Entries Tagged 'Windows Media Center Edition' ↓

I had an invite to last week’s dinner in Silicon Valley with Microsoft Windows boss Jim Allchin but couldn’t attend. Thomas Hawk was there, though, and according to his excellent write-up, Allchin was emphatic about the first generation of CableCard-equipped PCs. Reportedly, only “finished systems” from major OEMs (like Dell and Sony) would initially be certified by CableLabs. If true, that’s bad news for enthusiasts and small OEMs.

But hold the phone! Chris Lanier passes along a new report that offers a ray of hope. Anand Lal Shimpi told Chris:

According to my contacts at ATI, the OCUR [(Open Cable Uni-directional Receiver] device will be included as part of a “kit” that will be the box and a new PC. The PC is not certified by CableLabs in any way, instead MS publishes a minimum system configuration and the system has to meet these specs in order to be sold with the OCUR device. The OCUR device itself is the only thing that is actually certified by CableLabs.

In his CES wrap-up, Anand had a nice write-up of the ATI device, including some pictures.

I’ve currently got three PCs running Windows Media Center Edition, with two scheduled for updates to Windows Vista this year. I’ll look forward to that upgrade a lot more eagerly if it includes a way to record HDTV.

In a comment to last year’s comparison of Tivo, Media Center, and the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD, Matt Daughtry asks:

I have a MCE 2005 and just got Time Warner DTV. I have ran into a problem and haven’t found a solution. I got MCE configured to change channels on the Digital Set-top box. That works great, my MCE remote changes the channels on the TW set-top box. Now the PROBLEM is when I switch to say, channel 300 (HBO-East, I can watch it for about1 minute. Then I get a screen saying, “The orginator or provider does not allow playback of this content”. Now that not the exact words, but close. I called my provider and they had no clue, but I am wondering if you have to have there DVR to watch those channels. I would almost bet it would happen using a Tivo. Is there a MCE Tweak to fix that?

I don’t have a Time-Warner cable box, so I can’t help out here. Anyone have any ideas?

Chris Lanier passes along this link to Microsoft’s Designed for Media Center Edition Master List, which includes DVD decoders, graphics cards, TV tuners, remote controls, and wireless routers that have earned the dfMCE logo. It’s a useful resource if you’re thinking of building your own Media Center PC.

I’m looking forward to replacing at least one of my first-generation Media Center Extenders with an Xbox 360. I’m not a gamer, though, and at $399 for the Premium console (in the comments to an earlier post, Peter Near makes a strong case that this is the right choice for an HD-ready extender), I’m already feeling pinched.

I’ve been using the Xbox 360 Tracker at Ben’s Bargains to spot when hardware is available for sale. And for the last few weeks anyone who wants to buy an Xbox has to buy it as part of a bundle, at prices ranging from $600 and up. In some cases, way up. (A week before Christmas, Target.com was selling the Xbox 360 Platinum Ultra Bundle for a mind-boggling $2180!)

Am I ready to pay a premium of several hundred dollars for something that will probably be available at a slight discount from its retail price once the initial wave of hype wears off? No way. My target price is $360, and I bet I see that price by the end of April.

Anyone else want to place their bets?

IGN has details and pictures on the new DirecTV Plus HD DVR:

[W]hen does the HR20 finally come out and how much is it going to cost? DirecTV would not give us a firm date, but it did state that the unit will definitely be available in Q2 2006. “Really Q2, we swear,” a spokesperson told us. Meanwhile, we’re able to report some fantastic news for early adopters who picked up a DirecTV TiVo HD DVR. DirecTV reps confirmed to us today that the HR20 will be made available “completely free of charge” to select HD TiVo owners as soon as the former becomes available. By select, the company means owners who live in the PST or MT areas of the United States, as these regions will be the first to make the switch to MPEG-4 broadcasts. HD TiVo owners who live in other parts of the US can either wait a little longer for the same deal or purchase the HR20 for only $99 smackers. Brand new customers will pay approximately $200 for the device and will get a significant mail-in rebate, according to DirecTV.

