Matt Goyer: Media Center

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 20:48:38 GMT

I'm going to be in Las Vegas from January 4th to 8th for CES.

Setting remote control address on MCE IR Keyboard

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:02:49 GMT

Q: How do I set the remote control address on a Media Center IR Keyboard (Kirk)

Press OK+MORE (LED flashes at 1Hz)
Press a number key from 1 to 8(LED flashes twice to confirm success)
Turn off keyboard power (wait 10 seconds or press any key to discharge the capacitors quickly)
Turn on keyboard.

eHome 05 Holiday Party

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:19:13 GMT

Last Thursday was the eHome Holiday party. Here's a few of us leaving, left to right:

Mark's date
Tom, program manager
Mark, designer
Nishant, tester
Katrina, writer
Veronica, program manager
Ryan, developer

The night was actually a lot of fun. We started with a pre-funk at the Chapel and after a drink headed down to the Science Fiction Museum for the official festivities. While we were stymied by only two free drinks, the DJ this year was much better than last year's 80's cover band. After gossiping with co-workers for three hours a substantial number of us headed off to Neighbors were we partied into the fee hours of the morning. I think the last of us trickled out of Neighbors at 3am. The next day we all took advantage of the 'free' morning off we got and some didn't even make it in at all (I made it in). Next year we'll all have to remember to read MSN Careers, Office Party Etiquette before heading out.

A la carte TV on the way?

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:48:44 GMT

CNET, New FCC report advocates a la carte TV pricing:

Martin told the forum that the FCC will soon release a report that concludes that offering TV programming a la carte is economically feasible and in the best interest of consumers.

Until we get true Internet TV downloads it would be great if we could get a la carte TV pricing. Why pay for channels I don't want to watch? It just doesn't make any sense.

What I work on

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:04:31 GMT

Since some of you were interested to find out I owned movies and DVD. I should disclose the other features I own.

So I am the program manager for the following features in Media Center:

Accessibility support - High contrast skins, MSAA,...
Caller ID
DVD playback UI
LUA - Limited User Account interaction with MCE
Media Discovery - How do you discover local media? Networked media? How does Media Center fit into your home networking setup?
Messenger - And other communication/sharing scenarios
Movies - Movies Portal, My DVDs, DVD changer connectivity, integration with VOD partners like Movielink
Parental Controls
Settings - So exciting.
Text input/IME - How do you enter text in Media Center? How do you triple tap in other countries?
TweakMCE - Power toy that gets 10,000+ downloads a month

(There are one or two other areas that should be on that list but I don't want to get your hopes up for Vista.)

Each of those features has a feature team made up of a developer, a tester, a designer, a usability engineer, a product planner, a user assistance person, and finally a program manager. As the program manager for those feature teams I drive the vision around the feature and we work together to pitch ideas to the larger team, get them approved, then get them built, tested and finally shipped.

Article full of tips for the HP z555

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:27:06 GMT

One of my Media Centers at home is an HP z555 and I recently was forwarded this article by David Powell, Making the switch: Tivo to Media Center and he's got lots of tips for optimizing things such as the video card, Extender and the z555's airflow:

One last thing on cooling: a friend reversed the two fans (CPU fan and the side fan) inside the z555 and it now runs much, much cooler.

Since my z555 is in a fairly open space I don't have heat problems, but I imagine many of you might if your z555 is in a cabinet, so if you're the intrepid type you might want to try reversing your fans.

Problems with DVD Idle Pro and My DVDs

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 00:23:31 GMT

FYI, someone I know ran into issues with DVDIdle Pro and My DVDs:

Having DVDIdle Pro installed when you insert discs in to the changer causes the unique ID that’s generated to somehow be different than what is generated without the software installed/active. Because of this, none of the discs show up with metadata (beyond the volume ID). Disabling the software and “watching” the disc will cause a new ID to be generated (and xml file created) but it never shows up in My DVDs. The only way to have it show up is to eject the disc and re-insert it.

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:22:12 GMT

Off to Whistler for the weekend. See you all on Monday.

Media Center Show Awards - Go vote!

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:15:10 GMT

Ian Dixon has launched The Media Center Show Awards 2005 with lots of interesting categories, including 'Best Microsoft Employee Media Center Blog', go vote :).

It's really great to see how far the community has come in the last year. It wasn't too long ago that I could read every blog post that mentioned MCE, every article, every plugin, every forum. But now there's so much going on that I can only dip in every once and a while and see what's going on. The community has definitely taken off. Keep up the good work folks!

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:06:26 GMT

I'm off to Springs Lodge in Leavenworth, Washington for a corporate retreat for hot shot new college hires for the rest of the week. Should be a grand old geeky time. And yes, I will try very hard to resist the koolaid. (Though I will be bringing a bottle of something to spike it with.)

They tell us there's no Internet, so see yeah.

(I'm bringing my new iPod video and will report back on how watching the first episode of Lost on the bus ride works out.)

Questions about DVDs

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:48:20 GMT

I'm the program manager for DVDs and Movies so if you have questions, send them my way.

Two I got recently are...

Q: Is it possible for Media Center to remember the 'resume' position of multiple DVDs?

A: No, Media Center only remembers where you left off of your most recent disc. Yes, it would have been great if we could have improved this functionality when we introduced My DVDs so that Media Center would remember the position of any disc you stopped watching, but we had a tight schedule and limited resources and had to focus our attention elsewhere.

Q: Will My DVDs be available on the XBox 360?

A: No. We did not implement the ability to remotely play back a DVD from a MCE to an XBox 360 Extender so it did not make sense to make My DVDs available. I certainly understand how cool it would be if you could put your MCE and full loaded DVD changer in a closest and use XBox 360's to watch your DVD collection from any room wirelessly but this is something that's going to have to wait until a future release.

Boombox PC form factor

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:42:51 GMT

Strange case form factor of the day for your next home built Media Center, FIC's Piston (via mailing list at work).

It's a computer boom box!

My DVDs an the C200, R200..

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:56:07 GMT

I received an email the other day asking about the PowerFile C200 and whether or not it works with My DVDs. In short, I'm fairly certain it doesn't.

Why? While powerfil.sys, the inbox driver which provides support for PowerFile changers, supports the C200, we never tested the C200 with either powerfil.sys or with My DVDs. Instead, we built the My DVDs feature using custom PowerFile R200DL units. These units had only one drive and by the time we were done development changes had been made to the firmware of not just the changer but also the drive. We in fact had to swap out the drives of the units with different ones. I also don't know if the final firmware we were testing against has ever been publicly released by PowerFile, so if you have a R200DL, it likely will not work with My DVDs. But back to the drive issue, it's because we only built and tested against single drive units that it is a known issue that we do not have code that can reliably determine which drive to use in a two drive unit.

It's also worth pointing out that PowerFile's software uses a custom driver, and not powerfil.sys, which we use. Which is why the C200 and R200 may appear to work identically when tested against PowerFile's software, but differ when tested against ours.

