News

In-depth with the Windows 7 Media Center

By Nate Mook | Published October 28, 2008, 8:16 PM

If you're a Windows Media Center user, you don't want to miss an in-depth look at what changes are coming with Windows 7. Microsoft's Charlie Owen, who works on Media Center, goes through every new feature along with screenshots.

The new Media Center is available in the M3 build of Windows 7 that is being distributed at PDC. Some of the additions include: an on-screen keyboard, H.264 playback, bigger video thumbnails, Turbo Scroll for those with large libraries, and revamped photo capabilities. Windows 7 Media Center Keyboard

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

Owilliams
Oct 29, 2008 - 10:44 AM edited

I absolutely love the Vista version of Media Center, although I am waiting for it to support multi-monitor by not locking the mouse cursor into the application when running fullscreen on one monitor. Vista's Media Player cursor works fine, only Vista's Media Center has this issue.

An annoyance in an otherwise excellent application.

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
preinterpost
Oct 29, 2008 - 8:33 AM

- Keyboard: Already exists as an Accessibility utility consistently across all applications (fail)
- Turbo scroll: Yes! But why do I need to wait for a new OS for this 8-| (kinda score)
- The rest: Whatever... (ok...)

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
TomA102210
Oct 29, 2008 - 9:55 AM

Perhaps these things are for the rest of us who would like to see them in Media Center.

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
preinterpost
Oct 29, 2008 - 1:57 PM

Don't be too sure. MSFT are well known to target exclusively imaginary user groups.

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
frankwick
Oct 29, 2008 - 3:14 PM

The thumbnail went from great in MCE2005 to miniature in VMC. They need to find a compromise in MC7.

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
preinterpost
Oct 29, 2008 - 4:58 PM

Yeah, but come on. All of this stuff besides H.264 sounds like minor and cosmetic additions. They should decouple MC from the OS. What does this have to do with the operation of the computer..?

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
skapig
Oct 28, 2008 - 11:28 PM

Nothing huge revealed for those already running TV Pack 2008. Not that the UI improvements are a bad thing.

The one glaring problem brought by the TV Pack is the implementation of a name wtv format for recording, which managed to break a feature in the public API utilized by commercial skipping addons. We can pray that maybe MS has fixed the bug (if it wasn't deliberate).

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
CyberDoc999
Oct 28, 2008 - 10:45 PM

Move along..... nothing to see here......

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
frankwick
Oct 28, 2008 - 10:11 PM

Media Center is my favorite app of all time.

Score: 0

|
Post Reply
psycros
Oct 29, 2008 - 1:37 AM

Mine is a modded X-Box :)

Score: 0

|
Post Reply

Google Chrome 4: Yes, it's fast, but is it usable?

As Betanews readers have responded to our stories about Chrome's JavaScript superiority...Does that mean we'd actually use this browser? Well...

Video: Netflix on PlayStation 3

Netflix has come to the PlayStation 3 via Blu-ray and BD-Live.

Verizon Wireless launches new Android, Chocolate, and ruggedized phones

The lower-priced Eris joins the Droid, while the Chocolate gets a touchscreen and more music playback.

Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?

Fans of triple-digit surges in figures quoted by Betanews will love this one, as it appears Microsoft rediscovered how to pull off a software launch.

Myka announces its latest Linux-based 'net top box'

Myka's ION brings Boxee, XMBC, and much more to HDTVs.

What hath Mac wrought? A remembrance after a quarter-century

The reason there's a Macintosh today is not because of some brilliant flash of engineering genius, but because Apple had the audacity to learn from its mistakes.

Early build of Moblin 2.1 improves connectivity, but not device support

The Linux Foundation's Atom-centric OS yesterday received a major overhaul with the project release of Moblin 2.1 for netbooks and nettops.

The iPhone's China syndrome: Sales of 5,000 and climbing

There's actually a country where Apple's device is not a godsend, where sales can be measured in the dozens.

New European counterpart to FCC will ensure 'a more neutral net'

Late Thursday night, the ruling telecom administrators of the EU's member nations signed away their final authority to a new entity overseen by the EC.

Sophos study suggests Windows 7 UAC's default setting is self-defeating

Without any anti-virus installed, a Sophos test showed, User Account Control was only capable of thwarting just one malware package out of ten samples chosen.

Indiscreet tweet trips awareness of Web SSL vulnerability

A group of high-level security engineers had been making progress on thwarting a low-level threat to the Web, until somebody blurted it all out on Twitter.