Windows Media Center

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Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center logo
Basic data

developer Microsoft
Publishing year 2003 (with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003 )
Current  version see Windows
operating system Windows
category Media center
License proprietary
German speaking Yes
windows.microsoft.com

The Windows Media Center (WMC) is a software from Microsoft , can be played back with the music, pictures and movies. In the Windows XP Media Center Edition Media Center is already integrated; it is abbreviated to MCE .

MCE was first sold separately in the form of Windows XP Media Center Edition . It is included in Microsoft's user operating systems in Vista and Windows 7; in Windows 8 it has to be upgraded. The user interface of the WMC can be controlled with the remote control, but also with the mouse and keyboard . With optimized font sizes and formatting, WMC PCs can be used in consumer electronics , especially televisions, or they can replace them. Areas of application are therefore living room PCs or IDTV systems. Digital cable television according to the DVB-C standard (common in Europe) is not supported without the purchase of third-party software.

On May 2, 2015, Microsoft announced that it would discontinue Windows Media Center and no longer offer it for Windows 10 .

Functions

The program can play pictures, videos and music from local drives and from the network. The program arranges the files by name, date, tags and many other file attributes. The navigation is organized identically and clearly for all media content.

The program works closely with Windows Media Player (WMP), which organizes advanced editing and management. Any media content that the WMC can play can be sent over the network to televisions with Windows Media Center Extenders or the Xbox 360 .

The WMC supports portable devices that are recognized as data carriers via USB. Files can be saved or synchronized from the media library. Windows Mobile devices, pocket PCs , smartphones , portable media players and USB sticks are generally recognized. If video recordings are in DVR-MS format , they will be converted into Windows Media Video format with a lower bit rate during transmission in order to reduce the file size. Optionally, music can also be re-encoded during synchronization.

photos

Pictures can be played in a single view or as a slide show with or without music. Slide shows can be saved and used as a screen saver. Simple edits such as cropping, rotating or red-eye removal are available and can also be controlled with the remote control. If a camera or other storage medium is connected, the images can be imported directly via the WMC.

watch TV

If a TV card is installed in the computer , the WMC can use this for reception, play back or record programs with a time delay. The analog formats PAL and NTSC and up to four TV cards in the computer are supported as formats . Windows 7 supports the digital TV formats ATSC , DVB , ISDB and QAM . Digital cable television according to the European standard is still not supported due to the lack of suitable frequency lists. However, few TV card manufacturers offer driver-side solutions here.

Playback and recording via composite and S-video inputs are also supported.

The in-house DVR-MS (Digital Video Recording through Microsoft), which is composed of an MPEG2 stream in an ASF container, serves as the recording format. The recorded films can be saved as a video DVD using Windows Media Center or Windows DVD Maker .

music

Music can be recorded from many different sources. With the appropriate hardware and driver configuration, different inputs of the sound card can be accessed and thus older analog or digital formats can be recorded. Windows Media Center organizes and saves the data in the basic setting in the personal music folder. These are listed in a common media library owned by WMC and Windows Media Player. The user can create playlists and edit media information in both programs. All changes are directly available in both programs.

All the usual controls are in place. In addition, if the jump buttons are pressed for a longer period of time, it can also be rewound if the file format also supports this. The modes available are random playback or repeat . The visualizations of the WMP can also be used.

radio

If the television card also supports radio reception, the WMC can use this to search for, play back, save and name stations.

Video

Virtually all formats that Windows Media Player can play can also be played in Windows Media Center. There are problems with the integration of additional formats, e.g. B. Matroska , Ogg , FLAC , whose file formats can only be played back to a limited extent so far.

DVD-Videos can be created from existing films as long as they are available as Windows Media Video , AVI, or MPEG-2 .

Plugins

The WMC can be equipped with various functions using plug-ins that are comparatively unusual for standard Windows applications. Numerous free tools have already been developed by communities that further expand the functions of the program. But commercial providers also offer plugins for their platform, as do individual TV stations to provide their programs with additional information.

Extensions are mostly made available via the Online Media menu.

Games

Games were already included in Windows Media Center 2003 but were removed in later versions and only added again with Windows Vista. The included Windows games are already integrated and can be played using a remote control. Other games are also being developed by the communities.

Streaming

It is possible to access media content via Internet addresses and to save it in playlists on the computer or servers. In older versions, a plug-in must be installed for this. However, it is currently not possible to save the streams on the hard drive.

Versions

Windows Media Center was introduced with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003. Each version received a code name in Microsoft development.

