Simon's Digital Lifestyle Blog - All Comments

re: The coolest one box Media Center ever

simonster — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:19:04 GMT

that's why it's so cool!

re: The coolest one box Media Center ever

chrisoldroyd — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:17:05 GMT

Errr its a chest freezer right!

re: How 3D Works

tlh523 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:07:32 GMT

Is there a larger version of this illustration? To small to read,

re: Like Hulu with no restrictions

simonster — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:09:02 GMT

Lets make that 3...

re: Like Hulu with no restrictions

Garry [WMA] — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:27:19 GMT

My thought exactly. hope Martin is reading.

This is a really good service although I did have some vide quality issues this morning but still watchable.

re: Like Hulu with no restrictions

Ian Dixon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:13:48 GMT

I bet Martin could add it as a source in TunerFree

re: iTunes in the cloud?

simonster — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:41:49 GMT

I too dislike iTunes, and I prefer CopyTrans

re: iTunes in the cloud?

charlas — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:48:13 GMT

The majour reason I dont own an Apple device any more IS iTunes, I despise the application with all my heart, and consider it no better than a Virus and wont install it.

So if they got rid of the 'need' to install it localy I might be more inclined to buy an Apple product. I actualy quite liked my iPod G2/G3, but there is no way I'll buy one at the moment because of iTunes.

re: More tablets…

F1Mad — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:20:57 GMT

I can't say too much about what I'm working towards. But if you think of all the things a universal remote can do, with some of the nice things that Web Guide let you do, then you'll get some idea.

As Gary says, I think an API is unlikely. Not only because of any issues with Data Providers, but because I've heard that the eHome team is on a "freeze" until the next Operating System release (ie ages away!).

All this, and the fact that I feel Win7 MCE has gone backwards in some respects compared to Vista MCE, makes me edgy about keeping with Media Center, and why I'm contemplating other options...

re: More tablets…

simonster — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:05:36 GMT

I know....we could dream...

re: More tablets…

Garry [WMA] — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:43:46 GMT

Don't think we are likely to get a guide data API - it was from rumours a business decision after the Guide Data Providers got protective of their data.

re: More tablets…

simonster — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:50:46 GMT

Yeah, I see precisely what you're saying.

From a UI point of view MC is very good to develop with (as is Windows 7 from a touch point of view - checkout the Windows 7 SDK for some nuggets on that).

I'd really like to see a guide API, it's a currently missing bit of the puzzle.

So what kind of touch screen were you building?

re: More tablets…

F1Mad — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:13:28 GMT

Guys, regarding using tablets as controllers, I had this idea a while back after seeing how similar tablets are used in LinuxMCE installs, and so wanted to do something similar for Media Center.

The problem (which concerns me), though, is that Win7's MCE offers developers a lot less access to stuff than previous versions. Think how we lost WebGuide, and you can see why I'm concerned. :(

re: More tablets…

simonster — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:32:26 GMT

Yeah I know what you mean, I'm adding it to my "must buy" list for 2010, but I think it's too early...tablets are going to be 1.0 devices at this point (2.0 if they'r running Windows 7) and things don't typically get good till 3.0...

I want, I want, I want !

re: More tablets…

Ian Dixon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:26:53 GMT

I saw a good mix of windows 7 devices and Android devices, and the gadget fan in me really wants one but I am not sure how much use I would get out of one

re: Play To questions answered, part one – Multiple Devices and Sync

scottfactor — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:53:27 GMT

that's great. thanks.

re: Play To questions answered, part one – Multiple Devices and Sync

simonster — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:24:28 GMT

The content will be played from the media center, to the media center without ever going to the netbook, it's simply a remote control in that scenario.

re: Play To questions answered, part one – Multiple Devices and Sync

scottfactor — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:36:44 GMT

I'm still a little confused about where exactly the data gets played from. Here's the scenario in question: I have a windows 7 netbook that has wireless access to a song that is physically stored on my media center pc which is connected to my stereo system. So, when I launch that song on my netbook and "Play-to" the media center pc, will that mp3 file first be streamed to the netbook and then streamed back to the media center for playing; or will it me smart and recognize that the mp3 is physically on the destination play-to device and therefore merely play the song directly from the media center pc?