For the best My DVDs experience I really recommend purchasing a Sony XL1 system. It has the changer that has the latest firmware for both the changer and drive, and has been thoroughly tested by both Sony and Microsoft.

CNET review of the Sony XL1

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:35:02 GMT

CNET reviews the Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System:

This is a great idea for a living-room system for home-theater buffs. We've been waiting for a functional PC-based changer for a long time. Slightly underpowered specs could leave casual users scratching their heads at the occasional lag.

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 05:08:58 GMT

Microsoft.com, TweakMCE ver 2.0 for Rollup Update 2.

Tweak MCE gives you access to systems settings and options not normally exposed in the Windows XP Media Center Edition user interface, including remote control settings, Skip and Replay time customizations, user interface options, and more. It also helps you to optimize Media Center Extender for plasma and non-CRT displays.

Finally! What's new:

Installs on RU2
Overscan adjustments
Tweak the DVD changer
Fixes to the Extender tweaks
Fixed the universal RC setting

Find DVDIDs by searching for title

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 22:18:44 GMT

~~Was searching through my DVD changer mail archives and found a link to Search for DVD by title. This allows you to search for a DVD by title and find the DVDID in the url of the resulting page.~~

Cancel that, it doesn't do what I thought it did. Bummer.

Hotmail reader for MCE available for download

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 21:38:45 GMT

Download.com, Hotmail Plus Reader for Media Center:

The Hotmail Plus Reader for Media Center lets you quickly check your Hotmail Plus or MSN Premium e-mail on your Media Center PC. This program is designed for use with a remote control and display on a television monitor. This is an email reader only - use the Web version for composing or replying to email.

You can find screenshots on Sean's blog Exclusive: Hotmail Add-in for Media Center Screenshots.

Read your Hotmail on your TV!

DVDID tool and hit rates

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:55:12 GMT

Green Button member, Gelano, has written an app that will get the CRC64/DVDID for you. This is a useful tool if you're trying to get local DVDs to show up in My DVDs.

Now's a good time to talk about DVDIDs hit rates. The DVDID is generated by looking at various parts of a DVD in order to generate a unique identifier. Since DVD studios put out multiple versions of a DVD the bits on the disc can vary, this in turn means each version has a different DVDID. Since one movie can have multiple DVDIDs it makes it harder for us to ensure we have every DVDID mapped to it's corresponding movie. It's because of this our US hit rate for DVDIDs is about 80%. Which is actually both really good, and an improvement. When we first started this project it was done around 60% but with a combined effort from our group, the metadata group, AMG, and Sony, we submitted lots of missing DVDIDs and AMG has added lots more. For instance, our group actually hired someone to run a DVDID tool on all the DVDs in our internal DVD library.

So what if your DVD is not being identified? You can submit it to Microsoft.

Load WMP
Go to DVD Now Playing
In the bottom right there should be a generic DVD cover art box and above it a 'Find DVD Info' link. Click on the link.
Follow the steps that the link takes you to

TweakMCE still delayed

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:52:57 GMT

We're very close to getting a new TweakMCE out that will install with MCE 2005 RU2. I know some of you are very anxious for this but please hang in there. The reason for the delay is that we're working very hard on Windows Vista Beta 2 and we haven't had the spare cycles to dedicate to cutting through the red tape to get this out the door. I'm sorry, this is my fault, we should have pushed this out earlier before the beta 2 crunch.

The good news is that we'll launch a new powertoy with TweakMCE that gives power users access to an often requested feature.

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:31:39 GMT

International Herald Tribune, The End User: Innovation from BBC . What's interesting about this article is the discussion of the economics of TV distribution from Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology. The cost of transmitting a year's worth of one channel's content is:

Several million dollars for standard distribution
$1.24 million for satellite transmission
$22,000 over the Internet

As we make the shift to IPTV and net TV will the savings be passed on to consumers?

Adult VOD content on your MCE

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 03:31:33 GMT

While at Digital Life someone told me about a MCE app I hadn't heard of before, Adult DVD Empire.com - Media Center:

Want to watch your favorite Adult movies through your Microsoft Media Center? Well look no further... the Adult DVD Empire Media Center site is here!
The Adult DVD Empire Media Center site allows you to purchase and view VODs through your Media Center unit.

Akimbo is live on Online Spotlight

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:57:37 GMT

Akimbo announced at Digital Life a week and a half ago that they would soon be available on the Media Center platform. Today, they're available:

They have a thirty day free trial so I'm looking forward to getting home and checking out the 80 different content providers. After 30 days their pricing starts at $9.99. Internet TV here we come.

Response to Slashdot post on MCE

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:41:54 GMT

Slashdot, Roadkill on the Convergence Highway:

Microsoft sometimes gets it right after three tries. Not so with Windows Media Center 2005. You do get a dancing Scooby Doo. You don't get much Media.

This Slashdot post picks up on Duke's article for Build Your Own PVR, Road Kill on the Convergence Highway: Three months with Windows Media Center.

There's no denying this user had a very hard time building a Media Center PC. However, the key issue to remember is that Media Center 2005 is only available to end consumers through OEMs (computer manufacturers like Dell, HP,..) and system builders. Yes, hobbyists can get their hands on it. But there's a reason why we do not sell Media Center at retail - it is hard to setup and get right. For instance the user was unable to burn DVDs through Media Center. The reason being that the Sonic burn engine included in Media Center 2005 requires Sonic MPEG2 encoders which are not available to hobbyists. Without these encoders you can't burn.

My advice to hobbyists is to go buy a Media Cener 2005 PC from someone like Dell or HP and use that as the base for your tinkering. That way you'll be assured you are getting the right encoders, decoders, drivers, graphics and tuner cards.

Charlie0's PDC05 talk on the 10' interface is now available online

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 07:49:33 GMT

Weren't able to attend PDC? No worries, the PDC05 content is now online.

Charlie Owen's PDC05 presentation on Windows Vista Media Center: Developing for the 10-Foot Interface is available for streaming, download or just the Power Point. Charlie's talk is centered around the following three themes:

Windows XP Media Center Edition today
Media Center in Windows Vista
Developing for Media Center in Windows Vista

$549 MCE w/Tuner

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 03:41:10 GMT

Tiger Direct, Media Center PC with a tuner card for $549 (refurb). Wow, that's cheap. (via Hacking Netflix).

CRC64 = DVDID

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:35:57 GMT

Looking for more info on CRC64s? I'm not a developer, but I think MSDN refers to CRC64 as DVDID. Here are two links:

Let me know if those are helpful or not.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:33:13 GMT

If you're thinking of building your own MCE, my friend Ming built his own MCE PC recently and took lots of photos.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:41:05 GMT

Roku has a special on the SoundBridge M500. It's $99 until Oct 28. Use promo code M50099.

Media Center remote control problems and solutions

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 20:53:28 GMT

Problem: Microsoft remote control stops working

Solution: Take the batteries out, take a paperclip and touch the two upper battery terminals at the same time. Put the batteries back in.

Problem:After RU2 install some remote control buttons fail to function. Others do not fail.

