Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center
A component of Windows NT

Windows Media Center on Windows 8.
Details
Type Digital video recorder and media player
Included with
Also available for Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro for USD $9.99
Replaced by Windows DVD Player (Windows 10)
Support status
Discontinued
Related components
DirectShow
Media Foundation
Multimedia Class Scheduler Service
Windows Media Connect
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Services

Windows Media Center is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on a dedicated edition of Windows XP (Windows XP Media Center Edition). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, as well as all versions of Windows 7 except Starter and Home Basic. It was available on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 as a paid add-on, before being discontinued in Windows 10. The abbreviation MCE is often used to refer to all versions of the Windows Media Center system.

Media Center can play slideshows, videos and music from local hard drives, optical drives and network locations. Users can stream television programs and films through selected services such as Netflix. Content can be played back on computer monitors or on television sets through the use of devices called Windows Media Center Extenders. It is also possible to watch and pause live TV. Up to six TV tuners on a tuner card are supported simultaneously. Both standard- and high-definition unencrypted video are supported through DVB-T and ATSC standards. It is possible to view encrypted private network television stations that are not broadcast over the air with internal and external tuner options that support the insertion of a CableCard provided by the cable TV company.

Shortly after Windows 7's 2009 release, Microsoft disbanded the Media Center development team, thus abandoning any further software developments. Consequently, the Media Center interface remained unchanged for Windows 8/8.1 users. In May 2015 Microsoft announced that Windows Media Center would be discontinued on Windows 10, and that it would be uninstalled when upgrading; but stated that those upgrading from a version of Windows that included the Media Center application would receive the paid Windows DVD Player app to maintain DVD playback functionality.[1]

History

Media Center on Windows XP Media Center Edition

Windows Media Center, codenamed "Freestyle", was first included with Windows XP Media Center Edition. A new version of WMC was included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions. The user interface was redesigned and tailored for the 16:9 aspect ratio. Support for multiple tuners was added in later releases and varies depending upon the version of the operating system purchased. Support for many Windows Media Center Extender hardware devices, that had been released pre-Vista, was also dropped leaving many owners out of luck if they did not upgrade to one of the supported Windows Vista versions from the Windows XP Media Center Edition. Also introduced to U.S. users was Internet TV, which allows access to streaming content through WMC. It also allows video game content.

Microsoft later updated WMC with a feature pack known as TV Pack 2008.[2] This release, codenamed "Fiji", was only made available via OEMs for new computers that came preinstalled with the update. It is not available as an update for existing WMC users.[3][4][5] The update tweaked the user interface, added support for digital subchannels, QAM, DVB-S and MHEG, and increased the total number of each type of tuner allowed. It used .wtv files instead of .dvr-ms.[6][7] Beta versions also supported H.264 format but this feature was removed upon release to manufacturing.[8]

Much of the functionality added with TV Pack 2008 was included with the version of Media Center included in Windows 7, along with an update to the user interface.[9]

WMC was not included in Windows 8.[10] Instead, it is part of a Media Center Pack add-on available only for retail versions[11] Windows 8 Pro, and Pro Pack that upgrades Windows 8 to Windows 8 Pro.[12]

Discontinuation

During the 2015 Build developers' conference, a Microsoft executive confirmed that Media Center, with its TV receiver and PVR functionality, would not be updated for or included with Windows 10, thus the product would be discontinued. A DVD playback app called Windows DVD Player is to be installed after the first Windows 10 Update.[13][14]

Although Windows Media Center is not available in Windows 10, some users discovered some methods of restoring it using a special Command Prompt batch file.[15]

EPG

The WMC Electronic Program Guide (EPG) caused several problems both before and after official discontinuation of the software. On several occasions, both in the USA and Europe, television channels were excluded from the EPG, and it did not extend as far into the future as it should.[16] This affects users of WMC on (unsupported) Windows XP, and on (supported) Vista and other pre-10 versions.

Features

Media Center uses TV tuner devices to play back and record TV shows from standard antenna, cable or satellite signals. Users can record television programs manually or schedule recording via the electronic program guide. Recordings can be burned to Video DVD or, barring copy restrictions, be transferred to a portable media player. Media Center supports both analog and digital tuners and allows up to six of each tuner type (analog, digital over-the-air, Clear QAM, CableCard) to be configured. All the tuners use the same guide data but it can be edited and configured to include additional channels such as Clear QAM not found or included in most Titan Guides. While playing live television, the program keeps a buffer that allows users to rewind or pause live TV and skip commercials. A third party program MCEbuddy allows automatic commercial skipping on recorded programs.

