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 -

Three Windows Vista non-security updates, that had originally been released as hotfixes, and then released as full fledged updates for download, will finally be pushed through Windows Update. As mentioned by the Windows Vista Blog, these updates will eventually become part of Vista’s SP1, but if you don’t want to wait for the benefits they offer, the update will be pushed to you this Tuesday, the 13th.

Here’s what will be coming through Windows Update:

• An update on system compatibility, reliability and stability: extends the battery life for mobile devices, improves stability of wireless network services, and shortens recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity, among other fixes.
• An update to USB core components: mainly affects systems returning from sleep or hibernation, fixing problems causing 1-2% of all crashes reported.
• An update to Windows Media Center: among other things, affects interaction issues occurring between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender.

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Click to continue reading "Vista gets updates in November after all"

Written by Joe on November 12th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on reliability and Stability and Media Center and general and USB and Compatibility.