Donavon West, Sidebar Gadget-maestro, is at it again! He just released a brand new Windows Sidebar gadget designed to let users keep track of Olympic Medal wins from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games . Download: 2008 Beijing Olympics Medal Count Gadget This Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on August 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Featured News and Sidebar Gadget and Windows Media Center and Windows Sidebar and Windows Vista.
Donavon West, Sidebar Gadget-maestro, is at it again! He
just released a brand new Windows Sidebar gadget designed to let users keep track of Olympic Medal wins from the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Download: 2008 Beijing Olympics Medal Count Gadget
This is a great gadget for people who aren't following the Olympics very closely but want to keep tabs on Olympic Medal wins. I'm not following the Olympics as closely as I'd like due to several things I'm working on so this Gadget is very helpful in at least keeping me "in the loop".
You can also watch encore videos of the Olympics at NBCOlympics.com thanks to a partnership with MSN Video and are presented in Silverlight. Also: don't forget you can also watch Olympic content directly within Windows Media Center on PCs running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate. I posted about NBC Olympics On The Go a few weeks ago here. I hear TVTonic has released a 64-bit version of NBC Olympics On The Go as well.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on August 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Featured News and Sidebar Gadget and Windows Media Center and Windows Sidebar and Windows Vista.
NBC is further expanding its coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service powered by TVTonic on Windows Media Center on PCs running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate! With NBC Olympics On Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on July 31st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Featured News and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
NBC is further expanding its coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service powered by TVTonic on Windows Media Center on PCs running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate! With NBC Olympics On The Go and Windows Media Center, you will be able to create a customized channel lineup of your favorite events for automatic download to your PC. Download NBC coverage of the Games overnight, and take them with you to watch online or offline in up to HD quality.
In Windows Media Center on PCs running either Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you'll find a new graphic under "Online Media" called NBC Olympics. Click on "Install Now" to install the NBC Olympics service for Windows Media Center.
When I went to install, I was given two options: Easy Install and Full Install. The Easy Install requires no keyboard or mouse and sets everything up for you to begin watching content. However, more advanced users (and users with plenty of bandwidth) can choose to do a more comprehensive Full Install. As you could have predicted, I ended up choosing the Full Install.
The Olympics begin August 8th, and video will become available in NBC Olympics On The Go on that day. Click here to find more about this service.
NOTE: If you don't see NBC Olympics under Online Media in Windows Media Center on your PC - not to worry! It should appear very soon.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on July 31st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1340 and 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Featured News and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
The Windows SideShow Team has announced the availability of 4 BETA Windows SideShow Gadgets that let you control Windows Media Center from a Windows Sideshow device. You can sign-up via Microsoft Connect to gain access to Beta Test these new Windows SideShow Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on July 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Beta and Contributors and Featured News and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
The Windows SideShow Team has
announced the availability of 4 BETA Windows SideShow Gadgets that let you control Windows Media Center from a Windows Sideshow device. You can sign-up via Microsoft Connect to gain access to Beta Test these new Windows SideShow Gadgets:
http://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=2380&SiteID=312&InvitationID=GPB-79MM-RFJ2
I believe this link works 1 time per Windows Live ID (You must sign-in with your Windows Live ID to access Beta Programs on Microsoft Connect). You can submit feedback to the team working on these Gadgets on Microsoft Connect.
Here is the breakdown of the 4 Windows Media Center BETA Windows SideShow Gadgets and what they do:
- Now Playing: View what is currently playing in Windows Media Center (includes playback controls)
- Pictures + Video: Browse your Photos and Videos folders
- Music: Browse your Music folder and play any song
- TV: Look at what is on TV via the Windows Media Center Guide, Schedule Recordings, and View Recordings (in a Thumbnail view)
I downloaded and installed the Windows Media Center BETA Windows SideShow Gadgets on my Dell XPS 420 which has a built in Windows SideShow device on the top front of the system (the XPS MiniView). It's pretty slick to be able to control Windows Media Center from a Windows SideShow device. I'm quite fond of the Now Playing Gadget myself and the TV Gadget. I utilize Windows Media Center as my primary DVR for recording TV. If you have a Windows SideShow device - definitely give these Windows SideShow Gadgets a try!
NOTE: These 4 Windows Media Center Windows SideShow Gadgets *are* currently in BETA.
Speaking of Windows Media Center - join Patrick Norton from Tekzilla tomorrow Tuesday July 8th for the 3rd Webinar (of 4 webinars total) on the new Extender for Windows Media Center from HP - the HP MediaSmart Connect. Click here to register for the webinar.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on July 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Beta and Contributors and Featured News and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
Yesterday, the 1st of 4 webinars on the HP MediaSmart Connect took place with special guest Ed Bott from
ZDNet. You can register to watch the session
on-demand here. The HP MediaSmart Connect is a brand new Extender for Windows Media Center device that enables you to "extend" your Windows Media Center experience to any HDTV in your house. I took a look at the device myself and
posted about it last week.
