Today I visited the Microsoft Partner Pavilion (and met Bill Gates) and the most interesting items for me were the Media Center demos

The most interesting element was the new Media Center items: Fox Sports and Vongo

The sports addin is an amazing example of the power of Media Center combined with the TV experience. There are stats, info popups integrated pictures and TV. Its the next generation of the TV experience, ok at the moment  it is US sports but the application is Media Center Markup Language and it shows off what you can do and its going to be a very popular feature.

The Vongo movie service is another next generation experience. Its the complete on demand movie service and the interface a beautiful Media Center application with a very slick UI, great quality content and a very rich and dynamic experience.

ATI showed their Digital Cable Tuner, so the complete the HD cable solutions for Media Center including streaming to the XBOX 360.

I also got it see the latest Media Center Remotes, the standard new white Media Center remote I am not to sure off yet. Maybe it will grow on me but what was nice was the Sideshow remotes. The sideshow remotes have a colour LCD display and communicate over Bluetooth to the Media Center PC. You can browse all the content on the Media Center PC, you can see guide data and of course control the Media Center PC.

I will try and get some pictures (we were not allowed to take pictures today) and post them soon. I will also get some interviews to talk about the new stuff.

Oh and another thing I loved was the new HP Phototouch applications, a touch screen Media Center PC and application that brings a new twist to the 10 foot interface. More on that soon

I will blog more when I get internet access

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