Chris Lanier's Blog : Plug-ins

Short Bits: Power DVD, Sage TV, Updates

chrisl — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:30:00 GMT

Engadget HD got some shots of PowerDVD 9, or rather what we now know is the extent of the "native” Media Center Blu-ray integration announced CES. Native is a bit of a stretch as I figured it might be. Instead of native playback we now have a native MCML UI that launches PowerDVD (a la Play Movie, TotalMedia, etc). It’s a start, I guess. I’m not really that impressed with what is being offered. On the plus side, word is video decoding is pretty top notch which is good to hear.

If I can ever find time I’ve got to do an in-depth Sage TV review. Why? Because not only have I been impressed with them more and more over the past year but they have also just added Blu-ray streaming to their Extenders. That’s a huge step forward that a lot of people are looking for.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, Media Browser is one of my favorite new plug-ins. I don’t do a lot with ripped DVDs, but an add-in that automatically finds cover art and metadata about my ripped content without me doing a single thing is a beautiful thing (did it just based on folder names).

Microsoft released the February update for Media Center a few weeks ago. Big item here is a fix for CableCARD machines that was introduced way back in October.

February 2009 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista

February 2009 Cumulative Update for Media Center TV Pack for Windows Vista

Short Bits: SideShow Remote, Big Screen Savings, Video Testimonial Program, More

chrisl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:44:00 GMT

Ricavision is officially dead now, but Phillips is sort-of taking their place with the SRM7500 SideShow Remote. Hardly the eye candy that the Ricavision was, but at least it is shipping with a much lower price tag. Clear downside here is the screen which will limit functionality.

The Holidays are here and that means deals for you on Media Center plug-ins. Up until January 15 you can save up to 40% off on Big Screen applications.

Speaking of deals, how about getting a free DV cam? Microsoft has launched their Media Center Consumer Video Testimonial Program at The Green Button (you need to be logged into your TGB account to see this). Microsoft will send you a $140 Flip Camera (not sure about model, but my guess is this one) for you to make a quick 2 minute video about your life using Media Center. You send them the video on CD/DVD along with the camera back, and they send you a brand new Flip Camera for you to keep!

NCTA says there are officially 374,000 CableCARDs deployed in third party devices (eg. TiVo, Media Center, HDTVs, etc). You can compare that to the 9.76 million CableCARDs deployed in the boxes leased by Cable Providers.

Microsoft Launches MSNBC News Beta

chrisl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:44:00 GMT

Today Microsoft officially launched their MSNBC News beta in Media Center to the world (err, I mean US and Canada). This was actually something that popped up on one of my beta machines a few months ago, but when I asked about it Microsoft said I wasn’t even supposed to have it, and thus I didn’t blog about it. Much like the Internet TV Beta, access the new application can be found on the TV + Movies strip.

Ian Dixon and Brandon LeBlanc have some screenshots up on their respective blogs. These out-of-band “feature” plug-ins might be Microsoft’s hope to keep the Media Center platform moving between Windows releases, so I’m hoping this isn’t the last one that we will see.

Access the latest U.S. Election 08 videos
Editor Picks and Most Popular videos, as selected by viewers
Five-day weather forecast for any zip code in the U.S.
Customize your own news video playlists
Ability to browse by category, such as Business, Sports, and Entertainment
Search for stories using keywords
Related videos for each story

Niveus Brings Unified Search To Windows Media Center

chrisl — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:28:00 GMT

Easily search through entire media catalogues and select Internet content utilizing the unified Niveus Search tool, now available for download.

Milpitas, CA – September 26, 2008 – Niveus Media, Inc. announces beta availability of the new unified Niveus Search, which enables easy retrieval of content accessible across the local network and Internet. The patent-pending Niveus Search offers Windows Vista ® Media Center users an easy-to-use, 10’ interface that provides an all encompassing scan of both the Media Center and Internet sources.

No longer do Media Center users have to scroll through lengthy catalogues trying to locate a certain movie, TV program, song, etc. Utilizing the unified Niveus Search yields visual results of the electronic program guide, recorded TV, music, photos, videos, and web-based content, from sources such as Netflix, Flickr, and Live365 Internet radio. Additionally, for the less decisive that aren’t sure what to watch or listen to, by entering keywords of interest, Search will return a number of related results from across its sources.

