Chris Lanier's Blog : Streaming

Is Hulu Coming to Media Center?

chrisl — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:30:00 GMT

I don't believe that Hulu has a large interest in Media Center, but those very same mockup’s that show Media Center’s “PCTV” marketing also show Hulu as a key experience. My guess is that the material Microsoft provided to Lippincott said Media Center provides an Internet TV experience, and the designers took that as Media Center providing access to the most popular service for online TV shows.

I don’t believe that the content providers are interested in seeing Hulu on the big screen as it would jeopardize traditional content delivery. Hulu’s entry into the 10-foot UI marketplace is heavily designed around the desktop PC, and their TOS makes that very clear.

Xbox Unveils Entertainment Experiences That Put Everyone Center Stage

chrisl — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:29:00 GMT

Microsoft rewrites the rules on fun with controller-free entertainment, Facebook for your TV, plus instant on 1080p HD streaming video.

LOS ANGELES — June 1, 2009 — The future of home entertainment has a new name: Xbox 360. Today, Microsoft Corp. opened the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) with a historic Xbox 360 briefing that rocked, tweeted, revved and awakened the world to a new era of fun and entertainment. In addition to premiering 10 exclusive new games, revolutionizing the way we watch TV, and making it easier than ever to connect to friends, Xbox also welcomed visionary filmmaker Steven Spielberg to introduce “Project Natal” and controller-free gaming.

“Today with cultural visionaries at our side and controller-free gaming on our horizon, Xbox 360 authored a new page in home entertainment history,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “For us, this E3 is about breaking down barriers — between generations, between games and entertainment, and most important, between video game players and everyone else — in a way that only Xbox 360 can.”

During its briefing, Microsoft showed why Xbox 360 continues to defy industry sales trends. First: A lineup of blockbuster games to ignite every passion, including “Forza Motorsport 3,” “Alan Wake,” “Halo 3: ODST” and “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Next? A host of groundbreaking Xbox LIVE services, from instant on 1080p HD streaming movies and television to Facebook and Last.fm tailor-made for your TV. And rounding it all out, “Project Natal,” a whole new way to play, no controller required.

“Project Natal”: No Strings (or Controllers) Attached

Unveiled for the first time to the public was “Project Natal,” pronounced “nuh-tall” and a code name for a revolutionary new way to play, no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun. The only experience needed is life experience.

Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the “Project Natal” sensor is the world’s first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, “Project Natal” tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.

In addition, unlike other devices, the “Project Natal” sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn’t just react to key words but understands what you’re saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond. Want to log onto Xbox LIVE? Simply step in front of the sensor.

“The next step in interactive entertainment is to make the controller disappear,” said Steven Spielberg, visionary director and producer. “With ‘Project Natal,’ we’ll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us.”

The Best of the Internet, Custom-Made for Your TV

Groove, party or connect with a friend. Xbox LIVE, the world’s largest social network on TV, today announced that Facebook and Last.fm would be tailor-made for your TV, only on Xbox 360. Microsoft also announced Xbox LIVE Party for movies, which allows movie experiences to be shared — on the couch or across the country over Xbox LIVE in supported movies.

“We are always asking ourselves how to make the TV more social,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Studios at Microsoft. “By bringing Facebook, Last.fm and Xbox LIVE Party for movies and TV shows to Xbox LIVE, we’re not only extending the walls of your living room beyond your home to your friends in different corners of the world, we’re creating the definitive social network, uniting more than 200 million people to share status updates, pictures, thoughts on music and the world’s best online gaming experience.”

The addition of Facebook to Xbox LIVE means friends are always connected, anytime, anywhere — from virtually any couch. But updating your status and sharing photos won’t be the only things you can do. Using Facebook Connect, you can share your greatest moments in gaming by posting updates and screenshots from supported games directly to Facebook. Don’t let your moment of glory fade away — make sure everyone sees it with Facebook Connect, starting with the future version of the premier EA SPORTS golf franchise “Tiger Woods PGA TOUR^®.”

A first for TV, Last.fm,¹ part of the CBS Interactive Music Group, will give Xbox LIVE subscribers access to millions of songs streaming through Xbox 360 to the best speakers in the house. Xbox LIVE subscribers will be able to create their own free, personalized radio stations and listen to them with friends in the living room or across the country.

