Windows Media Center made its debut with Windows XP. It is now integrated with Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate editions.
This technology is solely for digital entertainment – it enables you to view your pictures, listen to your music collection, and watch TV or your favorite movies, all from your PC. On a Windows Vista PC, clicking Start > Windows Media Center launches the program, which includes various options for different types of digital content.
Digital Entertainment, integrated
The USP of Windows Media Center that all your digital media can be stored together for easy management. In Windows Vista, Media Center is optimized for widescreen and high-definition (HD) viewing; it also searches for your media content automatically during setup. This enables you to view and enjoy your media content easily.
You can use remote controls to manage your content on Media Center—this content could be from your hard drives, network locations, or on CDs or DVDs. Media Center displays this content and then categorizes it according to date, album or artist name, tags, or other attributes.
Online content
Apart from content on your PC, you can view and listen to online content over a broadband Internet connection. This includes online radio stations and videos, and TV programs, though the latter is not available in all countries. You can also play on-demand online games. In the US and Canada, a feature called SportsLounge enables users to watch sports and learn about their favorite teams, games, and players, at a much higher level of interactivity than is available through standard television. Similarly, in the US alone, a beta version of Internet TV has been launched, which provides on-demand streaming content—users can watch TV programs, music concerts, news, and other TV content from MSN Video.
Watch television
Adding a TV tuner card to your PC will help you watch digital (HD) television on your PC. Once you’ve added a TV tuner, you need to plug in the television signal cable into the TV tuner card, like you do with a set-top box.
After this, you can watch, pause, and rewind live TV programs. You can also use your PC as a digital video recorder (DVR) to record live programs to watch them later. If your television service provides you with an electronic programming guide, you can set your PC to record future programs. The Windows Media Center remote control helps you do these tasks without moving more than a finger.
Listen to music
Apart from listening to music stored on your hard drive or network, you can also connect other devices, such as cassette players or video-cassette recorders to a Media Center PC. An analog to digital tuner (the TV tuner card would have this) will enable you to convert the analog signals from devices such as audio cassette players to digital signals, which your Media Center PC can play.
You can play music, pause and fast forward, or shuffle and repeat tracks. You can add new tracks and albums, either manually or automatically downloaded from the Internet. If your TV tuner card supports FM radio, you can play that through Media Center too.
Home theater experience
If you have a wired or wireless network at home, you can use your Windows Media Center PC to stream recorded content to your TV. For this, you need to purchase an extender—Xbox 360, if you have it, works as one, and other hardware extenders are also available. The extender needs to be connected to the home network, as does the TV and the PC. If you have more than one TV, you can stream different types of content on each TV from your PC. This content can be accessed even if someone is using the PC for other work.
The technology has great potential, even though all its features are not available in all countries yet. However, with HD television gaining momentum in several countries and broadband connectionsgetting better, one can expect to see a lot more of Windows Media Center in future.