Accessing and using the Niveus Search tool is simple and can be easily accomplished with the use of only a remote control. By selecting “New Search” via the Search icon on the Windows Media Center strip, users can enter keywords with the remote control (T9) or the onscreen keypad. Search then reveals results in a compelling gallery, with cover art, movie posters, icons, pictures, or other supported visual formats. The user can then click play, slideshow, or schedule a recording based on the type of result(s) returned. Previous searches can be found through a Previous Searches icon on the Media Center menu.

Now available via the Niveus Software Labs webpage, Niveus Search is being released as beta for all Windows Vista Media Center users for an undetermined amount of time to gather feedback, field results, and suggestions. Niveus will continue to release improvements to Niveus Search beta via the Niveus Software Labs and intends to release a production version of Niveus Search to the Windows Media Center community when ready. Niveus Search will be supported by the user community in the new Niveus Software Labs Forum. A gallery of screenshots can be viewed through the Niveus Software Labs by selecting the screenshots tab.

For more information, please visit www.niveusmedia.com.

About Niveus Media

Founded in 2003, Silicon Valley based Niveus Media, Inc. manufactures award-winning media server hardware and software solutions, optimized to manage all HD entertainment in multi-zone applications. With the most advanced media servers, storage servers, proprietary software and service technologies, Niveus revolutionizes the aggregation, distribution, and enjoyment of today’s digital media.

Niveus Movie Library Goes Primetime!

chrisl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Version 1.5 is enriched to offer high-res cover art (including Blu-ray) and support for a wider catalogue of movie sources, such as disc-in-drive… and more!

Denver, CO – CEDIA Expo 2008 – September 4-7 – Booth #850 – Designed exclusively for Niveus Media customers, the Niveus Movie Library is a robust movie management tool that aggregates an entire movie collection into one distinct and intelligent interface. Upgraded to accommodate a growing number of movie sources, Niveus Movie Library 1.5 now features: disc-in-drive support; a 10’ interface for backing up movies to the Niveus Media Server; and expanded metadata with high resolution cover art (including Blu-ray!).

“Niveus Movie Library 1.5 represents the original vision of this product,” states Tim Cutting, CEO and Co-Founder, Niveus Media. “Coupling our new storage server, Cargo, with the enhanced Niveus Movie Library, our customers can now back up, download, store, and access their entire movie collection through the easy-to-use Niveus interface.”

In a 3U chassis designed for a/v rack-mount installation, the new Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition is capable of storing thousands of movies, in multiple formats. For the serious movie buffs, additional Cargo storage servers can be easily added to enable a modular upgrade path to the most flexible and powerful movie management system on the market.

Rather than having separate catalogues for multiple movie sources, Niveus sought to create a single, artful solution to engage movie enthusiasts and viewers. The slick style of Movie Library offers an encompassing display, rich cover art, and even a recommended movie feature; when one movie is selected a “You may also like” scrollbar at the bottom of the screen is enabled, displaying similar movies within the user’s collection.

Niveus Movie Library supports all possible movie formats including DVDs, Blu-ray Disc, recorded TV movies, WMV, VideoGiants, Amazon Unbox, and more.

With the combination of the latest Niveus Movie Library software and Cargo Edition, Niveus customers are offered the most encompassing movie experience.

Niveus Movie Library Version 1.5 is now available for download in the Niveus Software Labs, the hub for exclusive Niveus software updates.

For more information on Niveus Media, Inc., please visit www.niveusmedia.com.

Niveus Media @ CEDIA: Movie Library, 8 CableCARD, 10 Extenders, Home Server

chrisl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Niveus Movie Library Goes Primetime!

Version 1.5 is enriched to offer high-res cover art (including Blu-ray) and support for a wider catalogue of movie sources, such as disc-in-drive… and more!

Read Full Press Release

Niveus Supports Ten Extenders and Eight CableCARDs From One Niveus Media Server

Simultaneous HDTV viewing, recording, and distribution in up to eleven zones!

