, Microsoft's Todd Rutherford provides guidance on integrating WMC with automation systems and designing WMC solutions.

Topics covered include:

Automation System Integration
Controlling Media Center from Control Systems
Controlling Automation Hardware from Media Center
Hybrid Solution Options
Whole House Entertainment
Understand the Customer's Entertainment Needs
Choosing an Architecture and Solution

and more...

Coming Soon: Get Facebook on Media Center

sarahintampa — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:50:00 GMT

It seems that lately I’ve just been finding more and more Windows Media Center plugins. The latest one I stumbled across (Thanks Ian!) is a way to get Facebook on Media Center. This is thanks to a soon-to-be-released application called Photato, which will be available in beta later this month. It looks like the Photato app will focus on bringing Facebook photos to your Vista Media Center – both those belonging to you as well as the photos that your friends are sharing. At the moment, the website for the application hasn’t launched yet, but for those interested in beta testing the application, you can email photato.beta@armchairware.com. (image thanks to Ian Dixon’s Blog)

3 Ways To Stream Netflix Movies From Your PC to TV

sarahintampa — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:47:00 GMT

Last year, Neflix started offering the ability to stream movies over the internet to your PC. Of course, for Windows Media Player enthusiasts, the next logical step was to port Netflix into Media Center by way of a plugin. Luckily, there's a pretty active developer community for WMC, so we ended up with not one, but three, Windows Media Player plugins from which to choose: vmcNetflix, MyNetflix, and NetflixMC.

But which one is right for you? Let's compare:

MyNeflix

System Requirements: Vista MCE, .NET 2.0, Netflix WatchNow player
View Netflix queue
Manage Netflix queue
View history
View recommendations
Browse movies by title, genre, or top 100
Browse "Watch Now" movies
Play movies in full screen
Nice interface, very responsive
Does Not Work With Extenders
Download MyNetflix

vmcNetFlix

System Requirements: Vista MCE and Netflix WatchNow player
View Netflix queue
Manage Netflix queue
View history
View recommendations
Browse movies by genres; sort by title or year
Browse "Watch Now" movies
Keyword Search
Play movies in full screen
Support for x64 and x86
Support for Netflix Instant Queue
Support for Episode Listings
Prevents standby/sleep mode while downloading
Clean interface, easy to browse, runs smoothly
Works With Extenders
Download vmcNetflix

NetflixMC

System Requirements: Vista or MCE 2005 and .NET 2.0 or 3.5
Browse movies by genre
Browse "Watch Now" movies
Fast, Real-time "Watch Now" search
Bookmark "Watch Now" movies
TV Series episode selection
Image caching stream speed settings
Menu Personalization
A bit slow, still a “beta” app
Runs on extenders but WILL NOT play WatchNow videos
Download NetflixMC

So which one should you choose? The quick answer here is that if you have Windows XP, you only have one choice: NetflixMC. For Vista users, both MyNetflix and vmcNetflix are nice, but the extender support that vmcNetflix has makes it the clear winner. You can download vmcNetflix here.

Media Center University Part 3

brianjo — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:15:00 GMT

They've posted part 3 of the Media Center University series at the CE Installer Blog. If you're at all into home entertainment systems, you need to check this out.

Media Center University: Optimizing for Entertainment & Networking – Part 3

In the final segment of Optimizing Media Center for Entertainment & Networking, Mike Seamons walks through Extender set up, network tuning, Windows Home Server and some different deployment topologies. WMC can be installed as a HTPC, centrally in the rack or as a headless Extender server and Mike speaks the benefits and considerations of each configuration including advanced topics like integration into a whole home audio system.

