Month: June 2008

The Windows Experience Blog took a look at the HP MediaSmart Connect.  At some point I’ll also have a review of the unit and compare it directly to the Linksys Extenders (and D-Link which is pretty much the same). Speaking of Extenders, Ben at Engadget HD did a great shootout of the Linksys, D-Link, and Xbox 360 Extenders head-to-head. eHomeUpgrade has had several posts about the Disney Innovations Dream Home.  Alexander took a look at Life|ware, Surface, HP’s TouchSmart PC, and much more.

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 17, 2008 – HP today announced that HP MediaSmart Connect, a sleek digital media receiver that brings digital media from around the home or Internet to any HDTV, is now available for pre-order. First announced as part of the HP product launch at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, HP MediaSmart Connect features a sleek design with a piano-black finish as well as HP’s exclusive “Zen” Imprint pattern and ambient blue lighting, making it a stylish addition to any room in the home. Play your music, photos, and video from any Windows-based PC in your house on … Continue reading HP MediaSmart Connect Makes It Easy to Enjoy Digital Media from Any HDTV‏

The latest attraction at Disneyland takes visitors through a home of the future featuring technologies of tomorrow inspired by some of today’s cutting-edge consumer offerings from Microsoft and other technology industry leaders. ANAHEIM, Calif., June 16, 2008 – Today, the Innoventions Dream Home became latest attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Located in Tomorrowland, the Dream Home delivers on Walt Disney’s vision for showcasing cutting-edge technologies that make life better and easier and was created in close collaboration between Disneyland, Microsoft, HP, Life|ware and home-builder Taylor Morrison. The Dream Home demonstrates how technology can be integrated into our lives in … Continue reading Making Dreams a Reality: The Innoventions Dream Home

Ian Dixon had a ton of good stuff this past week at HP’s Connecting your World event in Germany.  Among the top announcements was HPs new TouchSmart PC which features a 22-inch display.  Best of all, this thing is cheap!  It starts at only $1,300, nearly half of their pervious TouchSmart PCs (and much more attractive).  Ian also did a special edition of The Media Center Show for the event. Saying with HP for a minute, they will be holding a series of webinar’s from June 24-July 10.  Guests include Ian Dixon, Patrick Norton, Mike Garcen, and Ed Bott.  Be … Continue reading Short Bits: HP, TouchSmart, Webinar, Live for TV

No doubt Embedded Automation’s mPanel has been high on my list, and over the past week Ted has posted up some great videos on the company’s website and YouTube page.  Check out the mPanel overview, mPanel installation, mPanel Media Center control, and mPanel music control/playback. [YouTube:cj-tuIDUhII] In addition to seeing the functionality, Ted confirmed the target price is in the $1,500 range and for those who already own touchscreens you will most likely be able to purchase the mPanel software at a later date for WinCE and other platforms. Lastly, Embedded Automation now has a forum for users to post … Continue reading mPanel Preview Videos, Price Point, and More

Microsoft made plans public on Friday in Japan (late Thursday in US) for the release of a product called “Windows Media Center TV Pack” as a part of their increased TV signal support in the country. (Image via Masaru Kamikura’s tumblr) What is the Windows Media Center TV Pack?  Well, that’s up to the translated press release to tell us (Original press release). Google Translation: TV Pack….“Provide PC manufacturers, PC manufacturers from terrestrial digital broadcasting is PC compatible with Windows Vista(1)”     (1) Note: and provide the package, Windows Update, and by extension will not only provide. Yahoo Babelfish Translation: … Continue reading Microsoft Quietly Plans “Windows Media Center TV Pack”

A few months ago I said that Microsoft was planning on finally taking TV signal support in Media Center global, but little did I know that Japan would be the first to see the improved support.  This past Friday Microsoft announced several new broadcast and hardware partners for Media Center in Japan that will be coming later this year. New content providers including TV Asahi, NHK, NTV, TBS and Fuji TV will provide interactive features new to Media Center, and Fujitsu will bring new hardware to the market as well.  Future support for ISDB-T, improved playback options for PCs connected … Continue reading Microsoft Expands TV Signal Support in Japan

Microsoft has released the June 2008 Cumulative Update for Windows Media Center for Windows Vista. This update rollup is intended for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate. Issues that are resolved by this update In addition to the fixes that are contained in the updates that are listed in the “Hotfix replacement information” section, the June 2008 Cumulative Update for Windows Media Center for Windows Vista resolves the following issues: For Windows Media Center configurations that use an analog TV broadcast without a set-top box, this update improves the experience of recording television shows. … Continue reading June 2008 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista

Today Microsoft is will a patch to correct the issues seen in last month’s reported “Broadcast Flag” issues.  In reality, the fix is for CGMS-A and the official word is still that Media Center doesn’t support the Broadcast Flag.  Last month’s issue propagated from CGMS-A being on the analog source data that was broadcast by NBC. The patch changes functionality in Media Center for CGMS-A on antenna and non-STB configurations where CGMS-A CopyNever (1:1) will be recorded as CopyOnce (1:0) effectively ending the “Recording Prohibited” messages seen last month.  This means if CGMS-A finds its way onto an OTA broadcast … Continue reading Microsoft Patches “Broadcast Flag”/CGMS-A Issues