Denver, CO – CEDIA Expo 2008 – September 4-7 – Booth #850 – Niveus Media is invigorating the whole-home TV viewing experience by announcing that select Niveus media servers will simultaneously support up to eight digital cable (CableCARD) tuners and ten Media Center Extenders. Announcing availability concurrently with the introduction of the 2009 Niveus media server line, boasting impressive enhancements in processing and performance, Niveus now doubles the capabilities of the Niveus Entertainment System.

“Niveus has nurtured the digital cable functionality and compatibility since early 2007 and is proud to be one of the first to support both eight CableCARDS and ten extenders,” states Tim Cutting, Niveus CEO and Co-Founder. “By doubling the performance of the Niveus Media Server, we can now support even the largest installations.”

Read Full Press Release

Niveus Media’s 2009 Media Servers Boast Progressive Processing Power and Enhanced Multi-Zone Capabilities

Featuring HDMI 1.3, next-generation Intel processing, specialized Seagate hard drives, and upgraded cooling solutions for impressive multi-zone performance.

Denver, CO – CEDIA Expo 2008 – September 4-7 – Booth #850 – Niveus Media unveils its 2009 line of media servers, enhanced to provide an incredibly robust entertainment experience in as many as eleven independent zones. All Niveus media servers, including the passively cooled Summit Series’ Rainier and Denali Limited Edition and the rack mountable Pro Series, have been upgraded to incorporate bleeding-edge technologies for the most powerful Media Center performance.

“To accommodate the variety of installation applications and performance demands, we’ve upgraded all of our media servers to offer Niveus Authorized Dealers the preferred range of configurations,” states Brian Paper, Vice President Operations and Co-Founder of Niveus Media. “With a selection of form factors, processing power, audio and video solutions, and storage capacities, Niveus has a superior solution for today’s multi-zone scenarios.”

Read Full Press Release

Introducing The Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition, Powered By Windows Home Server

Store and protect unlimited HD content with up to 16TB of scalable storage, remote accessibility, and seamless integration with the Niveus Movie Library.

Denver, CO – CEDIA Expo 2008 – September 4-7 – Booth #850 – Niveus Media introduces the Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition, a powerful storage device based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, designed for the custom install channel. Featuring up to 16TB of scalable storage, Cargo provides a seamlessly integrated and flexible storage solution for the perpetually growing HD digital content market.

As Niveus continues to enhance movie integration with the increasing functionality of the Niveus Movie Library movie management interface and availability of VideoGiants Collections premium movie packages, it has become essential to offer a robust storage solution that can house a user’s expansive HD movie collection. Cargo is the ultimate add-on to the Niveus Movie Library, enabling secure storage of thousands of movies, complete with expanded metadata and high-resolution cover art.

Read Full Press Release

VidaBox's vAutomation Platform Tightly Integrates Media Center & Automation Technologies

chrisl — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:51:00 GMT

VidaBox Partners with Charmed Quark Systems to create vAutomation™: Complete Media Management & Automation Solutions for the Mid-to-High-End AV Market

Westbury, NY - September 2nd - VidaBox LLC proudly presents its new line of automation and media management packaged solutions called vAutomation™, powered by Charmed Quark Controller (CQC), the popular control and automation system from Charmed Quark Systems, Ltd. As an extremely powerful, professional-level software package, CQC allows mid-to-high-end custom integrators to offer automation solutions with the features, flexibility, and extensibility formerly found only on more expensive and proprietary systems.

"One of our goals has always been to simplify every AV project as much as possible for the custom installer & integrator," says Steven Cheung, President of VidaBox. "By preinstalling CQC with our VidaBox systems, our dealers can now offer complete solutions where users can access their entire AV media library while controlling any automatable system in the home - right at their fingertips - through a single, easy-to-use, customized touch screen interface. CQC can control or accept feedback from devices via TCP/IP, RS-232, IR, and other standard communication protocols, making it compatible with a myriad of AV and automation hardware - not just VidaBox equipment."

