I have updated mceBackup 2.0 to include backing up of atscchannels.xml, this the manual channel assignment for ATSC tuners

If you have 2.0 installing already just install it and reinstall the new version

Download mceBackup2.zip

Just wanted to say to all readers of this blog and listeners of the Media Center Center Show have a great Christmas. I have really enjoyed doing the show over the last year and hope to continue and make the show better in 2007. As ever I do appreciate your suggestions and comments so please keep them coming in

There will be no show next week but there will be a new Media Center Show Extra out next Thursday, see you in 2007!

Last night my Media Center was happily working away recording a program, then the next scheduled program didn't record. Very annoying as I only noticed it wasn't recording after the program had finished.

Looking at the Recordings screen in Media Center, it had the program as being set to record but the program had already finished.

i.e. it said the program was due to record at 9:30pm but it was 10pm and it hadn't recorded it.

I restarted the Media Center Schedule services and the recording event disappeared from the list and the next program recorded as scheduled.

So I check the event viewer and on the Media Center event log it said the program didn't record due to a power failer etc. and in the Application Log was filled with about 50 of the same error:

Event Info: Unexpected exception in QueryWorker.DoQuery()
Process: DefaultDomain
Object Name: Microsoft.Ehome.Epg.Query.TitleQuery

After the Scheduler service had restarted the event stopped being reported and all is ok. Its not the first time this has happened and its getting very frustrating now. Has anybody else got any ideas on what this means and how to prevent it? I did a search on the web and only found it mentioned on a comment on Aaron Stebners blog

Yesterday seemed to be Remote day!

First off where pictures of the Philips remotes. Nice looking remotes and there is even a PC Express Card Remote coming soon for laptops.

via Chris Lanier

Then there are the nice Sideshow ones on cepro

And we have a winner. The first company to officially announce a SideShow remote control is Interlink Electronics, Inc., one of the preeminent OEMs of remote controls.

SideShow is a new feature of Windows Vista that allows small bits of PC-based data to be displayed on and controlled through auxiliary displays like remote controls and digital picture frames. To use SideShow, users need not boot up the PC. Furthermore users can enjoy SideShow without hijacking the computer desktop

and finally a very nice Ricavision remote on MissingRemote

That gives you a 100-meter (or so) operating radius when coupled with the included USB RC6 (IR) receiver and Class 1 Bluetooth receiver. Nice, however, what's most notable is that sweet, sweet 2.5-inch QVGA LCD display for Microsoft's promising SideShow technology; a bit of magicking that hooks the remote into a suite of Media Center "Gadgets" allowing you to extract and display information related to your media

 One of my tasks at CES is to track done the Media Center remotes and have a good look at them. One good point mentioned by a fellow MVP is what is the point of a side show remote if you running a Media Center extender?

I have finally got round to getting a beta version of mceBackup 2.0 out. This is totally new version of my backup tool for Media Center

Features:

• Backs up TV channel assignment
• Backs up Scheduled recordings and series recordings
• Backs up recorded TV to local drives, or networked drives (via UNC paths)
• Backup up an additional folder
• Has its own schedule engine for automating backups
• Displays the status of critical Media Center services
• Command line and GUI version available, 10 foot version coming soon
• Works with Vista and XP
• Can be used to transfer settings from one Media Center PC to another

Requires .net framework 2.0 to be installed

Download the beta

Your feedback will be appreciated please leave comments at

http://iandixon.co.uk/cs/forums/17/ShowForum.aspx

Getting it working with Vista was a real challenge with the changes to user access security!

CE Pro have a nice video blog showing off Vidabox's Blueray and HD-DVD Media Center box. They also talk about some of the differences between the formats.

Steve Cheung from Vidabox will be coming on the show soon

http://www.cepro.com/news/editorial/16565.html

Something that I know developers often complain about why the look and feel of Media Center is not available to 3rd party developers. It means that you either have to spend some time developing your own look and feel or spend even more time trying to emulate the existing design.

Charlie has blogged about the reasons why Microsoft don't offer the UI elements as part of the Software Development Kit and I can understand his points. He mentions application compatibility, variety and branding.

The idea of creating your own "brand" is a good point. Nial Ginsbrough is creating a nice brand for his Big Screen applications and its well worth him creating that experience.

On the other hand, if you creating a small addin to extend the functionality of Media Center it does make sense to keep the existing feel of Media Center rather than making a whole new style of application that the user has to learn.

So I think there has to a balance between keeping the familiar elements of Media Center, such as navigation buttons etc while giving applications there own brand

Read Charlies post and see what you think