MEDIA VERSION OF WINDOWS XP
Someday, your home will have a centralized, computerized media
center that controls most all of your audio and video devices such as
your TV, music, pictures, videos, DVDs and more. Actually, a computer
will do that now. That's the basic Zen-like vision behind Microsoft's
Windows XP Media Center Edition. You have all the abilities of Windows
XP plus it controls your audio and video equipment.
Wait a minute. I can hear many of you saying that you can do all of
that right now with the current version of Windows XP using off the
shelf add-on components such as a TV tuner card. While that is
certainly true, adding all of that equipment, setup, configuring and
learning how to do everything can be a little intimidating. With
Windows XP Media Center Edition, all of that has already been done.
You simply plug in the computer and get started.
You should know that Windows XP Media Center Edition is not
available as a stand-alone software product at this time. That's
because the operating system only comes preinstalled on computer
systems that meet Microsoft's requirements to qualify as a Media
Center PC. A Media Center PC comes complete with a DVD player,
cable-ready TV tuner, networking connectivity, the ability to play mp3
files, display digital photos, video, and more. The Windows XP Media
Center Edition centralizes these abilities and allows you to control
all of them via one standardized, highly intuitive and consistent user
interface.
In addition to Media Center's friendly navigation and control
software, the entire Media Center can be controlled via a hand held
remote control. Looking much like any other ordinary television
remote, users can access, select and control all of the Media Center's
audio and video functions. For example, the remote's navigation
controls move the cursor between large on-screen selection buttons
that consistently look the same no matter what audio or video function
you are controlling. Direct access buttons launch any of the Media
Center's functions including My TV, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos,
Recorded TV, the daily updated Guide that lets you see up to two weeks
of TV programming, and DVD Menu. This constancy is a key factor in
using the Media Center. Anyone who has installed several third party
products on their computer knows how different the operation of each
piece of software can be from each other.
One very nice feature is the ability to directly record television
programs onto the PC's hard disk drive. This digital video recorder
ability is much like the TiVo and ReplayTV digital video recorders
that allow you to pause live TV programming, and record by selecting
from a grid that displays the names and times of TV shows. Programs
schedules are downloaded via the Media Center PC's internet
connection.
The idea behind the Windows XP Media Center Edition is that you
don't have to worry about one component not working with another one.
They all work with each other, they operate the same way and they are
all controlled by the same central command system, that being the
Windows XP Media Center Edition software. And if something does go
wrong, you have just one place to go to find out what is wrong and get
it fixed.
Currently, several PC manufacturers offer Media Center PCs
including Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba. There's even a blazingly fast
model available from Alienware, noted for their state-of-the-art
computers that push the speed threshold for gamers who must have the
fastest computers on the planet.
Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention one other thing. A Windows
XP Media Center Edition computer is still a computer that runs Windows
XP. A click of the button and you're back to the familiar Windows XP
desktop complete with the lower left screen corner Start button. Do
your word processing, run Office, or whatever. Click another button
and you're back to the Media Center software. Although no one computer
can be all things to everyone, Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center
Edition is certainly a move in that direction.
For more information and locations that carry the Media Center PC,
check Microsoft's web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter. |