Solution:

delete c:windowsinfkeyboard.pnf (that's keyboard.PNF. The P is important)
Open up device manager
Right cilck on 'ehome infrared receiver' select uninstall
Right click on any device and select 'scan for hardware changes'

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:48:12 GMT

Green Button, Hack for enabling Movies TV Portal outside of the USA.

How to get locally copied DVDs to show up in My DVDs

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:25:36 GMT

How to get locally copied DVDs to show up in My DVDs

Disclaimer: Everything posted below is unsupported. We built and tested My DVDs to work for DVD changers, not local content. That it does, is a nice bonus :).

Assuming you have several locally copied DVDs on your hard drive you can get them to show up in My DVDs and play in Media Center. Here's the basic method of getting this to work:

Enable My DVDs. Load up regedit.exe and find this key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings]. Double click on it and change "ShowGallery"="Play" to "ShowGallery"="Gallery". Alternatively, here's a little file to do this for you courtsey of Sean, ShowMCEGallery.zip.
Copy your DVD to your hard drive. I recommend that when you copy DVDs locally that you select the option to have them chunked at 1 gig and the output should by something of the form c:\my dvds\mattsdvd. Underneath c:\my dvds\mattsdvd you'll find c:\my dvds\mattsdvd\video_ts and in video_ts you'll find a video.ifo file in addition to several other files.
Get cover art. There are a number of places to find cover art. Once you've find the correct cover art drop the cover art in c:\my dvds\mattsdvd\folder.jpg
Add folder to My Videos. The My DVDs gallery searches the same path as My Videos so if your DVD is not showing up go to My Videos, press CTRL-D, and go through the Videos Media Discovery wizard and add c:\my dvds.

But wait, what about rich metadata?

If you want rich metadata you need to:

Create a mattsdvd.dvdid.xml file. In c:\my dvds\mattsdvd create a file called mattsdvd.dvdid.xml. It's of the form:
<Disc> <Name>Matt's DVD</Name> <ID>00000000|00000000/<ID> </Disc>
Where the 0..0|0..0 is the CRC64 id of the DVD. I'll dig up more on the CRC64 hash function shortly. But in the meantime, it's an ID calculated based off the original DVD. If you drop it in the dvdid file we'll query our metadata provider and pull down the rest of the metadata for you and store it in our DvdInfoCache. If you don't have it, continue to step 2 where you can create your own rich metadata file in DvdInfoCache.
If you don't have the CRC64, make one up, put it in your dvdid file
Create a [CRC64].xml file. In c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\eHome\DvdInfoCache create an xml file named 00000000-00000000.xml (or whatever your made up CRC64 is. Instead of posting a sample because it's rather long, you can download one here for Stephen King's IT: 7e96a250-1c80bfc9.xml.

As you can see, this is not super straightforward, because to re-iterate, My DVDs is for folks with DVD changers. However, I totally expect a savy community member to take the above info and build a plugin which will automate the process of creating these XML files.

Sony XL1 only available at retail

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:52:16 GMT

CE Pro, Sony's MCE-based Digital Living System: Right Product, Wrong Channel. Apparently the XL1 will only be available at retail and won't be availble through Sony's Custom Integration sales market line.

Another MCE product team blogger

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:52:57 GMT

Wow, blogging about MCE is getting really trendy.

David Fleischman, a Media Center project manager, now has a blog Tales of Windows Media Center Project Management. I worked closely with David on RU2. Frequently he would come by my office brandishing a golf club ensuring we were on track to ship on time. Thankfully we did! :)

He was also one of the three at Digital Life and may or may not have had a Flirtini at Pop Burger.

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:56:24 GMT

Peter Rosser, a software design engineer on the Media Center TV team has a blog.

What does My DVDs look like?

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:49:35 GMT

On Friday, we launched Media Center Update Rollup 2. With the rollup you can now connect a DVD changer/jukebox to MCE. For devices such as the Sony XL1 and the PowerFile R200DL this support is plug and play. For other devices, if they implement the MediumChanger interface and install the appropriate driver they will also work with Media Center. Or if you don't have a changer you can enable this functionality for locally stored DVDs (more on that later). So what does the feature look like?

Assuming we recognize your changer, we change the Play DVD item on the Media Center start menu to My DVDs:

Once you have a few discs loaded into the changer (on the current changers it takes about 1 minute to scan each disc inserted) My DVDs looks like this:

It looks and behaves very much like the other MCE galleries:

Pivots on the left
Context menu for each item
Triple tap support

Here's what the context menu looks like:

If you click through to a movie you get the Movie Info page:

border="0">

You get information like, the director, cast, rating, genre, theatrical release year, synopsis and larger cover art.

If you need to edit the title, because it's wrong, or we were unable to identify the disc, click 'Edit Title':

If you go back up to the My DVDs gallery, or to More Programs you can access Manage Discs which gives you a view of all the optical media in your changer enabling you to eject it or load it.

Upcoming posts on the changer:

How to display locally stored DVDs in My DVDs with rich metadata
My DVDs as a platform for software developers
Where are we going with My DVDs in Vista

Expert Zone article on connecting your AV receiver to MCE

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:28:52 GMT

There's a new article up on the Microsoft Expert Zone, Connect an A/V receiver to your Media Center PC:

There are two key elements to a successful Home Theater PC environment: audio and video. This article focuses on the audio side of things. It explains how to connect your Media Center PC to your audio/video (A/V) receiver. Detailed information is provided about the process of connecting your Media Center PC to your receiver for three different speaker configuration types

The article was written by Nishant, the tester for the My DVDs feature in Rollup 2. If you have any feedback on the article, let me know, Nishant's office is just a few doors down from mine.

Sony launches living room PC + DVD changer

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 03:43:06 GMT

Big news tonight from the Sony Store at 550 Madison Ave, New York City. Sony and Microsoft teamed up to release the Sony VAIO XL1, a living room Media Center PC and 1394 200 disc DVD changer/jukebox.

PR News Wire, Sony's Digital Living System Re-Defines the Digital Living Room:

Two sleek components comprise Sony's Digital Living System: a high-end multimedia PC and a 200-disc media changer/recorder. Both are designed to fit into a home entertainment rack and the elegant silver and black casings are sure to complement the rest of your home entertainment system.

Sony living room PC + 200 disc DVD changer for $2300.

PC Mag Review, 4 out of 5 stars, Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System:

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System won't replace your notebook or desktop PC, but it fast approaches Media Center nirvana.

I was just at the launch party and am now on my way out to celebrate. A lot of work went into this collaborative effort between Sony and Microsoft and I think the result is amazing. Not only do they have a living room PC and a changer, they also wrote plugins to view all your music CDs in the changer (and rip them all), archive content to blank DVDs in the changer, and surf the Internet with your remote control.

I took lots of photos and will post them soon.

In the meantime, you can find out more at Sony.com, The VAIO XL1, Digital Living System. And also there's a Q&A on Microsoft.com, Microsoft and Sony Team on Digital Entertainment Content Management System.

Photos from Digital Life 2005

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:47:13 GMT

Wow, was Digital Life 2005 ever busy!

