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Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta Adds Windows 7 Support and More

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:34:18 -0500

With Windows 7 coming down the pike in less than a month, it's time for Microsoft to update its Windows Home Server product to support new features in Windows 7, such as Libraries and image-based backup. Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (now available in beta via Microsoft Connect) provides the Windows 7 support Windows Home Server needs, but that's not all that's new.

What's New in Power Pack 3 for Windows 7 Users?

Because Windows Home Server is designed to provide a Windows-ready back end for backup and file organization on a home network, many of the changes in Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 add Windows 7 compatibility. These include:

Windows 7 library support, including Windows Search 4 integration to enable WHS to search libraries and EFS (encrypted) files
Windows 7 Action Center backup integration
Windows 7 power settings support for scheduled backup

...and Everyone Else?

Other improvements include:

More reliable file restore and image restore
Improved backup repair
Support for displays with resolutions as low as 1024x600
Automatic TV recording archiving from Windows Media Center to Windows Home Server in your choice of formats
Console view of Windows Home Server from within Windows Media Center

So, how soon will "beta" become "production?" According to the Windows Home Server blog (a great way to keep track of the latest news on WHS0, the production version should be ready by the end of 2009. See the Microsoft Connect intro site to learn more about joining the program.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Windows Media Center

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0500

In Windows 7, Windows Media Center is a more useful tool than ever before for working with audio and visual media. While at first glance, Windows 7's version of WMC doesn't look a whole lot different than its predecessor, it includes many improvements. In this article, we'll focus on improvements in WMC's TV setup process, support for digital broadcast TV, the program guide, Internet TV, WMC access from the desktop, RAW file support for photos, picture and music playback and sports.

Digital Broadcast TV Made Easier

In Windows Vista, ATSC digital over-the-air broadcast TV was handled clumsily. The already-long TV setup process took even longer if you had an ATSC antenna, and after you had set up your digital channels, they were assigned four-digit channel numbers that were located far from their analog counterparts in the program guide. Windows 7 makes the process of setting up and using digital broadcast TV much easier. When you run the Live TV Setup option from the TV menu strip, Windows 7 determines the digital TV channels that are in your area and assigns them .x channel numbers, such as 14.1, 7.2, and so on in the program guide. If you can view all of the digital TV channels Windows 7 assigns, you don't need to do anything else.

However, it's more likely, especially if you use an indoor antenna, that some channels might not provide a strong enough signal to be usable. In Windows 7, you have two ways to optimize your ATSC digital TV experience: Scan for More Channels and Digital TV Antenna Signal Strength. These options are found in Tasks>Settings>TV>TV Signal. Use Scan for More Channels to determine if you can pick up any additional digital TV channels. Next, use Digital TV Antenna Signal Strength to scan the assigned digital TV channels. During this process, adjust your antenna to improve signal strength, and uncheck any channels that are not strong enough to be usable. The channels you deselect are removed from the program guide.

Keep in mind that if you get a better antenna, you can run these wizards again to see if more channels are available to you.

Internet TV Turns 2

You can access Internet TV in three ways in Windows 7:

From your desktop via a gadget
From the Windows Media Center Program Guide
From the Windows Media Center Internet TV options in the Extras menu stripe

Whether you have a TV tuner or not, MSN "channels" are displayed in the Program Guide. Windows 7 now includes a new version of Internet TV, version 2 (beta).

The first time you select Internet TV Beta 2, you are prompted to update your desktop player. Click Update to download and install the 2MB update file. While WMC still includes Internet TV Beta 1.1 (a slightly updated version of the first-generation Internet TV found in Windows Vista's Windows Media Center), Internet TV Beta 2 is the better version to use - if you have a fast enough connection. It offers an interface that puts more emphasis on content than on categories and looks much more like WMC's other media menus, while offering higher resolution video than the original Internet TV.

However, keep in mind that Internet TV is still in beta, and works best with a fast Internet connection: I'd recommend Wireless-N or Gigabit Ethernet. When I tested this feature on my office PCs (connected to a 10/100 Ethernet network), there were a lot of timeouts, and some video clips played, but with scrambled video on my widescreen display.

Opening Media Center Content from Your Desktop

When you start WMC, you will be prompted to install a desktop gadget to access Internet TV on your desktop. Click Yes, and you can launch TV recordings and Internet TV from your desktop by adding the Windows Media Center gadget. When you add the gadget to your desktop, it displays your most recent TV recordings and Internet TV channels. You can specify how many to offer and what categories to display.