Media Center can stream both live and recorded contents to Windows Media Center Extenders such as the Xbox 360 console, but other Windows computers can just access recorded content. Playback of content on television is possible through Media Center Extenders or by directly connecting a computer running Windows Media Center to a television. The menus of Windows Media Center are displayed in a 10-foot user interface suitable for viewing on large screen televisions and can be navigated using various remote controls. Windows Media Center PCs require a sensor to be able to interact with the remote control. To advertise Media Center support, remote controls must also have certain buttons such as the Green Media Center logo Start button and buttons for navigation, playback and volume controls, power and channel flipping.[17][18]

Media file support

Windows Media Center organizes and displays videos and music found on both local and networked computers. Music albums are arranged with accompanying album art that can be downloaded off the Internet automatically or added manually into Media Center. Users can create playlists of different songs or albums as well. While playing music, the user can pause and fast forward songs and view visualizations. Analog FM radio support is also available if the user's TV tuner supports it.

Media Center allows users to browse pictures and play them in slideshows, as well as play video files. Media can be categorized by name, date, tags, and other file attributes. In addition, users can organize and play films through the "Movie Library" feature introduced in Windows Vista Media Center. Through the "Internet TV" feature, users can also stream television and web shows from select content providers.

CableCard support

Windows Vista Media Center introduced support for CableCard devices. However, CableCard was only supported on OEM hardware that had been certified by CableLabs.[19] Windows 7 Media Center supports adding CableCard to existing hardware, provided the hardware meets certain requirements.[20] Shortly after the release of Windows 7, Microsoft released the Digital Cable Advisor tool to verify that the requirements are met before activating CableCard support.[21]

Portable devices

Windows Media Center allows synchronization with certain portable devices. These devices include Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, smartphones, Portable Media Centers and other players that can sync with Windows Media Player. Microsoft's Zune cannot use the sync function, but can play Media Center recorder TV files when they are copied to a Zune monitored folder.

While synchronizing television shows, Windows Media Center encodes the shows using Windows Media Encoder to a Windows Media Video format at a lower quality than the original format used for viewing on the desktop media center. This is to complement the limited storage space and processing power of such portable devices. Optionally, music can also be re-encoded to a smaller file size upon synchronization.

Application development

Windows Media Center was designed as a programmable platform; other programs can tie into the Media Center UI using the WMC API, which is provided as a managed API. The functionality of Windows Media Center can be extended by three different types of applications:[22]

Presentation Layer Applications

These are managed applications written using the WMC API and packaged as CLI assemblies. Presentation Layer applications can have full access to both the .NET Framework as well as the Windows Media Center API, with the latter exposing a managed object model to access and manipulate the current states of the media management and playback, live television, video recording as well as the presentation capabilities of Windows Media Center. Presentation Layer applications are rendered using the bitmap-based Windows Media Center Presentation Layer, the user-input and presentation system of WMC. Presentation Layer includes support for animations, dynamic layout, keyboard/mouse as well remote navigation. Presentation Layer applications can be streamed over RDP to Windows Media Center Extenders; so Presentation Layer applications run on the extenders without any modification. Presentation Layer, however, exists only in the Windows Vista version of WMC.[22][23]

Presentation Layer applications are created using an XML based declarative markup language, known as Media Center Markup Language (MCML). MCML is used to define the user interface, with animation, text input, navigation, data binding, and local storage support available from the markup itself. If custom code or other functionality is required to implement a certain feature, CLI assemblies can be referred. Any CLI language can be used to write the code-behind assemblies that implement the required functionality. An MCML document defines the interface as a collection of UI elements, each exposing four attributes: Content which defines what that UI element will display, Properties to control the presentation aspects of the element, Locals which enumerate the set of private state data for the element, and Rules which allow the attributes to be modified based on certain triggers. By modifying these attributes at runtime, either from markup or code behind classes, the interface is generated.[24]

