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What is media center?

Microsoft’s windows media center is application software comes with Microsoft’s windows XP service pack 1 and runs on media center PCs. Windows Media Center

Media Center PC

A media center PC must contain a fast microprocessor in GHz or more, a hard disk according to your recordings, TV tuner cards and Video cards. Besides these basic components media center supports DVD playbacks and Digital Video cameras.

Media Center Installation

Manage the microprocessor described above and connect it to your suitable display (monitor, TV, projector, etc). Establish the interface through TV card so that it can serve for antenna, cable or satellite signals. Now install Microsoft’s windows XP 2005 including Service pack 1 with Media Center Edition (MCE) and launch MCE to enjoy its features.

Features

After launching MCE you see a gorgeous looking ON-screen user interface displaying the fields as play DVD, My TV, My Music, My Videos, My Pictures, settings along with minimize, restore and Exit options. User can interact through normal PC interfaces like mouse or keyboard or through a remote control. The remote contains the buttons as My TV, My videos, My music, My pictures, standard buttons like play, pause, rewind, forward for PVR features and a TV/Jump button for full screen view. Also remote can perform some functionalities of keyboard like select as ok/enter. MCE’s feature My TV provides complete TV functionality along with Personal Video Recording.

My TV

  • My TV allows you to pause live TV shows for an hour and watch it with forward and rewind capabilities. You can also record live TV shows or schedule recording using Electronic Program Guide (EPG). Moreover you can burn these recorded media onto DVD/VCD using DVD/VCD burner available in MCE 2005.
  • My TV supports recording from multiple channels simultaneously for both analogue and digital services.
  • The electronic Program Guide gets updated online and stored locally to be fast. Unlike TiVo it is completely free that is no subscription or updating or monthly service fee.
  • My TV also supports picture-by-picture display so you can watch multiple channels in the same window or browse EPG while program resumes in the background.
  • Searching options allows you to search through EPG by genre, actor, title or keywords. Also by using the new movie finder option you can search and schedule recording of your favorite movies.
  • Media Center Edition 2005 provides complete Live TV and Personal Video Recorder support for HDTV or DTV.

Media Center Other Features

The other common features include:

  • Play DVD: media center PCs have DVD decoder’s support allowing you to play DVD showing progress and other information. Also gives you on-screen cover display and chapter selection.
  • My Music allows you to make your own music library, create play lists, edit them or burn them on to CDs.
  • My Videos helps you to organize and play your favorite videos and supports common formats like avi, mpeg, wmv, and dat file formats.
  • My Pictures allows you to create and share picture albums. Also create slide shows, print photos or burn them to CDs.
  • My Radio provides online or FM radio with pause, rewind and forward functionalities for 30 minutes.