Vista and Media Center

Vista Media Center
Presented by Don Heinsen
February 12, 2008
Agenda
ƒ What is Windows Media Center?
ƒ Walk through the entertainment experiences in WMC ƒ Extend the WMC experience to other rooms
ƒ Which Windows Vista SKU is needed and other hardware considerations
ƒ Find more info and discuss with other users
Objectives
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Discuss Background of Windows Media Center
Introduce Windows Media® Center in Windows Vista™
Showcase features of Windows Media Center
Discuss whole home distribution with Media Center Extenders (I.E. Xbox 360™ and others)
ƒ Provide information about what software and hardware is required
Vista Media Center Background
ƒ Windows Media Center started life as Windows XP MCE 2004, and was basically a nice 10ft front end to Media Player 8. ƒ (i.e. not the standard Windows 2 ft interface, but specifically designed for much larger displays)
ƒ It had some added functionality over the normal Media Player in that it could show a slide show of pictures, video and be controlled via a TV style remote. Windows XP MCE 2005 and MCE 2005 Rollup 2 added to the features, allowing radio, pictures and stored videos over a network share to the media.
ƒ MCE 2005 also introduced the hosted HTML application framework to Media Center. This allowed third party developers to improve and add to the functionality of Media Center.
ƒ MCE 2005 was basically Rev 2.0 of Media Center
What is Windows Media Center Today?
A totally unified multimedia/digital media experience
ƒ Available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate Editions
ƒ Integrates functionality with other Windows Vista and online components
ƒ Computer‐based home entertainment system
ƒ Consistent, easy to use 10 foot and 2 foot interface
What is new in Vista Media Center?
ƒ Leverages the graphics capability in Vista
ƒ Leverages the search capability in Vista with improved indexing and search
ƒ Improved wizards and setup routines
ƒ Optimized for 16X10 Aspect Ratio (was optimized to 4X3 ratios in earlier editions)
ƒ Improved User Interface
ƒ Improvements in Extensibility ƒ New services available on line
What is not new?
ƒ Hardware challenges ‐ Especially with HDTV and Vista Hardware and Software compatibility issues.
ƒ Problems Interfacing to a HDTV through HDMI ports to get full 1080i resolution
ƒ DRM issues with all new technologies
ƒ Cable Card 2.0 Spec implementation delays
What is coming?
ƒ MCE in smaller form factors utilizing small form factor PC hardware such as Centrino Core 2 Duo with lower noise and power consumption
ƒ Promised ability to interface with cable through cable card 2.0 spec
ƒ Windows Home Server – Specifically Media Share and backup features
My Current PC Build
ƒ AMD 3800 X2 Athlon 64 939 pin processor
ƒ MSI K8NGM2‐NBP micro ATX motherboard
ƒ MSI Nvidia GForce 7600 GT video card with 256 MB of DDR2 RAM
ƒ 1 GB of PC3200 DDR system RAM
ƒ 500 GB SATA Hard Drive
ƒ DVD Writer – Sony DRU‐810A ƒ Hauppauge Win TV PVR USB 2 Encoder
ƒ X‐Fi Creative Labs Sound card with SPDIF adapter
ƒ Silverstone Micro ATX Media Center Case
Build Issues
ƒ Tolerance differences between case and motherboard lead to frustration seating PCI cards (X‐Fi soundcard in particular) properly
ƒ Vista driver challenges particularly with sound card. Audio is handled differently in Vista which presents challenges to companies like Creative.
