Windows Media Centre still isn’t what Microsoft wants it to be, but it has its fans, and its getting an update this month that they’ve been waiting for. Word is coming down, though, that this update isn’t the one the users are lusting after, the one with H.264 and DirectTV tuner support. Instead it’s a minor upgrade that adds things like international support. But fret not, users, as now it seems like there’s another rumour flying around about another update later in the year which will add many requested features. Patience, my fellow home theatre nerds, we’ll get our updates. [EngadgetHD]
I’m not a huge Olympics fan, but NBC is partnering with digital content provider Wavexpress to provide some pretty remarkable coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. Dubbed “Olympics On the Go,” Vista Media Centre users will be able to schedule their favourite summer events to download automagically to their PCs or laptops (through TVTonic). Clips will come in “up-to-HD quality,” meaning that at least some of the downloads will be good enough to be worth watching. And it’s all free. The only catch seems to be that there’s no mention of Zune syncing, but what good is synchronised swimming on such a small screen anyway?
Last week, courtesy of NBC, people with a Windows Media Centre DVR setup got a rude reminder that broadcasters can flip a switch (called a broadcast flag) to tell DVRs not to record a show. Here’s the thing: Honouring the flag is actually optional for software and hardware makers, after courts smacked down the FCC proposal to make them mandatory. But Microsoft has confirmed that they do whatever the broadcaster tells them, again, even though they don’t have to. NBC hasn’t confirmed yet whether or not the American Gladiatorsflag was intentional, but their history doesn’t give me a fuzzy feeling.
Anthony Park’s MyNetflix plug-in for Vista Media Center is an awesome little add-on that lets you do pretty much anything you want with Netflix from within MC.
