What is Media Center 2004?
Last Updated:
Monday, June 06, 2005 23:07 PM
Windows XP Media Center 2004 is a superset of Windows XP Professional; it contains additional capabilities for Home Entertainment which is not present or not easily possible to achieve (to same level of results) out of the box on other editions of Windows.
These features enable the ability to view digital media on your machine (all pictures, video's and music) via a graphically driven DirectX based user interface. The special part is you are able to do this using a remote control device on your monitor or TV.
Windows Media Center features the ability to record and pause live TV on demand, and allows you to automatically record an entire series of a program with 2 button presses. The recorded TV shows are recorded in a format called dvr-ms (digital video recording MicroSoft) which is fairly similar to the asf file format. The recorded shows are made up of MPEG2 streams and Meta information to store details about the program. Using the correct software such as Sonic's MyDVD product it is possible to record these shows into DVD's which can be used in most set-top DVD players.
Windows Media Center is an OEM product which means it can only be acquired with a new Media Center PC or for development use as part of an MSDN subscription. At this point you cannot legally obtain the Media Center software to build your own Media Center system for home entertainment purposes. This was a conscious decision taken by Microsoft to ensure that users have the best possible experience (so a system will have adequate hardware and support).
Media Center 2004 is available without a Media Center PC from MSDN as part of their operating systems subscription and higher (from $699 US Dollars). This is designed for developers interested in building for Media Center and is actually a violation of the license agreement to use for home use.
Media Center Overview Video |
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MY TV
This section will focus mainly on the United Kingdom; things will vary in other countries.
Media Center 2004 is an enormous step forward from the
original version in the interface, features and reliability. One
of the most important additions in this version is that Media
Center now works with PAL video signals.
In Europe Media Center supports certain DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial, known in the UK as Freeview) tuner cards in addition to analogue only cards. This allows digital television to be decoded internally without the need to hook-up an external freeview decoder.
This however is the only form of digital TV supported in this way, Media Center does not support digital PCI cable or satellite cards but you can use services such as Sky Digital using a set top box and an analogue card.
Within the UK the pretty much all major television services can
be used depending on your hardware and location (Guide support
for Isle of White is also included). The Republic of Ireland is not a supported country for Media Center at present, no local guide data exists.
Terrestrial Analogue BBC/ITV
Terrestrial Digital (Freeview - channels and reception depend on area and Ariel)
*Sky Digital
*Free to view digital/satellite
*Telewest Cable
*NTL Cable
In order to communicate with your set top
box you connect an IR Blaster to the front of your decoder which
will relay emulated signals to control the box functions. During
setup Media Center learns' the signals which your set tops remote
control sends out on each button (If the code set is not already
on file).
When your using an internal DVB-T decoder you can capture the
transmitted MPEG2 television frames digitally, what you end up
with is near the equivalent of a DVD quality video (with 2 channel
sound) and no loss in quality due to analogue conversion and capture.
Working in this mode Media Center captures video at the original
720 x 576 pixels, working with an analogue signal the capture resolution in contrast is 640x480. The resolution is a constant
though the bit rate can be changed for analogue sources in the
media center options.
In the UK Microsoft provides a free TV guide service to users
through Broadcasting Dataservices Ltd. In order to receive guide
updates your system must be connected to the internet at least
once every 15 days, using an always on broadband connection the
system will make a connection once a day to check for guide changes.
Teletext is supported on regular terrestrial channels, so you
have access to subtitling via page 888 (which can be set to display
when the volume is muted). There are limitations, when working
with Freeview you can only use services such as BBCi, subtitling
and digital radio if you are using a set-top decoder. And still
then you cannot control these services from the Media Center remote.
The Media Center remote has colour function keys, however these
cannot be used in analogue teletext as they are shortcut keys
to my music, videos, TV and pictures. And as I said above if your
Set top box uses IrDA you won't be able to control it with the
Media Center default hardware.
