Windows XP Media Center 2005 is a media centric version of Windows based on Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2. It contains extra capabilities for Home Entertainment which are
not present or 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, remote control based user interface.
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 essentially a container for the
extended metadata and MPEG2 data. Using Media Center 2005's DVD Burning feature* or 3 rd party software you can create DVD's which can be used in most set-top
DVD players.
Windows Media Center is an OEM product which means it can be acquired with a new
Media Center PC , a piece of hardware or for development
use as part of an MSDN subscription. With Media Center 2005 Microsoft opened up distribution of Media Center to smaller system builders which means it
will be much easier to get a custom Media Center system. And also for the first time make it possible legally for you to build your own system. Media Center
2005 is available without a Media Center PC for around £80 (but must be purchased with an item of hardware), the remote control and IR receiver sold
separately retails at around £20 from online stores such as eBuyer. Through
MSDN it is also available as part of their operating systems subscription and higher (from $699 US Dollars).
* See DVD Multimedia section.
Media Center 2005 makes a number of changes to the base operating system over XP Professional SP2. The first is that Windows Media Player 10 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 SP3 come preinstalled. The second is that the ability to join a domain has been removed inside Windows (however it is possible to do so during setup, or retain domain functions if upgrading from Media Center 2002/04). In doing this Network authentication is also knocked back to Windows XP Home Edition level (unless you are part of a domain you cannot save passwords for shares). You then either need identical accounts on each system, use Simple File Sharing or scripts to avoid login prompts. This change was made because of a need, which was the Media Center eXtender technology in part relies on fast user switching. This is a feature not available as part of a domain, so if you did join a domain, the extender devices would not work. By also having this feature disabled it allows this version of Windows XP to be sold cheaper than Windows XP Professional.
Media Center Edition now also has its own theme 'Energy Bliss' which includes a new background and a polished version of the Windows XP Luna Blue visual style. When you sit down at a Media Center machine it is possible to tell you are using something different, the version distinction was toned down a bit by the removal of the version names on the SP2 boot screen. Other than this the underlying OS is Windows XP Professional, and all Professional components such as IIS are included. As an added extra some of the Microsoft Plus! Components from the Plus! Digital Media Edition is also included which are: Windows Audio Converter, Windows CD Label Maker, Windows Party Mode (Dedicated Media Playing mode, password protects access to desktop), Windows Dancer (dancing desktop characters).
When you first setup Media Center you are now given many more optional items to configure additional parts of Media Center. The first run style is very similar
to Media Center 2004 until the final screen. This then gives you the option to configure your guide and tuner cards, optimise Media Center for your display
(centring, sizing, aspect ratio etc), configure your Audio (2 channel, 5.1 or 7.1). Or if you want do nothing right now and do it later, or not at all.
You are also able to connect to a wireless network using the Media Center interface if a wireless adapter is installed.
On the start screen Media Center now uses little fly outs on the right side of each item (My TV, My Music). These either display say the last 3 FM radio
stations, or albums you played. The graphical window controls (Minimise, Max, Close) present in Media Center 2002 and 2004 remote UI have been removed to make the
application feel less like a Windows program. Instead a new menu has been added in the top left which allows you to close Media Center, Log off, Shut Down,
Restart or go into Standby from the remote. The font used in Media Center has also been changed to improve visual clarity.
Linking to content that wasn't in the 'My' folders for Videos, Pictures and Music was a bit of a manual process on earlier versions of Media Center. You either needed to make shortcuts to the folders with content, or add the content in Windows Media Player. A new wizard has been added on the information button menu called Media Discovery which allows you to add extra content stored on the computer and networked machines you have access to.
Media Center Home View Media Center Home View 2 Add New Content Media Center Edition Desktop Optional Setup Wifi Connect 1 Wifi Connect 2
This section will focus mainly on the United Kingdom; things will vary in other countries.
Media Center 2005 is a step forward from the 2004 version in the interface, features and reliability. In the UK, Media Center supports two kinds
of television, Analogue and DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcast - Terrestrial, also known as Freeview). Analogue and DVB-T both have their advantages and trade
off's when used in Media Center. Analogue has greater control and features, but digital excels in image quality.
|
Analogue |
Digital (DVB-T) |
Resolution |
720x576(PAL),720x480(NTSC) |
720x576, 704x576, 554x576 VBR, identical to source broadcast. |
Channels |
Standard over the air OR Cable/Freeview/ |
Freeview only. |
Recording Quality can be modified? |
User Modifiable |
By Broadcaster only (1.5-6.0Mbit/sec) |
Radio (Not DAB) |
FM Only, if supported by tuner. |
DVB-T Radio (Audio Only) with Update Rollup 2 installed |
Teletext |
Yes, if supported by tuner |
Not Supported |
Subtitles |
Yes, if supported by tuner via teletext |
Not Supported |
Interactive (MHEG-5) |
No, but can be used via Set Top Box |
Not Supported |
DVB-T allows digital television to be decoded internally without the need to hook-up an external Freeview set top box. 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. Media Center supports either 2 analogue or digital DVB-T tuner cards for concurrent recording, but sadly there is no picture in picture support. In America there is a slight variant on this, over there they can have both 1 or 2 analogue cards, and an ATSC digital tuner.