CQC can come preinstalled on VidaBox hardware, and includes a set of pre-defined templates that can be used as-is to control music, pictures, videos, movies, and TV playback on any VidaBox server or extender. Very powerful solutions can be created in a purely point-and-click environment starting with these pre-defined templates, without the need to do any coding. However, a trained integrator can customize these templates and add control of other equipment by using a WYSIWYG interface editor to add/remove buttons, change graphics, backgrounds, what each press action does, etc. Completely customized solutions can be created and designed using CQC's extensive customization capabilities.

"We are very happy to join forces with VidaBox," said Dean Roddey, Chairman and CTO of Charmed Quark Systems, Ltd. "Their experience with delivering solid media systems and high quality hardware, combined with the powerful automation and media management capabilities of CQC, will make for a very robust, cost-effective, and flexible solution for custom installers and their clients."

"By choosing our pre-designed vAutomation packages with CQC," Cheung continues, "dealers can take advantage and offer comprehensive AV solutions from a single manufacturer. Every standard package we offer can be tailored slightly and customized for each individual job to cover any unique needs, providing tremendous time savings by eliminating tons of design work, compatibility problems, and other potential headaches."

For more details on Charmed Quark Controller, please visit Charmed Quark Systems website at charmedquark.com. For more details on VidaBox's vAutomation™ and their comprehensive line of media servers and extenders, please visit the company website at vidabox.com, or visit them in Sound Room 17 at CEDIA Expo 2008!

About VidaBox LLC

VidaBox LLC is a digital entertainment and control systems integration company focused on manufacturing premium Media Center systems & complete home control solutions. VidaBox is on a mission to create user-friendly, stable high-performance entertainment that work right out of the box. For more information, visit www.vidabox.com or call 1-516-730-7500.

About Charmed Quark Systems

Charmed Quark Systems, Ltd was founded to address looming changes in the automation industry, a move towards the use of standard computing hardware and a greater emphasis on software as the differentiating factor in automation solutions. The massive economies of scale of the computer industry, the ubiquity of home networks, and the fast growing power of PCs, operating systems, and hand-held computing products, allows CQC to provide very powerful, robust and scalable automation solutions for a reasonable price.

Short Bits: Life|ware & Niveus at CEDIA

chrisl — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:32:00 GMT

This edition ripped straight from CE Pro…It seems Niveus Media is done with pushing their recently developed Niveus EDGE Extender. The might have been Xbox 360-based Extender (sans gaming) is out and the HP MediaSmart Connect is in. Interesting turn of events for something that must have taken a lot of time and money to complete.

Niveus is also updating their Movie Gallery adding support for better metabase, higher resolution cover art, and a 10-foot disc ripping client which seem popular these days.

Life|ware is also set to make a splash at CEDIA with a new iPhone control application that can be programmed directly using Life|ware’s programming tools. Exceptional Innovation will also be launching a new media server that integrated Media Center (CableCARD as an option), a 5.1 surround-sound amplifier, and ZigBee controller all into a single server. Models with dual CableCARD will likely run just under $4,000.

Embedded Automation Announces mHome Power Management Module

chrisl — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:22:00 GMT

New Module Makes Power Monitoring and Control Within Reach of all Homeowners

Surrey, BC – August 20, 2008

Today, Embedded Automation announced its mHome Power Management Module. The mHome Power Management Module, which provides real-time energy usage information and control functionality, is available as an add-in to Embedded Automation's mHome products, including the award-winning mControl Digital Home Software and soon to be released mPanel Digital Home Portal. Initially supporting the TED (The Energy Detective) energy monitor, the mHome Power Management Module will scale to support other power measuring devices and future technologies such as "Smart Meter" solutions.

The mHome Power Management Module offers the following benefits:

Available as an mControl plug-in module - no user programming is required.
Real-time status display, allowing users to view current energy consumption and historical usage from any mControl user interface.
User-configurable power management conditions for use with mControl macros based on any of the following properties: current power usage (kW), peak power usage today (kW), total power today (kWh), total power month-to-date (kWh) and others.
Live view on mPanel for view-at-glance status information.

"The mHome Power Management Module represents a big step towards conserving energy. The solution is affordable and easy to install. All a user needs to do is enter where the device is located on the network and the information is automatically presented in a easy to understand format on a variety of user interfaces – including on their Vista Media Center, from any Internet Explorer browser session, on their cell phone or on any mPanel connected to the home network,” said Ted Singh, C.E.O. of Embedded Automation. “Not only have we given our users the key first step of having a live reading on their energy usage with which they can use to localize energy waste, but via mControl’s automation engine, users can also create energy-saving macros.”