A useful feature is that if your have multiple users on your machine, and someone else logs on, shows you have scheduled will still record. This is because My TV information and recorded shows are shared by all users of the Media Center PC. Media Center does though give the ability to set rating limits for the specific content categories (requiring parental pin code to view), for example Fantasy Violence (FV), Suggestive Dialogue (D), Offensive Language (L), Sexual Content (S), and Violence (V). TV ratings will not be available on the Parental Control menu unless a V-chip decoder is installed in the Media Center system.
If you're planning to buy a Media Center machine think very carefully about which kind of system you will want. The tuner hardware comes in two types, analogue or digital. On most current digital cards you cannot view video from an analogue source within the Media Center application. So this means no set-top boxes or regular analogue TV due to lack of hardware MPEG2 encoding from analogue sources.
I'm also not aware of a digital dvb-t tuner which would support the new 'top up tv' pay freeview service, however this is a service which at the time of writing would only work with an ITV Digital or Ondigital set top box. Using the digital tuners does give you much better quality audio and video but in some cases (encrypted programming) you may be forced to use a Set top box and analog tuner.
Using a service such as NTL Cable or Sky Digital with decoder
STB's you will want to go with an analogue system. If you go for
a digital system be sure you can receive freeview in your area
(http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html),
if possible see if you can borrow a set-top freeview box (old
ITV digital decoders as well) to test out your Ariel. You may
need to reposition your ariel for freeview and it is a lot easier
to do with a standalone decoder as you will probably be able to
see a signal strength indicator in the decoders options.
Even with these slight problems I still prefer Media Center over
normal TV, I can start watching a show 5mins after it starts so
that I can use Media Center to skip past the adverts, plus the
fact if you're working it will record what you want and you can
watch it at your leisure. Over this christmas Media Center was
a great time saver for me, once my system had automatically downloaded
the guide update for christmas week, I was able to display all
the programs due to be shown. This meant I was able to display
a list of around 350 films and then filter down into genres or
by showing date.
Obviously connecting Media Center up to a television or projector is nicer than a monitor, the way you'd go about this is pretty much the same as any other PC (S-Video Out > S-VHS Scart, S-Video Out > Composite, VGA or DVI out). Some newer Media Center systems are coming with Scart sockets built directly into the back of the system which makes it less hassle, though you should check with the manufacture before purchase what output's your system would have.
MyTV Home Guide Now Recording Recording Schedule TV Show Information Show Program Types Film Listings Search
Images of live TV pictures are not shown for copyright reasons.
My Music
This module of Media Center is a essentially a front end for the Windows Media Player Media Library. You are able to view all the MP3, Wav and WMA Music on your PC by album name/or cover art, artist, song titles, genre or just simply enter keywords to find a particular song. Before Media will appear in my music you will need to open Media Player and add items to the media library by searching the computer, music placed into the 'My Music' folder will be available without need to update the media library.
Media Player Play lists are also supported (Auto play lists update
as they do in Media Player to include songs you play often, never,
at night, weekdays, weekends and holidays), as are Internet Radio
stations if you add the URL to your media library (in Media Player).
If an Audio CD is inserted Media Center will automatically find
album art, track names (requires internet connection) and ask
if you wish to copy the CD to your media library. Finding information
about discs you insert can be disabled as a privacy setting during
the first run setup wizard or later in Settings.
You are also able to use the Windows Media Player visualisations including a new visualisations bundled with the Multimedia Feature pack called G-force (which is one of the nicer ones I have used).
Pictures
Recent Music Now Playing Song View View Tracks Auto Playlists Music Genres Buy Music
CD Copied to Media Library
Radio
This feature will not be available on all Media Center PC's because to become active it requires a supported TV Tuner card which is FM radio enabled (such as the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350) or a supported USB radio tuner.
When running on a supported system this module enables you to scan for and create up to 10 preset (analog FM) radio frequencies. You cannot listen to the radio and view/record a TV show at the same time.
The radio function in media center allows you to listen to programs that are being broadcast live, as with television you are able to pause the program, move backwards and resume play (this is only possible if you have been listening to the radio for a little while and have data in the recording buffer to move back in). One feature I would like to see that is missing from Media Center at the moment is a radio guide and the ability to record radio programs.
