Brian Binnerup has released My Movies 2.0 today. My Movies is one of favorite addins for Media Center and Brian does a great job developing it for free.

 

To find out more about the project and what is in 2.0 checkout Brian on this weeks Media Center Show

The Media Center Show #55(MP3 - 20.5mb- 59mins 59secs)
LISTEN HERE

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks

This week on the show is Brian Binnerup, Brian is the developer behind My Movies. We will be talking about how the project started, what it does and what is new in Version 2.0 that launches today.
I also have email and Media Center news

See the variety of equipment and setups that Media Center users have posted,the pictures are on my site HERE and there is an RSS feed for the pictures

Send your questions and feedback to isdixon@gmail.com (feel free to send your questions in mp3)
or you can send your questions and comments in to the show Skype Line “MediaCenterShow”

Don’t forget your to check out Media Center Show Gear

The forums are at Iandixon.co.uk/forums

Show Times:
00:44 Coming up on the show
01:10 Email - Media Center Remote problems
02:30 Email - XBOX 360 and Windows logon
03:31 Email - Guide Problems
04:39 April 2006 Update Rollup for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
05:33 OneVoice on the Mac Mini
06:36 OneVoice draw later today
06:56 The Green Button gets updated
07:34 A Message from One Voice
08:26 Welcome to Brian - My Movies
15:00 Off Line DVD’s
17:00 My Movies 2.0
20:31 Searching
21:41 Working with extenders
24:30 Local copies of DVD’s
26:00 Managed Copies
33:51 What is new in My Movies 2.0
34:00 Box Set support
36:20 DVD Changer support
41:55 System Builders
44:00 Language Support
45:15 Future developments
47:03 Developing with Vista
51:51 How to get My Movies 2.0
52:00 Download from Download.com
56:52 Thanks to Brian
57:18 Music “In the Warm Evening” by Ian Dixon

This weeks show will be out Friday due to me getting back from Germany late last night.

 

This weeks I am talking to Brian Binnerup about My Movies and what is new in My Movies 2.0 which should also be out soon. As even I have email in to the show and some of the Media Center news headlines

 

 

 

Looks like there is an update for Media Center, the April Update Rollup

Details from Chris Lanier:

 

April 2006 Update Rollup for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (KB914548) | Install KB914548 to get the latest updates for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This update supersedes all updates since Update Rollup 2 (KB900325) for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. For more information about this update, read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 914548.

Quick Details
File Name:        WindowsXPMediaCenter2005-KB914548-ENU.exe
Version:            1.0
Knowledge Base (KB) Articles:            KB914548
Date Published: 4/25/2006
Language:         English
Download Size:            3.4 MB

Over on Karma-Labs forums (the forums for the Korg Karm Synth owners) they have a competition for music created with the Karma Synth. I have entered my song "Milestone" in the Karma Only category and currently the song is in 2nd place in the first round.

 

I have played Milestone on the Media Center show a few times, so if your a member of the forums vote for my song

 

 

You can download or listen to Milestone HERE

The Green Button seems to have gone live with there site redesign, you can find out more about the new site and the plans for the future with Daniel Sterling from The Green Button by listening to the interview I did with him earlier in the year.

 

The Media Center Show #54 - Nigel Barker

April 20th, 2006 by Ian Dixon

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks

This week on the show we are talking digital satellite with MVP Nigel Barker. So if you have satellite and want to get rid of set top boxes and IR Blasters listen on.
I also talk about my weekend running Vista Media Center and read out your email.
More info on Nigel’s findings can be found at AVforums

See the variety of equipment and setups that Media Center users have posted,the pictures are on my site HERE and there is an RSS feed for the pictures

Send your questions and feedback to isdixon@gmail.com (feel free to send your questions in mp3)
or you can send your questions and comments in to the show Skype Line “MediaCenterShow”

Don’t forget your to check out Media Center Show Gear

The forums are at Iandixon.co.uk/forums

Show Times:
00:36 Coming up this week
01:14 One Voice competition update
01:32 MSAS Media Center Stater Project
02:30 Let me know if you developing MCE applications
02:51 Extenders in the UK
03:44 Sky with Media Center
04:20 Red Button with Media Center
05:27 mceSpeach tools
06:13 My weekend with Vista Media Center
09:25 Media Center rendering engine
09:51 A Message from OneVoice
10:40 Welcome to Nigel
11:00 AVforums link
12:23 DVB Standards
13:24 Technotrend TT-budget S-1500 DVB-S card
17:17 Using Sky with Media Center
22:00 Video quality of satellite over DVB-T
27:30 Working 100’s of channels in Media Center
31:00 HDTV
36:00 Thanks to Nigel
36:32 Music “Information Overload” by Ian Dixon

Up to this weekend I found my Vista beta box had been a bit flaky, with any of the builds I have tried on it I never got TV working on it.

