January 2008 - Ian Dixon's Blog - The Digital Lifestyle.com: Windows Media Center news, podcasts, videos, forums and wikis

Bigscreenglobal.com + v2 products

Niall Ginsbourg has launched his new site http://bigscreenglobal.com and the public releases of Big Screen Photos v2 and Big Screen Weather v2 As I did with this weeks The Media Center Show next week I will be giving away a full copy Big Screen Photos...

Published Thu, Jan 31 2008 1:26 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

The Media Center Show #142 - Final CES Interviews

Listen here Here are the final set of interviews from CES. In the press lounge I sat down with James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel from jkOnTheRun and MobileTechRoundup , they cover the world of mobile tech and we chatted about Wimax, UMPCs, Mobile Internet...

Published Thu, Jan 31 2008 12:33 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast, The Media Center Show Awards

First Impressions of the Linksys Extender

Tonight I had my first play with Linksys's DMA2100 Media Center Extender, so here are my first impressions. I have been using an Xbox 360 as an extender for nearly two years now and am very happy with it so going to be hard for the new Extenders to match...

Published Thu, Jan 31 2008 12:29 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Extenders for Windows Media Center, Linksys

My Linksys Extenders have arrived

Having waited for for Media Center Extenders to come to the UK for years today two have arrived at once! Linksys have sent me a DMA2100 and DMA2200 for a review. So I plan on unboxing and recording my first impressions tonight. Is there anything...

Published Wed, Jan 30 2008 12:50 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Extenders for Windows Media Center, Linksys

Channel 10 video of Media Center and Life|Ware at CES

As I showed on this video and on last weeks Media Center Show Life|ware and Microsoft built three demo homes to show off Media Center, Home Automation and Life|ware at CES Channel 10 have have a video up showing Media Center and how it's integrated with...

Published Wed, Jan 30 2008 10:01 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, CES, Life|ware, Home Automation

DialKeys Gen2 beta download

As I have mentioned before I am a Samsung Q1 user and one program I never got work was Dialkey's (I wiped XP off and put Vista on) Today I watched a On10.net video showing off the new version which looks very nice, it has lots of addition features like...

Published Tue, Jan 29 2008 11:55 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: UMPC

Media Center Group Policy Tip

Aaron Stebner has posted an interesting tip on using Group Policy to control the availability of Media Center. I normal would not bother with Group policy on my blog as I leave that stuff to my day job but this is interesting as enabling the setting stops...

Published Tue, Jan 29 2008 10:34 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

Recorded TV Manager to help with Media Center and WHS integration?

As I blogged about here at the moment there is no easy way to link Media Center and Home server without some heavy config work. But according to Philip Churchill Windows Home Server blog Recorded TV Manager could be an answer. This is a addin for Windows...

Published Sun, Jan 27 2008 8:30 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Windows Home Server

New Blog: Media Center in Aviation and Marine

On TheDigitalLifestyle.com we have a new blog by Ray Casey of Arestar (R*) . The Media Center in Aviation and Marine blog will focus on Media Center in a Marine environment. There is a lot of potential for Media Center in this environment, with home automation...

Published Sat, Jan 26 2008 9:13 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Blogs, Home Automation, Marine

Microsoft's Bluray problem

Chris Lanier has an interesting post on the problem Media Center is going to have with HD content now HD-DVD looks in trouble. Read Chris' post for the details but it boils down to the fact that Microsoft has betted on HD-DVD and will not want to write...

Published Fri, Jan 25 2008 9:12 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Xbox

How do you integrate Windows Home Server and Windows Media Center in your home setup?

smicale in the forums asks how other uses are integrating Windows Home Server and Windows Media Center in their home setups. I am interested to hear how people are using the systems to distribute their content around their home. One of the problems with...

Published Fri, Jan 25 2008 5:24 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Windows Home Server

One For All Remote

Universal Remotes offer a way out of Remote Control hell so I thought I would try One For All's latest remote the Digital 12 (URC-7781). I was interested in this because of the Home Theatre Mode, more on that later. The first thing I did was set it up...

Published Thu, Jan 24 2008 10:07 PM by Ian Dixon

The Media Center Show #141 - NextGen Home and Extenders

By Ian Dixon (18mb 50mins 428ec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS At CES I visited the NextGen home ( see this video ), it was built to show off Media Center, Home Automation and...