Radio View
Media Center Music and Radio |
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My Pictures
Here you are able to navigate and view photos stored on your computer using the remote. Media Center includes options to remove red eye from shots, rotate images and adjust the contrast in an image. You can also zoom 3 times into an image, pan about or print the image with the remote.
When you insert a memory stick or CD containing pictures you will automatically be prompted if you wish to view them.
If you've ever used the Plus! Digital Media Edition pack you will
know of an application included there called PhotoStory, in Media
Center you are able to view slide shows on the fly with the panning
movements found in PhotoStory. It is also possible to set this
to music from your media library.
My Pictures Home Picture Details Picture Panning Picture Touch Up
My Videos
My video's is very similar to my pictures, it enables
you to view and select visually media clips on your machine. These
can be any media clip for which Windows Media Player has a codec,
including things such as AVI file encoded with XVID and DIVX v3/5
codec's.
Media can also be shared among multiple users of the machine using the shared media folder. Using the remote it is possible to fast forward/skip 30 seconds ahead, and depending on the codec being used rewind.
As with My Pictures if you insert Media containing videos you will be prompted if you wish to play it. With Both My Videos and Pictures it is possible to create shortcuts to folders or network drives containing content in Windows, in Media Center these are displayed as another folder you can select with your remote. When using a network share its also quite nice that these folders are hidden if the share is currently not available.
My Videos Main View
Media Center Pictures and Videos |
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My DVD
Essentially as the name suggests this allows you to play and navigate DVD video's using the remote. Media Center does also allow you to restrict the maximum age rating (Uc - 18A) which can be played back on the system without entering the parental code.
Usual support is included for subtitle language selections, audio track language selections and menu language.
DVD Ratings Parental Code
Multimedia
Feature Pack
The multimedia feature pack is something which can be
preinstalled by a computer manufacture (OEM) if they choose to
do so. It contains 2 new remote control based games (Gem Master,
and Otto, 2 sample videos for my video's and recorded TV and the
g-force visualisation).
If your using a system without the feature pack installed or use
the MSDN edition, you will still be able to get the majority of
the content included. On the first run of either item you would
be prompted to download Gem Master or Otto. The G-force visulisation
is also available separately from wmplugins.com
PowerToys
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/downloads/powertoys.asp
PowerToys are small add-on programs which Microsoft developers create after a product has been shipped. They add extra function and some enable easy customisation of the Windows experience. For the Media Center 2004 release 2 new Powertoys were created (Alarm clock and Play list Editor)
The standard Windows
XP Powertoys will also operate on a Media Center system.
Critical update for Windows XP Media Center
Edition 2004
On the 10th December 2003, Microsoft released the first
update patch for the new Media Center version via the Windows
Update Site. This update greatly improves the overall quality
of Media Center and personally I have found the UI performance
improves slightly after applying this update.
Specifically this update also address's a few issues which affected
some of the new technologies not available for the US Edition.
The UK teletext implementation is greatly improved, Channel 1
in Media Center can now be associated with BBC1 and some issues
with Digital DVB-T tuner cards were corrected. A zoom mode was
also included for digital users so that shows transmitted in the
4:3 or 16:9 letterbox aspect ratio can be stretched to full screen.
What TV Tuner cards/Hardware can I use?
When trying to build a development system to use with the MSDN Edition of Media Center the problem really is not getting hold of the tuner hardware, but the drivers. Drivers which will allow cards to work with Media Center are usually only supplied with a Media Center PC.
Analogue Tuner cards (PAL)
This list contains only cards which can be found on the retail UK market. OEM cards that ship with some Media Center PC's such as those under the Emuzed brand are not listed.
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ATI have recently stated they will be supporting their all in wonder 9x00 series as software based encoder for Media Center . This function however is not supported by the WDM capture drivers available from ATi's website. Officially the manufacturer of your ATi based Media Center PC should provide the correct drivers.
There are also issues using an All in Wonder card (with the WDM capture drivers) in a system that also has a standalone hardware encoder. Conflicts arise because the machine see's two capable cards. At present Media Center supports only a single enabled tuner card, meaning that one would need to be disabled for correct operation. ATi's now provides a 'Media Center Edition' version of the Catalyst driver from version 4.3 which does not include the regular capture driver which helps you to avoid this conflict.
There has been no announcement with regards
to cards such as ATi's
ehome wonder becoming available via distributors in the European
market place. However these cards do appear fairly often in ebay auctions. Drivers for this card can also be found at http://www.shspvr.com/mce.html
- The Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250/MCE or 350 (PAL) with the correct drivers can also be used (The only difference
when it comes to MCE between these is that the 250MCE and 350 have FM
radio support. The hardware MPEG decoding offered by the 350 is not
utilised by Media Center). Hauppauge MCE (WinTV-PVR) drivers
can be obtained by downloading the
PVR_INF files directly from Hauppauge or from shspvr
- If your looking for an external tuner or wish to use Media Center on an existing laptop this can be done using the Hauppauge WinTV PVR2 USB. This requires a system with USB 1.1 or 2.0 ports and drivers from shspvr. For Media Center USB 2.0 ports are not an absolute requirement as your recordings will fall below the maximum 11Mbps offered by USB 1.1.
Digital DVB-T/'Freeview' cards (Europe Only)
- The Black Gold TV MCE card can be used with Media Center and it is currently the only one I am aware of retail which is shipped with drivers compatible with Media Center.
See: http://blackgold.tv/Products/Digital/buyonline.htm
- There is a 3rd party driver projects online which have developed BDA drivers so that Media Center will work on one versions of the Hauppauge Nova-T. This driver however only supports Nova-T cards which feature a Grundig 29504-401 tuner module. Newer editions of the card use a Philips TDM1316L tuner and a Philips TDA10045H demodulator which are not supported by this driver.
The Philips-TDM1316/TDA10046 and Grundig based cards can be used with a
Technotrend BDA driver which allows use with MCE. http://www.technotrend.de/new/sdk/BDADriver_1_4.zip
These are probably the brands which would be most easily obtained, if your using another (retail) PAL encoder which is compatible with Media Center please send me a feedback message.
Microsoft also list the following cards for use with Media Center
LeadTech (LR6632-NTSC w/FM)
eMuzed (Maui II PCI PVR)
Pixela (PIX-CTV200PW, PIXMPTV/U3W)
Avermedia (M150-rev D)
Media Center 2004 requires a minimum of a 1.3 GHz CPU (when used with a hardware assisted TV capture card) and 256 Mb of memory. The video card you use in such as system should be an 4x AGP based video card with 48Mb of video ram (preferably DDR). It should also support DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA), a resolution of 1024x768 with a colour depth of 32 Bits and the following DirectX 7 features
• Textures up to at least 2048 x 2048 pixels.
• Per-pixel alpha textures.
• Linear interpolation filters.
• Polygons.
• Orthographic projection.
• Flexible vertex format.
A card such as one in the Nvidia Geforce 4 family or ATi Radeon 9x00 family would be suitable for this task and are often the cards used in Media Center PC's. These companies both specifically update their drivers for Media Center.
More detailed information on system requirements can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/mediacenter/MCEreqs.mspx Quality Settings (Analogue Only)
The predefined quality settings available from the Media Center UI are stored as registry values on the multi-strings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\EncodingQuality
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording\AudioEncodingQuality
By default the audio quality is set to 384kbit/sec, which if you're using headphones or small speakers can be changed to 256 without much of a noticeable change. Likewise the video quality has a big range on it.
Depending what tuner you have different settings will be possible, you need to have a look at the technical specification of the card to see what it is capable of.
Note: If you're using a low bit rate capture this will affect the TV image during recording.
TV capture resolution cannot be modified.
What if I switch tuners later on?/Wipe
Config
Within the UK you must buy a system with either a digital or analogue encoder, it is therefore fairly sensible to assume that some people are going to switch cards at some point or just want to entirely clear the configuration. If you do this and have issues after installing the new decoder (You MUST physically remove or disable the old tuner in the hardware profile for MyTV to work), open your task manager and arrange the process's by name, end all of these which start eh', the reason for this is you cannot modify the media center files with these services running. Navigate to the hidden folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\application data\Microsoft and delete the entire folder called ehome. Next open you registry and delete the following
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media
Center\Service\Video\Tuners
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings
If you do not want to manually edit the registry you can use (at your own risk) an application that I've written which can reset certain parts of the Media Center configuration.
See here
So what can I do while I'm recording TV?
Pretty much everything you can normally, because most
of the leg work for the video capture is done by the tuner card
in hardware and Media Center PC's are fairly high spec systems,
the recording only ends up using a very small amount of CPU time.
Hyper-Threading enabled processors will have an advantage in this
area, but it is not required to get good performance. A system based around an Athlon XP 1600 or 1800 would be quite suitable for a DVB-T system.
Obviously using an ATi software encoder you're going to want a
more beefy system than if you were using a hardware encoder. Ati
is recommending a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz equivalent with hyper-threading.
With a hardware encoder it would not be an issue playing something
such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and recording a show at the same
time.
Who can I buy a machine from (UK)?
Centrex -
http://www.centrexonline.co.uk/
CFL Computer Systems - http://www.cfl-systems.com/mediacentre.html
Elonex - http://www.elonex.co.uk/
Evesham www.evesham.co.uk
Hewlett Packard http://www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng/consumer/pcs/mediacenter/
Hi-Grade http://www.digitalmediastation.co.uk/
Mesh Computers http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/media_range1.htm
Packard Bell http://www.packardbell.co.uk/mediacenter/mediacenter.htm
Time - http://www.timecomputers.com/showpackage.php?prodid=7217
Vigeln - http://www.viglen.co.uk/viglen/Products_Services/Product_Range/MC_top10.aspx?GUID=17094935983
Developers:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/pricing/default.asp
If your an OEM you can visit the Microsoft system builder site for more details: http://oem.microsoft.com/MCEready
Media Center Extenders:
Having a PC either as their television or hidden by it won't appeal to everyone. At the recent consumer electronics show a few future 'Media Center Extender' device types were announced. These devices bring the Media Center expirence from the PC to be utilised by Media Center ready television sets, Set top boxes and the Xbox games console. European avalibility has not been announced.
Set Top: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/devices/extender.asp
Xbox Extender:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/devices/xboxextenderkit.asp
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/8/f/a8ff93b4-f72a-4553-b6ad-773ef2c42b54/MCE_Flyer_848K.pdf
Portable Media Center devices build on Windows Mobile technology with a familiar Media Center Interface. Main difference between this and other similar types of device is this plays not only music. With a 40Gb device you could store up to a maximum of 175 hours of video or over 600 hours of music or 100,000 pictures. These devices will not require a Media Center PC in order to operate, though if you have one, or access to one you can also move your recorded TV shows to the device. Creative Labs, iRiver, Samsung, Sanyo and ViewSonic will be producing Portable Media Centers for the second half of 2004 with a TBA price.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/products/portablemediacenters/default.mspx
A friend of mine Corey Gouker who is an MVP for Windows Media Center has been able to obtain a Creative Zen Portable Media Center device to review. He has recently published his verdict along with a large number of pictures and a few videos of the device in action.
If you're interested in getting a PMC or just curious in them I'd really recommend checking this out.
PMC Review (Part 1):
http://blogs.coreygouker.com/CommentView.aspx?guid=64fabf6f-8bac-4f2b-90c1-98e162520182
Additional details and pre-order information can be found at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/534383/ref%3Damb%5Fright-2%5F106267%5F2/104-2505006-7547953
3rd Party Add-ons
DVREdit
DVREdit is a small utility by Alex Seigler that allows you to open recorded television files and write a segment as a new .dvr-ms file. The program also allows you to convert mpeg files to dvr-ms and add file attributes for Media Center .
Downloads for this program are available on the Media Center community site, http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx
DVR 2 WMV
As the name suggests this application converts DVR-MS Media Center recordings into Windows Media 9 videos. Using the PRX encoding profiles supplied with the application allowed me to get a 30 min recording (1.10Gb) down to 380Mb in PAL CBR mode. But if you fancy building your own custom PRX profiles you can take more control over the conversion. Really the result you end up with is quite impressive.
