Media Center PC

**BouncingSoul** · October 13th, 2004

Anyone out there ever tried the Media Center version of XP? MS's site says that it can do live video capture if you have a cap card. Well I do and I think capture is a pain in @SS to do right so I was thinking this would be a cool and easy little way to do it. However if all it is a plugin to WMP10 I'll be mad cause I already have WMP10 but can't seem to find a way to view or record TV.

**NetRyder** · October 13th, 2004

It's not a plugin for WMP. There is a separate front-end called the "Media Center" built into the OS, and one of its features is to capture and store live TV from a TV tuner card (much like a DVR box). From what I've seen and heard, it's as simple as clicking a button on the supplied remote control.

Incidentally, did you watch the "Digital Media Anywhere" keynote presentation that MS had in Los Angeles today? There was a live web stream this morning, but if you missed it, they're going to have a downloadable version available soon. I thought it was very cool how they've connected all these devices together to really allow you to have your digital media anywhere. I think the live demo would probably answer your questions about MCE. I'll try to post a link to it when it becomes available.

**BouncingSoul** · October 13th, 2004

Sweet. Thanks

**NetRyder** · October 13th, 2004

By the way, there's also a nice, in-depth review by GamePC that I linked to on the front page a couple of days ago. It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in MCE 2005.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...0B3A18C81F69DC

Especially relevent to your question:

You can record a Live TV stream to your hard drive directly from the guide seen above, or when you're actually watching the show by hitting the record button on the remote control. Items will be recorded to your hard drive in a high quality MPEG-2 based format called DVR-MS. Unencrypted DVR-MS files can also be played back on third party systems not running Media Center Edition using most modern media players. Hitting the record button twice in a row will setup a recording schedule for that item, recording all future episodes at that time slot. Microsoft lets you customize how long you want to keep recorded shows and what quality settings you would like to encode with.

**NetRyder** · October 16th, 2004

I promised I'd be back with the video of the keynote, so here it is:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archi...15/243227.aspx

October 13th, 2004	Top \| #1
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 122	Media Center PC Anyone out there ever tried the Media Center version of XP? MS's site says that it can do live video capture if you have a cap card. Well I do and I think capture is a pain in @SS to do right so I was thinking this would be a cool and easy little way to do it. However if all it is a plugin to WMP10 I'll be mad cause I already have WMP10 but can't seem to find a way to view or record TV.

October 13th, 2004	Top \| #2
NetRyder Tech Junkie Joined: April 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,256 Reputation: 4260 Power: 298	It's not a plugin for WMP. There is a separate front-end called the "Media Center" built into the OS, and one of its features is to capture and store live TV from a TV tuner card (much like a DVR box). From what I've seen and heard, it's as simple as clicking a button on the supplied remote control. Incidentally, did you watch the "Digital Media Anywhere" keynote presentation that MS had in Los Angeles today? There was a live web stream this morning, but if you missed it, they're going to have a downloadable version available soon. I thought it was very cool how they've connected all these devices together to really allow you to have your digital media anywhere. I think the live demo would probably answer your questions about MCE. I'll try to post a link to it when it becomes available. http://kunal.kundaje.net

October 13th, 2004	Top \| #4
NetRyder Tech Junkie Joined: April 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,256 Reputation: 4260 Power: 298	By the way, there's also a nice, in-depth review by GamePC that I linked to on the front page a couple of days ago. It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in MCE 2005. http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...0B3A18C81F69DC Especially relevent to your question: You can record a Live TV stream to your hard drive directly from the guide seen above, or when you're actually watching the show by hitting the record button on the remote control. Items will be recorded to your hard drive in a high quality MPEG-2 based format called DVR-MS. Unencrypted DVR-MS files can also be played back on third party systems not running Media Center Edition using most modern media players. Hitting the record button twice in a row will setup a recording schedule for that item, recording all future episodes at that time slot. Microsoft lets you customize how long you want to keep recorded shows and what quality settings you would like to encode with. http://kunal.kundaje.net

October 16th, 2004	Top \| #5
NetRyder Tech Junkie Joined: April 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,256 Reputation: 4260 Power: 298	I promised I'd be back with the video of the keynote, so here it is: http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archi...15/243227.aspx http://kunal.kundaje.net

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October 13th, 2004	Top \| #3
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 122	Sweet. Thanks