Published Thu, Jan 24 2008 9:03 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Podcast, The Media Center Show, HP, Extenders for Windows Media Center, CES, Linksys, Life|ware

Video: Samsung Media Center Extender

This is a very short video looking at Samsung's Media Center Extender. Samsung's Extender only works with selected models of their TVs so I tried to find out some more information, and I managed to get quick chat with a PR guy on Samsung's booth. I wasn...

Published Tue, Jan 22 2008 1:48 PM by Ian Dixon

i-Mate Wireless Sideshow Photo Frame

I have been on the search for Sideshow devices having only managed to find a couple at CES. So when I had the chance to try i-Mate's wireless Photo frame with Sideshow I jumped at the chance. The device is an i-mate Momento 70 7-Inch Wireless Digital...

Published Sun, Jan 20 2008 9:50 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Sideshow

Video: Cutting Edge PC's Bluray / HD-DVD Media Center System

When I looked at Sony's Bluray Media Center System I thought the load time of Bluray movies was slow and that put me off it a little. So I was impressed with Cutting Edge PC'S new Media Center System on show at CES. In this video we look at HD-DVD and...

Published Fri, Jan 18 2008 1:18 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES

Video: Linksys Media Center Extender with Home Security

At CES Linksys where showing off their new Extenders and part of the demo was of home security using mControl from Embedded Automation. Say take a look at this video all running on an Extender showing off IP security cameras. There is a bit of flickering...

Published Thu, Jan 17 2008 2:38 PM by Ian Dixon

The Media Center Show #140 - CES Interviews

By Ian Dixon (18mb 53mins 40sec) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS Back with a full show after my CES trip and this is my first batch of interviews from CES. I have Todd Headrick from...

Published Thu, Jan 17 2008 12:55 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Podcast, Windows Home Server, The Media Center Show, CES

Video of HP at CES

At CES I interviewed Alex Thatcher from HP for the The Media Center Show . While I was there I recorded some video of HP's new Media Center Extender and their latest Media Center TV. In the video I show the user interface of HP's own MediaSmart software...

Published Wed, Jan 16 2008 5:22 PM by Ian Dixon

Ricavision Sideshow Remote (VAVE100)

I wasn't able to do a full video review as I would have liked, for some reason Ricavision would allow audio interviews and not video. You would think they want to show off their latest remotes! Anyway I did a sneak video of the remote and the interview...

Published Wed, Jan 16 2008 1:26 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES, Windows Sideshow, Ricavision

Microsoft Robotics Studio at CES

While everybody crowded around the Microsoft Surface demos I talked to Microsoft's Robotics team next to the Surface guys. They are doing some interesting stuff with Robotics and automation. Robotics Studio has a great visual tool for developing Robot...

Published Tue, Jan 15 2008 5:21 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES, Robotics

Control Media Center via macros

One of the interesting things I saw at CES was home automation linked to Media Center so thanks to Ted from Embedded Automation (more from him on future show) for sending me details of a new addin for mControl. Need to start a music playlist upon sunrise...

Published Tue, Jan 15 2008 8:52 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Home Automation

Fuze Media System at CES

While walking the floor with Richard Miller (a Windows Media Center MVP) we found Fuze Media's booth. They have an interesting whole home system that combines parts of Windows Media Center with some of there own code. It adds distributed audio and video...

Published Mon, Jan 14 2008 5:29 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, CES

Microsoft Surface at CES 2008

The biggest crowd as CES was around the Microsoft Surface demos. So I pushed through the crowd and grabbed some video. I liked the puzzle and the phone store demo. Later this year the tables should start showing up in T-Mobile stores in the US Watch via...

Published Mon, Jan 14 2008 7:06 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES, Microsoft Surface

BBC iPlayer with Media Center

I have been playing with the BBC iPlayer and I thought I would post my experiences with it and Media Center. First I think the BBC iPlayer is a great idea, being able to catch up with shows is a nice but who wants to watch TV on a PC monitor? So this...

Published Sun, Jan 13 2008 9:41 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

CES Photo Gallery

Samsung Extender for Windows Media Center Media Center was everywhere, here it was at the NextGen Home All in one PC's Sony UX running Media Center and Life|ware's Home Automation , as was the HP TouchSmart Transformers! D-link's...

Published Sun, Jan 13 2008 9:18 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES

News Roundup

I am back in the UK at last. To say I feel tried would be an understatement, I am knacked but that is CES for you, good job it's once a year! So before I get set for a couple of unplugged days, here are some items doing the rounds on the blogs Big Screen...