The mHome Power Management Module will be available in August 2008.

Inteset Movie Collection Module Now Supports Blu-ray

chrisl — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:17:00 GMT

Hanover MA, Aug 13, 2008, Inteset, has updated its Movie Collection server module to fully support Blu-ray movies.

One of the major selling features of the Inteset media server has been its ability to store, search, and play back movies seamlessly within the Windows Media Center interface using the proprietary Movie Collection module. Inteset has offered this feature to its dealers for years and has now improved the capabilities by adding full Blu-ray support. In addition, movie profile lookups are simpler than ever. The system will scan the inserted DVD or Blu-ray disc to identify it, and then retrieve full profile information from Inteset's all-new movie database. Lookups can also be performed based on UPC code and movie title.

"We're happy to make available this exciting new upgrade of our Movie Collection module," states David Hirsh, Inteset's Director of Business Development. "The module with additional Blu-ray support works perfectly with our new 15 terabyte A/V NAS storage server and Vana advanced extender systems as well," explains Hirsh.

The Inteset Movie Collection module is available on all Inteset media servers. Blu-ray playback is now standard on the Inteset Maximus media server and optional on the Denzel and Vana media servers. The module upgrade is free on all prior and new Inteset servers running Vista Media Center.

To learn more about how to obtain the latest Inteset Movie Collection module and other Inteset products and services, visit www.inteset.com. Get a live demonstration by visiting Inteset at CEDIA 2008, Denver, CO, booth 452.

About Inteset

Inteset, LLC has been creating high-end home entertainment products since 2003. Inteset offers four categories of products: media servers, media extenders, high-capacity storage devices, and exclusive software for its systems. The near silent media servers come with up to 8TB of internal, 15TB external, protected storage. The advanced media extenders are independent systems as well as A/V distribution clients. All systems are shipped with an enriched Microsoft Windows Media Center interface that includes a movie management module and a multi-zone music module among other exclusive software offerings. These systems appeal to A/V dealers and integrators domestically and internationally for their high-integrity construction, reliability, ease-of-use, unique entertainment modules and services, price point, and interoperability with advanced control systems.

Short Bits: Vongo, VistaView QAM

chrisl — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:35:00 GMT

Last a few days ago I talked about the quickly depleting online streaming section in Media Center, and today we officially have another one to go. Vongo was the Starz-owned subscription download service that will now be history at the end of September (Via Ian Dixon). A new service called Starz Play appears to be taking its spot, but it is not clear how or if it will integrate with Media Center. The marketing genius in me questions why Vongo was not branded Starz Play to start with, but I guess catchy names are all the rage these days.

VistaView has released a patch to enable QAM support on their Saber DA-1N1 series of cards under the Media Center TV Pack. Just install and reboot and you are said to be able to setup QAM within Media Center (TV Pack required).

Music Plug-in Allows for Folder Based Browsing

chrisl — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:17:00 GMT

While ID3 tags generally make the for the best music browsing and collection experience, the lack of ID3 tags in your tracks can do just the opposite. Now you can get around the need for 100% perfect ID3 tagged tracks using the new Music Browser plug-in for Vista Media Center. The simple plug-in allows for folder based navigation of your music, ditching the need to have the Artist and/or Album Artist tagged correctly in all of your files.

mControl Adds Text to Speech Driver

chrisl — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:30:00 GMT

Adding to the long list of mControl add-ins, drivers, and plug-ins is their text to speech beta driver that allows the Microsoft Speech API to make your Vista machine speak text as part of a macro. The speech commands are specific to Windows Vista, so the client will not work on MCE 2005 (the controller part of the driver should work on MCE 2005 however).

Source code and documentation are also included in the download.

Open Media Library Beta Released

chrisl — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:21:00 GMT

No doubt one of my favorite Media Center plug-ins to watch has been Open Media Library. The new MCML plug-in started as a clone of Niveus Media’s Movie Library and then shifted into a huge open source project with several developers behind the effort. All of that hard work by those developers has resulted in the first beta release available for download now which looks great! Downloads are available for 32 and 64-bit.

