I’ve gotten some questions about how HD DVD and MCE 2005 work together. Unfortunately, MCE 2005 does not handle playing back HD DVDs natively. So how these two technologies work together is up to the OEM. For instance, on the Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650 – AVPC Laptop, the OEM, Toshiba, has added a ‘Play HD DVD’ command to the MCE 2005 start menu. Clicking on it launches the InterVideo WinDVD application which does the actual playback of the disc. In terms of how remote control friendly the InterVideo app is, I’m unsure, since I haven’t actually played with this setup yet.

Comments(1)

I’m sure many of us were unable to attend Will Poole’s WinHEC keynote yesterday so I thought I’d quickly scan the transcript and see what was announced for Media Center. Here are some highlights:

• [MCE has] just been a breakout success for us. Today we’ve sold over 10 million copies with our partners of Media Center PCs, and we’re selling at a rate of over 1 million per month.
• One more Sideshow device, the last one here is this WiFi remote from Exceptional Innovation. This remote is used to control your Media Center PC. It can function as a voice over IP handset, and even as a portable music player. With Sideshow technology integrated into this device we’re able to access your media library from any PC in your house, and select songs for playback. You’re also able to see your program listings for your TV, and select shows that you’d like to record. So really some cool scenarios, and that’s whether the TV is on or off, and whether that PC is in the room that you’re in or in another room in the house. CEPro has an article with photos.
• What I can do now is I can actually watch and record the latest movies from premium channels like HBO right onto my machine in high definition. Previous versions of Windows let you record standard def over the air, now I can watch and record the high definition.
• Over a million hours of extended usage have been logged today on Xbox 360s.
• We’ve been working with several companies to have products available to for launch, and today we’re announcing the Media Center Extender Partner Program. What that program will do is, it will allow companies to have access to design information, documentation, and the necessary components to embed Extender functionality into devices like TVs, DVD players, set-top boxes, and digital media adapters.

In my opinion the biggest news is the announcement of a partner program for equiment manufacturers who want to build their own Extenders. They even showed a working design from Sigma Designs. So this should enable tons of new exciting form factors!

Comments(2)