Now that I have almost finished my music project I want to get back in to some Media Center development and am itching to try out the new Vista development models. I was amazed to see what mceBackup is still be getting frequent downloads (sometimes over 20 a day!) I thought I would create a 10 foot version of my backup tool.

 

First off is the decision of what development platform to use. Do I go for HTML for use with XP and Vista or go for one of the rich platforms like WPF of Media Center Presentation Layer?

 

At the moment I am leaning to WPF as the design tools will run on my laptop, but I am not 100% sure yet.

 

I was wondering if anybody had any feature suggestions for a 10' backup tool, and any recommendations for the development modal?

This week on the show Chris Anderson editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of the Long Tail Blog. Chris will be explaining what the Long Tail is and how if effects Media Center users.

 

Plus your email

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 mailto: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:
00:40 Coming up this week
01:00 HDMI connections to Media Center
03:00 Troubleshooting XBOX 360 PC Setup issues
03:46 A Message from Onevoice
04:31 Welcome to Chris
05:05 What is the Long tail
06:53 What drives the Long tail
08:50 An example of the Long tail
12:50 Rights
15:40 The Long tail and Windows Media Center
19:00 YouTube.com
20:30 “The end of the monopoly of the hit”
23:29 Filtering and searchin
25:15 The Long tail book
28:17 Pre-order the book
29:00 See you next week, send in your email
Music by Ian Dixon (new CD very coming soon!!)

 

The Media Center Show #63(MP3 - 14.1mb- 40mins 59secs)
LISTEN HERE

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks

This week on the show is Niall Ginsbourg talking about his Big Screen Photos application. A Flickr application for Windows Media Center, developed using the latest .net 3.0 technologies (with a great Vista Media Center style UI)
We will be talking about the application and how using XAML has made for a rich application UI.
You can download a beta from HERE

Plus your email

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 mailto: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:

00:39 Coming up this week on the show
01:15 Dual Monitor fixes
03:47 TV Quality Issues - Microsoft DVD Decoder Checkup tool
05:48 Developing with PHP and Media Center - The Green Button, interviews with Casey Chesnut,Stephen Toub,Charlie Owen
07:25 mceAuction 2.0 wins an award
08:10 A Message from Onevoice
08:53 Welcome to Niall
09:13 Background on the application, viewing Flickr photos on Media Center
11:01 The development technologies, WPF .NET 3.0
12:34 XAML
15:00 What is Flickr
17:21 The UI
20:00 Features
21:50 Keyboard access
23:00 Supported platforms
24:00 Extenders
25:29 Picture Resolution
26:00 Why use WPF over Media Center Markup
29:37 Beta version is ready for download
30:19 Lite and Pro versions
31:33 Release dates
32:00 Media Center Sandbox
33:35 The PVR Project Update (See this interview)
36:55 Thanks ton Niall - Please send Niall your feedback
37:48 See you next week

Music by Ian Dixon (new CD coming soon!!)

mceAuction 2.0  won "eBay Star Developer Award for Innovative Application 2006" in Las Vegas, which is the highest award a software for the eBay platform can get (see http://www.scendix.com).

 

If you use ebay and Media Center then get this app and browse ebay from the sofa

Just noticed that UK computer company Elonex has gone into administration.

Elonex make (made) some fine Media Center PC's and have been the choice of many UK Media Center consumers.

 

More info from http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/88445/elonex-goes-into-administration.html

The Media Center Show #62(MP3 - 16.4mb- 47mins 4secs)
LISTEN HERE

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks

This week on the show is Eric Voetberg a Program Manager from the eHome team at Microsoft. We will be talking about the development process for Vista and Eric’s area of expertise in Media Center Online Spotlight and More Programs.

Plus a whole host of tips via the email

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 mailto: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:

00:45 Coming up this week
01:10 PMC Question
02:09 Update on clock syncing
02:36 Alternative to XP’s clock syncing client  http://nettime.sourceforge.net/
03:23 Dual Monitors with Media Center
04:41 Upcoming shows
05:37 A message from Onevoice
06:29 Welcome to Eric
06:47 Eric’s background
09:03 Application prototyping
11:00 Picking features
14:00 Developing with Vista Media Center
14:50 The Full Fidelity Experience (c) Charlie Owen
15:48 Online Spotlight
18:00 Online Spotlight redesign
21:20 More Programs
24:00 Re-design of the Vista Media Center start menu
26:50 Balancing the end user experience
31:50 Dogfooding Media Center
35:00 New Online Spotlight applications
37:02 WPF Applications
39:58 Vista timetable
41:35 CES
42:34 Thanks to Eric
42:50 See you next week

Music by Ian Dixon (new CD coming soon!!)

As I have said on the Media Center Show before I am working on a new CD of music and have been playing the music on end of each show.

So I thought I would post a picture on my keyboard setup including the vintage 80's Yamaha DX100 (they keytar style one)

 

 

The Media Center Show #61 - AMD Live!

Matt Goyer has details on a nice new feature for Vista Media Center:

 

 

Look like a good idea, checkout Matt's blog he has some nice screen shots of the favorites feature in action.

 

 

 

 

I am really excited about this week show.This week I am talking to  Teresa de Onis, AMD Brand Manager and Orb's Ian McCarthy about AMD Live!

Find out what is the concept behind AMD Live! How if differs from other chip manufactures concepts and what is means to Media Center users.

 

Plus email, and users tips

 

Niall Ginsbourg was a guest on the Media Center Show last year talking about the PVRX Project

Niall is back with another great Media Center project, and will be coming on the show soon to give us some more information

 

 

 

http://www.blueado.com/shop/product/~category_id=BES-M/~product_id=m5eSport/~tab=technical

 

And the official page here:

http://www.blueado.com/shop/product/~category_id=BES-M/~product_id=m5eSport

 

The Media Center Show #60 - Julie Jacobson

June 2nd, 2006 by Ian Dixon

It looks like AMD's Live strategy is starting to come together, and one part of it that looked interesting to me is the link with Orb.

AMD are using Orb service to provide on demand streaming video and music.

Look out for an update from Orb soon on the show

 

 

AMD LIVE! On Demand, powered by Orb extends your entertainment experience to anywhere you are, at home or on the go! Access and control your live or prerecorded TV, music, pictures, videos and more from virtually any web-connected device.

 

Full Press Release:

AMD Cranks Up The Volume On Digital Entertainment With The AMD LIVE!™ PC — AMD LIVE!™ Entertainment Suite Enables Consumers to Stream Live TV, Protect Precious Photos, Remotely Access Content and More — SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- May 31, 2006 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today the next milestone in digital entertainment with the AMD LIVE!™ PC — a full-featured, easy-to-use media center PC, designed to enable consumers to organize, distribute, share, and enjoy their content collection throughout the home and on the go. Leading OEMs including Acer, Alienware, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Gateway, HP, Sahara, and Tsinghua Tongfang, as well as system builders in North America, Western Europe, and China, will have AMD LIVE! PCs, powered by the award-winning AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor, starting in June. The AMD LIVE! Entertainment Suite, a collection of services and applications designed to enhance the PC experience, is also available today at www.amdlive.com. “The AMD LIVE! PC and AMD LIVE! Entertainment Suite represent the culmination of industry-leading companies collaborating around open standards to deliver compelling entertainment solutions,” said Bob Brewer, corporate vice president, Desktop Business, AMD. “With the AMD LIVE! PC, AMD begins delivering on its vision for merging broadcast TV content with interactive, personalized broadband applications and services, all without disrupting the devices already accepted and used by consumers in their homes today.” The AMD LIVE! PC is designed to help consumers get more enjoyment out of their digital media by consolidating their content in a central location and delivering the tools to help them easily and seamlessly access that content through the devices they already have. “Today customers are looking for PCs that will allow them to view, interact and play new content from broadcast television to music to games,” said Tom Anderson, vice president of marketing, global consumer PCs, Personal Systems Group, HP. “By offering AMD LIVE! branded PCs, our customers will have the ability to buy a PC that will meet their evolving entertainment needs.” “We’ve seen remarkable enthusiasm for Windows XP Media Center Edition PCs, which enable consumers to enjoy their photos, music, TV shows and movies throughout the home,” said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president, Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. “By collaborating with AMD to deliver a powerful combination of digital entertainment software on a strong media platform, Microsoft is helping to provide consumers with rich, engaging experiences.” The first solutions to be offered in the AMD LIVE! Entertainment Suite include AMD LIVE! On Demand powered by Orb Networks: a service that streams live or pre-recorded television programs, photos, music and movies to many common Web-connected devices; AMD LIVE! Compress: a tool that optimizes recorded television content in order to save space and time, enabling customers to save up to 10 times as many TV shows on their PC; AMD LIVE! Network Magic: an easy to use service that allows users to set up, manage and secure their home network; AMD LIVE! LogMeIn: a service providing users the ability to remotely control their AMD LIVE! PC to obtain access to content, files and programs from anywhere; and AMD LIVE! Media Vault™: a service that can automatically back-up users’ digital content collection to a secure online server. Once registered and activated, AMD LIVE! PC users will receive 25GB of free storage to safely store their personal photos, home movies and music collections. Many of these applications and services are available for free download beginning today from AMD at www.amdlive.com. Over time, the website will evolve into a repository of tips and tools to help consumers build out their entertainment world. With home networks, and using technology such as Microsoft Media Center Extender, the site will be available both in a “two-foot” Internet in the study and “10-foot” television experience in the living room. “Our vision for AMD LIVE! is to apply the power and flexibility of AMD64 processors in ways that help consumers to get a richer entertainment experience when and where they want, using their favorite entertainment components and devices,” said Joe Menard, corporate vice president, Consumer Business Segment, AMD. “Moving forward, our mission is to put in place the additional technology and expand the ecosystem to make these new experiences even more simple and enjoyable.” AMD recently announced their agreement with STMicroelectronics to develop world-class, high-definition networked set-top box solutions for consumers to connect to a desktop or notebook PC, transforming the TV experience from traditional and “linear” to a new, interactive experience. AMD and STMicroelectronics will demonstrate this solution from June 6-9 at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan. AMD LIVE! PCs will improve consumers’ connectivity by enabling their PC to stream music through their entertainment center, view and share photos on the TV, burn recorded TV shows, videos, music and pictures to a DVD or CD, or transfer this same content to a notebook, MP3, portable media player (PMP) or personal digital assistant (PDA). Consumers will be able to build their entertainment world at their pace with AMD LIVE! PCs designed for flexibility, built for longevity and engineered for the future. About the AMD LIVE! Brand Created in 2004, the AMD LIVE! brand has promoted top film, broadcast, and music professional artists using AMD64 technology. AMD LIVE! is rooted in the adoption of AMD64 technology by the professional creative community, lifting technology barriers that once stunted artistic expression. AMD has worked with this community to evolve the renaissance of digital content creation providing powerful AMD64 technology to everyone from top professionals to the budding artist creating rich, immersive content at the speed of inspiration. The AMD LIVE! brand is now extended from its roots in professional content creation to also represent best-of-breed solutions to enhance the management, access, and enjoyment of content. AMD LIVE! notebook PCs, powered by AMD Turion™ 64 X2 dual-core mobile technology, are expected to be available in the second half of 2006.