Xbox 360 also solidified its place as one of the leading social entertainment networks by announcing Xbox LIVE Party for movies. Go to the cinema with your friends whether you are sitting on the same couch or in living rooms across the country. Starting this year, you can share a virtual theater, see your avatar (a virtual you) on the screen, all while you listen to each other laugh and cry at the movie through voice chat on Xbox LIVE. With movie parties, the only thing you can’t share is the popcorn.

Read Full Press Release

Microsoft Connects the Dots with Zune HD, Zune Marketplace, and Xbox

chrisl — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:48:00 GMT

This week Microsoft took the wraps off the next Zune, dubbed Zune HD. It seems to be your basic next-generation touch screen only media player with the common additions of WiFi and an web browser (IE based). There are some other interesting parts such as a HD Radio tuner, an OLED screen, multitouch, and even HD output at 720p via a dock.

The most interesting part of the announcement is not the device, but rather the service. The Zune Marketplace will now integrate with the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, finally drawing a realistic picture of Microsoft’s “3 screen” vision of the future. Getting the most press is the HD Radio tuner, the non-HD resolution of the OLED screen, and the concept of Microsoft competing with the iPod touch.

HD Radio tuner doesn’t do much for me, it will give people a chance to explore something they likely have never heard of before, and apparently the FM radio tuner has been a big selling point among existing Zune buyers. The resolution on the OLED screen is only 480x272, which many have noted is not even close to HD. I’m not really sure why people think they need 1080p on a portable player, the lower resolution screen likely benefits the majority of people who put low-bitrate and resolution content on the device in the first place. If you have HD content, the dock now outputs 720p over HDMI. The big question in terms of resolution is actually what codec’s and resolutions it supports syncing. If it supports all popular codecs and HD resolutions, that means I can sync without transcoding.

I have never seen the Zune as a good competitor to the iPod, I don’t feel much different about this one. Microsoft is still playing catch-up here by connecting their services. This is something Apple has mostly had for years. Within the next 2-3 years I can finally see the landscape start to change a bit, but Microsoft is going to have a very hard time going after Apple when you compare numbers.

Lacking is any mention of Media Center, which wasn’t a shock to me personally. I firmly believe Microsoft has moved on from what most reading this wanted Media Center to be, and of course for years I’ve said the Xbox was the real competition to Media Center (this will become much clearer as we go on). Connecting the Xbox, Zune, and Windows finally makes all of the products marketable. Microsoft also just announced that Xbox 360 has sold 30 million units and has 20 million on Xbox LIVE.

A few have noted that all the details have not been released and that Media Center integration could still be there. I don’t anticipate it, but would welcome it. I doubt we will see this act as a Media Center Extender as many have wanted. If Microsoft could of improved anywhere in the Zune-Media Center connection I hope it was with syncing content, mainly TV. The Zune does support syncing TV, but it doesn’t support anything copy protected (CableCARD, likely any future premium Cable/Sat services), and also doesn't support syncing content with Dolby Digital audio. If this stays true just about the only TV content the Zune can sync (in the US) will be analog cable/satellite captures. Even OTA content will be purely Dolby Digital next months, so even your favorite local channels will not sync unless Microsoft decides to change.

The Story Behind Netflix for Windows Media Center

chrisl — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:49:00 GMT

Today Microsoft released their native Netflix application for Windows Media Center to much fanfare. The release comes with a catch, but let’s back up a bit before we get to that.

I’ve talked about the need for Microsoft to get Netflix within the Media Center ecosystem, and ever since Reed Hastings joined Microsoft’s board I knew it was coming. A year ago Microsoft announced Netflix would be coming to the Xbox 360 Dashboard and that rekindled my thoughts about the Xbox 360 being Media Center biggest enemy in the marketplace. Today those thoughts are confirmed once again by the Netflix application for Media Center not supporting Media Center Extenders.

