Windows Media Center

Entertainment

Now Microsoft Is Making A Set-Top TV Box?

3:53PM January 4, 2011 | Adrian Covert

Not content to sit back while Apple, Google, Roku, Boxee et.al. wade the murky waters of internet television, Microsoft will show off a Windows-based connected TV box at CES this year, according to the Seattle Times. More »

Entertainment

How To Stream Media Without Buying Any More Gear

4:00AM October 19, 2010 | Casey Chan

So you’d love to get the movies, music and photos from your laptop to your living room, but you don’t want to buy another box, right? Well, If you have a game console, you’re in luck. ZOMG IT’S SOOOO EASY. More »

Software

Boxee Integration App Plays Nice With Windows 7 Media Center

7:07AM February 17, 2010 | Brian Barrett

Windows 7 Media Center and Boxee each has its own strengths, and now the Boxee Integration App gives you access to both with minimal hassle. More »

How To: Play Zune Pass Music On Your WinMo Handset

7:07AM December 22, 2009 | Brian Barrett

For $US15 a month, a Zune Pass subscription is a pretty great deal. The only catch, seemingly, is that you also have to pony up a couple hundred bucks for a Zune. Except: turns out you don’t. More »

Software

Ten Ways To Improve Your Media Center Experience

7:30AM November 1, 2009 | Dan Nosowitz

Our sister site Lifehacker put together a list of ten app-based ways to boost your media center’s potential, adding support for remote controls, remote TV scheduling, Hulu Desktop and more. My favorite: Ad removal. Suck on that, ad-supported entertainment! [Lifehacker] More »

Ceton’s CableCARD Solution Has Six Tuners In One Slot

8:23AM September 12, 2009 | Jason Chen

This Ceton Multi-Channel CableCARD is very interesting, both for its ability to decode six cable streams at once to record six shows at once on your Windows Media Center, but for the fact that it’s not all that expensive. More »

Entertainment

Zone Pro Hands On Part 2: Copy Freely And Windows 7

3:48AM September 12, 2009 | Jason Chen

To continue our review of the Niveus Zone Pro media centre, we put Windows 7 on there to try out all the new features, like better sharing of recorded shows. More »

Normal People Can Now Install CableCARD Tuners On Windows 7 PCs

9:44AM September 10, 2009 | Jason Chen

FINALLY. Microsoft and CableLabs are finally opened the door to have regular people add in CableCARD tuners by themselves, after they’ve purchased the PC and set it up. This is good news. More »

Software

Windows Media Center Opens Up DRM Restrictions On Shows

8:57AM September 10, 2009 | Mark Wilson

If you record a lot of shows using a CableCard in Windows Media Center, know that the upcoming 1.19 update will loosen the reins on these recordings and allow you to copy them to other WMC machines and portable devices. In other words, you record into WMC, you can copy the content wherever you want—save for Pay-Per-View and premium content. So it’s not the Holy Grail, but it may be as close as we’re going to get.

Software

Windows 7 Media Center: The 10-Foot Experience’s New Features

1:55AM February 11, 2009 | Adrian Covert

Microsoft has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to the living-room PC experience, thanks to Media Center. Slick interfaces and powerful audio/video features combine with the power of a full computer to create a nice experience—though it pays if your PC is CableCard-compatible, for full HD over cable. In Windows 7, Microsoft added even more functionality to an already polished package. More »