Downloads for this program are available on the Media Center community site, http://www.thegreenbutton.com/downloads.aspx
RSS 2.0 reader for Windows Media Center
If your an avid blog reader this is certainly one for you.
Programmed by Philippe Majerus (PHM) & Benjamin Kerckx, RSS 2.0 Reader allows you to do as the name suggests view RSS streams a Media Center user interface with your remote control. http://www.phm.lu/Products/MediaCenter
(Picture 1)
Web Guide v2
Web Guide is an ASP.net web service written by Show & Tell® Incorporated which allows you to manage and set recordings on your Media Center PC remotely over the internet, then share them with your local network. I recommend this as a particular good add-on for all broadband MCE users.
Requirements:
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Microsoft .Net Framework v1.1
Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.1 (see http://iis.salloway.org.uk/iis4.php for lock down details)
http://www.showtell.com/mce_webguide/2/
(Picture 1, Picture 2) Installing Media Center from an MSDN Developer Subscription
Note: Path names are based on MSDN DVD Disc 2428.1 - December 2003 (English Multi language).
1. Boot from Disc 2428.1 and Select either Windows XP Professional SP1 or Windows XP Tablet PC from the menu.
2. Proceed with installation as normal and when requested for a product key feed it your Windows XP Media Center Product Key from MSDN Subscriber Downloads.
3. Shortly after this you will be prompted for additional source files (these files are contained within a file called Mediactr.cab), click OK and point the installer to \ENGLISH\WINXP\TABLETPC\DISC2\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\MEDIACTR.CAB on the 2428.1 disc. Click OK and set will now continue.
To upgrade to Media Center 2004 you have two options, either use the MCE2004 upgrade which is located in \ENGLISH\WINXP\MCE2004 on the 2428 disc. Or install Windows XP Service Pack 2.
In order to get the MSDN version working in UK Mode' you would need to install Media Center 2004 and set the system locale to English United Kingdom in the control panel (Regional and Language Options). A descritpion of why this is nessisary can be found in MSKB article 555113
CD-ROM ISO's can be downloaded from MSDN Subscriber downloads or you can use the Tablet PC Discs from the CD-ROM distribution (Disc 1847.1 & 1848.1). You can direct setup to the additional Media Center files on Tablet PC Disc 2 (\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\MEDIACTR.CAB)
Windows Media Center does not contain an MPEG2 codec's so you will need to install one before you would stand a chance of playing back recorded TV shows or watching live TV. You might also want to get hold of a remote control, I've yet to see these on sale in the UK but it wouldn't be impossible to get hold of one from ebay or a retailer in the United States such as NewEgg. Beware when buying off ebay, I have seen items advertised as Windows Media Center remotes which are not. A proper Media Center remote will have a button which features the windows logo, and 99% of the time it will be green such as the one shown here.
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Service Pack 2 offers users many changes which greatly enhance the security of their systems. What it also does is install the Service Pack 2 build of Media Center on to any existing (Non Beta) version of Windows XP Media Center 2002 or 2004. So if you've not yet been able to obtain a Media Center 2004 upgrade from your OEM, SP2 can help here. All updates made available so far for MCE2004 such as the Critical Update Q830786 are included in SP2. In addition to this SP2 fixes issues with elevated processor usage when viewing TV after installing Q830786, updates for DVB-T channel scan reliability as well as other minor miscellaneous issues.
For download details see Which version of Media Center am I running?
Reporting Issues (UK)
Should you discover issues with your guide service, or Media Centers interaction with your set top box you can report it to Microsoft using the forms below. If you are using Analogue Terrestrial television in the UK
and after configuring your Media Center PC you find that some of the preset channels in positions 1 through 5 display static when tuned or display the wrong regional version of a channel, see if your problem may be that covered in KB Article 555161.
Report issues with incorrect data in your guide service:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windowsxp/mediacenter/epg.aspx
Report issues with Media Center and you set top box (see media center newsgroup first).
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windowsxp/mediacenter/stb.aspx
Something to remember is that a Media Center machine is still a Windows XP system; you should take all the security precautions that you would with a normal XP System.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.asp
I hope this overview has been of use to you, if you have any comments or corrections for this article please send me feedback here. |