Computers that were equipped by manufacturers with Windows XP Media Center Edition were delivered with a remote control. There was a green button with the Windows logo on it. This button, known as the MCE button, allows you to start the Media Center interface and return to the starting point from anywhere in the interface menu. The distinctive green button on the MCE remote controls is often seen as the logo of the media center and is therefore incorporated into the name and logo of various Internet communities. A good example of this is the English-language MCE forum “The Green Button” (German: “The green button”). Since the Windows Media Center became accessible to the end user after the introduction of Windows Vista , a remote control was no longer necessarily linked to the PC systems. The remote control that comes with a Vista system has a round MCE button.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003

Code name: "Freestyle"

Includes radio reception support, among other minor changes.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004

Code name: "Harmony"

With the 2004 version, the MCE was first marketed in some European countries. However, private customers could initially only purchase this version as part of a complete system. The hardware support (e.g. graphics cards , TV cards ) was still quite limited. Nevertheless, this version has already been used in many systems as a multimedia living room application. The 2004 version has not been sold since October 2004.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Code name: "Symphony"

This version of the MCE is based on Windows XP Professional with integrated Service Pack 2. For the first time, this version of the MCE was also available individually with a system builder license, which finally made it possible to build your own multimedia computers on the basis of Windows.

On October 14, 2005, an update package called "Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Rollup 2" (code name: "Emerald") was also released. In addition to some minor updates, it mainly contains support for communication with the Xbox 360 .

Unlike previous versions, the Media Center Edition 2005 cannot join a domain, which is the only limitation compared to Windows XP Professional. However, if an existing installation is upgraded to MCE 2005, the computer remains in the domain.

Windows Vista

Code name: "Diamond" (Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate)

The Windows Media Center is part of the Windows Vista Ultimate and Home Premium versions. This revised version for the first time contained a new type of "setup" (setting up the program), which allows the software to be put into operation more quickly. The user interface has been reorganized and adapted to the design of the Windows Vista Aero interface. The new menus, in which you could now also navigate horizontally, made better use of widescreen 16:10 and widescreen televisions in 16: 9 format possible. Another new feature was the option of placing the main menu transparently over the picture during TV or video playback. This enabled settings to be made while playback continued in the background.

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 (Vista Update)

Code name: "Fiji"

The "Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008" is an update exclusively for Windows Vista SP1-based systems. The latest version of Windows Media Center was released by Microsoft on July 16, 2008. Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 was only available to so-called OEMs - i. H. for manufacturers who manufacture complete devices including hardware and software based on Windows Media Center. For existing PCs that used Media Center under Windows Vista, it was not possible to upgrade to the TV Pack 2008 for license reasons. Likewise, newly purchased or newly installed versions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 did not contain the TV Pack 2008 (except for the OEM devices mentioned) and there was no possibility to (legally) download Media Center TV Pack 2008. The official one The Media Center TV Pack 2008 was announced by Microsoft on August 28, 2008 as part of the IFA trade fair in Berlin. Microsoft only indirectly confirmed the existence of the product through an article in the Microsoft support database.

New features in Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 included:

  • Direct support of the DVB-S standard for satellite television (however, DVB-S2 was not supported)
  • Improved support for terrestrial digital television DVB-T
  • Support of Japanese ( ISDB-T ) and US American standards (ClearQAM)
  • New TV recording format WTV. DVR-MS is being superseded, but still supported
  • Minor improvement to the user interface

The Media Center TV Pack 2008 also did not support high-definition television ( HDTV ) based on the H.264 standard.

Windows 7

(Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise)

The WMC in Windows 7 has the same functions as the TV Pack 2008 , but contains adapted animations, new sounds and error corrections, which can be seen in a noticeable increase in performance. In addition, it is now possible to operate TV cards according to the DVB-S2 standard and thus watch HDTV in the H.264 codec. Although the supplied Windows Media Player 12 can work with many foreign formats, certain formats such as. B. Matroska and Ogg files do not play immediately. WMC recognizes the files and their type, but the corresponding third-party codecs must first be installed in order to be able to play them. The "film library" function has also been added, with which it is possible to visually display your own film collection on the hard drive in the WMC. This option is also often compared with a virtual video library.

Windows 8

The Media Center was available free of charge until January 31, 2013 for owners of Windows 8 Pro . The product key sent by email had to be activated during this period, otherwise it would lose its validity. Since then, the Media Center Pack has been available for around 10 euros. DVB-C is still not directly supported and can only be used by purchasing third-party software (e.g. DVBLink from manufacturer DVBLogic ).

Windows 10

For Windows 10, Microsoft no longer offers the Windows Media Center itself. However, a group of programmers has ported the Media Center for Windows 10 so that it can also run there. The freeware is functionally identical to the version from Windows 8.1. In addition, the new version supports not only a display in full screen mode, but also in window mode. The program is also available in German.

Web links

Media Center Communities:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RIP, Windows Media Center | ZDNet
  2. ↑ You cannot join your Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 computer to a domain
  3. ↑ Community “The Green Button”: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: thegreenbutton.com ) Forum message from Microsoft Product Management.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / thegreenbutton.com
  4. ↑ Microsoft Online Support (in English): support.microsoft.com Confirmation of the existence of Media Center TV Pack 2008.
  5. ↑ Windows Media Center Port for Windows 10 , accessed September 8, 2015
  6. ↑ chip.de , accessed on September 8, 2015
  7. ↑ giga.de