Presentation Layer applications can either be locally installed, or downloaded from the web as necessary. However, in the latter case, the code is untrusted; only the .NET classes that are marked as safe for use by Internet-originating code can be used. Before an application can be used, it has to be registered with Windows Media Center. An application can either register itself as a top-level menu item, in any of the sub-menus (depending on the type of application), as an autoplay handler, into the Program Library (the menu category for all programs), or as a background application without a user interface running as long as a WMC session continues.[25][26]

XAML Browser Application

WMC can also act as host for XAML Browser Applications (XBAP), which are rendered in the WMC UI itself. XBAPs are rendered using the vector-based resolution-independent Windows Presentation Foundation component of .NET Framework 3.0. XBAPs have their UI written in XAML with code behind in any .NET language. XBAPs are also limited to Windows Vista. WMC provides limited support for streaming XBAPs to Windows Media Center Extenders. XBAPs have been declared deprecated in Windows Media Center SDK version 5.3.

Hosted HTML Applications

WMC can host Internet Explorer within its own UI (using WMC UI widgets) and can display web pages and web applications. This feature is supported in both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Web applications written specifically for being hosted in WMC can use a subset of the WMC API which is exposed via JavaScript. HTML applications are also not fully supported for streaming to extenders.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Paul, Ian (29 July 2015). "How to play DVDs in Windows 10 for free". PCWorld. IDG.
  2. ↑ "Error message when you open Windows Media Center TV Pack and tune to a channel that is listed in the Electronic Program Guide: 'No TV Signal' (Revision: 2.5)". Microsoft Support. Microsoft Corporation. July 17, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Microsoft Corp removes 'Fiji' from Windows". The Fiji Times Online. Fiji Times Limited. June 28, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  4. ↑ Lanier, Chris (August 8, 2008). "Microsoft Makes Fiji Official, TV Pack for OEMs Only". Chris Lanier MVP blog. Microsoft. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  5. ↑ Price, Christopher (November 1, 2008). "Vista Service Pack 2 Lacks Media Center TV Pack 2008". Christopher Price blog. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  6. ↑ Drawbaugh, Ben (July 5, 2008). "No DirecTV HD for Windows Vista Media Center until 2010?". Engadget HD. AOL. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  7. ↑ Drawbaugh, Ben (July 17, 2008). "Windows Media Center TV Pack was released yesterday". Engadget HD. AOL. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  8. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (August 5, 2008). "Microsoft sending mixed messages about Windows futures with 'Fiji'?". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  9. ↑ Drawbaugh, Ben (July 27, 2009). "Windows 7 Media Center Review". Engadget HD. AOL. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  10. ↑ LeBlanc, Brandon (April 16, 2012). "Windows Team Blog: Announcing the Windows 8 Editions". Blogging Windows. Microsoft.
  11. ↑ ""Add features" option is unavailable in volume license versions of Windows 8". Support. Microsoft. 21 December 2012.
  12. ↑ Caldas, Bernardo; Averett, Linda (May 4, 2012). Sinofsky, Steven, ed. "Making Windows Media Center available in Windows 8". Building Windows 8. Microsoft.
  13. ↑ Sams, Brad (May 2, 2015). "Windows Media Center is dead". Neowin. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  14. ↑ Bott, Ed (May 2, 2015). "R.I.P., Windows Media Center". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Allan, Patrick (September 10, 2015). "Get Windows Media Center Running on Windows 10 in a Few Easy Steps". LifeHacker. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  16. ↑ The Register: I want my EPG, say Windows Media Center users left in dire straits, 9 September 2015. One of the WMC EPG problems (US, September 2015)
  17. ↑ "Understanding Mouse, Keyboard, Remote Control, and Touch Input". MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Required Remote Control Buttons". MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  19. ↑ Anderson, Nate (January 31, 2006). "CableCARD certification rules out home-built Windows MCE boxes, possibly other DIY solutions". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Microsoft Enhances the Digital Cable Experience and Names 2009 Windows Media Center Ultimate Install Winner". News Center. Microsoft. September 9, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  21. ↑ "The Cable Chronicles: Win7 Digital Cable Advisor Released". AnandTech. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Windows Media Center SDK: Choosing a Technology". MSDN. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Windows Media Center Presentation Layer Applications". MSDN. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Working with Media Center Markup Language". MSDN. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  25. ↑ "Creating, Installing, and Running a Windows Media Center Presentation Layer Application". MSDN. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Associating Application Entry Points with Integration Locations". MSDN. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved December 31, 2010.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.