I’ve been testing the Netflix application for a few weeks now. Upon downloading the first beta I read the release notes which talked about Extender’s not being supported. I figured this was something that would change. Sadly, it didn’t and was planned at all. I didn’t think I’d get to post this part because it was told to me under NDA, but TechFlash actually posted it so I’m in the clear. Part of the reason Extender’s are not supported is because Microsoft wants to make sure they don’t compete with the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

Leaving the technical aspects of getting Silverlight to an Extender aside, this represents a huge problem and once again confirms to me that Microsoft will continue to push and promote the Xbox 360 Dashboard over that of the Extender platform.

Fellow MVP Richard Miller asked if I would rather Microsoft have not released the Netflix application, and it isn’t so much that I think Microsoft shouldn’t have released, but what I really want is Microsoft to define who Media Center is for (do I sound like a broken record yet?) and the future of some basic items like Extenders (I’ll have another post on this later, but Microsoft keeps assuring me Extender’s are not “dead”).

A few months ago I suggested that Microsoft was changing directions with Media Center to the more customer friendly “TV on your PC” concept. I took a bit of flack from Microsoft on the post who suggested that wasn’t the case. Maybe is it and maybe it isn’t. Correct or not, I’ll stick to my story because it seems like everything that comes out confirms my suspicions.

Back to the Netflix application, the delivery of this is the future of Media Center. Just like Internet TV, the Netflix application was automatically pushed to Media Center without any initial user interaction. If they can just improve the installation it will be much more beneficial to end users. While the interface is very intuitive I don’t have my Media Center connected to a TV. Given this, I find Netflix’s website more convenient. Moving forward, if the whole “TV on your PC” thing catches on this will be a huge issue of mine. Media Center was designed as a 10-foot interface, using it as a 2-foot interface is kind of tricky and it's not as intuitive as it could be. This has improved with Windows 7, but I would still rather use a website to find such basic content and leave the 10-foot UI where it belongs.

Microsoft and Netflix Enhance Movie and TV Watching on the PC

chrisl — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Latest content addition offers more than 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly on a PC with Windows.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 19, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from Netflix Inc., the world’s largest online movie rental service, are now available to watch instantly on the PC using Windows Media Center on PCs with Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. This newest content addition builds on Microsoft’s goal to create a consistent experience on the PC for consumers to easily enjoy the entertainment of greatest interest to them.

With Windows Media Center, consumers no longer need to jump from Web site to Web site to find the TV shows, movies, sports and news they want to watch. Windows Vista customers who are also Netflix members can simply start Windows Media Center on their PC and then select the new Netflix tile under TV+Movies to begin streaming movies and TV episodes instantly. People can also search the entire Netflix library, manage both their instant and DVD Queues, and even filter searches by titles that are available to watch instantly. Windows Media Center takes advantage of the Netflix recommended category lists to make it even easier to quickly find the movies and TV shows that consumers want to watch. Conveniently, Netflix in Windows Media Center is also designed to work with any Windows Media Center-compatible remote control.

The availability of Netflix in Windows Media Center marks the second recent content milestone for Windows, following the March 2009 launch of the Sports Channel, which offers a variety of interactive sports content from CBSSports.com, FOX Sports, MSNBC.com and more.

“Netflix is excited that the majority of the Windows Vista users in the U.S. can now access a vast array of movies and TV episodes from Netflix through Windows Media Center,” said Steve Swasey, vice president of corporate communications. “There’s no better way to enjoy movies than with Netflix, and this latest offering is another milestone that gives Windows Media Center customers a great experience using the Netflix service.”

The Netflix instant watching in Windows Media Center is powered by Microsoft Silverlight, one of the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful solutions for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences. The use of Silverlight means that customers will have more accessible, more discoverable and more secure experiences. Windows Media Center is available on Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.

In addition to Windows Media Center users, Xbox 360 system owners already have access to watch movies and TV episodes instantly from Netflix via an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership. The offerings through both platforms allow customers to enjoy more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes.

“We’re continuing to work with the top content providers today to make watching TV on the PC a mainstream experience for the future,” said Craig Eisler corporate vice president of entertainment client software for the TV, Video and Music Business Group at Microsoft. “Consumers understand that content is the driving force when it comes to experiences, and with Netflix, we’re underscoring our broader commitment to deliver a rich experience with Windows Media Center.”