Here are some photos from Saturday showing how busy the Microsoft booth was:

There certainly was a lot of excitement around XBox 360 and Media Center. Here's a photo of the living room we had setup with a big screen TV connected to a XBox 360 that we were demo'ing the XBox 360 MCE Extender on:

In addition to the living room setup, we had a theatre setup were they were showing demo's of MCE and XBox 360. Lucky members of the audience even got to play the 360. We also had six MCE's setup that people could come by and play it. This is were I spent four to five hours each day answering questions.

While at the show I spoke to three different types of show attendees. Those who knew nothing about Media Center, those who knew about it or possibly just bought it and wanted to know more, and hardcore hobbyist/industry folks. Everyone asked lots of great questions.

I really wish we had a set top box connected to a MCE connected to a TV to show people since we got so many questions about how to connect the three. Fortunately our new marketing site answers this question, Media Center and your set-top box.

I also wish we would have had a variety of MCE form factors on display . Fortunately we could point people over to any number of booths that were also display MCE like HP, Intel, One Voice,...

Surprisinly, I got absolutely no questions about Apple's Front Row announcement. Though Tivo came up a number of times.

Were you at Digital Life 2005, what were your impressions or highlights?

Having problems installing Update Rollup2?

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:54:26 GMT

Aaron Stebner is the setup guru on our team and has a post on How to get help for Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 setup issues.

I've been running the update for a few months now without any problems but I have seen a few isolated reports of problems, so if that's you please contact Aaron.

Front View a front panel display app

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:18:11 GMT

If you have, or are thinking of a front panel display for your Media Center, check out Media Center Magic | Front View. It supports many of the LCDs and VFDs in existing cases, is customizable and supports plugins.

WMC 2.0 is available

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:09:59 GMT

Version 2.0 of Windows Media Connect is available as of late last week if you have digital media player devices at home (i.e. the Roku).

Hotmail app is on the way

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 08:47:38 GMT

Thomas, I was having drinks with Joe Belfiore and Dave Mendlen tonight celebrating the release of Rollup 2 and someone let drop that a Hotmail Media Center app was going to be available next week. Vicious rumor at the Soho 323 club? Or fact? We'll have to wait and see :).

Turn on My DVDs even without a changer

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 08:41:26 GMT

I can't have Sean scoop me on my own feature... If you don't have a changer you can enable the 'My DVDs' functionality with the following reg key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\DvdSettings] "ShowGallery"="Gallery"

But there's a lot more to it then just turning on this reg key... I'll post more once I get a breather here in NYC.

Some reactions to Rollup 2

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 22:03:53 GMT

Round up of MCE Rollup 2 news.

Microsoft Monitor, Windows Media Center Rolls Up:

Generally, I was dissatisfied with how Media Center PCs were sold during my mock shopping expeditions.

I completely agree and I know from talking and meeting with our retail team that this is a hard problem to solve involving OEMs, retailers and other parnters. The good news is that we are engaged and are working at improving our retail prescence.

Paul Thurrott's review:

For now, existing XP Media Center Edition 2005 users have a wonderful and free update that gives them new capabilities and better stability and performance. And potential Media Center PC buyers no longer have any reason to hold out. Either way, UR2 will give you the best possible PC-based DVR and digital media experience available today. Highly recommended.

Charlie corrects a few inaccuraries from Paul's review.

Ian Dixon, Media Center Show #28. I'm on and chat about Update Rollup 2.

Thomas Hawk is a hard customer to please:

It looks like we are going to have to wait until Vista to get the really good stuff.

New home page

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 21:45:00 GMT

We got a new microsoft.com/mediacenter home page today that I think does a much better job than our old one. But if you have suggestions on how we can improve it, please let us (me) know.

Nivues announced their DVD changer for MCE

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 21:29:07 GMT

Niveus press release, Niveus Media unveils the Niveus Disc Changer to support full DVD Library functionality on the award-winning Niveus Media Center:

Niveus Media, Inc., manufacturer of media entertainment devices for the high-end audio/video market, is excited to announce its newest digital home solution, the Niveus Disc Changer. With support for over a thousand DVD discs, the Niveus Disc Changer paired with an award-winning Niveus Media Center running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Rollup 2, enables the “My DVDs” feature within the Windows Media Center interface.

Looks like it's called The Ice Vault 200:

Features in Update Rollup 2

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 06:20:35 GMT

What's new in Update Rollup 2?

XBox 360 Extender support. This has been talked about a lot already. In short, full fidelity, HDTV, Extender remoting to all XBox 360s.
DVD Changer. This was my pet feature for Emerald and you're going to get sick of hearing about it shortly. But needless to say, we now have built in support for DVD changers in MCE. Expect to see four different offerings this fall all which will support up to 200 discs (though in theory we support an arbitrary number of discs). Also, while some changers will come bundled with a PC, there will be changers available that you can add to your existing MCE system. And I know Thomas has already panned this feature, but it's the logical legal 'bridge tha gap' solution between now and the time by which we get secure managed copy, and/or true HDTV VOD. We also have a way of emulating DVD changer functionality for those of you without changers; I'll post details later this weekend.
Away Mode. Turns off your MCE while still allowing you to record and stream to Extenders.
Burn HDTV to DVD, burn from network shares. This is my officemate Ben's pet feature.
4 tuners - 2 ATSC, 2 NTSC. For all you who need to record four shows at once.
Non-linear zoom mode
Optimization. A new setting that restarts critical MCE processes every day.
Lots and lots of bugs fixes. I'll post more about the bugs we fixed in the upcoming weeks

Sorry, no CableCard, and yes, it's free!

Other news:

4 Million MCE shipped since launch
20 new countries, 11 new languages
More than 2 million since May
43% of PCs sold at retail in August were MCE
Lots of people are shipping MCE - over 130 OEMs, 7000 system builders

Rollup 2 available at 8am PST

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:37:17 GMT

Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (aka Emerald) will be available at 8:00am pst via Windows Update or the Windows Download Center.

New Online Spotlight Partners - MTV and Games!

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:28:41 GMT

It's an exciting day in Media Center land. Lots of announcements. Here's some of our Online Spotlight announcements:

Partners now Live in Online Spotlight

MTV Overdrive. Overdrive is MTV’s broadband network, delivering the hottest video content to Media Center PCs. Overdrive provides access to live performances, music videos, artist interviews, never-before-seen footage of MTV shows, the latest news, movie trailers and more. It’s all online and all on demand, now at the touch of a remote control button.
Digital Interactive Systems Corp. (DISCover). Designed exclusively for Media Center PCs, DISCover’s My Games gives customers access to a wide range of PC games that they can digitally demo, buy and stream. Customers can view an in-depth game guide with screen shots, box art and descriptions for thousands of top games, and can purchase “boxed” games via top online retailers with the ease of a Media Center Edition remote control.
Game xStream. Game xStream’s now-live gaming-on-demand service for Online Spotlight connects users to its extensive catalog of video game titles from leading game developers, from which they can buy and stream games instantly. Within minutes of pressing the Buy button from a Media Center Edition remote control, gamers can begin playing graphic-intensive games from publishers including Merscom LLC, Global Star Software and Encore Inc.