Features include...

My Movies XML support
VIDEO_TS playback
ISO using Daemon Tools
Codec based playback support
DVD Library Manager support
Extender support
UI based setup (importers, daemontools settings, etc)
Metadata editor
Much more

Heatwave Weather Plug-in Makes a Comeback

chrisl — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:23:00 GMT

Years after developing the world’s first native Media Center plug-in (in MCE 2005 nonetheless, thus using unsupported methods), James at MCExtended is back with Heatwave for Vista. Just about everything you would expect is included in the new weather plug-in, and it also includes some extras like overlaying a transparent version of the plug-in over the currently playing video just as Media Center does with the Guide.

You can download it here.

Microsoft Releases TweakMC for Vista Media Center

chrisl — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:38:00 GMT

One of the most popular Media Center plug-ins has always been TweakMCE, but with the release of Vista the community has been lacking such a tool produced by Microsoft. That has now changed with the release of TweakMC for Vista Media Center. The new tool exposes an interface for the various registry settings that control Media Center behavior.

TweakMC allows easy access to several dozen Media Center settings including some of the ones listed below. The UI is hardly pretty to look at, but the good news is that once you change the settings this tool shouldn’t be needed again.

Wonder if Matt approves of the new version? (he headed up TweakMCE for Media Center 2005)

Display Wireless Passwords
Overscan Adjustment Settings
Enable AddIn Debugging
Override the Current Screen Resolution
Enable DVD Library
Skip Forward/Back Interval
More Info Panel Timeout
Enable Universal Remote Control
Set Remote Control ID
Much more

mControl Gets UPB Driver; mPanel Beta Units Out

chrisl — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:01:00 GMT

Last month mControl gained support for CentraLite JetStream, and this month UPB has been added to the growing list of supported lighting and home control systems in Embedded Automations mControl.

The beta driver, developed by mControl user Tom Boyce allows control of UPB devices by all of the mControl form factors. UPB works much like X10 and INSTEON in that it uses power line communication to control devices with ~99% reliability. The beta driver does have an expiration date (Aug. 31, 2008), however the final version should be out later this summer. Download the driver here.

Embedded Automation has also announced that the first beta mPanel units have shipped. If you are one of the lucky few partners to get a beta unit be sure to send it to me when you are done.

Microsoft Starts Media Center SideShow Gadget Beta

chrisl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:46:00 GMT

Microsoft has finally unwrapped a beta of the long rumored Vista Media Center SideShow control gadget. First spotted by Stuart, you can apply for the beta on Microsoft Connect and get started starting, but so far it looks pretty much like basic in terms of functionality.

The key component currently missing is Media Center Extender control, something we knew Microsoft has said it will be able to do. Current features include the ability to browse the Guide and schedule recordings, list recorded TV and start playback, browse the music, picture and video libraries, and show “Now Playing” information.

Read more and see all the screenshots at The Media Center Blog.

mControl 2.1 Goes Final

chrisl — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:49:00 GMT

Embedded Automation has released the final build of mControl 2.1 for download. The build is actually the same as the previous RCGOLD2 release, and as there were no significant issues reported Embedded Automation has now shifted their focus to the next mControl release.

You can download mControl 2.1 here, and of course you get a 30 day trial if you don’t already use mControl. All current mControl users can upgrade to 2.1 for free. See the User Manual for more (PDF).

Interested to know what other features mControl has? Check out the updated mControl Feature Summery (PDF).

Media Center Nabs More Online Content: Olympics & Fight Network

chrisl — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:59:00 GMT

NBC has teamed up with TVTonic to provide online coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics via Media Center. Be sure to watch the ‘Explore’ section of Media Center for more, as well as TVTonic (requires install). More information at TVTonic.

In addition the Queensberry Fight Network has launched an online application available now in Media Center to get your fighting/boxing fix 24/7. Considering the downfall that has been network TV, Microsoft needs to make sure they are making every effort to get more online content up and accessible via Media Center. I’m dying for a Hulu plug-in.