Windows Home Theater

I’m in the market for a new big-screen HDTV and watching the deals.  Lots of LCD and Plasma deals are beginning to crop up.  Here’s several from Dell:

Sharp 42 LCD HDTV for only $799 after $600 Instant Savings! Expires: 11/27/08

Save $500 on Sony 46” 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV! Coupon Code: S7K3PXQHP8474Q Expires: 11/25/08 or after 500 redemptions

Save $700 on Sony Bravia 52” 1080p LCD HDTV! Coupon Code: 8D2B9Q?LS$5QB7

As for me, I’m looking for a good 46″ 1080p HDTV.  Doesn’t have to be the best out there, but should be a good one.  I’ll be using it with a SageTV HD Extender if that matters - give me some ideas of what I should buy.  Is the Sony 46″ worth buying? I’d rather spend something closer to $1,000 but maybe that’s going too cheap…  Ben would probably say so

 Photo of Windows 7 Media Center with Touch Interface (from Gizmodo)

The guys at Gizmodo were in Redmond this week and have a quick video showcasing Windows Media Center 7 controlled by touch.  That would be touch control integrated into the OS so no 3rd party software needed.  It looks smooth and could be useful for those wanting a touch-interface for their HTPC.

See the video at Gizmodo

If you are wanting touchscreen now, HP Touchsmart has it and SageTV has a nice TouchScreen interface that you can use now if you have a touchscreen monitor

MythTV, the popular Linux-based HTPC software is nearing release for its latest version of MythTV (version 0.22).  And gunaxin.com has several screen-shots of the new interface.

This new version of MythTV will include a significant rewrite of the user interface which will open up significant benefits to developers (code and theme developers alike).  The new interface adds features such as animation, better interactivity, faster and easier development for theme creators and developers alike. 

MythTV won’t be for everyone, but this yet-to-be-released update brings much of the user-interface changes that have been requested for years.

I’m looking forward to this new version and plan to try it out on my test rig in early 2009.
See more screen-shots and read more about the new MythTV UI at gunaxin.com

Most of us think of DVD software when we think of CyberLink, but the company is now branching out to show off the PowerCinema 6 HTPC software.  It handles TV, Photos, Music etc as you would expect and includes H.264 support as well.  Nothing here is going to peel away current HTPC customers from SageTV, Vista Media Center or the others, but they’re likely targeting those new to the HTPC world anyway.

You can view the Flash Video Overview here to get an idea of the User Interface and features of the CyberLink software.  I’d normally tell you to just skip the promo video, but one thing that I really liked in the interface was the Photo Slideshow - they called it “cell-style” slideshow.  Its fairly simple, but showed the photos in a tiled format with multiple photos on the screen and transitioned one photo on the screen at a time.  Something simple, but would work very nicely on a HD TV set.

The software can be acquired right now for between $49.95 and $129.95 depending on the bundle you choose.

Read more about CyberLink’s Total Media Entertainment Software

via EngadgetHD

Greetings Masters of the Green Button:
I wanted to introduce myself and this new blog for you. Media Center and Me is a blog that documents my life living with Media Center in a family of four in the American middle west.
I like to think of it as one part enthusiast, one part realist. One (very small part) expert, one part student. It is not intended to be solely a news blog, though it will comment on news. Nor is it purely a how-to blog, though tutorials will certainly crop up.
My experience…(read more)

Amazon (affiliate) brings us the XBox 360 60GB Holiday Bundle.
This includes

• Lego Indiana Jones
• Kung-Fu Panda
• Lego Batman game
• 1,600 Microsoft Live Points Card

Xbox 360 Console Holiday Special All this for $300 (enter coupon code: 360OFFER )

XBMC was just updated and now Plex, the Mac fork of XBMC has a new version as well.  This new Plex Version 0.7.0 “Seven” was released late Sunday night.
Here’s a few of the new features of Plex Seven:

• Simplified Settings
• Auto-update (Integrated Sparkle) and Battery Monitoring for laptops (read this for more)
• New Core Audio Output Mode
• iTunes DRM Audio Playback
• Background Music & TV Themes
• iTunes Visualizations
• iTunes album art – over the network
• New Plex Media Server (access media locally or across the network
• Podcast Support
• Support for iPhoto
• Support for launching external applications
• Full-size icon rendering

Read more and get the Plex Download at the Plex Blog

via Missing Remote

It’s officially mid-season for the TV world and time to check in on the Fall 2008 TV shows.  Which ones are finished?  Which ones are on life support?  Read on for a fairly long list of television shows that are either ending after this season or being cancelled prematurely.
SHOWS ENDING OR CANCELED:

• Battlestar Galactica (SCI) - Ending after four seasons. Although we’ll get a spinoff with a 2-hour Caprica movie which was originally scheduled for December 2008, but this is possibly getting pushed back to 2009 so they can convert that special into a premiere of a new Caprica series.
• Boston Legal (ABC) – I’m probably in the minority here since it survived 5 seasons, but I never liked this show.  The series will end with a 2-hour finale on December 8th – cause of death reported to be cost of production.
• Charlie Jade (SCI) I never watched this and honestly had never heard of it, but it will end after its first season.
• Do Not Disturb (FOX) - This true comedy with Jerry O’Connel was killed after just 3 lowly episodes
• Easy Money (CW) – I’m putting this in the canceled category.  CW has aired seven episodes but has also put a “halt to production.”  They may want us to believe that means to “catch up”, but I’ll call it canceled.
• The Emperor’s New School (DISNEY) – 2 Seasons in, this Disney show is over.
• ER (NBC) Will end after its 15th season is completed
• The Ex List (CBS) – Was canceled after just four episodes
• Flip That House (TLC) – Fitting that the show (in its 4th season) based on “flipping houses” fails when its nearly impossible to sell a house in the U.S. at the moment.
• Hole in the Wall – A Japanese-import gameshow where people (large and small) attempt to squeeze themselves into odd shapes to fit through a moving wall. Only lasted a few episodes after very poor ratings.
• King Of The Hill (FOX) – This popular animated series ends after 13 seasons.
• The L-Word (SHO) – Showtime’s L-Word will end after six seasons.
• Lipstick Jungle (NBC) – This show staring Brooke Shields was the NBC version of Sex and the City-Lite and is finished after two seasons.

• Late Night With Conan O’Brien (NBC) – Conan’s late night talk show will end in its current form after 16 seasons.
• MADtv (FOX) – 13 seasons of SNL-type comedy ends.
• Mind Of Mencia (COMEDY) – Over after 4 seasons.
• My Own Worst Enemy (NBC) – This one survived only 9 episodes.  I had it set to record and just deleted all of the epsisodes after hearing of its demise.  Word is this series had potential, but wasted it quickly.

• Opportunity Knocks (ABC) -  This gameshow hosted by ashton Kutcher only lasted 3 episodes. 
• The Riches – FX has canceled one of the shows I’ve heard good things about but never watched.
• The Shield (FX) – 7 seasons of rough-and-tumble cop drama ends after this season.
• Stargate Atlantis (SCI) – Over after 5 seasons.  Lots of unhappy sci-fi fans over this one.
• The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC) – I will really miss Jay Leno as NBC closes shop with him after 17 seasons.  I never thought I’d warm to him when he first came on, but he’s really done a good job in my opinion.  It will be interesting to see what he does next.
• Valentine (CW) – Will air all 13 episodes, but is finished after that as it should be.

 
WHICH SHOWS ARE ON THE BUBBLE AND IN TROUBLE?

• Chuck – NBC is watching Chuck lose a lot of its audience from last year.   Could be finished after this season.
• Crusoe – This show airs on Fridays so the expectations are pretty low and I think the quality of the show is pretty low as well.
• Dirty Sexy Money – This ABC comedy/drama has morphed into more of a traditional soap opera this season and the ratings have been falling.  It’s definitely on the bubble at the moment and I’m very tempted to just move it to the canceled list.
• Eli Stone – Another ABC show that very likely could be canceled.  No word yet from ABC on its fate though.
• Heroes – Lots of complaints about Heroes these past two seasons and the show is down by over half from last years numbers.  I for one am enjoying this show a lot, but my wife who is a better gauge of the more-typical TV viewer thinks the show is overly complicated with too many characters this season.
• Life – NBC’s Life is also loosing audience – especially compared to last years numbers.
• Pushing Daisies - is struggling to keep afloat with rumors flying that it is kaput. Ratings for the show based on Ned the pie maker were diving weekly and had already plunged from last years numbers.  Like Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies is most likely canceled but I’m holding off moving to that list until the news is confirmed.
• Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles is in danger of being terminated as ratings dropped 34% from last year and weekly continues to lose more of its audience.  One of my favorite sci-fi shows so I hope it survives another season.
• Worst Week – This comedy has had fairly low ratings, but it looks like CBS is trying to give it some more time to gain audience.

IN THE “HOW DID THAT SHOW GET RENEWED CATEGORY:”

• Knight Rider – This show amazingly is being renewed andre-tooled by NBC.  How does this happen?  Ratings have been fairly low (although higher than I would expect) and the show is basically unwatchable (sorry for those of you who like it ;).
• Kath & Kim – Seriously, they’re keeping Kath and Kim!  How does this happen?
• Law & Order #### – This is totally me cause I know these shows get good ratings, but I’d be fine if there were no more than a single Law and Order a season.

What shows are you disappointed to see go?  Any that I missed that you think will be cancelled?  Let me know in the comments below.

This week I have been playing with the Media Center sideshow gadgets on my Windows Mobile phone and Windows 7, taking to Jason Dunn about the Zune updates and talking Windows 7 with UMPCPotal. Here are the highlights from TheDigitalLifestyle.com over the last 7 days

• Listen to me being interview on UMPCPortal.Com
• Sites you should know: http://slicksolutions.eu/ - home of the Media Center Standby tool
• Video: Windows Media Center Sideshow gadgets on Windows Mobile
• Video: Running Windows 7 on a Samsung Q1
• Design Guidelines and Considerations for Building Windows Certified Network Media Devices
• The Media Center Show #181 - Jason Dunn on the Zune
• Entertainmenet 2.0–Episode 8
• Can Windows Live connect with the digital home?
• My Movies for Windows Home Server 1.02 adds Extender compatible DVD ripping
• Opportunity to beta test Windows Media Center
• TV Pack Installing & Startup Issues
• Windows 7’s new “play all” decoders, encoders and transcoding capabilities

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?

Cross Posted from Chris Lanier’s Blog at http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/