Within the UK pretty much all major television services can be used depending on your hardware and location.
Terrestrial Analogue BBC/ITV/C4/C5/S4C
Terrestrial Digital (Freeview - channels and reception depend on area and Ariel)
*Sky Digital
*Free to view digital/satellite
*Telewest Cable
*NTL Cable
A system using dual tuners from a set top box based service such as Sky will require two set top boxes to operate. Source types cannot be mixed (i.e. one on Sky, one on terrestrial analogue.
* Reception requires the use of a set-top receiver (Only set top boxes which use RC5 or 6 IR standards for the remote will work with the Media Center IR Blaster). If you have issues controlling your decoder this could be part of the issue as the decoder might not understand what information is being sent at it. A fair number of the popular decoders used by Sky, NTL and Telewest do utilise IrDA rather than RC5 or 6.
Mike Harrison has spent some time working with each of the major models provided thought NTL and Telewest. You can see his findings at http://www.redremote.co.uk/mce.html
In order to communicate with your set top box you connect an IR Blaster to the front of your decoder which will relay 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 you're using an internal DVB-T decoder what you end up with is near the equivalent of a DVD quality video on good bandwidth sources and no loss in
quality due to the analogue to digital process. Working in this mode Media Center receives the identical content sent by the broadcasters. While resolution
is a constant, quality can be changed for analogue sources in the Media Center options. For DVB-T this cannot be changed and depends on how much bandwidth the
broadcaster has allocated for the channel (~1.5-6Mbit/sec).
If you are upgrading from a previous version of Media Center and use an analogue tuner you should see a noticeable improvement in the quality of the TV picture.
The recording bit rate in Media Center has been raised 1.5 times to 9Mbit/sec VBR (Variable Bit Rate) which helps to reduce artifacts on fast moving, high
action video. The quality is also somewhat improved because Media Center can utilise DirectX 9 modes for video playback. On the audio side Media Center now
can now use more than 2 channels of audio where applicable.
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 14 days, using an always on broadband connection the system will make a connection once a day to check for guide
changes. Each day the system will check for alterations to the guide at the time you originally configured your TV guide. To take full advantage of this I
recommend setting your guide up before the time of day your programs are normally on (i.e. 6PM for an evening show). This way the guide updates can actually
have an effect if the program has a known alteration.
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 and subtitling if you are using a set-top decoder due to MHEG-5 support being absent in the product. And still then
you cannot control these services from the Media Center remote. Some Media Center remotes has colour function keys, however these cannot be used in analogue
teletext as they are shortcut keys to my music, videos, TV and pictures.
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 and cannot be of a mixed type outside of the USA. On DVB-T 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 and support for mixing source
types in Media Center.
'top up tv', the pay Freeview service cannot be used directly through a DVB-T tuner in Media Center because
there is no support for encrypted programming. 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 analogue 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). 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 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 decoder's 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 that if you're working it will record what you want and you can watch it at your leisure. Over this past 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. A useful feature is that if you
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.
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 manufacturer before purchase, what output's your system will have.
Images:
My TV Home Ceefax
Tuner Conflict 1
Tuner Conflict Management
Guide
No Signal
Record Fail Notification
Now Recording
Subtitling
Keyword Search
Search
Recorded TV Filter Guide
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 (by list 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 playlists 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.
The actual finding of track names and art can be a little sparse on genres like EuroDance and other music which is not widely present in the United States (as it is in Windows Media Player because the same backend WMIS is used).
Media Center 2005 introduces a new layout to My Music. Because of the changes made to the start screen (showing recent content there) the Media Center
2002/4 recent music has been removed as the default view. Now all albums in your Media Library are shown, which allows you to get to an album with less
button pressing than previous versions, but introduces a performance hit. Especially on systems which have an extreme amount of data in the Media Library
(e.g. 100 Gb+).
This version has taken a number of tasks previously only possible by closing Media Center and using Media Player, and integrated them. There is a new que
feature which allows you to setup a list of songs and albums you wish to play (essentially a remote driven version of Windows Media Player's 'Now Playing' list).