There are 3 more webinars for you to attend - with the next one being tomorrow June 26th, 2008 at 1:00pm PST with Ian Dixon from The Digital Lifestyle. Click here to register for the webinar.
I'll also be posting reminders for the webinars coming on July 8th and 10th.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on June 25th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and HP and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
Yesterday, the 1st of 4 webinars on the HP MediaSmart Connect took place with special guest Ed Bott from ZDNet . You can register to watch the session on-demand here . The HP MediaSmart Connect is a brand new Extender for Windows Media Center device that Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on June 25th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and HP and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
Last week I had blogged about upcoming webinars from HP and Microsoft on the new Extender for Windows Media Center - the HP MediaSmart Connect (you can register to attend those webinars here ). Today I'd like to take a more in-depth look at the HP MediaSmart Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on June 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Digital Media and Featured News and HP and Hardware and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
Last week I had
blogged about upcoming webinars from HP and Microsoft on the new Extender for Windows Media Center - the
HP MediaSmart Connect (you can register to attend those webinars
here). Today I'd like to take a more in-depth look at the HP MediaSmart Connect with an overview of the device.
But first, take a gander at today's Press Release from HP on the HP MediaSmart Connect...
Press Release: HP MediaSmart Connect Makes It Easy to Enjoy Digital Media from Any HDTV
Ok, now let's take a look at the device. First off - the form factor for the HP MediaSmart Connect is perfect for "extending" your Windows Media Center experience into other rooms in your home as it does not take up tons of room. Its exact dimensions (width x depth x height in inches) are 8.5 x 8.5 x 1.8. The unit would fit perfectly right next to a flat panel HDTV or on an open shelf. I currently have my review unit sitting on a small shelf next to the entertainment unit that my HDTV sits on. It would fit within the shelves of the entertainment unit had they not been completely filled with DVDs (heh). It is also not very heavy (around 3.5 lbs).
It will come in black with HP's identifiable "Zen" pattern on the top which also exists on some of their laptops (similar to the pattern seen on my HP tx1000 Tablet). You'll see in the photos I took of my review unit HP sent me that it doesn't have the "Zen" pattern however the production version will.
The front of the unit consists of 2 panels that open.
The HP MediaSmart Connect comes with 2 outputs for HD video: component out and HDMI.
Video output is either 720p or 1080i - with a switch (depending on your TV) in the front to switch between the output options.
There is a single USB port on the front as the HP MediaSmart Connect comes with the ability to read media off a USB device such as a thumbdrive or external harddrive. There is also a USB port in the back giving the HP MediaSmart Connect a total of 2 USB ports. If you want to get fancy you can add a HP Pocket Media Drive as there is a single slot for one in the front as well.
For audio you have stereo analog audio out and digital audio out.
You have several networking options with the HP MediaSmart Connect. It comes with a single Ethernet port supporting 10/100-Base-T or wireless IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n. The wireless antenna is built directly into the device so there are no protruding wireless antennas to get in the way.
A Universal Remote is also included with the HP MediaSmart Connect. In comparison to the remote that comes with a HP Pavilion dv6871 - the HP MediaSmart Connect has more buttons designed to accommodate it's functionality as a digital media hub as well as Windows Media Center extender.
The HP MediaSmart Connect supports a variety of digital media formats:
- Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 MP@ML, MPEG-2 MP@HL, MPEG-4 ASP, DivX®, WMV, WMV-HD, DVR-MS, H.264 (MP4)
- Audio: MP2, MP3, WMA, WMA-Pro, AAC (m4a)
- Photos: JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG
The HP MediaSmart Connect also supports online services for digital media:
- Snapfish
- CinemaNow,
- Live365
Some of these services work with Windows Media Center - such as CinemaNow.
In terms of features - you get the "extension" of Windows Media Center with the unit. But HP has added functionality on top of the Extender experience you get with Windows Media Center by giving the HP MediaSmart Connect the ability to also aggregate content for multiple "media servers" or PCs sharing media. If I have 1 PC sharing media and say a Windows Home Server - the HP MediaSmart Connect will aggregate content from both those systems. I currently have a HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server that the HP MediaSmart Connect finds content off of and aggregates it.
The HP MediaSmart Connect certainly comes with some pretty good specs.
Following up this post in the near future - I plan to post about several of my experiences in using the HP MediaSmart Connect.
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on June 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Digital Media and Featured News and HP and Hardware and Windows Media Center and Windows Vista.
« Older articles
No newer articles