Chris Lanier's Blog

I'm a Microsoft Certified Professional!

Still kind of busy right now, but I just passed my MCP exam 20 minutes ago!

Time Travel Now Possible In Media Center?!?

Stephen Toub does it again! | Stephen Toub has another great Media Center article to add to his Fun with DVR-MS offering.  His latest being Time Travel with Windows XP Media Center.

The Media Center Show #5

The Media Center Show #5 | 21st April 2005 (38min 12sec) MP3 - 19.4MB

This week I (Ian Dixon) talked to Dean Weber CEO of One Voice Technologies makees of Media Center Communicator a very cool voice control system for Windows Media Center ( I talked about it in my blog).  We talked about Communicator, Media Center, Voice control systems and Harry Potter DVD’s!

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Create DVD Update

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Create DVD Update | The Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Create DVD Update enables increased reliability when creating a video DVD using recorded TV files (.dvr-ms).

Quick Info
File Name: Q894553_xpmce_sp2_x86_us.exe
Download Size: 2163 KB
Date Published: 4/20/2005
Version: 1

Overview
The Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Create DVD Update enables increased reliability when creating a video DVD using recorded TV files (.dvr-ms).

This update has the greatest impact for users who create DVDs using TV recorded from a PAL broadcast but is also recommended for users with an NTSC broadcast.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Media Center Edition

Note: This update is only needed for Media Center PCs that support Create CD/DVD. If the Create CD/DVD option is not available in Media Center, please contact your computer hardware manufacturer for more information.

The F-Stop Blues Interviews Me (and others)

Site Feed of the Day: Chris Lanier | I recently did an interview for Tim Coyle and his blog The F-Stop Blues.  Tim covers many of the same subjects as I do and has had a number of great articles, guides, and reviews that compare and contrast services or products related to digital media.

Be sure to check out Thomas Hawk's interview also!

Updates:

Interview with Peter Near

Interview with Ed Bott

New Version of My Netflix Available

My Netflix for Media Center | Ryan Hurst has released a new version of My Netflix for Media Center.  Changes below….

• New MCE Look And Feel
• Slightly better performance
• Support for Extenders
• Support for 16x9 displays
• Minor bug fixes

NAB Needs RSS!

NAB2005 Daily News Online | Kind of annoying that the National Association of Broadcasters doesn’t have an RSS feed for their Daily News Online feature.  An interesting quote from the About NAB section is "NAB works to keep our members out front on policy issues, technology and management trends”.  Apparently this doesn’t extend past broadcasting to the web. :(

Why I Wanted To Be At NAB2005

So, I said a few days ago that NAB2005 kicked off today.  Here's part of what I missed out on.  :-(

Microsoft Launches Global Campaign Inspiring People to "Start Something" With Windows XP

Warner Bros. Studios and Microsoft Collaborate to Release HD DVD Titles Using Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1)

Industry Leaders Embrace Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) and Windows Platform to Reinvent Broadcast Distribution and Media Creation

Microsoft Connected Services Framework Solution Deployed at Sony Pictures Entertainment

Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) Powering the High-Definition Revolution With Broad Industry Support

THX and Microsoft Announce THX Best Practices Laboratory for Windows Media

Crown Castle Mobile Media Selects Windows Media and Windows Media DRM 10 to Deliver Live Television to Mobile Devices

GridIron and Microsoft Unveil GridIron X-Factor for Microsoft Windows Media Encoder

My Outlook For Media Center (and more!)

My Outlook from SAM-Consult Software | If you use Microsoft Outlook as your e-mail client/PIM then you might be interested in My Outlook.  My Outlook is a new plug-in that will enable you to read your emails, view your calendar, browse your Contacts, check your tasks and look up a notes within Media Center.

In addition check out My Web News which includes: My Web News, My Weather, My File Manager, My Special Folders, My Menu Editor, My Music, My Translation, and My Outlook!  Damn!

Meedio Has 200 Media Center Plug-ins! Special Promotion To Celebrate

Meedio Celebrates 200 Media Center Plugins With Massive Price Promotion | Meedio (formally known as myHTPC) now has 200 plug-ins and has cut the price of Meedio Essentials down to $20 until the end of this month.  That's a hell of a deal from the normal $60 price tag.  Check it out!

I also just noticed that Meedio's headquarters are 10 minutes away from my parents house in Houston.  I might have seen some of the Meedio guys around and never known it!

Thomas Hawk's Dinner With Allchin

My Dinner With Microsoft's Jim Allchin | Thomas Hawk got the interesting chance to have dinner with Jim Allchin, Evan Williams, Adam Hertz, Doug Kaye, Gabe Rivera, and Bob Wyman.  Check out his write up where topics from Longhorn to Media Center were discussed. 

You guys need to make a trip down to Texas or I need to move up that way, so I can get in on some of this action!

mceAuction: eBay on Your MCE v1.0 Released

mceAuction | Christoph has also finsihed up the first final release of mceAuction which will allow you to do just about everything you could do with ebay.com via your remote inside of Media Center.  It is now an official "eBay compatible application" and donations are needed in order to keep the program free and alive.  If Christoph can't get enough to cover the money he has to pay to eBay, the plug-in will stop working.