You can also directly edit metadata for songs and albums titles, artist and genres from the remote control. Media Center can also burn music from your playlist to CD or DVD.
Images:
Album Details
Album View
Auto Playlists
Edit Album Meta Data
Que Music Genres Main View Music Discovery
Now Playing
Searching
Visualisation
Online Spotlight Music Add Album to Que Add Song to Que CD Copy
This feature will not be available on all Media Center PCs because, to become active, it requires requires a supported analogue TV Tuner card that is FM radio enabled
(such as the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150MCE).
When running on a supported system this module enables you to scan for and create up to 10 preset (analogue FM) radio frequencies. You cannot listen to the
radio and view/record a TV show at the same time unless you have two tuner cards (and the card not in use has FM capabilities).
The radio function in Media Center allows you to listen to programs that are being broadcast live and 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 that 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.
Right now only FM Radio and Internet Streams (Live365) can be used by Media Center.
Radio View Live 365 Internet Radio
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.
Media Center 2005 extends My Pictures by adding CD/DVD burning capabilities (pictures/slideshows), an additional touch up feature to crop digital photos and
allows new pictures to be more easily imported from cameras and USB memory drives.
My Pictures Home
Picture Details
Crop
Image/Slideshow View
My Videos 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 v3-6 codec's.
Media can also be shared among multiple users of the machine by using the shared media folder. By 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 that you can select with your remote.
When using a network share, it's also quite nice that these folders are hidden if the share is currently not available.
As the name suggests, this allows you to play and navigate DVD videos using the remote. Media Center also allow you to restrict the maximum age
rating (Uc - R18) 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.
This is a new feature for Media Center 2005 which allows you to connect to the Microsoft .net Messenger service and type conversations in Windows that overlay
the content being shown in Media Center. The remote control can also be used effectively if you're a proficient texter. This feature only works with Windows Messenger, as it programmatically 'hooks' into it in the background, opening windows behind Media Center and relaying the information back into the Media Center UI.
At first this would appear to be a rather messy way of doing things. But it has a bit of sense to it, you can talk to someone in Media Center, and if its important
drop back to the Windows desktop and not need to sign in again. Retaining the full conversation window.
Incoming Message Alert
Contact List
Active Conversation
In previous versions of Media Center it was not possible to burn content directly from the Media Center UI without relying on 3rd party burning plug-ins. Media Center 2005 includes a CD/DVD burning feature which is actively linked through the software on the 'more information' button which lets you burn TV Shows, Music, Pictures and Video. However, there is something about this feature which catches an awful lot of people out: On its own, Media Center 2005 can only burn Data DVDs. And, indeed, if you look at Microsoft's website for Media Center 2005, this feature has a very tiny number next to it and disclaimer in 8pt at the bottom 'DVD Burning features may vary by manufacturer'.
Sonic produces an add-in for Media Center which allows the DVD Burning feature to convert TV Shows and Videos into video DVDs that will play on set-top DVD players, and create a picture DVD slideshow with music. This can be included by the computer manufacturer (and most major OEMs do), but it does cost them money in license fee's for MPEG encoding. So it is worth checking that it is installed, if you buy a pre-built system since they don't have to include it, as it is only supplied with every OEM three-pack of Media Center 2005 and can only be distributed to end users in the form of an install image. It is not supplied with the 1 pack versions of MCE 2005 OEM because these are originally 3 packs, but only one Sonic encoder is included per pack and it cannot be redistributed. MSDN versions of Media Center do not include this either. However DVR-MS support in 3rd party applications is getting bigger with support by applications such as Nero Vision.
Pictures:
Burn DVD (Without Sonic) Burn DVD (With Sonic) Name Disc Add Pictures Add TV View DVD Add Music Start Burning Burning Status Overlay TV Burning Status Overlay Music Final Menu
Having a PC either as their television or hidden by it won't appeal to everyone. 'Media Center Extender' devices bring the Media Center experience from the PC to be utilised by set-top boxes and the Xbox games console. For more information please visit my extender sub site at http://salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/mcx
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 do 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 and Samsung are currently producing Portable Media Centers. For a more detailed look at the Samsung YH-999 portable Media Center check out my review http://www.salloway.org.uk/mceblog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=7ac67199-6237-45d4-b5e5-8728eb11b01b
One criticisque of Media Center has been that it has not been particularly easy to remotely schedule recordings. Until MCE 2005, the options that existed were either:
1. Remote Desktop into the Media Center PC and run Media Center to setup a recording in the usual way.
2. Install Internet Information Services and a web application such as Web Guide.
Both of these increase the attack surface of your Media Center computer.
