Entertainment 2.0

While the changes are slight, there are a few things I’ve noticed since installing Windows 7 build 7068 over the weekend.  Nothing major and in fact, it took me a bit to notice but there are a few things worth noting. 

It’s worth noting first off that the core of everything is the same.  After setting up live TV, recording storage and whatnot nothing major has been changed.  You’re going to see the same setup processes as before.  While there are of course some things that we all wanted MS to add, there aren’t enough changes within MCE to make it a totally different experience.  It seems that everything is really just cosmetic.

First is the splash screen when you start Media Center.  The logo fills the screen now and does a very fancy pull back which looks really nice.  It doesn’t take any longer than the original screen but does add some flair. 

The next thing I noticed while going through the setup process was that the drill down sound has changed.  While it’s impossible to describe, I will say that it seems like a softer sound.  I don’t know if you’ll understand what I mean but that’s the best way to describe it.  This along with the splash screen are the only two sound changes I’ve noticed so far.  All other sounds within the UI seem unchanged.

I’ve also noticed animation changes to the menus.  This is most apparent when backing out to the main menu.  When you back out from say, recorded TV, the main menu now seems to fall in from the top of the screen.  It’s a slight change:  it doesn’t scroll down or anything.  Again, this is really a small change but one that is noticeable and adds a bit more flair to the presentation. 

The most notable change seen so far is the speed of the UI on extenders.  While still slower than using the local machine (something that will probably always be that way) it’s much faster now.  While running build 7000 there were times that it was quite frustrating waiting for things to move both on the Xbox 360 and the Linksys DMA-2100.  This is no longer the case.  Both extenders are very responsive to the commands I throw at them.  How much of this has to do with recent issues I was having and how much has to do with the new build is hard to tell but I don’t recall the UIs on these extenders ever being this fast.

The one thing I am frustrated with is the fact that it still seems that the Xbox 360 has issues with playing digital audio with WTV and AVI files.  WMVs that I have play fine.  Also, these files seem to play just fine on the local PC.  Hopefully this is something that MS is looking into and will be able to fix before RTR.  I really want to kill my cable but with HD recordings not playing properly, it makes it a bit harder.

Overall it seems as though MS has worked to dress up the Media Center UI as well as speed the whole system up.  I wouldn’t quite call it a finished product but I think it’s getting there.  The feature set is probably there so I doubt we’ll see more functionality, but the changes they’ve made since build 7000 are certainly nice even if they don’t actually add anything.

I’ll be continuing to play with build 7068 and will of course report anything I find.

For the third year straight, Microsoft has opened the Windows Media Center Ultimate Home Installation contest for custom integrators.  The deadline for entries this year is August 1st and custom installers are able to submit two entries.  Microsoft will announce the winner at CEDIA 2009 in Atlanta, GA.

The winner will receive the following:

• A trip to CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta
• A trip (with a guest) to Microsoft headquarters, including airfare, two-night hotel accommodations, a campus tour, and a $1,000 cash prize
• Niveus Media Server – Rainier Edition HD complete system with Intel processor and motherboard
• 160GB Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive
• Autonomic Media Control Server EX with PolyTune
• A photo shoot of the winning installation

As well, the customer who had the system installed will win the following:

• Xbox 360 Elite system with four wireless controllers
• Xbox 360 Media Remote
• Four games for Xbox 360
• One-year Xbox LIVE subscription
• Two Zune digital media players (8GB and 120GB) with a home audiovisual kit

If I thought I could afford a custom installation I might go for one, but it’ll be interesting to see what the custom installer side of the community comes up with for the contest.

Full contest details can be found here.

Prize info posted at CEPro.

If you follow Josh or me on Twitter, you know we, along with a few others, have been pushing this out for a few days now.  Today comes the episode I’ve been waiting to record, and I hope you’ve been waiting to hear for awhile now.

This week’s show brings together 5 HTPC users to debate the finer points of Media Center and SageTV.  Joining Josh and I are Brent Evans of Geektonic, Tim Campbell, HTPCentric co-host and Josh Shenkle of mnmaven.com.  With Josh Pollard moderating, we go through some of the features of each system.

Not much for show notes this week but I wanted to post two of the links we discussed during the show.  These are related to plugins related to each software:

• Media Center plugin list
• SageTV plugin list

Thank you to Brent, Josh and Tim for joining us this week.  It was a lot of fun and I hope this is something we can do again in the future!

Click here to download Episode 21.

Or listen live here:

Have you ever used another HTPC solution?  If so, which one and what did you think?  Comment and let us know!