Click a category (1), click an item (2), and WMC opens and immediately starts playing the selected content

You can also access WMC content from the Start menu. WMC supports Windows 7's new jump list feature, so when you click Windows Media Center in the Start menu, you can choose from the latest TV recordings or from other recently-view media.

Working with RAW Image Files in Windows Media Center

In Windows Vista, you couldn't view RAW digital camera files from within Windows Media Center. Thankfully, with more and more photographers switching to digital SLR cameras and using RAW files, all you need to do to enable RAW support in Windows 7's version of WMC is to add the appropriate codec for your camera and operating system type (32-bit or 64-bit). For this article, I installed the Ardfry Imaging, LLC 64-bit codec for Canon CR2 RAW files, as Canon does not yet offer a 64-bit codec.

Creating a Slide Show You Can Edit and Reuse

In Windows Vista, the Slide Show feature in Windows Media Center was useful only for a quick review of the current folder or month's photos. In Windows 7, though, you can select the picture files and music files you want, change the order of the files, and create a show you can edit and replay again and again from RAW, JPEG or other supported file types.

The process is quite similar to creating a music playlist. WMC automatically syncs the music and photos for you, and, you can also burn your slide show to DVD.

Viewing Your Favorite Pictures

Windows 7 adds the option to play your favorite pictures. To use this feature, rate your pictures, either in Windows Media Center or other Microsoft apps, such as Windows Media Player or Windows Live Photo Gallery. To rate your photos in WMC, you can right-click the item and select the star rating from the right-click menu.

To finish the process for photos, open Tasks>Settings>Pictures>Favorite Pictures, select the criteria you want to use, and click Save.

To start playback, open Pictures + Videos>Play Favorites. The pictures you selected will be displayed in a screen saver that alternatively scrolls thumbnails of all selected photos in black and white across the screen and periodically zooms in on one photo and displays it in full color (assuming it's a color photo).

Listening to Your Favorite Music

You can also select your favorite music by star ratings or other criteria for playback with Music Favorites. To access the setup menu, open Tasks>Settings>Music>Favorite Music, select the options desired, and save changes. To start playback, open Music>Play Favorites. You can play favorite music and favorite pictures at the same time.

Customizing Sports

Windows Vista's version of WMC offered a strong Sports module, but Windows 7's version one-ups it by enabling you to select how much information you want to display for each league you follow, and now lets you keep an eye on the leading racing leagues: Busch, Truck, Nextel, and IRL.

Windows 7's version of Windows Media Center builds upon the best features of Windows Vista's version and adds plenty of refinements. It's just one more reason to take a closer look at Microsoft's newest operating system.

Patch Tuesday Also Intros Redmond's New Active Protection and Exploitability Index, WMC Updates

Mark Edward Soper — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:36:49 -0500

October's Patch Tuesday's bigger than normal, with 11 security bulletins (four critical, six important, and one moderate) affecting the following desktop operating systems and applications:

Internet Explorer 5.01, 6, and 7 on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP, and Windows Vista get patched to stop a remote code execution threat
Windows XP SP2 and SP3 and Windows XP Professional x64 and XP Professional x64 SP2 will be patched to stop elevation of privilege attacks
Windows 2000 SP4 through Windows Vista SP1 will also be as updated needed to prevent remote code execution
Microsoft Excel 2000 SP3, Excel 2002, Excel 2003 SP2/SP3, and Excel 2007/2007 SP1 will be updated against a critical vulnerability, as will Excel Viewer 2003/2003 SP3, Excel Viewer, and MS Office Compatibility Pack and Compatibility Pack's SP1.

What else is coming down the chute starting Tuesday?

Windows Vista Media Center gets a pair of updates (one for the TV Pack, and one for everyone), as well as the usual updates to the Malicious Software Removal Tool, Windows Mail Junk Email Filter and Customer/Windows Vista Experience Improvement Program.

However, the biggest news is the premiere of the Microsoft Active Protections Program and Exploitability Index we told you about in August. Hopefully, these programs will aid the never-ending battle against the bad guys in cyberspace.

"Fiji" Update for Windows Media Center RTMs, Exact Features Still a Mystery

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:02:50 -0500

For Windows Vista users who use Windows Media Center, there's good news and bad news:

The good news? The long-awaited "Fiji" update to WMC, officially known as the Windows Media Center TV Pack, was released to manufacturing last week. The bad news? Pick a pair: a) TV Pack is currently available only to OEMs. b) Nobody who knows exactly what TV Pack includes is telling, and the rest of us don't know.

