Sign in | Join | Help

RSS - Ian's Blog

RSS - All content

RSS - The Media Center Show

Subscribe via iTunes

Subscribe with Zune

mControl for Windows Media Center

September 2007 - Ian Dixon's Blog

Ian Dixon's Blog

Home
Contact

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

News

Follow me, Follow you - I am on Twitter http://twitter.com/isdixon

Site Links

Archives

Sort by: Most Recent | Most Viewed | Most Commented

The Windows Experience Blog on Internet TV Beta

Yesterday I was commenting on the Internet TV Beta launch and asked readers for their thoughts on it. Brandon LeBlanc commented on the my blog that he had reviewed Internet TV on his Windows Experience Blog . He has a look at the new beta, and he details...

Published Fri, Sep 28 2007 9:07 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Roundup of the Extender News

Just finished watching Joe Belfiore keynote from DigitalLife and most of the news from that has been published already. It was good to see the hardware Extenders in use, but it seems like the price point may be an issue for some people If you have a HP...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 5:15 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Internet TV for Media Center

Seeing as I won't be getting Microsoft's Internet TV anytime now as it's US only I watched Joe Belfiore keynote with interest when he demonstrated the new service. It goes live for USA users tomorrow morning (Friday) and judging it by the demo it looks...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 4:50 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Microsoft's Windows Media Center Extender pages get updated

As Joe Belfiore, VP of the eHome Division at Microsoft starts his keynote about Windows Media Center Extenders (watch it HERE ) Microsoft have updated their Media Center Extender page on Microsoft.com , the site now has details on how the Extenders can...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 4:26 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Drop The Box! - Support the quest for CableCARD in Canada

Peter Near has started a campaign to get try and get CableCARD or something like that introduced in to Canada.If you have Tivo or Media Center and want to get rid of your Set Top Box and live in Canada you need take a look at Peter's site Dropthebox.ca...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 3:37 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: None
The Media Center Show #124 - Microsoft on V2 Extenders

By Ian Dixon (14.3mb 41mins 36sec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS This week Hakan Olsson, Senior Marketing Manager for Windows Media Center joins me to talk about today's launch of the...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 12:53 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast
HP to introduce Media Smart TV's with Media Center Extender

Lots of news about Extenders out today, and one great announcement is that HP are joining the Media Center Extender party. Microsoft announced that the Extender technology will be incorporated in HP’s current line of MediaSmart high-definition televisions...

Published Thu, Sep 27 2007 9:15 AM by Ian Dixon
If your having problems with the Windows Home Server Connector

Yesterday I reported on an update for Windows Home Server and Richard Miller sent me an email about possible problems after installing the update. Once the update has been installed you have to update the connector software and Richard points out that...

Published Wed, Sep 26 2007 5:31 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Home Server
Pictures of the new Linksys Media Center Extenders

Plenty of Extender news out tomorrow, the official announcements of the v2 extenders, a live keynote from Digital Life and this weeks Media Center Show is all about Extenders. EngadgetHD have pictures and details of the new Linksys Extenders. It looks...

Published Wed, Sep 26 2007 3:43 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Tech.co.uk - new sponsors of TheDigitalLifestyle.com

I am please to be able to welcome Tech.co.uk as sponsors of TheDigitalLifestyle.com and The Media Center Show . Tech.co.uk is a great source for tech related reviews, blogs and news. They focus on computing,home entertainment and gadgets and I hope to...

Published Wed, Sep 26 2007 3:08 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Media Center Show
Watch Joe Belfiore’s keynote address from Digital Life

Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of Entertainment and Devices eHome Division at Microsoft will be giving a keynote at Digitalife 2007 where Microsoft will be reveling more details on the V2 Media Center Extenders and the new beta Internet TV Service...

Published Tue, Sep 25 2007 8:34 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Windows Vista SP1

I just downloaded and installed Windows Vista SP1 beta, at just over 600mb it's not a small download. I kicked the install off and about 40 minutes later my test box rebooted for the first time. It processed the update for about another 10 minutes, then...

Published Tue, Sep 25 2007 3:36 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Vista
Windows Home Server News

It looks like Microsoft have the first batch of updates for Windows Home Server coming out soon, all via Windows Update. I must admit since getting the release version installed I hardly ever touch my Windows Home Server, it all just takes care of it...