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Short Bits: DivX, Links, News

chrisl — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:08:00 GMT

You might have noticed I’ve been quiet for the past month, sadly that might continue for another month but I’ll be sure to try and fill the gaps (meanwhile tons of other Media Center blogs covering everything new out there).

I’m not sure yet when it will be posted, but in a few weeks several of us in the Media Center community will have a big surprise that everyone will be interested in. You’re going to want to watch here for that.

On a completely separate side note, if anyone involved with Yahoo’s Connected TV Widgets please let me know via e-mail. I’ve got several questions on the technology and signing up online hasn’t yielded any results.

One of the best articles I’ve read in the past month is Davis Freeberg’s analysis of DivX’s downfall. If you have a few minutes it is a really good read. As DivX is based off of MPEG-4 ASP I’ve always told people that even if the device doesn’t have a DivX logo on it doesn’t means it will not play DivX (likewise with Xvid). Davis is right that as soon as the DivX brand loses value they are in huge trouble (eg. for this exact reason).

Some other interesting links and post.

How to automatically download and import HD to Windows Media Center [Engadget HD]

Big Screen EPG : PVR Ratings (Some Initial Results) [Mobilewares]

How Ben Drawbaugh uses Windows Media Center [Ben Drawbaugh]

Interview with Doug Berrett on Webguide [New England Digital Media] via Entertainment 2.0

Unlikely That Hulu is Holding Out for Microsoft

chrisl — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:39:00 GMT

Julie Jacobson at CE Pro speculates that Hulu (who has been all over the news for killing third party apps) is holding out for Windows 7 Media Center support.

As great as this would be, don’t get your hopes up. Hulu has very few reasons to even look at Microsoft here. All Microsoft really brings to the table is a very small number of users (none of which are really going to add new pageviews that Hulu isn't already getting). Microsoft internal numbers are actually quoting a good amount of users, but I’m not really convinced that the numbers represent the whole picture.

Bottom line here is that Hulu isn’t looking to target any third party application (yet). Jury is still out on if Hulu has any interest in being more than a browser based application. I think the market is there in several different forms, but yet again this could come down to NBCU, Fox, et al fighting to keep the web from replacing traditional broadcast TV.

Microsoft Loses the Online Content Fight

chrisl — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:44:00 GMT

I shouldn’t actually call it a fight because that implies one actually gave effort, but CES 2009 has shown that Microsoft is effectively out of the race to provide a platform for streaming and downloadable content via the PC. I say via the PC because the Xbox is still alive and actually putting up somewhat of a fight.

With every major display company now pushing integrated online content embedded or easily attachable to their displays the PC is now becoming irrelevant. No longer is the concept PC-to-TV, it is Web-to-TV and Microsoft fails to offer compelling products that work under this infrastructure.

Media Center had strong potential to rule the online world. In 2002 when Microsoft introduced Media Center the Online Spotlight provided a mechanism for content providers to offer 10-foot versions of their streaming services. As time went on however Microsoft had a difficult time keeping content providers interested with big names like MTV Network pulling content for reasons unknown to anyone but Microsoft. In late 2007 Microsoft offered up their Internet TV plug-in which scrapped content from their MSN properties. Then in early 2008 Internet TV got an upgrade that introduced interactive ads, a feature that I thought would give Microsoft a leg up in streaming Alas, Microsoft has failed to secure any additional web content. Even Netflix, which is on the Xbox 360 didn’t get ported to Media Center (while unofficial plug-ins fill the gap for users). Windows 7 hits hard on integration of broadcast and broadband, but that only goes as far as the content you have to offer.

My advice to Microsoft, buy boxee and integrate it into Media Center, Xbox 360, and Zune. Unless you have some big partnerships in the works (CES would have been a good place to unveil those), your platform is effectively dead for online content delivery (broadcast isn’t looking that hot either).

