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Windows Media Center Sideshow Gadgets Have Arrived

Komarik — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Today the Windows SideShow Team Blog announced the long-anticipated Windows Media Center SideShow gadgets. In case youre 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 phones 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:

Coming Soon: Premium Channels on Media Center PCs

Komarik — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:17:00 +0000

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 industrys 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 thats 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)

Olympics Are Coming To Media Center

Komarik — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:16:00 +0000

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are nearly here and along with the Silverlight-powered NBCOlympics website, the Microsoft/NBC partnership will also bring us video from the Olympic Games right to our Media Center PCs. These videos will be made available as clips on Vista Media Center and organized into channels based on event (e.g. swimming, gymnastics, track & field, etc.) The service, called “Olympics On the Go,” won’t be offering live coverage, but will be providing “up-to-HD quality” automatic downloads with help from digital content provider, Wavexpress’s TVTonic. Because the content is downloaded instead of streamed, the footage can be watched whether you’re online or not. And since Media Center extenders like the Xbox 360 let you view content on other devices besides a PC, you can watch the Olympics events you want to see from any room in your home. Best of all, this service will be completely free!

Read RSS Feeds on Your Media Center TV

Komarik — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:40:00 +0000

The Media Center RSS Reader application lets you read RSS news items on your Media Center TV as well as watch and/or listen to podcasts and watch video blogs. Originally developed for XP Media Center, there is now also a version for Vista Ultimate. The application adds a new option to Media Center’s Start page called “Accessories.” From there, you’ll have access to a section called “RSS News & Casts” where you’ll be able to view your feeds. If you run into any formatting issues or unsupported codecs, the site suggests you try downloading the content to your PC instead via IE’s built-in RSS reader, instead. Since I use my Xbox 360 to watch Media Center content on my living room TV, I’m excited to have a way to access not just feeds, but podcasts too, without the addition of another set-top box to do so. (thanks to scribkin for the tip!)

eHome Expo – Cutting Edge PCs

Komarik — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:32:00 +0000

While in Orlando at the Electronic Home Expo, I got a chance to visit with John Oliver from Cutting Edge PC’s. Cutting Edge makes some really nice high end Media Center machines with features like Whole House Control and integration with VideoGiant.

CannonPC.com. Cannon PCs are high end Media Center PCs including HTPC boxes, rack mount PCs, and a very nice EX series with a built-in LCD.

I talked to Gregg about why they choose to focus on Media Center devices and the differences between a Cannon PC and something you’d get in a consumer “big box” store. Gregg also has another announcement coming next month so stay tuned.

Life|ware is a home automation system whose goal is to merge control of your home with access to all of your digital entertainment. You can integrate Life|ware into Windows Media Center and, from there, you can manage your music, your photos, your videos, watch DVDs, and you can even schedule and record TV shows. With the system’s home automation features, you can manage your home’s lighting, thermostats, security systems, and distribute music throughout the house. They also have something called “Life|scenes”, which can be used to set a mood using all of your home’s systems. There are pre-recorded Life|scenes like “I’m Here,” “Goodbye,” or “Party Time,” or you can program your own. The Life|ware remote control recalls the simplicity of Media Center – you use the six same buttons (My TV, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, Play DVD and Settings). You can use Life|Ware through your TV with a Media Center PC, but also through a Media Center Extender on Xbox 360, from a PC or notebook PC on your home network, or from a Life|Point touch screen. The touch screens are all-digital, HD panels available in 8.9″ or 12.1″ screen sizes and many different finishes, allowing them to seamlessly integrate into its surroundings in your home. The screens have an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness according to room lighting and an automatic touch-to-wake power saving mode.

Internet TV Arrives in Media Center

Komarik — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:03:00 +0000

On Sept. 28th, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate users found a new feature inside Media Center: Internet TV. Located under “TV + Movies”, Internet TV brings all sorts of television and video content from your PC to your TV, with no need to install a TV tuner in your PC. Featuring content from MSN Video, the initial offering from Internet TV features full episodes of TV shows, full-length music concerts, movie trailers, news from MSNBC, sports clips from FOX Sports, and more.

After selecting the Internet TV option in Media Center, you will find six main categories to choose from: Top Picks, Movies, Music, Entertainment, Sports, and News. The Top Picks section contains some of the best items from the other five categories, like the Batman Dark Knight trailer and the John Mayer concert. Under the Music category, there are concerts from Maroon 5, Snoop Dogg, Chris Cornell, Velvet Revolver, Oasis, Evanescence, *cat Dolls, The Bravery, and more, as well as music videos. Under Entertainment, you can watch full TV show episodes, like those from critical fav “Arrested Development.” In addition, there are shows available from networks like A&E, bio, The History Channel, NBC Today, Food Network, HGTV, DIY, National Geographic, and Fine Living.

The MSN TV channel offered clips from 90 some hit shows like “Heroes,” “My Name is Earl,” “Survivor,” “Chuck,” “Bionic Woman,” and so many more. Under Movies, you’ll find trailers sorted by genre or status (box office, coming soon, on DVD). In Sports, there are clips from the latest games and dedicated areas for NFL news and NCAA Football. The News section offers current news clips and a section focused on the 2008 election. The Internet TV content is high-quality and optimized for broadband streaming. To access the content on your TV, you’ll need to have a Media Center Extender, like the Xbox 360 or one of the newly announced Extenders from D-Link, Linksys, HP, or Niveus.

Bid and Buy from your Couch! (eBay on Media Center )

Komarik — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:41:15 +0000

Into eBay, but not interested in hanging around your computer waiting to jump in and snipe that last second bid? Well, now you can bid on auctions with your TV remote! I was down in Las Vegas for the Ebay Developers Conference and I met up with Christoph Buenger from Scendix. Scendix specializes in writing apps for Windows XP Media Center Edition and has produced mceWeather (great weather forecast display), mcePhone (Skype calls from the couch!) and mceAuction (eBay!). Check out the video and let us know what you buy (or in my case, try to buy, I never seem to win … not enough patience I guess) through eBay!