Published Tue, Sep 25 2007 9:29 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Home Server
Brian Frost's guide to converting DVR-MS files to MP3 for iTunes

I record a lot of radio shows that are broadcast over the digital TV services (e.g. BBC 6Music) and of course Media Center records them as DVR-MS files, so to listen to them on a mp3 player you need to strip the audio out of the file. Brian Frost has...

Published Mon, Sep 24 2007 9:45 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Charlie Owen talks Media Center Development on Hanselminutes

On Scott Hanselman's podcast Hanselminutes 82 , Charlie Owen talks about Media Center development, and from listening to the show Scott seams very impressed with Media Center Markup Language and sounds like the chat with Charlie is going to inspire Scott...

Published Mon, Sep 24 2007 9:35 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Details on Life|ware's Quad-CableCARD Media Server

Engadget has details of Life|ware's Quad-CableCARD Media Servers, there are two units offered "which packs a quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, 4GB of RAM, 4TB of hard drive space in a RAID 5 array," and a slightly lower spec LMS-654...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2007 1:44 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Vista After Hours Event last night and how people are blown away with Media Cneter

Last night I went to Microsoft's Vista After Hours event in Manchester. It was an evening event aimed at IT Pros (a few had attended the Tech Net day event that the Vista event piggybacked on to) and highlighted some of the consumer features of Windows...

Published Fri, Sep 21 2007 9:40 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
The Media Center Show #123 - Life|ware

The Media Center Show #123 - Life|ware By Ian Dixon (14.3mb 41mins 36sec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS This week Mike Seamons from Life|ware joins me to talk about the changes to Life...

Published Thu, Sep 20 2007 12:45 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast
New project from Steven Harding - Addinistrator

Steven Harding has started a new open source project to try and solve a issue that developers have when deploying and maintaining a Media Center project. This is the problem of having to leave the 10 foot interface to get the application installed or...

Published Tue, Sep 18 2007 2:14 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
The Digital Lifestyle.com Video Show #8 - Omaura TF8

Watch this video in HQ WMV (I am testing a download service from Blip.tv so let me know if you have any problems) Subscribe to The Digital Lifestyle.com Video Show Specialtech.co.uk sent me a Omaura TF8 Home Theatre PC chassis to look at, and it was interesting...

Published Tue, Sep 18 2007 9:31 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: None
Win: Copy of Using Vista Media Center book

James Senior on his blog is giving away a copy of my book "Using Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center" (co-written with Tony Campbell). James is partof the team running the Vista After Hours events coming up over the next few weeks where he...

Published Mon, Sep 17 2007 10:27 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: None
Sean Alexander - Falling back in love with Vista Media Center

Sean used to be the Group Product Manager for Media Center back in 2005 but since has moved on to different teams and moved away for using Media Center. He has a nice post up today on how he has switched back to Media Center with CableCard. At first I...

Published Fri, Sep 14 2007 3:11 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Download mControl 2.0 Free Trial from the downloads section

I blogged on Thursday that Embedded Automation have released version 2.0 of mControl their Home Automation package for Windows Media Center. This is a full Vista Media Center version of mControl and they have added support for hundreds more devices to...

Published Fri, Sep 14 2007 10:50 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Steven Harding - Community Dev Expert

Congratulations to Steven Harding, also known as IgnoranceIsBliss on becoming a Community Dev Expert over on MediaCenterSandbox.com . Steven makes a fantastic contribution to the Media Center developer community and it is great to see him getting recognition...

Published Fri, Sep 14 2007 8:07 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
The Media Center Show #122 - CEDIA News and Email

By Ian Dixon (14.3mb 41mins 36sec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS There was a lot of news around this week from CEDIA and I had a heap of email so there is no interview on the the show...

Published Thu, Sep 13 2007 12:00 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast
What has happened to Windows Live for TV?

Back in October last year Microsoft announced Windows Live for TV (code named Orbit , previously Nemo ), a 10 foot application for reading Windows Live Spaces, making calls and a 10 foot version of Windows Live Messenger. There was a lot of interest in...