This week, Entertainment 2.0 listeners are in for a special treat.  For those who don’t know, I also write and co-host a podcast called HTPCentric.  This is a broader topic blog focusing mainly on HTPC software in general.  For awhile now, myself and a few others have been talking about having a showdown between Windows Media Center and SageTV. 

After speaking with Josh, we’ve decided to carry this special podcast here on Entertainment 2.0 as well.  So, on Friday March 13th, you’ll get to hear me, Josh Pollard, Tim Campbell (HTPCentric co-host), Brent Evans of GeekTonic and The Minnesota Maven, Josh (guest on Episode17) debate the finer points of the two systems.

With Tim and Brent taking up the cause for SageTV and Josh and I taking up for Media Center, your Entertainment 2.0 co-host, Josh Pollard, will be stuck in the middle trying to moderate.  While I don’t think anyone will change their mind about which software they use, You’ll get a chance to hear people with a lot of knowledge on the subject help you make a decision.

Again, the show will be posted on Friday, March 13th.  We look forward to hearing your questions and comments.

Media Center by itself is great.  Being able to use one application to manage and view television, music, video, podcasts, and pictures is a powerful reason to use it in your home, never mind getting rid of that cable/sat DVR fee.  But how do you get Media Center working on all of your televisions?  This is where extenders come into play.  You’ve got some options here and I want to take time to cover them all.

First up is the Xbox 360.  Most people know this as a game console, and so it is.  What many people outside of the Media Center community don’t know is that the Xbox 360 has a built in Media Center extender.  This part of the software will allow you to extend your Media Center experience to which ever television you hook it to.  Many people don’t like using the 360 as an extender as they find it loud.  I’ve been using one for several years now and I have yet to hear it during watching sessions.

Next on the list are the Linksys DMA-2100 and 2200.  Really the only difference between the two is that the 2200 comes with a built in DVD player.  I recently purchased a DMA-2100 for my sons’ playroom and I’ll be posting a review soon.  This is a straight up extender.  Other than the 2200 playing DVDs, you’re getting a direct copy of the Media Center UI and that’s it.  It’ll save you some money (especially if you find it on sale) but you’re not getting a lot.  One good thing however is that this box comes with built in wireless so you don’t need to spend an extra $100 for wireless connectivity like you will for the Xbox 360.

D-link has also jumped into the extender market with the DSM-750.  I have yet to get my hands on one of these machines but by looking at the product page, this looks like a very nice machine.  Larger than the Linksys, the D-link will also stream media to your television without using the Media Center UI.  Specifically, there’s an application available online called PlayOn which is supposed to work on this box.  This app will allow you to use the DSM-750 to stream Hulu, and other online content to your TV.  That’s not a bad little feature to have although with SecondRun.TV, this isn’t something that will be needed for long.  Much like the Linksys boxes, the DSM-750 offers wireless out of the box.

HP is next in line and offers the MediaSmart Connect.  This is another box I have yet to get my hands on.  HP has a reputation of creating quality Media Center hardware.  Look no further than the HP TouchSmart PC if you want to see a great use of the UI.  Like the others, the MediaSmart Connect will allow you to get all of content from the PC to the TV without the use of the computer itself.  With wireless once again built in, there’s no need to run wires around your home.

As you can see, there are a lot of options for getting your content to the set you want to watch it on.  One of the great things about Media Center is that it isn’t trapped inside your PC.  These devices can allow you to run up to five other televisions without the need for expensive hardware being attached to each one.  Not only that, but your media remains the same no matter where you move in your house.  If you start watching a recorded TV program in the living room and decide to move upstairs, you can resume the show right where you left off.  Quite nice I must tell you.

If you have questions about extenders or anything else related to extending your Media Center experience, please don’t hesitate to comment, email or twitter me.  I’m always happy to help!

In writing this blog I’ve very easily gotten caught up in the review/news side.  This post is the first in what I hope are many beginner how-to posts aimed at helping those who have maybe read posts here, watched some of Ian’s how-to videos at The Digital Lifestyle or have perused the forums over at The Green Button.  No matter how you found out about Media Center, you need to know a few things right from the start.

I’m going to be covering a lot of these things over the next few weeks, but the first thing I want to cover is that fact that each and every copy of Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate as well as the new Windows 7 beta has a built in DVR.  There’s not a whole lot of sense in paying your cable or satellite company $5 to $10 a month for something your PC can do for you for free.

Getting DVR capabilities our of your machine isn’t all that difficult.  A lot of the stuff you may read here is something that the average computer user wouldn’t want to try but I can tell you that when I started using Media Center back in 2005, I didn’t have much more knowledge than the average user.  Even now there are those in the Media Center community who have a lot more than I do and my system works great.  If you can install a circuit card and handle walking through a little setup, you’re all set.