Random Notes from Microsoft’s CES Keynote

chrisl — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:06:00 GMT

Media Center

10 million Media Center users a month
Average Media Center session time is ~90 minutes

Xbox 360

Xbox LIVE membership that has grown to 17 million active members.
Xbox 360 has sold 28 million consoles sold to date
More than $1 billion spent on Xbox LIVE since the launch of the Xbox 360
Xbox 360 has largest game attach rate
Xbox LIVE Primetime channel brings together the best of TV and gaming in an interactive way.
Primetime will create scheduled programming, offer interactive and social features.
Average Halo player playing 150 hours on Xbox LIVE
Two new Halo titles this year. Feb 28th release for Halo Wars. Halo 3 ODST in 2009.
Since NXE launch, downloads of video content up 60%
Over 45 movie/TV studios providing content on Xbox LIVE
Over 60 millions song downloads on Lips and other music games.

Mediaroom

Mediaroom platform has reached nearly 2.5 million subscriber homes worldwide (250% growth over last year)
Mediaroom Anytime lets you watch previously aired content
Mediaroom adds interactive third-party application support (BBC Top Gear as an example)

Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is getting new Internet Explorer with Adobe Flash support
Lots of new phones shown
Microsoft/Netflix will offer software that enables Windows Mobile customers to update and view their Netflix movie queue.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is up on MSDN/TechNet. Public beta on Microsoft.com on Jan. 9

Other

Ford Sync will get updated with TellMe support
Zune Social is up to 2 million users

Windows Mobile Gets Netflix Queue Updating Software

chrisl — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:43:00 GMT

Developing...

"This month, Microsoft and Netflix, the world’s largest online movie rental service, will offer software that enables Windows Mobile customers to update and view their Netflix movie queue. Changes will appear instantly on Netflix on Xbox LIVE, extending the existing service that launched in November. Xbox 360 is the only game system that lets people instantly watch thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix, many in HD."

‘08 Disappointments: Xbox IPTV

chrisl — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:27:00 GMT

2008 was going to be the year of IPTV, and while AT&T and Verizon (actually QAM) have made great strides in the IPTV marketplace, Microsoft hasn’t done much to push what was promised on their end (Note: Microsoft powers AT&Ts IPTV DVRs). Of course the prime example here is the concept of using your Xbox 360 as an IPTV DVR.

The concept had been thrown around online for some time, but at CES 2008 Microsoft made it official and announced they were working with BT in the UK to bring the functionality to life. That’s about the last time I heard anything on that subject. I’m not sure if the service never launched with BT, but to say the concept has been anything but a failure would be pushing it.

AT&T is still the only [major] US provider using Microsoft’s MediaRoom IPTV software, which means they are just about the only option for this concept coming to life in the US. I don’t see the concept that appealing for IPTV providers (I actually said it would flop in Nov ‘07), but it will be interesting to see if CES 2009 brings anything about Xbox and IPTV back into the spotlight.

Niveus Media And HDGIANTS Team Up To Deliver Premium Movie Collections

chrisl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:27:00 GMT

Niveus dealers and consumers can now purchase HDGIANTS’ movie collections for playback on any Niveus Media Server.

Milpitas, CA – December 22, 2008 – Niveus Media is teaming up with HDGIANTS to bring collections of the industry’s best movies to Niveus customers. HDGIANTS is committed to offering premium digital content that maximizes the capabilities of the Niveus Media Server and new Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition, to deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience. The collections are available in packages of 50 or 100 titles and include top-rated films from major movie studios.

“HDGIANTS gives customers easy access to large collections of high-quality audio and video content which helps Niveus and its dealers demonstrate the increasing flexibility and performance of the Niveus Entertainment System,” states Tim Cutting, Niveus Media CEO and Co-founder. “Through its relationships in the movie industry and its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the original audio and video productions, HDGIANTS has developed a niche in the market and has created an engaging and viable solution for our customers.”

HDGIANTS acquires the highest quality masters from premier studio partners in order to provide customers with supremely engaging in-home video playback. When loaded onto a Niveus Media Server, HDGIANTS’ Collections demonstrate the encompassing functionality of the Niveus Media Server and the new Niveus Movie Library, a proprietary movie management interface which aggregates and displays all movies complete with high-res cover art and detailed metadata. HDGIANTS’ movies are integrated with the customer’s entire movie collection and are accessible via the Niveus Media Server or connected Media Center Extender, creating a seamless and unified, whole-home movie management experience.