Apple finally joins us and Tivo in the living room

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:07:41 GMT

Wow what an exciting day! Minutes before getting on the plane I was checking the email on my phone and was shocked to read that Apple has released a Media Center competitor called, Front Row I can't believe I was stuck on a plane instead of in building 50 being part of the buzz!

Here's the buzz from around the web so far:

PVR Blog, Big news from Apple -- moving towards becoming a Media Center?:

The new iMac + Front Row package looks pretty similar to the first versions of Microsoft's Media Center XP.

PVR Wire, Apple releases video-enabled iPod, but no PVR functionality:

From a PVR perspective, there's really nothing to discuss, as it doesn't have any video inputs or recording capabilities

Michael Gartenberg, Apple and Microsoft have very different views of what a Media Center PC is:

Part of the today's news are the new media centric iMacs. This is in an important part of Apple's strategy and it's been a while coming. The existing mini seemed likely to become the focal point for a media center but Apple's taking this idea in a new direction. I'm a big fan of the Windows Media Center platform and personally, I want the TV integration as well as the access to recorded TV as a great source of legal video content.

Thomas Hawk, Apple Unveils Media Center Type IMac:

Personally I'm a little underwhelmed from what I've seen so far.

Co-worker, Charlie Owen, Apple Finally Has An Answer to Media Center with Front Row

Frankly, I'm underwhelmed -- I really expected Apple to have much more to brag about, especially given their momentum with iPod over the last couple of years. Based on everything I'm seeing, Front Row doesn't even have feature parity with the first version of Media Center released back in October 2002. No hint of a developer platform either

I'm sure I'll have more to comment on later, but..

They picked a way better name then us! (Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 just does not roll off the tongue)
Yes, their remote is a lot simplier, but they also have way less functionailty!
It's really weird they didn't introduce this on the Mac Mini's first
I'd be excited about the tv downloads if they were HD. The pricing is right though

Overall, I'm super excited about this. It really validates what we're doing converging digital entertainment with the PC in the living room.

It's definitely going to be an exciting week here in New York. I'm sure you've all read the rumors about what we're announcing Friday at Digital Life, and then I'll be sticking around for another launch on Tuesday evening.

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 22:33:12 GMT

Online Spotlight has launched in Denmark with a video on demand partner:

Peter Near talks about the MCE build he saw on campus recently

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 04:32:52 GMT

Bummed you missed out on the MVP's preview of Vista last week? Don't worry, Peter Near summarizes what he saw:

Refreshed User Experience – As we saw in the PDC build of Windows Vista, Media Center is in for a major UX overhaul. Whereas MCE 2005 was very much a top-to-bottom organised interface, Vista has a left-to-right organisation to the interface.

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 04:15:28 GMT

I'm off to New York next Wednesday to help out at the Digital Life event. If you're interested in seeing the latest and greatest Media Center stuff you should definitely stop by (closer to the event I'll post the hours I'm working if you want to say hi). The event is open to consumers and tickets are only $15.

We'll be staying at the Hotel W, Times Square; this trip should be a blast.

Anyone have any good food, bar, club, clothes shopping recommendations? I intend to make the most of my time not spent holding down the Media Center fort :).

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 06:19:08 GMT

It bugs me in MCE 2005 how in My Music the 'albums' and 'artist' pivots are not sticky but once you drill down to an artist the 'view albums' and 'view songs' are.

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:37:49 GMT

Residential Systems, Measuring Media Server Metrics:

Numerous manufacturers have been introducing these systems over the last year, adding to the systems introduced by pioneers Escient and ReQuest in the late 1990s. In addition, the Media Center PC is poised to become a key platform of choice among dealers.

There's lots of statistics in this article if you're interested in the home media server space.

Media Center MVPs

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 20:05:26 GMT

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a networking event with Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of North America sales and marketing. One of the messages he wanted us to leave with was how important it was that we spend time with our customers listening to their feedback, needs, and feeling their pain. Apparently too many of us lose focus of who we're building all this software for.

Fortunately, this talk dovetailed nicely with the MVP's hitting the Redmond campus. So later that day I rounded up Nishant, the tester who sits next door to me and we went to have dinner with the MVPs. And then the next day I sat in on the conversations they had with our team. We shared with them demos of Rollup 2 (set to launch very soon), and demos and our plan for Windows Vista. In turn they shared with us a long laundry list of compliants about our product and platform.

My feedback to them, and you, is, don't wait until you're invited to Redmond to give us feedback :). Send me an email (Matt.Goyer *at * microsoft.com), write a blog post, or leave a comment here. Yes, the newsgroups are an option, but I know very few of us spend time on The Green Button or in the newsgroups. This of course should change, but I barely have enough time to keep up with blogs, never mind those forums.

Peter Near, from the city of Waterloo, where I went to school, was up and got a look at 'Vista MCE' and has this to say, Vista MCE looking great!:

It looks mahvelous and is incredibly usable. I’m genuinely excited now about the Vista version of Media Center, and can’t wait until I get my hands on a new official build so I can share some screenshots with you guys. You’re gonna love it!

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 04:34:52 GMT

Christoph Buenger Software: mcePhone for Skype is in beta.

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 06:44:39 GMT

Web 2.0 + Media Center = ?

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 06:31:14 GMT

I'm planning on attending Digital Life 2005 in NYC October 14-16. Hopefully some of you can swing by the Windows Media Center exhbit. We should have some new stuff to show you :).

Microsoft puts support behind HD DVD

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 19:34:28 GMT

Microsoft Press Release, Microsoft and Intel Back HD DVD as Next-Generation High-Definition DVD Format of Choice:

Microsoft and Intel cited the following consumer and industry requirements of any successful next-generation optical format for high definition, which is reflected by what HD DVD delivers today:

Managed Copy: A first for DVDs. Managed Copy is a guaranteed feature within HD DVD that gives consumers the freedom to make copies of their discs to a hard drive or home server, including Media Center PCs using Intel Viiv technology, and enjoy them in every room of the house over their home networks. HD DVD discs also will allow copies of the movie to be played on portable devices.
“Future-proof” compatibility. Using proven HD DVD “hybrid disc” technology, a single disc can store both high-definition and standard-definition versions of a film, allowing consumers to immediately enjoy the standard-definition movies stored on these discs on today’s DVD players, while HD movies can be replayed later on the HD DVD platform. This is an opportunity for consumers to buy discs at launch that future proof their collections — in other words, helping assure customers that the discs they buy will remain viewable in the future.
Proven low-cost, high-volume manufacturing. HD DVD discs use essentially the same manufacturing equipment as existing DVDs, meaning that production of HD DVD can ramp up easily and with lower costs.
Superior capacity. HD DVD-ROM discs will offer dual-layer 30GB discs at launch, compared with BD-ROM discs, which will be limited to 25GB.
Superior interactivity. HD DVD discs will offer greater interactivity using iHD technology, allowing for enhanced content, navigation and value-added functionality for high-definition films. For example, HD DVDs can offer advanced picture-in-picture capability so that other video, such as a director’s commentary, could play on top of the movie.
Superior format for notebook PCs. The compatibility of HD DVD with standard DVD facilitates and simplifies development of slim disc drives for integration in notebook PCs, one of the fastest-growing segments of the PC market.