Published Thu, Sep 13 2007 11:42 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Embedded Automation Releases mControl v2

Embedded Automation have released v2 of mControl , the home automation software for Windows Media Center. This is a great home automation package for Media Center and the new version is completely written in MCML (Media Center Markup Language) which means...

Published Wed, Sep 12 2007 10:36 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Get 10% off a Vidabox Wireless Remote Keyboard

If you liked the look of Vidabox's Wireless Remote Keyboard featured on my video review , you can now get 10% off the retail price of $69.99, Vidabox are offering 10% off for TheDigitalLifestyle.com readers, just head over to their store and use the discount...

Published Tue, Sep 11 2007 10:34 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
The DigitalLifestyle.com Video Show #7 - Vidabox Wireless Keyboard

Watch this video in HQ WMV - Get the Video Show RSS feed here Vidabox are known for the premium Media Center systems and in this video I take a look at their latest wireless keyboard. It's a lightweight remote keyboard with trackball (800dpi) and is very...

Published Mon, Sep 10 2007 4:56 PM by Ian Dixon
BBC on Xbox Live?

I hope this does come off, according to Digital Spy, Microsoft are talking to the BBC about bringing BBC content to Xbox Live, it would be great to get video content down via Xbox Live, in the UK we are seriously missing out on TV content via Xbox Live...

Published Mon, Sep 10 2007 2:17 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Recording Problems Fixed and now Media Center is 10x Faster!

As I reported over the weekend I have had a major problems with my Vista Media Center PC . Basically if I recorded anything it would stop recording after a couple of minutes then start again, the log was full or errors too ( see the original post for...

Published Mon, Sep 10 2007 2:09 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Major Recording Problems in my Media Center

My Vista Media Center has gone mad! I got home from work last night and Media Center had tried to record the same program 6 times, and reported a conflict in the event log that the TV program was causing a conflict with it's self, and the program had...

Published Sat, Sep 08 2007 9:10 AM by Ian Dixon
Details of Niveus' Media Center Extender with custom UI? - Updated

Updated: The pictures Engadget posted were of Niveus' Media Center Server not an Extender, the screen is their companion software and now they have updated the post to say the screen shots are of Niveus' touch screen and not the Extender Engadget have...

Published Fri, Sep 07 2007 12:28 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Media Center Extenders

As I mentioned in the CEDIA news post Microsoft have released some information on the next generation of Media Center Extenders and I thought it desired a post in it's own right. I have had quite a few emails from readers and listeners pointing out that...

Published Thu, Sep 06 2007 5:57 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
The Media Center Show #121 - Mark McCall

By Ian Dixon (16.9mb 1 hour 11mins 42sec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS After a week off, I am back with Mark McCall from AutomatedHome.com talking about Home Automation, the type of...

Published Thu, Sep 06 2007 12:13 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast
Integrating a UMPC with Windows Media Center

Have a look at this video from Casey Chesnut , he is developing an application to use a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) as a companion device to Windows Media Center. So you can use your UMPC to control your Media Center PC, surf TV channels, use it as a picture...

Published Thu, Sep 06 2007 10:07 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Media Center News from CEDIA

Wow lots of Media Center news in one day, and all just after I had finished getting this weeks show recorded Doh! First off Exceptional Innovation has announced a four tuner CableCARD solution at CEDIA, CE pro has all the details. CE Pro also had details...

Published Thu, Sep 06 2007 8:57 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Philips announces free TV Channel system for Windows Vista

I saw an interesting post on Bink.nu about a new development from Philips, they are going to be offering a free service for Vista that will learn users viewing preferences and then be able to create personalized channels complete with recommendations...

Published Wed, Sep 05 2007 3:54 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Coolroom comes to Media Center

Today Coolroom announced a new premium content channel on Media Center (I think its UK only at the moment) The application is a Vista Media Center application (with a XP version coming later) and will show up in the TV+Movies and Music sections of Online...

Published Tue, Sep 04 2007 1:51 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center
Back from my travels

There has been light posting over the last couple of weeks as I have been working away in Spain then took a break with family. When ever I travel I always take my Samsung Q1 with me and when traveling with work I take my Sony Vaio (VGN-FE11H) laptop which...

Published Mon, Sep 03 2007 5:03 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

(c) Ian Dixon 2008