Chris Lanier

The Media Center Show #39 - Awards

The Media Center Show #39 | 29th December 2005 (1hour 19mins 50secs) MP3 - 27.4MB (Download Here)

This week Ian Dixon hosted The Media Center Award Show with Thomas Hawk.  Both of them review the winners and have some special guests joining them (including me!).  A big thanks to Orb Networks for supporting the awards and supporting the show in 2005.

Now, for the two that I covered....

Winner - Best Enthusiasts Media Center Blog

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Media Show Awards!  I’m happy to say that my blog won the award for “Best Enthusiast Media Center Blog”.  I would like to thank Thomas Hawk, Ed Bott, and Tim Coyle for also running great blogs.  Since we all pick up so many different posts from each other (part of what blogging is all about), no one would have been able to win this award without all of us blogging!  Thank you to all won voted and to the excellent competition in this specific category.

Winner – Best Community Resource

Again, thanks to everyone who voted in the Media Show Awards!  I’m very happy to say that The Green Button has won the award for “Best Community Resource”.  I know that we have had some apparent issues that need to be fixed, and I promise that 2006 will bring a much need upgrade to The Green Button.  Thank you for everyone who voted in the Media Center Show Awards and thanks to all the competition.

The Media Center Show #38

The Media Center Show #38 | 22nd December 2005 (1hour 0mins 48secs) MP3 - 20.8MB (Download Here)

This week Ian Dixon talked with Duncan Rae about how he fitted Windows Media Center in a car, along with info on the Media Center Show Party at CES (and your invited)!

Also, another chance to win MCE Sudoku and some winners from last weeks show.

Online Petition for Xbox 360 DivX Support

Online Petition for Xbox 360 DivX Support | “…There are also plenty of DVD/DivX players currently for sale on the market. Why should the Xbox 360, potentially the hub of our home entertainment centers lack this vital link the chain?...”

Sign the Petition Here

ExtremeTech Looks at Media Center Online Spotlight

Windows XP Media Center Online Apps (Via Mary Jo Foley) | ExtremeTech takes a look at the handful of Windows Media Center Edition Online Spotlight applications.  Their take? It's a mixed bag. Some are great; some are less so.

ExtremeTech Final Thoughts: “The Windows Media Center team needs to take some hints from the Xbox Live experience, and enforce some user interface and system integration standards. While some applications and content delivery schemes worked just fine, others were tedious to install and more difficult to use than they needed to be. Some didn't work at all.”

Did Media Center Flop In 2005?

Last year, Phillip Swann said Media Center would be the Biggest Flop of 2005.  While Phillip is will maintaining is “Predictions”, he is dead wrong.  Phillip says “Some might argue, but sales of the convergence PC has disappointed even its makers.”  I’m laughing at Phillip right now, as I usually am.

Let’s take a look back at Media Center in 2005, and took ahead to Media Center in 2006/2007.

According to Current Analysis, 43% of all PCs for the week ending August 20, 2005 (Four Month Ago) where Media Center-based PCs.  While 71% of the PCs shipped without a TV Tuner, Media Center will be shipped on nearly 50% of all PCs by year-end.  Now, the question is did Media Center Flop In 2005?  The answer is clearly no, it’s being shipped on nearly 50% of all PCs.  In addition, 130 PC manufacturers and more than 7,000 system builders shipping Media Center 2005 PCs.  I’m not sure how Philip sees this as “disappointing to their makers”, but he might actually want to talk to the manufacturers of PCs (or look at the facts) before saying that sales of the PCs have been disappointing.  I’m not saying Media Center PCs were the greatest success of 2005, however they didn’t flop.  It would have been nice to see 71% of the machines ship with a TV Tuner, however if you look back at Phillips he said “the vast majority of Americans will never -- I will repeat that -- never think of the PC as an entertainment device.”  It’s time to explore quote for a second time.

Last year I covered why the average consumer does indeed see the PC as an entertainment device, this year I’m only going to link to a few new technologies that will allow the average consumer to use their PC as even more of an entertainment device.  Intel Viiv-based PCs and the Xbox 360.  Both of these, mixed with several other technologies and devices will make consumers see the PC as more of an entertainment device.

Now quickly to 2007, one word says it all: CableCARD!!