But wait! There’s more. Thomas Hawk hung around the Microsoft booth and got word on some possible partnerships:

I got to talk to Matt Goyer a bit about some of the recent Microsoft announcements. Matt seemed very optimistic that we would in fact see HDTV via DirecTV for the Media Center sometime next year with Vista. This is the most exciting thing I’ve heard come out of CES yet. I was super excited when I heard that we would finally be getting premium HDTV with Media Center a few monts back but I’m even more excited about the possibility of things with DirecTV. DirecTV has recently launched a bunch of satellites and promises to bring much more HD content in the future. I really think that DirecTV will be positioned to be the king of HD content delivery next year and to see that they are now working with Microsoft and that we will see an HDTV DirecTV combo for Media Center is huge.

I’ll be looking at some Viiv PCs today and trying to get a hands-on look at the new DirecTV box and the new TiVo Series 3 gear. And of course I’ll be at the Media Center Show awards tonight.

The one thing you need to know about CES: Getting from point to point in Las Vegas takes more time than you can imagine. Everything’s spread out, and the traffic is nightmarish. That, in a nutshell, is why I didn’t make it to Bill Gates’ keynote last night. Fortunately, Joe Wilcox watched the webcast and provided an excellent summary:

The longest single chunk of his keynote focused on Windows Vista. What bothered me: how little new there was in the Windows Vista demonstrations. I’m beginning to realize that there may not be much more new for Microsoft to reveal about Windows Vista.

Windows Media Center got about as long a demonstration as Windows Vista. … this is the first event where I saw Microsoft really show off the new Windows Vista Media Center user interface.

I found to be most interesting part of the Media Center demo: Windows Live Messenger and the concept of “activities” that are not necessarily related to people. The demonstration revealed how an automated TV advisor could make program recommendations, show TV previews and even remotely schedule recordings on a Media Center PC via instant messaging.

The Media Center demo also focused on high definition, whether HD DVD or HD content downloaded to the PC–all capabilities coming later this year.

Digital media, especially HDTV, is going to be the big story of 2006, a fact that was abundantly clear from a short walk around one press event last night. The biggest crowds were gathered around booths showing off digital video solutions and display hardware.

Update: Robert Scoble and Engadget did play-by-play coverage. Thomas Hawk notes that 6.5 million Media Center PCs have now been sold, with 5 million of those going out the door in the last year. The official Microsoft release is here.

If you’re connecting an Xbox 360 to a new Media Center PC, Barb Bowman has some good advice in Optimizing Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Xbox 360 and Media Center Extender Networks:

Microsoft recommends a wired network for best performance on a Media Center network. That’s where you get the high data rate transfers needed for streaming live TV from a Media Center PC to a Media Center Extender.

However, using a totally wired Ethernet network just isn’t possible for many of us. Your significant other may forbid wires in the living room, or your landlord won’t allow holes drilled through the walls, or you’re put off by the amount of work needed to run cables through the ceiling. That’s when you need to go wireless.

My experiences using Media Center Extenders and helping other users with network connectivity highlighted the need for a Media Center Extender wireless networking guide. With the introduction of the Xbox 360 and built-in Media Center capabilities and accessory wireless 802.11a/b/g adapter, many people will be setting up wireless networks for the first time. In this column, I assume that you have a broadband connection. Although connecting the audio and video components from a Media Center Extender to televisions or home theater receivers will be easy for most people, I’ll provide the basic rules for Media Center/Xbox 360/Media Center Extender networks.

This is really substantive advice, unlike so many articles that just skim the surface. For instance, extenders work much better over wireless connections using the 802.11a protocol. And you can get better performance by segmenting your network. And don’t skimp on security, either:

Be sure to use WPA-PSK as the encryption method for Extenders if at all possible because it provides far more security than WEP. Don’t let a sales person tell you that wireless security isn’t as important for devices as it is for computers. These devices are still part of your network and if you don’t use security or use weak security, you’ve provided an entrance point to everything on your network, computers with your personal data included. If you shop carefully, you’ll find gaming adapters and access point clients that support WPA-PSK.

These techniques also work with old-style Media Center Extenders.

I finally broke down and bought a Logitech Harmony 680 Universal Remote Control earlier this month. I finally got a chance to play with it a little yesterday. I’m impressed!

To set up the Harmony 680, you use the harmonyremote.com Web site to identify the components in your home theater system, assemble the codes that automatically map the Harmony 680’s buttons to functions on the original remote for each component, and set up “activities,” which are the equivalent of macros that fire commands to all the equipment involved. When you connect the remote using a USB cable and a simple utility, a server-side application packages your settings into a downloadable file and blacts it into the remote.

The unit is preconfigured to control a Media Center PC. In addition, the Web site has an enormous database of remote control codes for all sorts of components. The Setup program was able to identify all of my equipment (although I had to try several variations of the HR10 model number before it recognized the high-definition DirecTV/TiVo box). I used the predefined activities to define what I want each piece of equipment to do when I push the Watch TV or Listen to Music or Watch a DVD button. To listen to music from the Media Center PC, for instance, I need to: turn on the AV Receiver and set VCR1 as the input; turn on the TV and set Video 4 as its input; make sure the Media Center extender is on; and switch to Media Center’s My Music view. I can use drop-down lists and option buttons to set all these states, no coding required.

I have a few quibbles with the Harmony 680. The buttons are arranged in a very confusing layout, although this is practically inevitable with an all-in-one remote. And for the life of me I can’t see how to program the big green Media button so that it acts as the Green button (Media Center) or the TiVo button on the DirecTV box.

I paid around $105 with shipping and thought it was well worth the price. I purchased it from Comp-U-Plus, which I’ve used several times before with no complaints. Amazon.com sells it for about $10 more.

I’ve used high-end all-in-one remotes before. The Philips Pronto I used from 2001-2003 was expensive, hard to program, and used a finicky touch-screen instead of buttons with tactile feedback. In 2004 I switched to a Universal Remote MX-500. It was a lot less ambitious than the Pronto, but that made it fairly easy to work with. The only downside was the lack of macro capabilities - I had to print out a small series of instructions on mini index cards and keep them near the remote to explain the sequence of manual steps for each activity.

When we moved this past summer, I switched from cable to DirecTV and got a new TV. Somehow, the chore of reprogramming the MX-500 for the new equipment never made it to the top of the stack, and I got used to the good old-fashioned basket of remotes. Spousal Acceptance Factor? Close to zero, occasionally into minus territory.

The Harmony 680 passed a crucial test yesterday. I showed Judy the remote, briefly described how the three main activity buttons work, and placed the remote on the coffee table. When I left, a DVD was playing. When I came back an hour later, Judy was watching a program on the TiVo. With the previous collection of remotes and three separate inputs to adjust, that wouldn’t have happened.

Hey, maybe I should gift-wrap it and put it under the tree.

On second thought … naaaah!

Last week I served up a complaint about the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Partner Directory.

Microsoft’s Charlie Owen read that post and forwarded it to Shelley McIntyre, who works directly with that page. Good news: Several of the items I had on my wish list are already in the works. Shelley pointed me to a page I hadn’t seen before. The Windows Marketplace: Media Center store lists
Media Center PCs, portable devices, add-in hardware, and plug-ins. Excellent resource!

Microsoft’s Charlie Owen and Aaron Stebner have started the Media Center Sandbox blog. It’s primarily for developers and designers, but I’m positive mere users will find some neat stuff there. This offhand remark was intriguing:

We have some *new* platform information coming next week — stay tuned here. Santa is coming a day or two early this year to Media Center designers and developers.

What could that be?