re: Media nirvana, buy once use in any format

simonster — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:01:35 GMT

It's also worth looking at the board of Directors for Apple and Disney :)

I like the thinking behind this and the momentum looks good. I'm concerned by who's looking after your licenses (who do you trust?). Both the DECE and the KeyChest methods require that both the consumer and the content distributor trust someone to hold that info. We'll have to see what they announce this week for the deets but it's interesting....

re: Media nirvana, buy once use in any format

bjdraw — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:50:34 GMT

It is worth Mentioning that Disney is planning on doing a Digital KeyChest which sounds very similar.

re: WTV watcher update

Dangelus — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:55:52 GMT

Paul, great app!

I'm having a problem with the processing rules though. I have set one to ignore any file with 'BBC' in it as there are no ads to remove. WTV Watcher finds a show with BBC in it and correctly ignores it but then 10 seconds later it ignores the same file again. This is continuous in a loop. In other words it never passes the first ignored file so I have to remove the filters.

re: WTV watcher update

pbruce — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:15:36 GMT

Simon, man, thanks for the write-up. Very encouraging!

Just to keep this post up to date, I wanted to share that I have posted an update (v 1.0.0.32), which includes a slew of helpful preference additions, such as:

* Shutdown time, in conjunction with Windows Scheduled Task to run within a daily 'processing window of time'

Cheers!

Paul Bruce

* Processing Rules, to selectively include/exclude certain shows

* More at: wtvwatcher.codeplex.com/documentation

re: Streaming Media in Windows 7 – Streaming your collection over the Internet

simonster — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:47:09 GMT

Adfrad,

Thanks, you're right as long as the media server isn't part of a domain it will work, the media reciever can be part of a domain.

The port changes shouldn't be necessary (even if you have uPnP) disabled as Toredo tunneling is used and the connection is, normally IPv6.

Obviously if you're a corp firewall admin and you want to block this type of access then block Toredo and the ports.

re: Streaming Media in Windows 7 – Streaming your collection over the Internet

adfrad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:36:53 GMT

If you home computer (i.e. the media server) is not in a domain you can still stream to your work computer even if it is a memeber of a Domain.

The restrictions on a domain are purely for serving media, not receiving it.

I have written some instructions on how to set this up: www.adfrad.com/.../fix-windows-7-media-player-streaming.html

re: Super-simple, no config commercial removal in Windows 7

simonster — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:52:13 GMT

That sir, is a very good point, however....

The default settings make lifexterder output to a different file, copy the meta and thumb to it then it recycles the original...so the original is always in the Recycle bin (unless you empty it or tell it not to work that way).

re: Super-simple, no config commercial removal in Windows 7

Athursby — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:53:38 GMT

Not to take anything away from this method (anything easy is great!) but it should be noted that Life Extender will actually cut out the commercials instead of just tagging them. If it screws up there's no way to back up and watch the tagged part since it's actually been deleted.

re: Channel4 Partner with YouTube

mmillmor — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:01:10 GMT

Thanks for the hint! Hopefully the 4OD web site won't go away though, because it's a great way of finding out the episodes and programs, unlike YouTube, which wouldn't allow me to easily find the lists of programs and episodes. Oh well - I guess it's wait and see.

Martin

re: New player in the “cloud backup” space

DWAnderson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:20:33 GMT

Backup strategy involves a 1TB USB drive that I bring home from work on a monthly basis to do a full backup. Key files are backed up on daily basis to another smaller USB HD attached to our server. The server itself keeps most files on a Drobo.