WMP Tag Support Extender (FLAC, APE, and Vorbis Metadata)

WMP Tag Support Extender | WMP Tag Support Extender expand support of artist, title, etc. ("metatags") information in Windows Media Player.

It adds support of APE tag format (read & write), FLAC MetaData (read & write), and OGG Vorbis Comments (read-only).

You can then extract the information save in your files and modify it directly in Media Library.

No need to use an external program, you manage your library with just ONE tool !

It supports :
- Monkey's audio (*.ape)
- MusePack (*.mpc)
- WavPack (*.wv)
- OptimFROG (*.ofr)
- FLAC (*.flac)
- Vorbis Comments (*.ogg) <- READ-ONLY

Download Here

Media Center Show Party at CES 2006

Media Center Show Party and Geek Get Together at CES! | Ian Dixon and Orb Networks have a party planned at CES, if you are going to be in town get in contact with Ian!

On a side note, anyone with a few free tickets to CES, send them my way. :)

Thinking About On-The-Fly DivX to WMV9 Transcoding

I’ve been thinking about a solution to transcoding DivX to WMV9 for streaming to Extenders.  I’ve come up with a few problems in the design using current hardware & software.  The first is that one-pass encoding is all that could be done, you really can’t do two-pass encoding.  This isn’t a deal breaking, but would mean a lower quality streaming once transcoding.  For SD material, I don’t think this would be a huge problem, although I haven’t done any comparison testing.  I would think anything above 720x480 would be out-of-the-question for on-the-fly transcoding to WMV9.

The second issue might be a deal breaker.  I can’t really find any evidence that the video is passed through DirectShow before it being put out on-the-wire.  What this means is that a transcoding solution using DirectShow would never work using ‘My Videos’.  It does however mean that if Brian could add support to ‘My Movies’ for the video to be passed to DirectShow first, then a transcoding solution might just work.  Maybe Stephen Toub could be of some assistance in creating a solution.

Anyone have other thoughts or any DirectShow/Media Center Developers who could let me know if the idea would even be possible?

Xbox 360 Could Output 1080p?

1080p: A Card Up Microsoft's Sleeve? (HD Beat) | "ATI did clarify that although Microsoft isn't targeting 1080p (1920 x 1080) as a resolution for games, their GPU would be able to handle the resolution with 4X AA enabled at no performance penalty."

Hmmm.  So assuming that a Digital Output Dongle is coming, and assuming that you will be able to stream HD-DVD Managed Copies to an Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 still would still add up to Why Microsoft is Still My Choice to Win Your Living Room.  Even better if we will be able to stream Managed Copies to the Xbox 360 with it outputting at 1080p, the Xbox would most likely be one of the first sources for a “player” that would output HD-DVD in progressive (1080p) and not interlaced (1080i)!  This is very interesting, but it still looks like another year or so before we find out since that’s likely the first time we would see a Digital Output Dongle for streaming HDTV recorded via a CableCARD!  Or, another possibility is that Microsoft could release an add-on external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360.  This gives the ability to use the 360 for HD-DVD's, and no need for a re-release of the console to add the functions.

Mobius 2005: Portable Media Center v2.0

Mobius 2005: Portable Media Center v2.0 | “According to Pete Bernard, Group Manager, Portable Media Centers represent the "tip of the sword" – most of the innovations that Microsoft is creating around media comes from this type of device, and the enhancements make their way down to Pocket PCs and Smartphones. For the next generation of PMCs, they focused on several things: making the devices cheaper, giving consumers more choice through giving the OEMs options for differentiation (FM tuners, recording radio, PVR functionality, DVB-H tuners, more CODECS, etc.), making the devices better photography companions, ensuring that the devices look better (improved industrial design), and focusing on content – enabling premium video content, and creating a single content portal to drive consumers to the content they want for their devices. That's a big list - I wonder how they did at achieving all those items?

New devices will have user interface extensions that allow OEMs to add new menu items. OEMs will also be able to distribute new CODEC support via Flash ROM updates. This is a great update, because it means that even though Microsoft isn't shipping a DivX CODEC on the device, if Creative Labs wants to, they could – and after the fact at that. The lack of popular video codec support is a huge issue with these devices, so this helps address that.”