New Windows Media Center Extender: HP MediaSmart Connect

sarahintampa — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:18:00 GMT

This summer there’s going to be a new Windows Media Center Extender from HP called the HP MediaSmart Connect. With this new extender, you can wirelessly stream multimedia like TV, music, videos, and photos all around your house either over your wired network or over Wi-Fi. If you’re interested in learning more about this new extender, the Windows Vista Team blog recently pointed me to some webinars that are being put on by both Microsoft and HP to introduce and demonstrate the capabilities of this new extenders. HP’s Director of Marketing for their Connected Entertainment Group, Brian Burch, will be hosting, but it’s the guests that will be making these webinars worth the watch. Like Patrick Norton, for example. I’m a huge fan of Tekzilla myself, so I can’t wait to see what Patrick has to say about the MediaSmart Connect. Other guests include Ed Bott (ZDNet), Ian Dixon (The Digital Lifestyle), and Mike Garcen (Missing Remote).

Here’s the schedule for the webinars:

Tuesday, June 24th - 10:00 am PST with Ed Bott, http://www.zdnet.com/
Thursday, June 26th - 1:00 pm PST with Ian Dixon, http://www.thedigitallifestyle.com/
Tuesday, July 8th - 10:00 am PST with Patrick Norton, http://www.tekzilla.com/
Thursday, July 10th - 1:00 pm PST with Mike Garcen, http://www.missingremote.com/

Click here to register.

CinemaNow Now in Windows Media Center

sarahintampa — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:17:00 GMT

Recently, CinemaNow announced that their service, which lets you legally download and watch movies over the internet, has been made available to Windows Media Center users without the need for an additional app. Prior to this announcement, you had to use a plugin in order to access CinemaNow via your Media Center PC, but now you don't need to download and install anything - it just shows up. They bring with them an extensive catalog of 3400 feature length films, 3000 TV episodes, and 2900 music videos for your viewing. (img via/via DownloadSquad)

Vídeo: Entendendo o Live Mesh como Plataforma

Galileu — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Locutor de rádio eu não sou, mas vale a pena ver o vídeo de 5 minutos onde narro uma demonstração real da capacidade do Live Mesh como plataforma. A demonstração mostra como algumas fotos podem ser geradas de diferentes dispositivos e mesmo assim estarem presentes em todos os dispositivos (e a Web) que fazem parte da Mesh (lembrem que Mesh é rede em inglês). Ah, essa demonstração conta com a ilustre presença de:
Live Mesh (Web), Windows Vista, Facebook, Mac OSX e seu Photobooth, HTC Touch, Windows Media Center e um Samsung UMPC.

O vídeo na sua íntegra está no Channel 9, nosso site irmão, aqui nesse link. O vídeo é altamente recomendado para os que entendem de programação.

Para quem não viu o anúncio, leia aqui sobre o Live Mesh.

Last.fm Comes to Vista Media Center

sarahintampa — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:52:00 GMT

Earlier I mentioned LastFMCE, an outdated plugin for Windows Media Center 2005 that allowed for Last.fm streaming via your WMC box. I pleaded for someone to please port this to Vista Media Center, and now, like an answer to my prayers, Damian Meher has done just that!

He created a new plugin for Vista Media Center, MceFM, which lets you stream music from the Last.fm online radio service through your Windows Media Center PC. To use MceFM, you type in the name of a song or artist, and like on Last.fm itself, similar songs to your entry will begin to play.

The plugin can also play similar tracks to songs already on your PC in your music library - just locate a track in your library, click on "More" and you'll be able to search Last.fm for similar music.

While listening to the Last.fm stream, artist and track information will display, but you can also let the service run in the background so you can do other things in Media Center while still listening to your tunes.

You will need a Last.fm user account to use this plugin, so sign up for one first from the Last.fm site.

Last.fm for Windows Media Center

sarahintampa — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:35:00 GMT

In the new Last.fm widget gallery, I found this add-on for Windows Media Center: LastFMCE. This add-on allows you to tune to your Last.fm radio station and listen to it inside Windows Media Center. You can also use it to search for tags, artists, or a radio URL. By browsing artists or genres, you can use LastFMCE to find a station you love.

Unfortunately, the link on the Last.fm web page is dead, so I found the add-on was still available from SourceForge here. But, before you get all excited, it appears that this is only available for WMC 2005. However, since the code is out there, here is my plea to you: can someone please, please port this to Vista's Windows Media Center? I really want this!