Well all that changed this weekend as ATI updated there Vista video drivers on Thursday. So I updated my drivers and tried Media Center again, it worked like a dream. The video drivers fixed the mpeg playback problems and all the graphical glitches that were occurring.

 

It feels like a complete operating system now, I lived with Media Center over the easter break, recording and watching TV on it and playing with the guide. I really like how the Media Center menus are layed out now and found going back to XP Media Center felt like a real step back.

 

The Recorded TV section works with image previews of the recorded tv, so you get a much better graphic representation of your content and it doesn't just grab the first frame either, eg when looking at some motor sport I recorded the preview image shows a frame from the race and not the advert at the begining

There are some nice touches such as when you hit the guide key the video plays in the background with the guide overlayed

 

It is amazing how a updated graphics driver can make the difference, I got a real feel for how Media Center is looking in Vista, I had my doubts but the new menu system is much better. There are still some bugs to work out but it is looking great

 

More info from Media Center Sandbox on Windows Media Center Presentation Layer.

This time its an article on Media Center's rendering engine.

 

If you into Media Center development its well worth checking out

 

 

The Media Center Show #53 - Casey Chesnut

April 13th, 2006 by Ian Dixon

Good news for ATI Media Center owners, if you have ever tried converting Media Center TV files you know that it can be tricky.

 

ATI have released a tool for converting Media Center TV files to other formats:

 

Listeners to the Media Center Show will know that I have been running a competition with One Voice to win a copy of Media Center Communicator and to win all listeners had to do was send in a picture of there home setup.

 

Well I have had loads of entires and have posted them on my site.

So to see the variety of equipment and setups that Media Center users have checkout the pictures on my site HERE and there is an RSS feed for the pictures

 

Checkout Casey Chesnuts vast amount of remote controls as well as  my own wall mounted LCD

 

You still have till the end of the week to get your picture in, send them to isdixon at gmail dotcom

 

See Mark Finocchio, Arron Stebner and Charlie Owen show the sound listening room at Microsoft

with 7.1 audio and great screens.

 

See Vista Media Center new UI and developing with Vista Media Center.

 

Also checkout the very slim Media Center remote shows about 10mins in

 

Anybody with a LCD TV should checkout the post Eirik Solheim posted about Perfect adjustment of your LCD

 

He says that some screens are not quite the resolution you think they are so you end up with incorrect scaling.

He has a usefully post about how to test your setup

 

Thanks to Charlie Owen for posting a link to Joe Belifiore's keynote at MIX06.

Joe's beyond the browser keynote shows some of Microsoft's new presentation technologies and a large section on Media Center, including Online Spotlight, Vista Media Center and the podcast app that Charlie Owen has blogged about.

Well worth watching, and the Media Center section is about 40mins in

 

 

My old Sony Viao laptop finally died a couple of weeks ago. This is my work laptop and so needs to be a decent spec for running Visual Studio. So when I was ordering a new laptop I wanted a one with a dual core so I picked a Sony Vaio VGN-FE11H, (dual core,1gb ram and 100gb drive). Great spec and a good price and one great extra - Windows Media Center.

I think this is one of Sony's first Media Center laptops and with the 15.4" wide screen display Media Center looks great.

The construction of the laptop is very nice and it looks stylish too.

 

So you can keep your mac's I love my new Sony

 

When the Origami project was announced I immediately thought they would be great if they could operate as a Extender for Windows Media Center, so you could watch your recorded TV on it, live tv, music etc.

 

Well it looks like that wish is coming true and suddenly I am thinking about getting one.

The especially good news for Media Center Edition aficionados is that Microsoft will enable Origami to serve as a Media Center Extender (MCX). Microsoft is coming out with a software version of MCX expressly for Origami, meaning these little touchscreens can serve as a slave to any MCE in the house, so users can play recorded content, exploit Online Spotlight, use the electronic programming guide -- anything they can do with other MCXs (and most things they can do with an MCE).

If you have automation software for MCE, you can use the Origami touchscreen to control the house.

 

This is great news and I really hope that Vista gets the same extender treatment too

 

The Media Center Show #52 - Akimbo

April 6th, 2006 by Ian Dixon

Peter Rosser has started a series of technical posts about Windows Media Center, the first one is about Tuners and TuningSpaces.

If you want to get down and dirty with Media Center check out his post.

Plus he has a tip to enable n-tuners going.

 

Coming up on the show this week