Today, Windows 7 controls my home entertainment experience in my living room. It does so through Windows Media Center. I am using the same setup I blogged about here in 2007 with Windows 7 and it’s an amazing experience. Because of how well it works for me, I wanted to highlight 7 great things you can do with Windows Media Center in Windows 7. Windows 7 can easily be the center of your home entertainment experience just like it is with mine.

#1: Watch Live TV on your Windows 7 PC.

If your Windows 7 PC has a TV tuner, you can use Windows Media Center to watch, pause, and rewind live TV directly on your PC! If you’re Windows 7 PC doesn’t have a TV tuner, you can always add one – they are quite inexpensive.

Windows Media Center in Windows 7 supports High Definition TV (HDTV) capabilities as well. Earlier last month, we announced support for Switched Digital Video (SDV). We also announced that customers will now be able to add a digital cable tuner with CableCARD support to their PC. Previously, digital cable tuners with CableCARD support were only available on new PCs from OEMs that supported the configuration. Digital cable tuners with CableCARD support differ from standard TV tuner cards as they support digital cable through “CableCARDs” rented from your cable provider for digital cable channels. Assuming you have the right subscription, this enables you to access the full line-up of channels offered by your cable provider, including the premium channels.

There are also TV tuner cards that support “over-the-air” HDTV (ATSC) with an antenna as well as Clear QAM.

#2: Turn your Windows 7 PC into a DVR (Digital Video Recorder)!

Windows Media Center lets you schedule recordings of TV shows and movies. You can even schedule to record all instances (new episodes) of your favorite TV show! Windows Media Center also makes it very easy to view all your recorded content.

I talked about HDTV and the use of digital cable tuners with CableCARD support above. Microsoft and CableLabs are working together to allow people with digital cable tuners with CableCARD support more portability with their recorded digital cable TV. Recordings that are marked as “copy freely” (CF) will now be able to play on other PCs and portable devices.

#3: Easily find the TV shows and movies that you want to watch.

Windows Media Center has great search capabilities built-in so you can easily find all your favorite TV shows and movies. This makes it easier to schedule recordings.

#4: Access all your personal media in one place - no matter where it is.

Windows Media Center brings in all your digital media– photos, movies, music, and recorded TV shows – into one place. Windows Media Center also takes advantage of HomeGroup in Windows 7 and allows you to access digital media content from other PCs!

With recorded digital cable TV content marked as CF – you can share this content throughout your home network of Windows 7 PCs using HomeGroup (see #2 above). You can even access it when you are away from home with Remote Media Streaming in Windows 7.

#5: Track your favorite sports, players, and leagues.

If you’re a sports nut, you can use Windows Media Center to track your favorite teams and leagues. Windows Media Center lets you track scores, players, and leagues natively within Windows Media Center. You can also see quickly jump to sports on “now” and check sports coming on “later” in Windows Media Center too.

#6: Access your recorded TV and digital media where you want: on the PC or on the TV.

Windows 7 supports a variety of high end displays including HDTVs. You can connect your PC to your HDTV and use Windows Media Center to watch and view all your media. Of course this works with a standard PC monitor too. But because Windows 7 makes it easy to share your digital media, you can have 1 PC connected to your HDTV in your home for Windows Media Center and bring in content from all PCs on your home network to that single PC connected to your HDTV. You could also use the Extender for Windows Media Center technology built into your Xbox 360 to access the same Windows Media Center menu you are used to using on your PC.

#7: Watch movies and TV episodes instantly from Netflix in Windows Media Center in Windows 7.

Watch streaming “Instant Play” movies and TV shows from Netflix! Also add movies to your DVD queue if “Instant Play” is not available. Full control of your Netflix account right from Windows Media Center!

I hope these 7 great things about Windows Media Center give you some great ideas on how to bring your home entertainment together using Windows 7!

For video cards, gone are the usual 32 and 64 MB cards. The lowest you will find in the market today are the 128 MB video cards. Today’s video card manufacturers such as NVIDIA know for a fact that the wise computer geek would focus a lot on the video cards to satisfy requirements for certain applications and games that most PC users are sure to be installing. But the thing is, do you notice the difference at all?

Computers are normally made for browsing the web, playing games, music listening and spreadsheet creation. Multimedia entertainment is the latest craze but seriously, would you often watch movies and film clips on your computer? Perhaps if you don’t have a Television or a trusty DVD player it may be possible. But normally you would only use a computer for administrative tasks.

So when you install these high-end video cards, would you notice it at all? Or would it be all a psychological aspect of appreciating a higher capacity video card?

The resolution and bit rate can be seen when you play high-resolution games such as Warcraft or other new games in the market. But as far as watching videos, the best recourse is to still watch them through actual TV sets. With that said, why are people inclined to watch via their computer?

TV options are only bonuses but should not be a regular requirement for PC options. Video cards come in higher specs these days but sometimes you have to wonder what a 1 Gigabyte video card would have over actual television.