Best Guesses About "Fiji"

A recent story at EndgadgetHD suggests that TV Pack adds the following new features:

16x9 thumbnails for HD video
HD recording preferences
favorite channels
support for more TV tuners
native QAM (aka "clear QAM") channel support (QAM is unencrypted digital cable TV signal)
support for various non-US TV tuners
Reassignment of broadcast channel numbers (useful for mapping four-digit ATSC digital broadcast channels to their familiar one or two-digit equivalents)
replacement of the MS-DVR TV recording format with a new format called WTV

Much of this speculation is based on leaked screenshots of a German version of the RC0 pre-release edition.

The Mystery Ends(?) September 3

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, non-OEM customers might get their hands on "Fiji" until the CEDIA Expo conference in early September. Last year, Microsoft rolled out extenders for Windows Vista Media Center during CEDIA.

Answers Wanted

If you know anything about Vista's new TV Pack, we'd love to hear from you.

Illustration courtesy of EndgadgetHD.

Tiny Island Nation of Fiji and Microsoft on War Path

Pulkit Chandna — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:04:36 -0500

The government of the small island nation of Fiji is not too pleased with Microsoft’s purported use of the country’s name for the upcoming revision of Windows Media Center. According to reports, Fiji’s government is still trying to convince Microsoft that it needs to seek official permission first – and impute more respect to the tiny country, before going ahead with its plans to launch Windows Fiji.

The country’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum wants the dispute to be resolved cordially. Interestingly, Microsoft’s annual turnover is many times Fiji’s GDP. But something could be more interesting then the economic disparity between the two: Microsoft’s possible obsession with the name Fiji, which might eventually cost it a few million dollars.

Vista Updates for Windows Media Center Improve Extender and Set-Top Box Support

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:19:55 -0500

Windows Media Center is one of the core features in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions, and it has received a steady stream of enhancements and bug fixes since Windows Vista first shipped. Now, there are two more updates you need, especially if you use an Xbox 360 or other Media Center Extender.

KB950124

The first update, KB950124, improves the way that Media Center Extenders work with newer TV set-top boxes. If you don't download updates automatically with Windows Update, or if you prefer to save updates so that you can incorporate them into a custom installation source using vLite, you can download the version for 32-bit Vista or 64-bit Vista manually.

KB950125

The second update, KB950125, solves a trio of problems some users running xBox 360 consoles as Media Center Extenders may encounter. From the knowledge base article:

• This update addresses a picture quality issue that occurs when you use Media Center Extender on an Xbox 360 console that has a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connector to the TV for video and a Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format (S/PDIF) connection to the audio device for audio.

• This update addresses an issue in which the Media Center Extender stops responding (hangs) when you play a large non-WMV video over an HTTP session.

• This update provides support for 50Hz output together with better quality for HD models. This feature applies primarily to regions that use the PAL video standard.

As with KB950124, Windows Update delivers this update automatically, but you can also download the version for 32-bit or 64-bit Vista manually.

Now Playing on Windows Vista Media Center, May 2008 Edition

Mark Soper — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:13:37 -0500

When It Comes to Online Media, the Only Constant Is Change

The Online Media menu in Windows Media Center is the place to go for a constantly changing variety of educational, information, and entertainment content. When you run Windows Media Center and open the Online Media menu, menu options to the right of Explore are limited-time features that change with the seasons.

Back in March, Online Media offered coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four. In April, Online Media put its own satirical spin on the presidential nominating process with its own "The Big Debate" series, pitting pairs of entertainment, celebrity, and pop-culture figures against each other.

That Was Then, So What's On Now?

The current lineup includes:

- Learn How, a series of videos teaching you how to use Windows Media Center
- Extenders, an introduction to the new crop of extenders for Windows Media Center from Logitech, Niveus, and HP (which builds theirs into a TV)
- ACM Awards, featuring stories from the 2008 Academy of Country Music awards show
- NBC Nightly News, bringing you stories from the most current news broadcast

Need More? Internet TV Has It

As we first told you about last fall, Windows Media Center also features Internet TV, accessible through the TV+Videos menu. Miss the story about the 107-year old light bulb still hard at work? How about a real-life Prince Charming and his horse? Seen the rare newborn green boxer puppy? They're all playing on Internet TV now, and they have plenty of company.