Interview question: Randomize the slideshow

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 02:39:48 GMT

I haven't interviewed any potential applicants yet, but I think a great interview question is: We have a slideshow feature in Media Center, however many times users would like to see their photos in random order. How do you randomize the display of their photos?

...The pictures developer just walked us through his proposed solution to the issue of, the first photo in a random slideshow is always the same.

New directory of Media Center hardware and software partners

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:22:38 GMT

Announcement: We're creating an international partner directory for the Media Center website.

Why? There's just too many of you for us to keep track of :). (For instance, Ben has 53 MCE plugins linked to on his page).

This directory will feature companies creating MCE applications, services or hardware. So to get listed visit www.mediacenterpartners.com, create an account and submit your details. The directory will launch in mid-October for us all to enjoy.

Wait for the Windows Update...

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 19:58:07 GMT

So I see via the Green Button that some of you have gotten hold of the Windows Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 bits. I also see that some of you are running into problems. I strongly recommend that you wait until it releases on Windows Update to ensure that you're getting official Microsoft bits in the proper package with all the other required updates.

I've also read about a lot of your disappointment with the release but I don't think that's something I can discuss until after launch. Though I will say, that I have a new feature in there that I'm really excited about!

Also note that TweakMCE doesn't work on it until we get a new version of TweakMCE released.

Music peformance fixed in Windows Vista build 5219

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:39:32 GMT

Thomas Hawk, Microsoft's Charlie Owen Responds to My Media Center "Rant"

Part of the exchange is about when we are going to solve the problem of poor performance of music libraries:

While I can appreciate the secrecy and veil of product marketing that accompanies your process I see little harm in saying something like expect this to be fixed by x date.

Good news. Music performance has been significantly improved in Windows Vista Build 5219 (the PDC build). It wasn't fixed earlier (i.e. Update Rollup 2) because we had major dependencies on Windows Media Player to fix the problem and our schedules did not align until the Windows Vista timeframe. Yes, we should have fixed it sooner, but Media Center is a very large software project requiring hundreds of people, has hundreds of dependencies on other components, and is working on a certain set schedule.

Bugs? No,... By design.

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:38:50 GMT

In my most recent TweakMCE post I said that two things requested were actually products bugs, when they are in fact not and we have no plans to change what's already in the product.

A random slideshow does not start randomly

I've since found out that this is by design. Since it takes a few seconds for Media Center to generate the list of random pictures to display we display the first available photo in the top most folder so that you're not starring at a blank screen waiting for the sildeshow to start. One note here is that if you start a random slideshow in a folder with no subfolders the first photo displayed will be random.

Update: We've talked more about this internally and will look at improving this for Windows Vista.

No videos list view

This is also by design; we intentionally do not provide this view since we can offer a rich thumbnail view of your videos. Though, we understand that if you have long filenames and non-descriptive thumbnails it can be hard to tell which video is what without rolling over them all.

Editor in chief of Wired Magazine plugs MCE on his blog

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:26:26 GMT

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, and originator of the Long Tail meme, praises Media Center, Friday Fanboy: The Media Center PC:

The cool thing about the latest (2005) version of Windows Media Center is that it can run in the background of a regular PC. So as far as my wife is concerned, it's just her standard workhorse PC, sitting in the study. But while she's doing email and such, it's recording TV on a 400 gig hard drive or streaming it to TVs around the house.

I too am really looking forward to more long tail content for my Media Center.

Features consumers value in a DVR

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 17:58:12 GMT

Michael Gartenberg, Contextual Marketing and Windows Vista:

I find it curious that 49% of consumers want to 'record TV later' but only 21% want an electronic program guide. Clearly they've never used a DVR before because it's awfully awkward to record TV for later without an EPG (yes, search comes in at 18% but 18%+21% != 49%).

I also wonder when cable company's are going to wake up to the fact that 56% of consumers want to skip commercials and devise a new way of making money instead of through 30 second ad spots.

My feedback on your TweakMCE suggestions

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:35:00 GMT

I asked for suggestions on TweakMCE improvements and you sent me lots. First let me say that TweakMCE is a very primitive app that only does registry tweaks. Secondly it wasn't designed to do complicated registry tweaks so this eliminates most of the suggested tuner and IR tweaks.

Here's my feedback to you...

Thomas Hawk: Random slideshows don't start randomly.

~~This is a product bug and can't be fixed by TweakMCE.~~ This is actually by design.

Hobbes: List view for videos.

~~This is a product bug and can't be fixed by TweakMCE.~~ This is actually by design.

Impact: Recording padding

I will investigate.

Stuart: Hidden channels.

You'll have to tell me more about these hidden channels.

Greg: Fixing incorrect ATSC channel info

Won't be in TweakMCE, but another power toy may be released to help with this.

Mo: Adjust guide download time

I'll investigate.

Matt: Add more tuners

No plans to add this to TweakMCE. It may show up elsewhere :).

Tuig: Improve music library peformance.

This is a product bug and can't be fixed by TweakMCE.

Jim: Longer pause buffer

I'm pretty sure I investigated this last time and we weren't able to change it.

Steve: Turn off notifications, reset tuners, send custom IR commands.

I don't know of a way to turn off the notifications, though why do you keep getting them? Resetting tuners is beyond the scope of this app, and sending custom IR commands would require changes to the product (though have you tried tweaking these keys?)

Chris: Plasma display adjustments

This would require changes to the product. Though I'm wondering if this should instead be either built into Windows proper, the display driver, or the display itself?

Bryan: Radio recording, IR blaster speed, tuner preference, search other guide listings, adjust ATSC tuning space.

All out of scope for TweakMCE. See above comments.

Shock: Configure dvr-ms filename

Not this time...

John: IR timings

Too complicated for TweakMCE, but here is how to do it manually.

Get your MCE apps ready for the Windows Marketplace

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 23:42:16 GMT

Place your application for Windows® XP Media Center Edition on Windows Marketplace

I'm busy getting my powertoys, TweakMCE, and another unannounced one, ready for Marketplace. I hope you are too!

In order to help promote your great Media Center development work to consumers, the Media Center group at Microsoft is excited to announce that, starting today, you can upload your finished Media Center application to Windows Marketplace, a comprehensive, easy-to-use shopping and download site that helps Windows customers discover, experience, and purchase partner products and software.
After Microsoft has processed your application, your approved Media Center product will be available for download from CNET’s Download.com and Windows Marketplace - www.windowsmarketplace.com.
How to upload your product

Prepare your software application. CNET will test for the following, so be sure you’re ready before you upload your product.