Update Facebook with Media Center Info

sarahintampa — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Jussi Palo, a .Net developer, has created an add-in for Windows Vista Media Center that updates your facebook user status according to what you're watching/listening on Media Center. Using the add-in, your facebook status will be updated with a line that says: "....is watching (name of program)." If you're listening to music, it says "...is listening to ARTIST-TITLE." The add-in checks every 10 seconds for changes and only updates facebook if a change has occurred.

To run the add-in, you'll need Vista Home Premium or Ultimate edition and .Net 2.0. Then you do the following:

1. Install using setup.msi, restart is required
2. Start Media Center
3. Separate Windows Forms window is opened where you must login to facebook.
4. If this is the first time running the add-in a notification is shown that you have to give the Extended Status update permissions
5. Extended permissions Windows Forms window is shown. Grant the permission, and close the form.
6. Add-in runs in background updating your facebook status.

Later when Media Center is started, only you facebook login is required.

Netflix Plugin for Windows Media Center

sarahintampa — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:05:00 GMT

If you're a Netflix subscriber, you definitely going to want Andrew Park's new plug-in for the Vista version of Windows Media Center called MyNetflix. The plug-in lets link up to your Netflix account, view your queue, browse for movies, add movies to your queue, and, of course, watch movies! Using Netflix's streaming service, you can watch movies immediately, without having to wait for discs to come in the mail. Because the plugin relies on certain software in order to work, this only works on Media Center PCs, not extenders (like the Xbox 360) unless you have your PC hooked directly to your TV or have a Netflix "Watch-Now" enabled set top box, which will be out later this year. The plugin is in beta and is available for download here.

Vídeo: Windows Live Messenger na sua televisão

Galileu — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:02:00 GMT

Muita gente não sabe que o Xbox 360 se comunica com PCs para fazer um streaming do conteúdo do computador. Isso é um cenário bem legal para quem tem muita música em MP3 e fotos e filmes digitais mas que não quer ou não consegue ligar o PC na TV. Afinal, o PC é feito para ser navegado com teclado e mouse (por enquanto) e o WAF dele na sala é praticamente zero. Então com um console de vídeo game que toca CDs e DVDs e de fato é feito para um televisor, home theater e ambiente social, você consegue convencer à sua querida a aposentar o VCR que está acumulando pó e substituí-lo pelo Xbox 360. Mas, se por acaso ela ainda recusar, mostre o vídeo desse post e faça ela imaginar que em vez do futebol, ela estaria assistindo a novela e falando com as amigas.

Show Us Your Home: Hakan Olsson Edition

Tina — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:01:00 GMT

In an attempt to rip off cribs we bring you an episode of "Show me your house". Instead of showing you what's in Akon's refrigerator we barge into (not really, we're invited) the homes of Microsoft employees and show you how we use technology every day at home. In this episode we are invited over to Hakan Olsson's home. Hakan's setup was recently featured in a Seattle PI article. Hakan works as a senior product planner here at Microsoft and he just happens to be a sound engineer and paraglider. What does paragliding have to do with anything? I'll show you as we incorporate all of these elements into today's episode. Oh, it's good to be back.

Vídeo: Levando o conteúdo da Internet para sua televisão pelo Windows Media Center

Galileu — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:46:00 GMT

Finalizando a série sobre Windows Media Center, vamos ver nesse vídeo o componente Mídia Online do Windows Media Center, o qual contém conteúdo da Internet para você assistir ou ouvir na hora que quiser. Esse é um conceito bem legal, pois estamos falando de colocar a Internet na sua televisão ou aparelho de som. Confira no vídeo.

Vídeo: Escutando as suas músicas pelo Windows Media Center

Galileu — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:31:00 GMT

Continuando a série sobre Windows Media Center, nesse vídeo vamos ver como aproveitar os recursos do Windows Media Center para os arquivos de músicas.