Currently, Internet TV features hundreds of TV shows, clips, news stories, teasers, and features from sources as diverse as cable and broadcast TV channels (Showtime and Speed are recent additions); viral videos collected from TV and online sources; satiric and entertaining mashups; self-help videos on gardening, cooking, tech, autos, and other subjects, and much more, as well as election, current affairs, entertainment, and sports news.

By the way, if you missed a limited-time feature in Online Media, it might have a second life somewhere inside the Internet TV menu. For example, "The Big Debate" is now available in the TV series menu.

The only thing missing is an online program guide: there's so much inside the Internet TV menu that you'll be wishing for one similar to the guide Windows Media Center provides for broadcast and cable TV viewing. Just grab your mouse or Windows Media Center remote and start clicking. Between Online Media and Internet TV, you'll find plenty to watch, with no TV tuner needed.

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Mark's currently working on his new book Unleashing Windows Vista Media Center. Get a 'sneak peek' of what's coming here.

Vongo

Michael Brown & Will Smith — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:00:01 -0500

Vongo movies can be streamed to your TV using any Windows Media Center Extender device, including the Linksys DMA2200.

Vongo’s subscription business model puts it in a category all its own: The service’s primary focus is to provide an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of movies and other video content that can be downloaded to your PC for a $10 monthly fee. It doesn’t offer any for-purchase content, and its TV offerings are nearly nonexistent.

Vongo is a division of Starz Entertainment, which has contracts with all the major Hollywood movie studios for semi-exclusive access to their films—but only after those movies have played out in theaters, the pay-per-view market, and as disc sales. Starz offers the same films on cable TV. A Vongo representative tells us these contracts cover about 40 percent of all Hollywood movies released in the last nine years. HBO is in a similar position, but that firm doesn’t currently offer a download service.

When we compared Vongo’s movie library to the rest of the field, we did indeed find that Vongo had many movies to offer that could not be rented online anywhere else. CinemaNow, Movielink, and others had them available for sale, but not for rent. And with Vongo, you can watch the content as often as you like—or for at least as long as Vongo has the right to offer it.

There is no free lunch, however, especially not in Hollywood: When we looked to Vongo for 25 of the latest releases, we found only one that was covered by the monthly subscription price and only one other that was available on a pay-per-view basis. Vongo also doesn’t have much in the way of classic films (nothing from the AFI’s top 25 list, for instance), and we didn’t find any of our 10 cult classics in its listings. We did find some other gems, including Dr. Strangelove, From Dusk Till Dawn, and a host of low-brow offerings from Troma Entertainment (the studio that brought you Toxic Avenger).

You’ll need to download the Vongo client in order to browse the service’s library, download content, and watch previews. The application has a search engine that enables you to find content by title, actor/director, category, format (standard or widescreen), MPAA/TV rating, language, and device (PC or portable). You can also search for subscription content, pay-per-view titles, or both.

Vongo’s movie and (limited) TV offerings are delivered in the equivalent of standard definition (roughly 480i or 480p, dependent on your display) in WMV format. Video quality, as scaled by the Radeon 3850 videocard in our home-theater rig to our 42-inch ViewSonic N4285p TV, was very good. Being limited to standard definition isn’t a major shortcoming now (since most of the movies in Vongo’s library predate HD video anyway), but it will become a drawback as today’s new releases are remastered for Blu-ray before making their way into Vongo’s library.

Downloaded content can be streamed over a Windows Media Center Extender to a TV (assuming you have a version of Windows that includes Media Center), but Vongo’s 10-foot user interface is also integrated into versions of Vista that include Windows Media Center. This means you can use a Media Center remote to control the Vongo client.

Like your movies on the go? Vongo’s service can be used on as many as three devices simultaneously. One of these must be a PC, but the other two can be either PCs or Vongo-certified portable video players (including the Archos 605 WiFi, Creative Labs’s Zen Vision: M, and Toshiba’s Gigabeat V.)

If you can wait a year or so for movies to filter through the system and into the Starz library, $10 per month for all the movies you can watch is a great deal. We’re not that patient, although we were reminded of a number of films that we’d forgotten to watch when they were new—and now they can’t be rented from the other services.

Subscription: $10/month
Movie rentals: $1 to $4
Movie purchases: N/A
TV episodes: $2