The first thing you’re going to need besides your PC is a TV Tuner.  What kind of tuner you get depends on how you receive your television signal.  There are several used in the U.S. and since that’s where I live, their the ones I can talk about:

• NTSC-(National Television System Committee):  This is the analog system which is being faded out in the US.  It’s also used to transmit analog cable signals.  While Over-the-Air NTSC is being replaced by ATSC, cable will continue to use this for analog transmission for some time.
• ATSC-(Advanced Television Systems Committee):  This is what Over-the-Air transmissions have or will be switching to in the US and replaces NTSC.
• QAM-(Quadrature Amplitude Modulation):  Digital cable and some other signals are transmitted in this format.  Depending on where you live, your cable company may provide some of your channels in what is called ClearQAM or without encryption.  These can be brought into Media Center with a QAM tuner.

I’ll be honest, everything you just read is very confusing to me.  The easy way to remember it is this:

• Cable:  NTSC tuner needed for standard def analog cable.  QAM tuner needed for HD ClearQAM programming.
• Over-the-Air:  NTSC not really usable anymore although it may work in certain markets.  ATSC needed for sure on June 12th 2009.

So next is to get a TV tuner for your PC.  You need to first know what type of slot you have available.  Most tuners are either PCI or PCI express.  Check to make sure you know what you have before you run out and buy your card.  Nothing is going to make you more angry than getting your tuner home to find out you don’t have the right expansion port available.

Most tuners sold today are either going to be digital only (ATSC/QAM) or a hybrid of digital and analog (NTSC).  Again, how you get your TV will determine what you need.  If you use OTA and you’re never going to get cable or satellite service, ATSC will be just fine for you.  If you’re still hooked to cable, then your best bet is the hybrid tuner as it will allow you to get the NTSC signal as well as the ClearQAM channels that your cable company provides.  Most of these tuners will also have the ATSC tuner needed to pick up the OTA channels in your area.

I know it sounds like a lot but trust me, picking a tuner isn’t as hard as it seems.  Once you have it installed, get your drivers installed and Media Center should be able to find it the next time you run it up.  The biggest concern next to the signal you receive is getting a tuner that’s Media Center compatible.  There are those out there that aren’t but most will say it in the description.

Once you install a tuner, you should have a menu option on the TV slider to setup live TV.  This is a relatively straight forward process.  Follow the steps and you shouldn’t have any trouble at all.  It takes a little time of course but Media Center should find your signal and walk you through the proper setup process.

Using this method you can get rid of your cable company’s $5 to $10 a month DVR fee.  While your upfront cost will be a bit more, since switching to Media Center, our family has found that we have a lot more control.

If you have questions about how to get your PC working as a DVR, please leave a comment here, email me, or send me a message on Twitter.  Even if I don’t have the answer to your question, I’ll find someone who does!  The Media Center community is all about helping people find the answers they need to enjoy using the application!

Most of the people who are in the gadget/MCE/geek community have already heard that the Zune team has been split into separate hardware and software teams.  I’ve read this story on several blogs and it’s really nothing new. 

When I went over to the Zune Insider Blog a bit ago, I realized that getting the Zune and Media Center integration that we want might actually be more of a possibility than I thought. 

From the blog post:

Hi folks – Some of you might have read today’s report on CNET about the Zune re-organization. If you haven’t already seen it, click to hear from the new head of the Zune business, Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s TV business and now Zune.

If you’re pressed for time, here’s the short version:

• We are combining the Zune software team with the Connected TV organization (Windows Media Center, Mediaroom) to create a single group focused on creating software and services that enable great entertainment experiences across the PC, TV, mobile phones and Zune devices.

• The Zune device hardware team joined the mobile communications business group to create a center of excellence in portable hardware. This will bring people who live and breathe hardware together.

• The priority now is to focus on delivering against our current product roadmaps across each team in the new organization. That means new software, services and devices for Zune customers.

The most interesting part of the post is the first bullet point.  “Combining the Zune software team with Connected TV” sounds to me like it’s going to be one team with one vision.  Again, from other news sites around the net, you’d think they were just going to share the same space.  Seems a lot closer than that to me…

Media Center users are used to it.  Having media that doesn’t go from one system to another is just something you learn to deal with when it comes to using not only Media Center but other MS products as well.  I think myself, as well as a majority of MS product users think that this practice, over many others, needs to be reconciled. 

The fact is that Microsoft should want the Zune and Zune software to fit into the rest of the entertainment ecosystem, to include Windows Media Player and Media Center.  Let me give you an example of what happens now:

1. I download a playlist using my Zune Pass.
2. Said playlist is uploaded to my Zune and I can take it anywhere.
3. Music that makes up this playlist are available in WMP and Media Center
4. Playlist is not.  It has to be manually generated=not fun!