“HDGIANTS is committed to supporting our hardware partners and their custom installers and we consistently work on creating content packages that help drive sales and increase their profit margins,” says Scott Bahneman, CEO of HDGIANTS. “The Niveus demo movie collections are a perfect example of a tool that equips dealers with a successful way to showcase a high-end entertainment solution and sell more home theater installations.

As Niveus continues to enhance movie integration with the increasing functionality of the Niveus Movie Library movie management interface and availability of HDGIANTS’ premium movie packages, it has become essential to offer a robust storage solution that can house a user’s expansive HD movie collection. The Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition, available with up to 16TB of scalable storage, enables secure storage of thousands of movies, complete with expanded metadata and high-resolution cover art. HDGIANTS content stored on the Cargo Edition can be accessed via the attached Niveus Media Server or connected Media Center Extenders.

Additionally, with each movie collection purchased for use on a Niveus Media Server, HDGIANTS will include a $75 music sampler including audio tracks from today’s most renowned musicians, allowing the customer to experience Niveus’ high-fidelity audio output and elegant music interface.

As an added bonus to dealers, HDGIANTS plans to automatically enroll participating Niveus Authorized Dealers in its dealer program, which promises recurring revenue on all content that a customer purchases.

Featuring hit films from the last 40 years, the HDGIANTS’ 50 and 100 movie packages are now available. 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.

About HDGIANTS

HDGIANTS delivers high definition entertainment directly into the living room through its proprietary content delivery platform. Our HD MediaStore™ is integrated into top media servers for convenient delivery of HD movies, music and other digital media. HDGIANTS is the perfect companion for home audio and video systems and anywhere else that high quality content matters. For information on HDGIANTS, visit www.HDGIANTS.com.

Microsoft Announces New Zune Pass Music Subscription Model

chrisl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:02:00 GMT

Consumers can now keep the tracks they love.

REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 19, 2008 — Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s digital music and entertainment service, today announced landmark agreements with major and independent music labels to bring significant new value to the subscription music model. The Zune Pass subscription service currently gives consumers on-demand access to millions of tracks for $14.99 per month. Starting today subscribers will also get to select 10 tracks per month to keep and add them to their permanent collection (an estimated $10 value).

Agreements have been signed between Microsoft and EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group, as well as independent distributors INgrooves, Independent Online Distribution Alliance and The Orchard. The Orchard delivers digital music, video and brand services globally, and represents labels including Barsuk Records (Nada Surf) and Fania Records (Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz). IODA represents labels including Arts & Crafts (Broken Social Scene, The Stills) and Ghostly International (Matthew Dear, School of Seven Bells). The new enhanced subscription model came about as a result of close collaboration with all of these companies.

Zune Pass subscribers will have the added benefit of retaining digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 tracks from Sony BMG and UMG, in addition to MP3 tracks from EMI Music, Warner Music Group and a large portion of the independent music labels. With the addition of tracks from UMG and Sony BMG, Zune will soon offer over 90 percent of its music in the MP3 format.

“The way people consume music has changed. With the shift to digital from CDs, it is more challenging than ever to offer the right mix of deep content, music discovery and economic value,” said Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune at Microsoft. “People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever.”

From its inception, Zune has bet on the power of subscription, not only as a consumption model but also as a way to highlight the music discovery features central to the Zune experience and the PC platform. The Zune service gives consumers convenient and unlimited access to the music they want, and also connects them to other music fans and expert sources to help them find the music they will love. The new enhancements to the Zune Pass subscription service offer unprecedented value for all music fans.

Read Full Press Release

Upcoming Windows 7 Media Center Feature: Broadband TV Services

chrisl — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:44:00 GMT

By now you have most likely seen what some of the new features of Media Center in Windows 7 are, but don’t think it stops there. In this series I will go over some of the upcoming features of Media Center in Windows 7. These features should start appearing in later builds, although some of them will be limited to specific testers.

I’ve been saying for some time now that Media Center needs to get serious about Internet and Web TV. Microsoft will be taking another step toward this in Windows 7 by integrating online services in the standard EPG (Guide). Below is a screenshot of the type of integration you can expect. Wouldn’t it be sweet to get Hulu in here?