The idea of cloud-based backup is appealing, but I have always been put off by the large amount of time it would take me to recover a terrabyte of files (about a 2-4 weeks of solid download time I figured) from the cloud.

re: New player in the “cloud backup” space

gadget — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:09:23 GMT

A interesting piece Simon, thank you for that, my backups are manualy applied and saved to different locations which is shamefull to be honest but they work and i can be assured they have applied properly, rather than finding out after the event that an error occured and the backup is lost if automated

i have used Mesh as a backup zone and feel i should really use it more often

Somehow though i doubt Vodaphone will ever give us anything for nothing

again many thanks for an interesting article

Mike

Windows7intouch.com

re: Recording programs that are off the air

simonster — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:43:37 GMT

I don't think it's got the smarts you might expect...the way that I use this to catch those programs is to start recording the series when it appears in my recorded items. Since it won't record the same exact program (i.e. same time, channel) twice then I only get one. I get around the duplicates of the same program thing with an external program, like LifeExtender or DVR-MS toolbox. (although currently I have flakey tuners so actually I'm going for the manual delete option to make sure I get the shows I want).

re: Recording programs that are off the air

kingtone — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:03:45 GMT

Do you know if 7MC is smart enough to know if it has recorded a particular episode or not?

I was thinking the methods you outlined here would be useful if you wanted to get all the shows of an old series that has come around again in reruns. Down side would be if 7MC recorded the same episode again and again.

re: England v Ukraine, live online – only!

cw-kid — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:34:53 GMT

English national football should be always be aired on UK terrestrial TV end of..

However I think it should also be shown Online as well, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player etc.

re: England v Ukraine, live online – only!

mark1234 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:17:25 GMT

My football liking friends are well annoyed by this. They don't like the fact they have to pay, nor do they expect the stream to be of reasonable quality.

I'm not a football fan so don't really care, but also don't see the issue. They pay for Sky Sports so are used to paying for footie. I'm sure they watch iPlayer content streamed.

I watched the whole Singapore F1 Grand Prix streamed live on iPlayer whilst I was doing DIY away from the TV. It was perfectly fine.

re: Xbox 360 price drop

gblinckmann — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:23:17 GMT

If it weren't for the 360's, I wouldn't use Media Center, either. I'd be using SageTV. I have one Linksys extender in my guest room, but 360's on the other three TV's in the house.

re: Xbox 360 price drop

simonster — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:00:25 GMT

I'm also very firmly in the "it's a very, very good thing camp", just to clarify.

However, it has some draw backs as an extender, that could / would / do cause people do dislike it. For example the noise. Also there have been grumblings about MS "seemingly" transitioning people to the Xbox as a media device in it's own right rather than as an extender. I see that transition as good, since I see MC becomming a media hub rather than a presentation device - the presentation being handled in by a "tuner" / recieving device - I want to see how this plays out.

I would not give up my Xbox as an extender for one, and I don't hate it, very much the opposite.

re: Xbox 360 price drop

Ian Dixon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:37:56 GMT

I love my 360, I agree Ben I only use mine as an Extender

re: Xbox 360 price drop

bjdraw — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:34:07 GMT

Exactly who hates the 360? Not any Media Center fans. I'd argue that the 360 is the best thing that ever happened to Media Center. In fact I wouldn't even use Media Center if it wasn't for the 360, and most of the member of TGB probably own the 360 just as an extender.

re: Wow! Zune HD looks super sexy on a big screen

JohnCz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:27:51 GMT

In dock configuration I'm curious if MarketPlace (streaming using Zune Pass), Social and Browser are supported in the 10' UI. All they would need is a full featured remote.

re: Wow! Zune HD looks super sexy on a big screen

JohnCz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:12:19 GMT

It does look great. But I'm not sure what the story is for consuming content stored in a network folder. My Windows Home Server has far more content than (25) 16GB ZuneHD could ever hold. My dream would have been that when Zune/AV Dock are paired together, it would offer a Media Center Extender mode.

re: Windows Live Moviemaker updated

JohnCz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:57:27 GMT

It also supports plugins, so I think we'll see a number of announcements around that. Personally, I'd like to see a Live SkyDrive/Zune plugin.

Although MSN dropped SoapBox, I have a feeling the technology will be relocated/reused in another product group, say Windows Live or even Zune. I could see Microsoft enabling video streaming from Live SkyDrive folders. For public material, all Bing would have to do is index SkyDrive "Public" folders. Another route, create a Live SkyDrive sub-area dedicated to Zune Pass subscribers for uploading streamable content. The difference between streaming from Live SkyDrive folder and the dedidicate Zune Pass folder may be wether it is ad supported or free of ads. I just find it hard to believe that Microsoft would completely step away from user generated content.