Your application must be virus and spyware-free, and must not perform any malicious operation on the customer’s PC.
The product page on your website must list “Windows XP Media Center Edition” as a requirement for product installation.
The application installer must validate that the user’s PC is running the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system before installing the application.
When the application is installed, a tile for the application must appear in More Programs.
When the customer clicks on that tile, he or she must be taken to a 10' experience.
The customer must be able to navigate your application with the remote control.
Your application design must feature large buttons and fonts so that it is readable on a TV screen.
Installing the application must not add a link to the top Media Center navigation menu (next to My music, My Pictures, etc.).
Your application must function with Media Center Extender.
For Web-based applications, the application must have some component that needs to be installed on a Media Center PC (this will not necessarily show up in More Programs).
Your application’s text must be in English.
You must have the rights to any content used in your application.
Certain types of content are prohibited by Microsoft policy.

Visit Upload.com and create an account. CNET has a few different listing options: Free listing, Basic ($9USD/mo) or Premium ($99USD/mo).
Choose “Windows MCE” as your Operating System, and fill out the rest of the submission form. At this time only English-language applications may be submitted to Windows Marketplace.
Submit your application. CNET will send you mail with confirmation of receipt, and let you know if your application passes their testing requirements.
Check your listing. Give CNET 2-3 weeks’ processing time to verify your application, then visit Download.com and windowsmarketplace.com to make sure your product appears on both sites. Beginning mid-October, the products will also be available on the Media Center consumer website on Microsoft.com.

If you have questions, please email mceapps@microsoft.com.
For a product to be eligible for inclusion in the Windows Marketplace, it must be compatible with current Microsoft Windows operating systems and be listed in the Download.com software library. Microsoft and CNET reserve the right to add or remove any product from Windows Marketplace at any time without prior notice. For additional information, please see the Windows Marketplace section of CNET’s knowledgebase.

eHome and Day of Caring

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:22:21 GMT

On Friday a group of us from Microsoft eHome participated in the United Way of King County's Day of Caring, a day during which we skip work and volunteer our time at a local organization. We spent the day at Noel House, a women's transitional shelter in downtown Seattle, painting, cleaning, and gardening. I've uploaded a few photos showing us all hard at work (except for the photo when we're at happy hour :) ). Here's a photo of Mark (program manager) and Bert (developer) from Media Center re-hanging some cabinet doors in their kitchen:

If your company has a similar program, you should sign up!

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:04:30 GMT

I just signed up for the Microsoft MVP summit. Hope to see you MVPs there. I don't know which sessions I'll be attending yet, so if you have a recommendation drop me a line below.

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:34:47 GMT

eHomeUpgrade, VoodooPC Launches Media Center Including DVD Archival System.

I wonder how they're going to avoid the same fate as Kaleidescape... ?

My impressions of the Microsoft Media Center keyboard

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 22:57:55 GMT

It's old news that we're releasing a Microsoft Media Center keyboard so I won't re-hash all those details here but after having one for a while, my positive impressions are:

Controls the power for my TV
Controls the volume of my audio receiver
Extended keys for media functionality are well layed out
Backlight keys

But unfortunately the deal breaker for me is that the mouse control is too awkward for regular use; and I frequently access the 2' desktop from my couch. I don't know why we couldn't have made the mouse pointer control more like the trackpoint's (eraser heads) that are a staple on Thinkpads. It's because of this that I've ditched this keyboard and have reverted to using the one that came with my HP z555 which has a trackball. And I also prefer the HP z555 keyboard to the Gyration keyboard and mouse.

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 06:43:13 GMT

Jan Miksovsky's user experience blog has a post entitled, Media Center nicely blends data sources to create album list and looks at how we blend ripped CDs and CDs in drive in the same gallery.

Netflix Avalon application - My contribution to the PDC

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:59:17 GMT

Today at the Microsoft PDC keynote in Los Angeles, during the Jim Allchin keynote, Darryn Dieken, group program manager for Avalon demo'd an experimental Netflix application built on Avalon using Netflix's pre-existing RSS feeds. The application was built by the design firm Rezn8 with design direction from two of us on the Media Center team.

The most compelling aspect of this demo (because the North Face one kicked ass visually) was the breadth of devices we were able to target. For instance the application was shown running on:

A regular desktop PC
A tablet, actually the new Gateway CX200, the first widescreen tablet
A Media Center
A mobile device, the new HTC Universal

And if you looked closely each device rendered the application differently. For instance the desktop and tablet versions had a tan background with and showed two to three rows of content depending on screen resolution and orientation, while the Media Center version showed one row of content, had a background and colors optimized for display on a TV and the controls were laid out differently so that they were optimized for navigation with a remote control. Here's a screenshot of the Media Center version:

While the application running on the HTC Universal wasn't an Avalon application, in the future it will be easy to build applications like that using it.

Back to blogging and PDC

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 07:05:17 GMT

Yes, I'm blogging again! Somewhere around the beginning of August I wiped my laptop clean and didn't re-install my blog reading software until recently so I've been blissfully ignorant of all the last happenings in the tech+cool stuff+friends+personal finance world. But not any more. I'm back on the bandwagon and here to prove that blogging is not a fad.

The other major blogging blocker has been work. There's just been so much of it lately. One of the major work items has been managing the development of an application that is going to be shown at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in LA tomorrow during the Jim Allchin keynote. While I had the opportunity to spend my weekend in LA backstage getting everything ready I declined and will instead be watching the keynotes from my couch (thanks to Charlie who is backstage getting everything ready).

Really there were three reasons why I'm not going to be down there for the excitement. Firstly, The Standard was booked (I could stop here). Secondly, I wanted to go hiking this weekend and thirdly, if things go badly tomorrow, I want to be very far away :). So watch tomorrow's keynote. I lot of work went into that seven minute segment. Anyhow, I'll blog more about it tomorrow once it's public.

And the other major work item, is shipping Windows Vista...

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 05:11:46 GMT

Co-worker, Aaron, How to install Media Center from CDs.

MCE whens a Communication Arts award

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 01:23:25 GMT

Communication Arts Interactive Annual Awards, Interactive Annual 11: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Charlie talks about CA and underscores just how cool this is:

Communication Arts is the leading trade journal for visual communications. It's the largest design magazine in the world and showcases the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design.

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:29:11 GMT

Yahoo/Reuters, Reuters Summit - TV seen following Net model:

Rather than passively flipping through a conventional electronic program guide much in the same way they would a print TV Guide, viewers are more likely to actively search for programs as they would on a Web site, top executives in both industries said at the Reuters Telecommunications, Cable and Satellite Summit this week.

I really agree with this article. However, input program titles into a search engine on your TV with a remote control is going to be incredibly cumbersome.

Are we going to adopt T9-esque input or will keyboards become more prevlant in the living room for interacting with your TV? (I'll leave speech recognition unsaid).

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:09:46 GMT

In the spirit of who works at SnapStream. Here's a few people who work on Media Center:

So left to right, that's Ben (program manager), me, and Kort (designer). Mark (designer) took the photo because we were likely debating some functionality in our product and so we needed a photo on a camera connected to a Media Center to figure out what it the actual behavior was.