This is what I currently go through in order to use playlists the way I want.  It’s a time consuming and, quite honestly, boring process.  Zune playlists are in the .zpl format while WMP and MCE playlists are .wpl.  Why they’re not both the same is beyond me.  Does MS honestly believe that I want to listen to a completely different playlist in my car versus my home?  Usually these things are created so that you can use them anywhere!

Look, I’m not here to complain.  I’m here to offer solutions!  I’m the answer man!  And besides, I love my Zune, I love my Media Center and I just want them to play nice together.  That being said, here is what I think needs to be done to fix this situation:

1. Either make a universal playlist filetype that will play anywhere within the MS entertainment ecosystem to include Zune, Zune software, WMP, Media Center and Windows Mobile, or make these systems read all playlist files.
2. I love the Zune software.  It’s certainly a lot smoother than iTunes.  Keep the software but create plugins for WMP and Media Center, tied to my Zune Pass which will allow me to buy and use content from inside those systems.
3. Currently, when I sync my Zune, the software knows where I paused the last podcast I was listening to and will start playing from there.  Make this happen in Media Center.  You have no idea how much time I spend fast forwarding through podcasts in MCE to get to where I was in the car.  I don’t want to listen to the same thing twice.

The next question people ask is: “Why would MS listen to a bunch of hobbyists about their products?”  Well that’s easy to answer.  Because we’re the ones beating our heads against this wall trying to tie it all together.  And let’s face it, if MS wants the Zune to compete with the iPod (something it has yet to do) then being able to offer people a system in which they can play their content anywhere without buying anything extra is a great pitch!  You don’t have to buy speakers, you don’t need to buy a special set-top box, nothing.  Just the PC you already own and the Zune you just bought.  Hell, if you’re willing to pay for the subscription without the actual hardware, you could use this service just in your home!  You can do that now, but really, the playlists still won’t do you any good except in the software and there’s no way to resume your podcasts.

To be honest, I don’t think this is a Microsoft product problem.  I think this is a Microsoft marketing problem.  If the marketing team thought the way actual users do, then this would already have been done.  They could have gone to the software programmers and told them to make it all work together because it would make more money.  Same goes for Media Center.  The product is one of the best that MS has ever produced, especially in Win 7.  It’s not the eHome team that needs to be chastised here, it’s the marketing team.  If MS’s entertainment products aren’t used to their greatest potential, that’s where we need to look for reasons.

Microsoft introduced their Internet TV service in Vista Media Center.  It’s still in beta but from using it for a few days in 7MC I can tell you that they’ve made a few improvements.  The first thing is that they’ve added it to the guide.  You can remove these entries if you want to but it does make it a little more convenient.  The interface once you click into these “channels” has gotten a little better.  It still looks the same but seems to move a bit smoother both locally and on the Xbox 360 extender. 

While there’s quite a bit of content available, a lot of what I saw was the same stuff I saw three months ago the last time I looked at internet TV.  Without the addition of some real content (not just network previews) Media Center is definitely going to loose the online content battle.  There are a few full length shows from History Channel and National Geographic but nothing that’s going to keep people coming back.

As far as usability, again, it’s smoother than in the past and there doesn’t seem to be as much buffering as I experienced in the past.  Once a show starts it seems to keep going.  I only noticed one hiccup during one of the concerts my wife was watching.

The only complaint I have is that MS needs to institute some sort of timer on the commercials it shows.  I shouldn’t have to watch the same commercial every time I switch videos.  At least put five or six minutes between the things.  Also, there are videos listed, particularly in the music video section, which are no longer available.  the app moves to the next video automatically but don’t expect to be able to watch everything.

Overall, you can see the improvements that have been made to Internet TV since it was first offered.  Unfortunately with systems like SageTV and other set-top boxes offering Hulu, TV.com and others, Microsoft is really wasting their time with this.  They need to step up in the content area or just kill it off. 

EngadgetHD has just posted that it looks as though Dish Network is coming to Media Center with the Draco Project.

After DirecTV killed off the HDPC-20, it looks as though we may finally have a way to HD content from a satellite provider into Media Center.  While I was about to go back to OTA, something may be in the works that switches me back to Dish.

From the article:

Aw, snap! Just over a month after DirecTV went and killed its totally promising HDPC-20 tuner, in flies this. DISH Network is apparently gearing up to unveil some sort of HD-capable DISH-to-Windows Media Center liaison, with current test setups involving a modified ViP 211K receiver attached via Ethernet to a PC. The initiative is being coined Draco, and we’re even told that dual tuner setups (most likely using dual boxes for now) are in action and working beautifully.

Thanks to EngadgetHD for the story!