Read More

The Media Center Show #37

The Media Center Show #37 | 15th December 2005 (1hour 1mins 55secs) MP3 - 21.2MB (Download Here)

This week Ian Dixon talked with Marty Holloway from simplifidigital.com, a company specializing in high quality audio amps for Windows Media Center.

Also an interview with Cathy Page from KMS Software about some of there fun products for Media Center including World Trivia and MCE Sudoku.  KMS Software also brings 10 copies of MCE Sudoku to give away!

And if that still was not enough, Ian McCarthy from Orb joins Ian to talk about V4S - free voicemail for Skype!

DVR2WMV w/ NVIDIA's Decoders Doesn't Work After Update Rollup 2

For reasons unknown to me, NVIDIA's PureVideo DVD Decoder doesn’t want to work with DVR2WMV after the install of Update Rollup 2.  The solution is to install either WinDVD or PowerDVD.  After you install other decoders then NVIDIA’s, open DVR2WMV Standalone and click Options | Choose Preferred Decoders.  Select either WinDVD’s or PowerDVD’s decoders.

After installing any other MPEG-2 decoder (WinDVD/PowerDVD), make sure you run the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility and set whatever decoder you want to actually be used within Media Center.

The Green Button Helpful Threads Index Updated

The Most Helpful Threads/Links on The Green Button page has been updated with new links and information.  Enjoy

Media Center Sandbox Covers Platform Development

Charlie Owen has posted details on what exactly the Media Center Sandbox will be on Media Center Sandbox Blog.  He says…

Media Center for Windows Vista will deliver three ways of developing third party experiences which run in Media Center and leverage the remote control.

With Aaron Stebner moving over to our platform team (more on that from him later) there are at least three Media Center platform team members blogging now. We expect that number to grow over the coming year.

With three development paradigms and (at least) three bloggers things could get complicated fast.

We want you to have a single place to subscribe or visit to get solid technical information about our platform moving forward. Hence the quiet launch of http://blog.mediacentersandbox.com.

Aaron and I will be posting Media Center designer / developer technical information here instead of on our personal blogs. Our personal blogs aren't going away -- you'll simply find editorial or non-Media Center related technical posts on them.

I also want to say your feedback here and here in no small way guided our decision to create this resource. So keep the comments coming. The Sandbox will evolve over time in response to it's readers and subscribers.

Finally: We have some *new* platform information coming next week -- stay tuned here. Santa is coming a day or two early this year to Media Center designers and developers.

Charlie

Okoro Media Systems Introduces ATI X1800 Based Media Systems

Okoro Media Systems is proud to announce the release of our two new models, the CS400 and the updated TH550 featuring ATI Radeon X1800 Graphics Technology. The new 512MB Radeon® X1800 XT will provide the visual and performance possibilities that our customers have asked for. To keep our gaming customers happy, you get ultimate gaming performance and image quality, with an advanced ultra-threaded 3D architecture, an efficient memory controller and Shader Model 3.0, all enabled by ATI's advanced 90 nanometer GPU process. The high definition image quality is enhanced with ATI's revolutionary new Avivo video and display technology. This allows our media system to create vibrant colors, ultra sharp images, true-to-life image reproduction, and the smoothest HD video playback ever offered by ATI.

Christopher Curry VP of Sales says "Providing high end video for these models keeps with our company's doctrine of providing the highest quality cutting edge technology in our HTPC's. These systems will exceed the high end video quality demands of videophiles and impress the hardcore gamers with its graphics performance."

The TH550 and CS400 also feature Dolby Digital Live technology for excellent home theater surround sound when connected to home entertainment systems. Plus, each system comes with a minimum 400GB hard drive capacity that can be upgraded to larger drive sizes if the costumer so desires.

For more information, visit www.okoromedia.com.

No DivX on Extenders, Ever!

Ian Dixon pointed to why the Xbox 360 most likely will never support DivX on The Media Center Show.  Major Nelson (aka Larry Hryb) said on his Podcast that “I don't know of any commercial disks... DVDs that are sold that are using the DivX codec. [..]People are using it to backup their DVDs, and I'm using backup in quotes... or some of the other folks are probably using it to share files and break a lot of copyright laws.”  Alexander Grundner picked up the news here.