(Hopefully Ben and Kort don't beat me up tomorrow for posting this lame ass photo!).

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:11:47 GMT

Looks like Skype is coming to MCE via a plugin. Cool stuff!

MCE conflicts with Morgan Stream Switcher

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:37:27 GMT

Last week I had a problem with my Media Center where the Media Center Receiver service was crashing every few minutes. This made it impossible to use since crash reports were coming up faster then I could dismiss them and my hard drive was filling up with event logs. Fortunately I have the priviledge of bringing my machine into work and having the experts figure out what's wrong. The problem it turned out is that there is a conflict between Media Center and Morgan Stream Switcher. I don't understand what the conflict is, but there is a conflict, and once I uninstalled Morgan Stream Switcher I could use my machine again.

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 20:56:23 GMT

MSDN, The .NET Show: Windows XP Media Center Edition:

In this episode John Canning, Charlie Owen, and Michael Creasy share some details about Windows XP Media Center Edition and how it provides an integrated home audio and video experience.

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 04:12:56 GMT

The Podcast Network, The Media Cente Show #20 - Matt Goyer:

On this weeks show I have Matt Goyer from the eHome team at Microsoft, we talk about Media Center, extenders, power toys and much more.

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 17:57:15 GMT

We're rev'ing our TweakMCE powertoy for this fall. Are there any bug fixes we should make? Are there any other registry tweaks that we should expose through it?

New Expert Zone article on the MCE Movies Portal

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 23:47:01 GMT

There is a new Expert Zone article by one of our developers, Scott Saunders, Find and Record Movies with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (read what people are saying in the Newsgroups).

If you have digital cable you should definitely check the Movies Portal out. It's a very cool way to browse for content to watch. And as I mentioned earlier, I'm the new program manager for the Movies Portal and I'm looking forward to introdcuing new movies functionality in upcoming versions of Media Center.

mControl home automation released

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 19:40:55 GMT

Embedded Automation announced today the commercial release of mControl. They have a starter kit that I'm pretty tempted to pick up:

The mControl X10 Starter Kit comes with everything needed to get started and experience the benefits of mControl. Included is a full version of mControl v1(Home Edition) and the latest X10 CM15A computer adapter, along with the required X10 modules to control a light, manage an appliance and to sense motion.

Is anyone here into home control? Does this starter kit sound like a good deal?

Update: In my comments Dan points to a review of the earlier trial on CocoonTech.

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 18:38:01 GMT

My birthday is coming up and if you were wondering what to get then you should rush out and get me a Niveus Denali MCE with 2 ATSC tuners, 2 NTSC tuners and 1 terabyte of storage. And it has no fans!

Ian's going to interview me for a podcast

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 23:15:43 GMT

Ian Dixon, Send in your questions...:

On Thursday this week I will be interviewing Matt Goyer from the eHome team at Microsoft for a future Media Center Show So if you have a question for Matt send it in to ISDIXON@gmail.com and I will put the question to Matt (or post on this blog)
Make the most of his time!

I'm finally going to get on this podcast bandwagon and participate in a MCE podcast. Please send Ian any questions you might have that you want me to answer.

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 00:11:41 GMT

Discovery Channel launches in Online Spotlight:

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 09:06:28 GMT

Daniel has a MCE Database Query tool and asks:

It would be cool if some of the MS bloggers on the media center team would talk about some of the internals of MCE.

What would you like to know?

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 23:29:43 GMT

I'm disappointed that Digital Home Canada's Canadian PVR Roundup did not include any mention of Media Center, espcially in the standalone PC category.

But sure enough if you go to Best Buy.ca and search for Media Center you'll find they're not selling the most compelling Media Centers.

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 19:25:58 GMT

Adam Stone's MCE blog. Now if only Adam would stop writing his entries in Microsoft Word and cutting and pasting them in because it's breaking the validation on his feed (I also wish Newsgator wasn't so strict about their XML parsing).

What I work on

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:59:45 GMT

On Friday I was at an invigorating talk given by a senior Microsoft employee who went on and on about the importance of blogs and I must admit I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't been blogging much recently so it's time to turn that around.

To start, let me tell you about what I work on... As you know I'm a program manager on the Media Center team in eHome. This means I am the 'PM owner' for a number of areas. While I didn't necessarily own these areas in Media Center 2005 I'll indicate what concrete features in that version that I'm now responsible for moving forward:

Movies - TV Movies Portal
DVD - DVD playback user experience
Settings - Someone has to be the gate keeper and keep the other PMs from adding needless settings
Accessibility - How MCE works with a screen reader and for people with limited vision
Connecting to other PCs and content servers in the home - The 'Media Discovery' modules invoked through the context menu in Music, Pictures and Videos
Communications - 10' Messenger and Caller ID
Text input - The control box as well as our IMEs
TweakMCE powertoy

And a few more areas that you will find out about soon enough :).

Yes, MCE requires a DVD drive

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:37:03 GMT

F-Stop, Dell Requiring a DVD Drive for Windows Media Center:

I was at the Dell site looking around and noticed that when I went to customize a system I had the option of upgrading to Windows Media Center – but only if the system was configured with a DVD drive. Am I reading this right – will Dell only sell Media Center with a DVD drive?

Actually, it's, us, Microsoft who requires that OEMs configure their machines with DVD players.

MCE in a treehouse

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:56:33 GMT

ABC, Teen's tree house goes high tech:

It's the dream of almost every little kid -- to have a tree house in the backyard that you can actually live in. Well, that's what a Deerfield teenager has done. Alan Mellovitz, 18, has built himself a tri-level home complete with every electronic gadget imaginable.

Including a MCE. Watch until about 1:33 in the video.

Niveus and Magnolia Wine and Cheese

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:18:47 GMT

I'm sure by now you've all read the announcement that the Niveus Denali Edition will be available from Magnolia and Tweeter. If you're interested in seeing one in action and you live in Seattle then you'll want to stop by the Niveus Media Denali Wine and Cheese Event at Magnolia Hi-Fi.

Wednesday June 22 – Seattle Store 6308 Roosevelt Way NE

Thursday June 23 – Bellevue Store 14404 NE 20th Street

Time: 6-9pm – stop by anytime

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 22:39:14 GMT

Yesterday afternoon we launched ABC Family in US Online Spotlight.

First MCE video cast?

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:14:42 GMT

Jason Bradbury posts a link to a video he made, DIY Smart Home: Movie #3:

Designed as part of a seminar and spruced up for the web with a touch of narration, Video 3:Windows Media Center offers an overview of Microsoft's operating system and a preview of two new devices from UK PC manufacturer Elonex.

Is this the first MCE videocast? If not, send me links to the others :).

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 18:51:17 GMT

Steve's a home theater installer and went a little nuts with Media Center, MCE = Media Center Everywhere (via Sean in email):

The TVs don't use Media Center Extenders to access the MCE interface and content. The s-video output of the video card and the sound output of the sound card of our media server running MCE 2005 goes into a Leviton modulator that outputs the MCE audio and video as a channel, 78 in our case.

Check out his photos on Flickr.