ƒ Proper video card for your Display
The User Experience
is Key
Push the green button to get started
Handheld remote and IR receiver equal easy control ƒ 10‐foot experience for ultimate home theater
ƒ 2‐foot experience alternative
Windows Media Center user interface
Multi‐direction navigation
ƒ Cursor keys take you where you want to go
ƒ Vertical and horizontal navigation
The Vista WMC experiences
ƒ TV, movies (and DVD)
ƒ Music
ƒ Pictures and videos
ƒ Online media
ƒ Tasks
TV experience
(1)
Electronic program guide
ƒ Navigation: use the remote’s cursor, page up/page down, FFW, RWD, skip and replay keys
TV experience
(2)
Categories
ƒ It’s easier than ever to find the content you like
TV Experience
(3)
Mini‐guide
ƒ Channel surf without leaving the current show
TV experience
Record a show
(4)
(1)
ƒ Supercharged personal video recorder (PVR) TV experience
Record a show
(2)
ƒ Red for record (5)
TV experience
Record a show
(6)
(3)
ƒ View scheduled recordings
TV experience
Record a series
(7)
(1)
ƒ Fine tuning for series recordings
TV experience
Record a series
(8)
(2)
ƒ Smart series recordings
TV experience
Recorded TV
(9)
(1)
ƒ Multiple views
ƒ Meaningful thumbnails created from content
ƒ Rich metadata
TV experience
Recorded TV
(10)
(2)
ƒ Display more information ƒ Easy access to tasks and settings
TV experience
Recorded TV
(11)
(3)
ƒ Details and options
ƒ Contextual information from metadata
TV experience
(12)
High‐definition TV
ƒ U.S. cable card support ƒ True high‐definition output
ƒ HDCP protected video path requirement
DVD experience
(1)
ƒ Rich and controllable experience
DVD experience
ƒ Rich collateral information
(2)
DVD experience
(3)
ƒ DVD changers for a library experience
ƒ DVD cover art enhances library
ƒ Sortability
Music experience
(1)
ƒ The ultimate digital virtual music library
ƒ Shares data with WMP
ƒ Sortability
Music experience
(2)
ƒ Information and options galore
ƒ Easy access to common tasks and settings
Music experience
(3)
ƒ Rich information in sorted views
Music experience
(4)
ƒ Great new ways to view your library
Music experience
(5)
ƒ Sort by genre to set ambiance and mood
Music experience
(6)
Lists, playlists, and queuing
ƒ View songs by artist
ƒ View songs by genre
(1)
Music experience
(7)
Lists, playlists, and queuing
ƒ Be your own DJ
(2)
Music experience
(8)
Visualizations and slideshows
ƒ A musical treat for your eyes
Pictures plus videos experience
ƒ Navigation you already know
ƒ Sortability
ƒ Mini digital photo editing studio
ƒ Slide shows Pictures experience
ƒ Sortable views
(1)
Pictures experience
(2)
ƒ Use tags created with Windows Photo Gallery
Pictures experience
(3)
ƒ Mini digital photo editing studio
ƒ Slide shows
Pictures experience
(4)
ƒ Rotate image while viewing slide show
Videos experience
ƒ Sortability
(1)
Videos experience
(2)
ƒ Consistent navigation and playback controls
A whole home experience
(1)
Media Center Extenders
ƒ Microsoft Xbox 360 today, more next year
ƒ Streams all content except DVD
ƒ Use wired or wireless networking
ƒ Use multiple extenders and computer concurrently
ƒ Same menus and navigation A whole home experience
(2)
ƒ High definition over an Xbox 360 extender
WMC software and hardware needed
(1)
Buying a Vista Home Premium‐capable PC today (1)
ƒ Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate
ƒ Hardware
à 1 gigahertz (GHz) 32‐bit (x86) or 64‐bit (x64) processor
à 1 gigabytes (GB) of system memory
à Support for DirectX® 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 megabytes (MB) of graphics memory (minimum), Pixel Shader 2.0, and 32 bits per pixel
à 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space for upgrade, additional space for multimedia digital file storage, including recorded TV
WMC software and hardware needed (2)
Buying a Vista Home Premium‐capable PC today (2)
ƒ Hardware
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DVD‐ROM Drive
Audio output capability
Internet access capability
TV tuner for TV experience (optional)
WMC software and hardware needed (3)
Buying a Vista Home Premium PC pre‐installed
ƒ Many models available are available today
ƒ True high‐definition TV with cable card
à Requires Cable Labs certified system
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Special certified BIOS
OCUR device
HDCP compliant video card HDCP compliant monitor or TV
Additional resources
ƒ Microsoft Windows Vista home page http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/ ƒ Microsoft Windows Vista Express Upgrade
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready
/expressupgrade.mspx
ƒ Windows Media Center in Windows Vista http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features
/forhome/mediacenter.mspx
Additional resources (2)
ƒ Community Column on Windows Media Center http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista
/community/wmc.mspx
ƒ Microsoft Windows Media Center newsgroup http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp
/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?
dg=microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter