Finally confirmation from Microsoft that there is a service pack for Vista coming and that there is a Service Pack 3 coming for XP

From reading the information from Microsoft the XP Service Pack looks like a roll-up of al the fixes since SP2 and doesn't contain any features, but that is to be expected. What is more interesting is that Microsoft seem to be playing down the significance of the Vista Service Pack.

In addition to updates we’ve previously released, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues we’ve identified via customer feedback, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards.  SP1 also makes additional improvements to the IT administration experience.  We didn’t design SP1 as a vehicle for releasing new features; however, some existing components do gain enhanced functionality in SP1

So I don't expect to see any major updates to Windows Media Center in the Service Pack, well nothing like the changes in XP2. I am sure it will have all the Media Center fixes and updates that have shipped since Vista was launched.

There is more information on the Windows Vista Blog and there is a detailed white paper.

Watch the video in HQ WMV  - The RSS feed for the Video Show is HERE

In this video I take a look at Sony's XL301 / XL302 (Bluray) Media Center PC complete with Bluray drive. I connected the PC up to my TV via HDMI (the only output avaible) and was impressed by the performce of the box. I rented a Bluray disk to try and while I was impressed by Bluray I am not going to jumping in to the HD market just yet.

In the video I show off the Media Center features, take a look around the device (including a peak inside) and try a Bluray DVD

Watch the video in HQ WMV

• Watch via Youtube: Part 1 and Part 2
• Watch via MSN Soapbox Part 1 and Part 2

 
Video: The Digital Lifestyle.com Video Show #6 - Sony XL301 Bluray 
Video: The Digital Lifestyle.com #6 - Sony XL301 Part 2More info from Sony

Retailing around £999 for the non Bluray version and £ 1,799 for the XL302 (Bluray)

Cable subscribers should soon be able to stream cable TV programming over their home networks, as CableLabs has announced its approval of a new streaming protocol. Called DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Copy Protection), the new spec will use DRM to lock down content to ensure that it doesn't escape the cozy confines of cable subscribers' homes.

This sounds great, but as ever with things like this i will believe it when i see it and how long would it take Microsoft to implement something like this in Media Center? With the current pace of development it could be some time. Read the article for more details

New DRM scheme will let consumers stream cable TV over home networks

Yes it's a day early but I am working away and didn't want you to miss out!

By Ian Dixon (16.9mb 49mins 02sec) 
Vote for the show on Podcast Alley

Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS

On this week show is Microsoft MVP and Media Center developer Andrew Cherry. Andrew made the trip to my office in Manchester and we talked about his new application "TV Library" (download a free beta), an application that expands the TV library functions of Media Center. We also talked about developing for Windows Media Center and contributing to the MediaCenterSandbox forum. I have email in to the show and news items.

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks, email the show: Show [at] TheDigitallifestyle.com

Show Times:

00:50 Coming up this week
01:50 Email - Update on last weeks email
03:29 Email - Tell us your OEM experience
04:12 Email - Audio output and Extenders
08:05 My Video review of Sony's UX1 UMPC, more videos coming soon
09:17 My thoughts on Blu-ray v HD-DVD
11:04 S1Digital offer CABLEcard
11:43 Updated TV Toolbox
12:00 Windows Home Server Blog, re-sizing partitions
13:05 One Voice: Media Center Communicator - Download a free trial
14:22 Welcome to Andrew
14:58 Getting in to Media Center development
18:54 Media Center box selling
19:00 MoreTV
22:41 What is "TV Library"
26:00 Creating your own meta data
28:12 Viewing Recorded TV
29:54 Recorded TV Manager, DVRMStoolbox
32:00 Developing Media Center applications
34:00 Branding v looking like a Windows Media Center
38:29 Selling applications
38:55 Beta Download, forum links
40:39 MediaCenterSandbox.com
46:00 The show will be taking a week off, back September 6th!

Music by Ian Dixon

Technorati tags: Windows Media Center, podcasts

Nial has posted an update on Big Screen Headlines 2 an RSS reader for Vista Media Center. It is a great application for reading RSS feeds, listening to Podcast and watching videos. The blog post has some details of the new version and some nice screen shots, Nial will be on The Media Center Show in a few weeks to talk about his applications

A quick summary of (some) of the major enhancements include (see screenshots below for more examples) :

• Brand new UI system. Most notably - the new 4 way main menu (XBox360 dashboard style) allowing quicker access to content.
• Enhanced article display /parsing of HTML content - allowing for viewing articles as they were originally intended with new support for embedded images (where various images are contained within the article text.).
• Enhanced parsing of RSS Feeds and new extensions (ie RSS Media, Atom,  iTunes, iPhotos etc etc) - with display/extraction of things like thumbnails, comments, ratings etc.
• Enhanced viewing/filtering/sorting/grouping when viewing of Feeds/Lists of feeds - including several sort types, forward/reverse ordering - plus ability to alter text sizes (for low/high res screens) and change the view style (ie change how big items are and whether you just see headlines or they expand to reveal more information when highlighted).
• Support for dynamic OPML 2.0 includes - which means you can point to OPML files from inside the presets rather than hardcoded RSS URL's. This feature works a treat for places like TheDigitalLifestyle.com who publish an OPML file (containing all the podcasts, blogs and video feeds they have) and regularly add (and remove) their available feeds. (so you don't need to worry about managing each individual feed). You can also point to a local OPML file (which might be regularly updated from your rss reader on another machine).
• Direct access to latest Subscribed feed items (as a whole) from main menu (so you can see latest news items from main menu without viewing any feeds)
• View Comments feeds from News Items
• Lots of new preset feeds / opml links for better updating of available content.
• Quick and Easy Export Subscribed Feeds into an OPML file (so it can be used when in Extender mode).

Big Screen Blog: Work In Progress : Big Screen Headlines 2

Microsoft are touring the UK showing off some of the fun side of Windows Vista to IT professionals by looking at Media Center, Sideshow, Windows Home Server, Xbox 360 and other things. The events are run in the evening and include food and refreshments. One of the locations will be Manchester so I will definitely be going along, hopefully Microsoft's James Senior will be giving away a copy of my book "Using Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center" so look out for that. If you going let me know and come and say hello, I will have my podcasting kit with me :)

According to James this is what will be on:

• Windows Vista
  • Search - new and improved!
  • Photography - new and improved!
  • Movie and DVD Making
  • SideShow - new devices!
  • Sidebar - new gadgets!
  • Media Center - new apps!

Watch the video in HQ WMV

It's been a while since I did any videos, so here is the first of a couple I have coming out.
This show looks at Sony's UX1 UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC). All my videos are posted on TheDigitalLifestyle.com had the video show has it's own RSS feed

It's a nice device with a 4.5" screen and slide out keyboard running  Windows Vista Business.
I didn't have much time to do the video so I shot down to a quite room at the office and captured this video, so the video is a little dark. Have a look at the UX1 in the photo gallery

• Watch the video in HQ WMV
• Watch via Youtube: Part 1 and Part 2
• Watch via MSN Soapbox Part 1 and Part 2

 
Video: The Digital Lifestyle.com Video Show #5 (Part 1)

 
Video: The Digital Lifestyle.com Video Show #5 Sony UX1 (Part2)

Specs:
Windows Vista Business
32GB Flash Drive
4.5" Screen
Fingerprint reader
Wifi & Bluetooth
2 x Cameras
486g

Retailing around £1500

Technorati tags: Sony, UX1, UMPC

The Show RSS Feed - Full Post

Olcay from MCEDEV sent me an email to let me know that beta 2 of TV Toolbox is out.

TV Toolbox is a 10 foot application for editing and converting your Recorded TV directly from Media Center

What did change since the last beta?
Fixed - Generated file name based on Dvr-ms Metadata was wrong.
Fixed - Settings: Added new option to dis- / enable TV-Strip Icon.
Fixed - Metadata migration failed in some cases.
Fixed - TV Toolbox hanged on start up. Media Center closed TV Toolbox because it wasn’t responding.
Fixed - List of recordings is created asynchronously to load UI while progressing.
Update - Windows Service optimized.
Update - "Recorded TV" like listing of recordings (grouping, thumbnails, etc).
Update - You can now create rule(s) to convert any recordings created by Media Center when keyword equals *.
Update - Several UI changes.
Update - TV Toolbox refreshes list of recordings when grouping changes or application (re-) starts.
Update - Globalization update done.
Update - Recordings on main page are now divided and grouped by date if "date recorded" grouping is selected.

I have a video review of the Sony UX1 I was sent for review out soon, so I have posted some pictures of it in the Photo Galleries. I must admit to taking a liking to the device, at first I couldn't get used to the small 4.5" screen but after a bit you do get used to it. What is also impressive is the speed of the device, it has a Intel Core Solo U1500 and I found it a lot quicker than the Samsung Q1, would I swap it for the Q1? find out in the video

I should have the video posted soon

Sony UX1 Pictures

Last week I got a review unit of Sony's XL301 Media Center PC complete with Blu-ray drive. I recorded a video review and in the review (out soon) in the video I said it was a shame that I had no Blu-ray film to try with it. So on Saturday I visited my local Blockbuster store to rent a Blu-ray film.

The first thing I noticed is that in terms of HD content Blockbuster only offer Blu-ray films and have no HD-DVD films. I have been thinking about getting a HD drive for a while and for me the best option would be a HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 but this now looks like it would be a waist of money as far as rental is concerned there is only Blu-ray, so to me this looks like the Blu-ray format has won (well in the UK)

HD-DVD can be better and cheaper but if the average consumer looks at their local Blockbuster and can only see Blu-ray then the that will be the format they go for. I can remember by parents having a Betamax video player and going to the video shops and watching the number of rental films drop from a parallel number with VHS down to non. So unless rental stores offer HD-DVD the war would be lost

As for my first thoughts on Blu-ray, I have to say I am impressed. The picture is fantastic, I had it connected up to my 50" Sony Bravia via HDMI and the audio via optical to my AV receiver for 5.1 sound

The film I rented was Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Mans Chest which is a great fun film. It was a great picture with vivid colours, I found the colours via the PC and HDMI were richer than the Xbox via VGA. You can tell it's a better picture than normal DVD but its not like going from VHS to DVD. I guess here is the problem, its great but only a little better than DVD and I guess that is why the uptake is going to be slow, it is not like the vast difference from VHS to DVD so consumers are in no rush to upgrade and when they do it will to a format that has good features and plenty of content which just going off my one visit to my local Blockbuster (Chorley UK) was Blu-ray

Look out for my video review of the Sony unit and Blu-ray soon

According to Chris Lanier S1Digital has become a Microsoft Direct OEM, this means that they can now offer CableCARD PC's. Only the larger OEMs are able to ship CableCARD so this is great news for S1 Digital. Their Media Center servers are excellent machines.

S1Digital Becomes Microsoft OEM; Shipping CableCARD Soon

I noticed today that one of my machines would not sign in to Skype. Well it turns out that Skype have a major problem at the moment, I noticed only 241,725 users online which is a lot less than the millions normally logged in to Skype.

I hate to think how much revenue they must be losing, and the disruption it is causing people that rely on Skype, which I have found normally very reliable

On Skype's blog they have some details:

UPDATED 14:02 GMT: Some of you may be having problems logging into Skype. Our engineering team has determined that it’s a software issue. We expect this to be resolved within 12 to 24 hours. Meanwhile, you can simply leave your Skype client running and as soon as the issue is resolved, you will be logged in. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Additionally, downloads of Skype have been temporarily disabled. We will make downloads available again as quickly as possible

By Ian Dixon (16.6mb 48mins 21sec)

Vote for the show on Podcast Alley

Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS

This week Microsoft MVP Richard Miller joins me to explain how to integrate Windows Home Server with Windows Media Center. We talk about how to use Windows Home Server to store and share Recorded TV and recap on some of the features of Windows Home Server.
The guides Richard talks about in the interview can be found HERE

I have email and blog comments (please keep them coming!), forum posts and news items

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks, email the show: Show [at] TheDigitallifestyle.com

Show Times:

00:48 Coming up this week
01:32 Email - Comments on last weeks show
04:34 Email - Extender Questions, how to share Recorded TV
06:53 Microsoft release The Performance and Reliability Pack and the Compatibility and Reliability Pack
08:06 Homeserver.com
09:32 Sony UX1 review coming soon
11:19 Vacancy for a Podcaster
12:06 One Voice: Media Center Communicator - Download a free trial
13:10 Welcome to Richard
13:40 Getting in to Windows Media Center
14:50 Getting in to Windows Home Server
17:00 Features of Windows Home Server
19:43 Remote Access
20:28 Storing Data
24:39 Hardware
27:00 How can we use Windows Home Server to store Recorded TV, more info HERE
32:17 DRM issues
33:14 Networking issues
35:06 Recording directly to Windows Home Server
40:38 I want an archive function
42:59 Webguide
44:10 Link to the forum post
44:50 Thanks to Richard
45:00 Keep the email coming!

Music by Ian Dixon

Technorati tags: Windows Media Center, podcasts

Just received a new unit to review. The Sony UX1XN is a neat UMPC, much smaller than I expected with a very clear 4.5" display it makes my Samsung Q1 look like a monster. In terms of performance the unit feels quick, I think its going to take some time to get used to the small screen but I am going to give it a go.

The only downside I can see at the moment is that pre-installed is Windows Vista Business Edition, so no Media Center

I am going to play with it over the weekend and do a proper review in the mean time checkout Sony's site for more details

Not sure I will be wearing it on my belt like this guy

As I mentioned last month I am looking to add another podcast to TheDigitalLifestyle.com to compliment The Media Center Show. It could be a show on Home Theater, or mobile devices. Anything that your passionate about.

So if your interested send me an email Ian [at] TheDigitalLifestyle.com and we can talk about the options.

If you using Windows Home Server for remote access (like I am) you will have seen that you get a domain name as part of the package. So you got examplename.Livenode.com and you could then browse your system on the web via that Dynamic DNS without having to have a static IP address.

Today over on the the Windows Home Server blog they announced that if you have a registered domain on livenode.com prior to August 3rd when you install the RTM version of Windows Home Server your domain will be transferred to HomeServer.com, as way of a thanks for the early testers, not that it makes much difference but still its a better domain name

More details HERE

Oh and I love my WHS, it is working great for me for Remote Access and backups

By Ian Dixon (23.1mb 1 Hour 9mins 1sec)

Direct Download Link  - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS

This week Digital Media Thoughts founder, blogger and Media Center enthusiast Jason Dunn joins me to talk about Windows Media Center, trouble with Album Art, Zune and why he scanned hundreds of album covers in to his system.

I have email and blog comments (please keep them coming!), forum posts and news items

The Media Center Show with Orb Networks, email the show: Show [at] TheDigitallifestyle.com

Show Times:

00:49 Coming up this week
01:26 Send in your email
01:36 Comments regarding V2 Extenders
02:48 What plugins can you not live with out, updated, see the comments and this forum thread
04:40 Case study  on Media Center's Showtime application
05:57 Squirrel Stash
07:59 Updated Windows Media Center SDK
09:30 One Voice: Media Center Communicator - Download a free trial
10:43 Welcome to Jason
11:20 Background on Jason
16:00 Pocket PC evolution Pocket PC Thoughts
20:11 Do UMPCs meet the hipe?
21:00 Getting started with Windows Media Center
25:13 Experiences with Vista Media Center
29:00 Performances Issues
31:40 Video drivers
34:22 Upgrading
38:45 Building your own PC v buying off the shelf
42:20 Album Art in Media Center
50:10 Scanning 750 CD covers!
56:51 Zune and album art
59:07 Zune
1:03:00 New Zune's coming?
1:05:51 Thanks to Jason

Music by Ian Dixon

Technorati tags: Windows Media Center, podcasts

Microsoft have released two update packs for Windows Vista.The Performance and Reliability Pack the Compatibility and Reliability Pack

This two update packs were released to beta testers a couple of weeks ago and I have been running with them since last week and can say I have not noticed any changes at all.

Have a look at Microsoft's site for more details on the update. I can't see any specific issues for Media Center but some things like faster resume from Hibernate will be nice to have (having said that I can't see any change in resume time on my machine)

eHomeUpgrade has details of a new remote for Vista from Keyspan. The difference with this remote is that it's RF (Radio Frequency) rather than IR (Infrared) which means you do not have to have line of site with the receiver for the remote to operate, which would be great if you have your PC tucked away out of sight.

At only $49 it's not to expensive