RealNetworks Could be Key to Media Center DVD Streaming

chrisl — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:17:00 GMT

A few weeks back RealNetworks unveiled RealDVD, a $30 program designed to legally allow ripping DVDs. The legal part might be a bit of a stretch seeing as Real has sued the CCA and the MPAA has sued Real back. While press about the idea of paying to rip your DVDs while keeping them protected has been unanimously poor, people need to keep an open mind about this when it comes to Media Center and other commercial products.

Several years ago I posted about the idea of enabling streaming DVDs using Microsoft’s WMDRM to protect the DVDs. The concept is the exact same with RealDVD. If RealNetworks can win their suit against the MPAA and CCA, the door is even more wide open for Microsoft to do exactly the same and rip DVDs wrapped in their DRM (maybe part of what this patent is about). This could enable streaming to any device including Media Center Extenders and (possibility) Zunes, or maybe not as Microsoft has a hard time finding a good business case to do any of the work for such features. Even if Microsoft doesn't jump on, I've heard that Real is also interested in developing a Media Center plug-in for RealDVD which could be interesting if they do it right (not sure Real could do that).

Another interesting bit involving ripping of disc, AACS has still not hit their final version which was expected over the summer. Still no word if the final version, whenever finished, will include support for Managed Copy.

Short Bits: Zune Mobile, Home Servers, TV Pack, More

chrisl — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Remember when I said you would hear more about Zune on mobile phones before the years end? Well, now you have. “Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc.," said Steve Ballmer.

Missing Remote has had a few great articles over the past few weeks including a Battle of the Windows Home Server Systems and a letter to Microsoft about what is going on with Media Center. The article ends with a note to Microsoft asking for them to “go back to the drawing board and re-think the Media Center product: its future as a product, the viability of the strategy of having it tossed into random Windows versions, and goals for the technologies that make up Windows Media Center.”

Last month Ed Bott wrote the best article ever on the Media Center platform. He covered several issues but mainly focused on the TV Pack and all of the issues that happened behind the scenes. I didn’t get to post about it when he first published it, but I have to get it out there because Ed really did a fantastic job with the article.

PC Mag has an “unofficial” Guide to the TV Pack including installation instructions just in case you happen to find it online somewhere.

I’ll be a guest on The Media Center Show before year’s end, but that shouldn’t stop you from waiting until then to listen to Ian’s other weekly podcasts. Hear about Open Media Library (OML) from David Shulitz and CEA Mark Of Excellence Awards with Roland Graham.

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

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).

Microsoft's Interactive Online Streaming Dilemma

chrisl — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:44:00 GMT

Microsoft’s partners seem to be having a hard time finding success in Media Center with interactive streaming plug-ins available through the ‘Explore’ (Online Spotlight) section of Media Center. Several partners have seemingly dropped support for Media Center without notice over the past year and with the lack of a worldwide presence for the applications you have to wonder about the future of Media Center as a streaming platform.

MTV Networks pulled their applications for MTV, MTVU, VH1, and Comedy Central months ago with no reason as to why. Just last month the Queensberry Fight Network launched a Media Center application, yet today it is nowhere to be found. And finally with the downfall of Yahoo! and AOL web properties, Microsoft is having a hard time keeping third party content available within Media Center.

So my question is, with Microsoft clearly targeting streaming as the future (and present) of the digital home, is it hurting the Media Center platform and Microsoft’s long term goal for streaming dominance to have all these companies come and go with such limited success?

Short Bits: Fiji, Media Center Show, Olympics

chrisl — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:31:00 GMT

Mary Jo Foley covers the mess that has been Fiji. I’ll have more soon, but Fiji will go down in history as one of the worst coordinated projects to come out of Microsoft in a long time.

On this week’s Media Center Show Ian Dixon has Automated Home's Mark McCall talking Home Sever, Media Center, and of course, home automation.

This is the first time the Olympics is making a big splash online, and if you have followed any of the press around it there are a lot of players involved this year. Microsoft is clearly one of the top partners showing they have Olympics coverage on Media Center, Xbox, Zune, and more. I find it odd that you are going to have to pay for access on Xbox and Zune content on a per episode basis. Why not just give it away like you are on Media Center and other Microsoft/NBC web properties?