I think that way to much is being put into DivX and “breaking copyright”.  Let me explain how DivX started and why WMV9 is being just as much as an underground codec as DivX once was/still is.

DivX started out as a hack of Microsoft’s MPEG4v3 codec.  MS MPEG4v3 was ever meant to allow encoding into an AVI container, only ASF.  This hack was used widely for “underground” encoding of commercial movies that then distributing them via P2P Networks, IRC, USENET, etc.  In 2000, DivXNetworks was formed and they released DivX 4 which was supposed to have been completely re-written so that is didn’t infringe on Microsoft’s codec.

Now, a large secret to many is that Microsoft’s WMV9 has “replaced” DivX as the pirates choice for many HD encodes.  People will capture HD from cable/satellite sources and use the WMV9 VCM to encode the content.  They will then demux the AC3 audio track from MPEG-2 Transport Stream, then mux the WMV9 and AC3 into an AVI container.  Crisp, clear, and high quality audio/video using Microsoft WMV9.

Not supporting DivX because no commercial content is sold encoding with it, is not a good reason to not support.  There is no real commercial content being sold encoded with WMV9 (a few exceptions here, now of which tackle the masses)  A good reason not to support it is the licensing fees to DivX Inc or the licensing fees to the MPEG LA/Via (or whoever licenses MPEG-4 now).

What Microsoft should do is open up the Xbox 360 to allow DivX Inc to write a decoder and then allow people to purchase and install them via the Xbox Live! Marketplace.  However, I can understand that the architecture of the Xbox 360 most likely doesn’t allow to easy implantation of third party video decoders.  Not everyone is going to want to purchase hardware that allows for transcoding of content to a DLNA Compliant format (WMV9/MPEG-2).  The Xbox 360 supports both MPEG-2 (DLNA Compliant format) and WMV9 (Optional DLNA Compliant format).  MPEG-4 is also DLNA Compliant, but like WMV9 either have to be supported in a DNLA Compliant device.

Here’s the fact of the matter, Microsoft’s Media Center Extenders, including first generation standalone devices (Linksys/HP), Xbox v1 Extender, and the Xbox 360 are all DLNA Compliant!  All of them support JPEG (Image Requirement), LPCM (Audio Requirement), and MPEG-2 (Video Requirement).  PCs are coming that will allow for transcoding of formats like DivX to DLNA Compliant Formats.

KMS Software Releases MCE Sudoku

KMS Software has released MCE Sudoku which is a logic and reasoning game that can be played via your Media Center remote control!  There is a screenshot below and don’t forget that Ian Dixon will have an interview with Cathy Page of KMS Software on the next Media Center Show.  There will also be 10 copies that will be given away!

Rocketboom Plug-In for Media Center

Rocketboom for Media Center | "Rocketboom is a three minute daily videoblog based in New York city. We cover and create a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to guirky internet culture. With a heavy emphasis on international arts, technology and weblod drama." is the way Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baron, the people behind rocketboom.com, describe rocketboom, and now you no longer have to sit behind a regular computer to watch it! Just install Rocketboom for Media Center, take place in our favorite position to watch TV and watch the latest news Amanda and Andrew have got for us.

Licensing Windows Media DRM

BusinessWeek Online: Just Let Us Play the Movie (eHomeUpgrade) | Here’s another post on Interoperable DRM Systems with Alexander Grundner saying: “…a step in the right direction would be as a simple as liberally licensing DRM technologies for use by third party developers and in return integrating their DRM into your systems (similar to the multi-codec compatibility we have in our audio/video players today), but will we ever see that day?”

Clearly the two largest players that these posts relate to are Microsoft and Apple.  Microsoft already does exactly what Alexander is wanting.  Everyone can learn more about licensing Windows Media DRM at the Licensing Windows Media DRM Technologies Homepage.  There is information on that page about licensing Windows Media DRM for use in all sorts of devices such as set-top boxes, portable audio/video devices, other mobile devices such as cell phones, and software.  There is also information about licensing Windows Media DRM to actually protect content to then distribute.

Microsoft has also been known to work with smaller software developers to enable their products to support Windows Media DRM.

Problems? Comments? Post Here