MSN Remote Record is a free service for Media Center 2005 machines in the United States and Canada (with a constant internet connection) that allows you to easily
handle recordings (schedule, remove, list and fix conflicts) from a web browser. The service works by installing an MSN Remote Record client on your MCE PC
which uses Microsoft's Passport system to connect back to MSN. When you login on the website using your passport the site loads up the relevant guide and
sends record requests back to the client you installed.
MSN is looking at expanding Remote Record into additional markets, but for now the option I recommend, and use myself, is Web Guide 3. See here for more details.
To setup MSN Remote record, visit the online spotlight within Media Center and select MSN Remote Record.
You can do pretty much everything you can normally do, because most of the leg work for the video capture is done by the tuner card, so recording only ends up using a very small amount of CPU time, and because Media Center PCs are fairly high spec systems. 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.
http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/util/index.htm
Tuner Priority
This utility allows you to make the following changes on your Media Center PC
Enable and Disable tuner cards in the system
Set which card should be used to view Live TV with first
Set which card should be used to record on first
Media Center Configuration Reset
There are a few reasons you may wish to do this, such as when changing hardware, you may want to reset the configuration to attempt to solve a problem caused by corrupt or abandoned application data. Or
just simply want to clear up and start again. It also features a companion application which allows you to backup and restore your current recording schedule.
DVR-MS Editor
This was an application written by Stephen Toub for his article on MSDN 'Fun with DVR-MS'
(which, if you have any programming interest in dvr-ms files, you should check out). It's a free application for editing dvr-ms files which allows you to manually
remove adverts or join video from two or more separate dvr-ms files together. Personally, I find the Media Player control used for position selection to be superior to the dvredit application that I recommended last year.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/b/2/9b269201-0f66-40a0-bdb3-8ff22bb854e0/DVR-MS%20Sample%20Code.msi
DVR 2 WMV
As the name suggests, this application converts DVR-MS 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 of this application, along with many others, can be found at the Green Button 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) and Benjamin Kerckx, RSS 2.0 Reader allows you to do as the name
suggests and view RSS streams a Media Center user interface with your remote control. http://www.phm.lu/Products/MediaCenter
(Picture 1)
Web Guide v3
Web Guide is an ASP.net web service written by Show and Tell Incorporated, which allows you to manage and set recordings on your Media Center PC over
the internet, then share them with your local network. I recommended this back in 2003, in my Media Center 2004 article, and have to say that I am even more impressed by version 3. The program now integrates with the Media Center guide data, rather than using XML TV to have a secondary guide, which makes the whole
thing a lot more transparent. This is a particularly good add-on for all broadband MCE users who are in parts of the world where MSN Remote Record has not yet become available.
Requirements:
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Microsoft .Net Framework v1.1
Microsoft Internet Information Services (see http://iis.salloway.org.uk/iis4.php
for lock down details)
Link
Advent Computers
Carrera
Elonex
Evesham
Fujitsu Siemens
Hi-Grade
HP
Medion
Mesh
Packard Bell
Toshiba
Viglen
Watford Electronics
Media Center PC's are also be sold in the following retail stores: Comet, Currys, Dixons, PC World, John Lewis and Toys "R" Us. Media Center 2005 can also be
purchased on new machines from smaller computer makers who are OEM System Builders. If you are looking for a more custom MCE system, they may be able to help more
than the major computer manufacturers.
Find a Media Center PC near you (UK)
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windowsxp/mediacenter/choose/system/default.aspx
Developers:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/pricing/default.asp
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.
Tweak MCE (new for MCE2005 - gives access to system settings not exposed in the Media Center UI)
Alarm Clock (picture 1, picture 2)
Solitaire (picture)
Music Playlist Editor (picture)
This time around Microsoft has released an official list of hardware designed for use with Media Center 2005. For a good experience, it is highly recommended
that you use hardware from this list http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/partners/dfw/partnerlisting.mspx
Although a CPU speed is not mentioned, you should be looking at a 1.3GHz processor with 256Mb as a minimum, and 2GHz+ with 512Mb Ram or more is strongly recommended. Hyperthreading and dual core processors do offer an advantage but are not essential for acceptable performance. If you want to use an extender the minimum spec is 2.8 GHz with 256 Mb of RAM and the requirements climb as the number of Extenders does..