Published Sat, Jan 12 2008 10:44 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

Flight Delay

Thanks BMI , my flight back to Manchester has a nice 4 hour delay , good job I have the HP 2710p tablet and free wifi l am editing some of the interviews I have recorded this week and using the HP in tablet mode editing is easy and slate mode is much...

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 10:33 PM by Ian Dixon

Signing out from Las Vegas

It's been a hard week, but fun. My feet do not want to walk any further! So before I head out to the airport I thought I would give my final thoughts. While there was nothing that made a big splash there was a underlying trend towards connected devices...

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 5:35 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES

Show Us Your Home: Hakan Olsson Edition

This week I met up Microsoft's Hakan Olsson a senior product planner from the eHome team. I interviewed him and we talked Media Center Extenders, but I didn't know how much of a Media Center enthusiast he is. Checkout his home on the Channel 10 video...

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 5:24 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center

Media Center Show Dinner

My final night at CES was at The Media Center Show dinner. Paul from S1Digital arranged for a room at the buffet in the Paris hotel, where we sat down chatted had some good food and a modest amount of beer. Lots of people including myself were heading...

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 4:33 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: The Media Center Show, CES

The Media Center Show #139 - Live from CES

By Ian Dixon (4mb 10mins ) Vote for the show on Podcast Alley Direct Download Link - Subscribe via iTunes - Subscribe via RSS This is a short show summing up CES before I fly back to the UK. I have recorded a whole bunch of interviews and will start...

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 2:20 AM by Ian Dixon

Interviewing jkOnTheRun

This afternoon I interviews Kevin Tofel and James Kendrick from JKonTheRun , we chatted mobile tech news from CES and how Kevin and James were covering CES. James had a HTC Advantage which he was posting pictures live on to his blog, very cool stuff....

Published Thu, Jan 10 2008 1:42 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES

Cutting Edge PC's HD-DVD / Bluray Media Center

This afternoon I was introduced to Cutting Edge PC's , they where showing off their HD-DVD / Bluray Media Center PC, as you can tell from the picture it's a nice looking devices but what impressed me most is how seamlessly the HD content integrated with...

Published Wed, Jan 09 2008 11:07 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, CES

Life|ware launch entry Level Life|Media Server

Time for my first post of a CES press release, more details on the The Media Center Show as I interviewed Mike Seamans from Life|ware LIFE|WARE LAUNCHES THEIR FIRST ENTRY LEVEL LIFE|MEDIA SERVERS, INCLUDING the LMS-150 WITH DUAL CABLECARD TUNERS...

Published Wed, Jan 09 2008 10:52 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, CES

Video of The NextGen Home at CES

This is a sneek video I did while on the tour of the NextGen Home at CES yesterday. The tour takes you around a home all connected together with Home Automation from Life|ware, Media Center and Lutron lighting control. The home is staffed by actors each...

Published Wed, Jan 09 2008 6:23 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES, Life|ware

Linksys at CES, I think they get it

I have just come from a meeting with Paul McIntosh of Linksys and he showed me their range of Network devices. The first thing I noticed is that they seem to get digital lifestyle concept. Their new router is sleek and the built in Management Software...

Published Wed, Jan 09 2008 6:18 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Extenders for Windows Media Center, CES, Linksys

CES Day 3

OL I am getting tried now, 3 days of walking the halls and carrying my bag is getting to me, but it's worth it to see some of the cool stuff. Today I had a tour of Lifewares Next Gen Home. This is a simulated home setup to show off Home Automation, Lifeware...

Published Wed, Jan 09 2008 8:41 AM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Windows Media Center, Extenders for Windows Media Center, CES

Clearing up the confusion on Samsung's new Extender

There seems to be some confusion over Samsung's new Media Center Extender and what TV's it will work with, on the Microsoft and Samsung's stand they were not 100% clear. This morning I interviewed Hakan Olsson from the eHome team at Microsoft and he cleared...

Published Tue, Jan 08 2008 6:00 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: Extenders for Windows Media Center, CES

Microsoft Robotics Studio

I have just come from a demo of Microsoft Robotics Studio , you may think "What has this to do with The Digital Lifestyle" well for developers I think it could mean a lot. It's not just fun toys, it is a proper development platform for...

Published Tue, Jan 08 2008 5:51 PM by Ian Dixon

Filed under: CES

January 2008 - Ian Dixon's Blog

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