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 Read More......(
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Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on June 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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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.
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!
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on June 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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On September 28th, users of Windows Media Center for Windows Vista (in the U.S. at this time) will see a new option under "TV + Movies" - the beta version of Internet TV. Internet TV Beta streams high-quality video content from MSN Video ( which just relaunched with new features and enhancements) through the internet to Windows Media Center. I got an opportunity to take an early look at Internet TV and want to share my experience.
When first launched - Internet TV took me to the Top Picks category. Internet TV consists of 6 main categories: Top Picks, Movies, Music, Entertainment, Sports, and News. These categories have sub-categories or "sections" in which content is divided into:
Top Picks: Top Picks are the top picks of content from all 6 categories. Top picks from movie trailers to concerts to TV shows are located here. There is some great picks here to check out like the Halo 3 "Believe" trailer (one of the coolest trailers ever) and the trailer to the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight.
Movies: Here is where I was able to check out movie trailers to movies currently at the box office as well as movies that are "coming soon" and on DVD. If you are looking to head out to a movie and want to see what is at the box office - you can easily fire up Internet TV to quickly check out some trailers before heading out.
Music: Under music, I was able to check out concerts from artists like John Mayer, Maroon 5, Snoop Dogg, Chris Cornell, and Velvet Revolver. The concerts are pretty sweet. You also can watch top music videos. I've never seen the music video to the Bee Gees song "Stayin' Alive" until today. I also checked out "Rockstar" by Nickelback and "Last Fight" by Velvet Revolver.
Entertainment: With the Entertainment category you get complete TV show episodes such as "Arrested Development". I was able to view the shows by channels - with channels such as A&E, bio, The History Channel, NBC Today, Food Network, HGTV, DIY, National Geographic, Fine Living and MSN TV. Under MSN TV I discovered clips to some top TV shows like "Heroes" and the new "Bionic Woman". It is nice to see short clips from shows - especially if you might be interested in checking out some of these shows. There is also a section called "Shorts" where you can view short videos from places such as iFilm.
Sports: Sports fans will love this section. I was able to view clips from the latest games across the board. And there are dedicated sections for NFL news and NCAA Football.
News: This section consists of news clips from the latest current events. There is a section dedicated to top news as well as the 2008 election. Those who are watching the 2008 election closely will find the dedicated election section quite nice.
All the content loaded up in high quality and looked quite nice. There was some brief time in accessing the content as it loads or buffers but once the content is playing - it's playing in some pretty high quality. The content is designed and optimized for broadband streaming so having a broadband connection is required for the best results. I was also able to use my Xbox 360 acting as an Extender to use Internet TV as well. The new Media Center Extenders from D-Link, Linksys, HP and Niveus Media announced today all support Internet TVso you can watch the content on TV sets around your home.
Internet TV is beta and should show up in Windows Media Center for users with Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate on September 28th. During the beta trial, the Media Center team will experiment with the content on offer, and with advertising. At this time, Internet TV is available to users in the U.S.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on September 27th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta and Extenders and Featured News and Home Premium and Internet TV and Ultimate and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista and Xbox 360.