Know the limits of your PC. You can watch TV programs on your computer but don’t expect it to be better than modern television. Video cards are aimed at graphics and games. But as far as resolution is concerned, take note of the difference. It may not matter at all.

This summer HP is launching a brand new Extender for Windows Media Center device - the HP MediaSmart Connect. The HP MediaSmart Connect will let you wirelessly stream your Windows Media Center experience including content such as Live TV, Recorded TV Shows, Music, Photos and Videos to any TV in your home using your wireless or wired home network. And I've got some information below on how you can attend online webinars put on by HP and Microsoft giving you a first-hand look at the HP MediaSmart Connect! Read on...

Extenders for Windows Media Center are devices that are designed to "extend" the Windows Media Center experience from a centralized Windows Media Center PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate to any room in your home with a TV using a personal home network.

The HP MediaSmart Connect packs quite a punch. You can stream recorded or live HD content from your PC to your TV as well as take advantage of Windows Media Center's Internet TV Beta - which I blogged about here a few months ago. With Internet TV Beta - you can watch movie clips, movie trailers and even music videos such as Weezer's brand new single "Pork and Beans" (a personal favorite!). The HP MediaSmart Connect is also capable of searching all the PCs on your home network and creating a single list for all digital media such as photos, music, and videos and as well as access to great entertainment from services like CinemaNow, Snapfish and Live365. There is much more to the HP MediaSmart Connect but I'll save the rest for a later post!

I'm personally very excited to get my hands on the HP MediaSmart Connect myself because I have a Windows Vista PC that serves as my digital media hub in my living room using Windows Media Center that is connected to my HDTV. However with the HP MediaSmart Connect - I can now "extend" my digital media I have on this centralized Windows Media Center PC to any room in my house such as the master bedroom. I'll be able to stream recorded HD TV shows such as Discovery Channel's When We Left Earth series to my bedroom for late-night-geeking-out to stunning video of NASA's early missions. And the form factor is perfect for sitting right next to my TV (whisper quiet - no fans!) in the bedroom.

To celebrate the launch of the HP MediaSmart Connect - HP and Microsoft are putting on 4 webinars this summer to demonstrate the capabilities of the HP MediaSmart Connect. HP's Director of Marketing for their Connected Entertainment group Brian Burch will be headlining the demos along with industry experts who will share their own experiences during the webinars.

• Tuesday, June 24th - 10:00 am PST with Ed Bott, http://www.zdnet.com/
• Thursday, June 26th - 1:00 pm PST with Ian Dixon, http://www.thedigitallifestyle.com/
• Tuesday, July 8th - 10:00 am PST with Patrick Norton, http://www.tekzilla.com/
• Thursday, July 10th - 1:00 pm PST with Mike Garcen, http://www.missingremote.com/

And I of course will be attending the webinars myself as well! Click here to register for the webinar you would like to attend!

I will also be talking about the HP MediaSmart Connect here on the Windows Experience Blog in the coming weeks as well. Stay tuned!

Windows Media Center makes it really easy to watch TV on Windows Vista (Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate) with a built in Guide that lets you browse TV shows and movies and schedule recordings of your favorite ones. Many PCs today come with TV functionality built in via TV cards. But not all Windows Vista PCs come equipped with TV capability. Unlike a few years ago - adding TV functionality to your PC is very easy. Let me share my experience in adding TV functionality to one of my PCs.

AMD brings TV capability to your PC through their ATI TV Wonder products. Some of their products are PC cards that must be installed inside the actual PC - and others are USB devices that can simply be plugged in to a USB port. I picked up AMD's ATI TV Wonder 600 USB TV tuner - which is Certified for Windows Vista. This small USB device lets you plug in a coaxial cable for TV capability or use an antenna for free over-the-air television - including over-the-air HDTV.

The ATI TV Wonder 600 USB has the following features:

• USB 2.0
• Hybrid TV Tuner Stick for:

• Over-the-air Digital TV / HDTV1 (ATSC)
• Over-the-air / Cable Analog TV (NTSC)

Remote control

Telescopic antenna to receive free-to-air TV channels

Capture from VCRs, camcorders with the included audio/video input cable

I took some unboxing shots to share with you:

Setting up TV functionality in Windows Media Center is really easy. If you have not used Windows Media Center before, when you launch Windows Media Center for the first time it will take you through a series of steps to set everything up.

 

If you have used Windows Media Center before and already did Windows Media Center's initial setup - to set up TV all you need to do is go to Settings and TV and click on "Set Up TV Signal". Windows Media Center will take you through a series of screens with options to set up everything you need for watching TV.

Picking up the ATI TV Wonder 600 USB TV tuner allowed me to easily add TV functionality to my main desktop PC. I had TV functionality in a matter of just a few minutes. Since the ATI TV Wonder 600 is a USB device, I can pack the device up and take it with me and use it on my laptop as well.

Hauppauge also offers products for bringing TV onto your PC and Windows Media Center.

I plan to dive deeper in several upcoming posts in using Windows Media Center and TV functionality.