I showed Microsoft Evangelist, Robert Scoble, the latest Media Center build today. Here’s what he has to say about Microsoft, emerging markets and the Media Center:

I got over to the Windows Media Center team. Holy %%%% are they doing some cool stuff. Can’t wait to show you why I think it’s cool.

Is Media Center an emerging market? Heck yes. Over the next 10 years huge numbers of people will buy new large TV screens for the home. I’ve been watching my friends (even those outside of Microsoft). When they buy a big screen they also buy a PVR to go along with it (or they had recently purchased one). Almost every single one has done that (and I’m not the only one noticing that trend).

And of course seeing Media Center running in my office is one thing. Seeing Media Center running on a ~50″ high def display in a living room with an Extender running in the bedroom on a ~15″ LCD is another thing. Plus he just got the glossy five minute tour. We did not hit any of the cool end to end scenarios we’ve been working on.

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So last night after getting home from the bar at 2ish I decided to geek out and setup my Media Center and my Media Center Extender (codename Bobsled).

I have the Extender in my bedroom hooked up to my brand new 13″ LCD television and my relatively inexpensive speakers. It’s pretty cool and I was certainly impressed that I was able to set it up at 2am after a night out :). I think my primary use it for is going to be playing music and a digital picture frame (I’ll have all my photos in an endless random slideshow). Of course it does TV, videos,… but I’d rather watch those in the living room.

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Via BB: New Tivo Jargon:

# Passkilling is when someone cancels a Tivo request to change channels and record a Season Pass show.
# A Passkiller is someone who cancels an in-progress Season Pass recording or cancels a channel change request.

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Gizmodo: Alienware DHS-300 Media Center PC. Super high end.

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Media Portal: Open source Media Center like software.

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Really cheap Media Center found via techbargains:

Staples has the HP Pavilion M400Y P4-2.8E 1MB Cache (Prescott), 512MB PC2700/80GB, 8x DVD+RW Writer, 6 in 1 card reader, TV Tuner with PVR, ATI Radeon 9200 Video card, Ethernet, Office Basic 2003 $1479 - $480 off $1479 coupon: 24449 (Exp 5/22) - $100 rebate (Exp 6/15) = $899 plus a FREE 17″ LCD monitor Upgrade. Free Shipping. Unit is fully customizable.

Additional $50 rebate for buying an HP Printer. P4-3.0E Ghz only +$30

Hit Customize, Make sure the following are selected: No speakers, HP Media Center Keyboard, hp 17in Flat panel-Speakers Not Incl. It should now add to the cart in this form.

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Today I told our GPM (group program manager (my manager’s manager)) that if he gave me a Media Center Extender then I’d go out and buy a TV for it and use it (note that I still haven’t bought a TV for the living room yet). No sooner were the words out of my mouth then I was handed one. So now I’m in the market for a cheap TV. Though I’d prefer to find a 10″-15″ LCD monitor with S-video/rca/component video in. Has anyone seen one of those cheap? I.e. <$250 (it does not need to have a TV tuner in it).

I’m going to set it up in my bedroom and it will my replace my iPod for listening to music. It’ll also enable me to watch live TV, act as a digital photo album, and allow me to watch videos/record TV.

And yes, once I have it setup and have a real TV in my living room, I’ll invite everyone who is interested over to check out the setup.

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BB: NBC tries to outsmart TiVo?

This bugs me.

1. NBC tweaks things so that Tivo/MCE does not record Friends.
   Result: People miss Friends. People miss the commercials.

2. NBC leaves well enough alone.
   Result: People watch Friends. Some people skip the commercials. Some don’t.

A mail list at work warned about this and recommended tweaking your MCE to ensure you got the show.

Update: Of course I posted this without really thinking about it so read the comments and also read the updates on BB and see this other BB post on Tivo borking.

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DivX for Grandma: a review of Alaska Air’s video iPod

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HD movies over IP.

Cool. Though my HDTV plans will probably pushed back because of car troubles.

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