The Hauppauge NOVA-T-MCE does not appear on Microsoft's list but does work under MCE2005 using Hauppauge's latest drivers . A vanilla Nova-T card can be used with Media Center, but you will have to work a bit harder. 3rd party driver projects online have developed BDA drivers that allow Media 3rd party driver projects online have developed BDA drivers which allows Media Center to work with the older versions of the Hauppauge Nova-T which used the Grundig 29504-401 tuner module .
http://www.shspvr.com/mce.html is a good source of up to date drivers for most of the analogue cards which can be used with Media Center.
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 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 on which tuner you have, different settings will be possible. You should look at the technical specification of the card to see what it is capable of.
Note: Using a low bit rate capture will affect the TV image during recording.
As mentioned earlier, TV capture resolution cannot be modified.
In the default state, the Media Center remote will allow you to put the PC into standby and control its volume level. If you prefer, you can program the remote to control a TV instead. To do this
1. To enter the learning mode for the remote, hold the DVD Menu and OK button at the same time until the light on the remote control turns off.
2. Press the button on the remote you want to program (Volume +/-, Power), you will see the light on the remote flash once after making your choice.
3. Point the remote you want to learn from head to head with the Media Center remote and press the button you wish to teach. The light will blink twice if
you are successful, or four times if the attempt fails. There should be around a 5cm gap between the remotes while learning.
To set everything back to the default settings hold down the DVD Menu button and Left on the remote until the light turns off. Then press the OK button. If the default settings are restored the light on the remote will flash twice. Again a failed attempt is four flashes.
Note: Path names are based on MSDN DVD Disc 2428.7 - June 2005 (English).
1. Boot from Disc 2428.7 and select Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 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\MCE2005\DISC2\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\MEDIACTR.CAB on the 2428.7 disc. Click OK and setup will now continue.
To upgrade to Media Center 2005 run setup.exe from \ENGLISH\WINXP\MCE2005\DISC1. Select upgrade and enter your Media Center product key.
However upgrading from a non 'Media Center Edition' operating system is not supported.
In order to get the MSDN version working in UK Mode, you will need to install Media Center 2005 and set the system locale to English (United Kingdom) in the Control Panel. A description of why this is necessary can be found in MSKB article 555113. However, if you forget don't worry, you can either change the
locale after install, or select the country you are in from within Media Center during the TV configuration wizards.
CD-ROM ISO's can be downloaded from MSDN Subscriber downloads
Windows Media Center does not contain an MPEG2 codec so you will need to install one before being able to play recorded TV shows or watching live TV. Media Center 2005 requires an MPEG2 codec compatible with the DirectX 9 display modes used inside the Media Center application. Before purchasing a DVD codec I recommend consulting Microsoft's MCE2005 partner list.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/partners/dfw/partnerlisting.mspx
Media Center 2005 Software Development Kit
Fun With DVR-MS
Stephen Toub discusses the DVR-MS file format generated by Windows XP Media Center 2005, provides an introduction to DirectShow, and shows how the latter can be
used to work with the former.
Anatomy of *.dvr-ms Files
If your interested in how exactly the DVR-MS files are built up, a very good article exists on MSDN.
To do this you must have Windows XP CD 1 and CD 2 rather than an OEM restore image
1) Download the ISO files from MSDN Subscriber downloads.
2) Use ISOBuster (or equivalent) to extract all of the files in BOTH ISO's to one directory on your hard disk. You only need the files/folders that would normally be visible in Windows Explorer.
3) Download xpboot.bin from www.dougknox.com/xp/xpboot.zip and extract it from the ZIP file. It does not need to be in the same folder as the files from the ISO's.
4) Open Nero 6 and create a new DVD-ROM (Boot) compilation.
a) On the Boot tab, select the Image File radio button and point it to the xpboot.bin file you downloaded earlier.
b) Check the box Enable expert settings.
c) For Kind of emulation, select No Emulation.
d) On the boot tab, leave the Load segment of sectors at 07C0.
e) On the boot tab, change the number of loaded sectors to 4.
f) On the Label tab, in the ISO 9660 box enter WB2PFRE_EN
No other changes should be necessary in the New Compilation dialog.
5) Click the New button on the compilation dialog.
6) Drag the files you extracted with ISOBuster into the left pane of the window. Don't drag the folder you created, just the files and folders inside it. You can also include folders that contain drivers, tools and other files that you know you'll be installing. You're only limited by what will fit on a DVD.
7) Burn the compilation to DVD and you're all done.
To identify if any updates apply to the version of Media Center you are currently running see: Which version of Media Center am I running?
Report issues with incorrect data in your guide service:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windowsxp/mediacenter/epg.aspx
Report issues with Media Center and your 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 has been of use to you. If you have any comments or corrections for this article please send me feedback here .
Thanks to Jonathan Maltz for his painstaking proof reading of the article.
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