Michael Creasy's blog

How to build an Add-in for Windows Media Center Edition 2005 First, the basics... What is an Add-in? Add-ins are applications written in managed code (.NET Framework 1.0) that run inside Media Center. They have access to the Media Center API as well as...

It's not XP Pro either. Media Center should now be thought of as another version of XP just like Home and Pro. It's closer to Pro than Home, the major difference is that Media Center 2005 does not support connecting to a domain. The reason for this is...

Today (October 12th) is the day that Windows Media Center 2005 is launched. There's bound to be a lot of press about what's new in this version, but here's a summary of the highlights... Television HDTV support. Media Center now supports recording HDTV...

This caught my attention today, there's some Scooby-Doo related goodies for Plus! DME and Windows Media Player available to download here

I was just having a discussion with a PM on this, what's the verb you use when you store a TV show using Media Center? Is it “recorded” - I recorded a show? Is it “taped” - I taped a show? It's not tivo'd - I Tivo'd a...

The ability to install an iPod in a BMW has been around for a few months now and I hadn't given it much attention or thought until now. Mainly because I now have a car that the technology supports. So here's a mini review... Installation: No idea if it...

Public Beta of the MSN Remote Record Service. This service enables users running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to remotely schedule TV shows to record on their Media Center Edition-based PCs. Note: This beta is for US and Canada MCE users only...

In response to an emailed question from Mike Kaltschnee about how to install applications on Media Center I thought I'd provide my thoughts on the subject. First, do you really need to install something? Let's tackle what do if you just want to create...

Charlie and I have talked about this for a while and we've finally got around to doing something about it. If you're interested in Media Center come join us for dinner at Crossroads in Bellevue next Thursday (the 9th) at 6pm. We'll try and look conspicuous...

If you've used the MSN TV pages on Online Spotlight in Media Center you might have noticed buttons on some pages to tune to MSNBC or to The Weather Channel. The page uses the Media Center API FindService to find which channel MSNBC is in your particular...

Here's an interesting article on the the MPAA's "Broadcast flag" and what it could mean for the future of digital recording broadcast TV. I'm in favour of preventing wide distribution of copyrighted works, but I'm really not in favour of not being able...

In Media Center there's a page called “More Programs” that contains links to applications that have been installed for use in Media Center. It's easy to add a link on that page to a web page that you might want to view from Media Center, perhaps...

I've always owned Canon cameras and was looking around for a new small digital camera and decided on the Canon SD500 . I haven't had a small camera for a few years - the last being a Canon S100 (the original digital Elph/Ixus) which I enjoyed using. My...

Previously I wrote about creating a MCL file to point to a web page so it could be viewed in Media Center. This time I'm going to explain how to create a web page that is designed for use in Media Center. Web pages for Media Center need to be designed...

MSN Remote Record is live and out of beta. In simplest terms it's a way of browsing the same TV guide as your Media Center PC uses and then remotely instructing your Media Center PC to record something. Pretty clever stuff. There's a small download for...

I've had lots of questions recently and no time to really get answers and post them up here. If I haven't answered you question it's because I don't know the answer and haven't had enough time to get to the bottom of it yet. First of all I had a couple...

Quite a lot it seems. I own a few domain names. Most I've had for several years and they've always been with the same registrar. Three of them need to be renewed in a few days time and I thought I'd shop around for a better deal on renewing the registration...

If so you can order the upgrade to Media Center 2005 here . If you've got a different brand, check with the manufacturer to see how to get the upgrade.

I posted an introduction to add-ins earlier this week using C#. I know there are lots of VB developers out there. If you'd like a sample using VB.NET post a comment here and I'll work something out over the weekend.

HP have announced a new Media Center PC that would look right at home next to other home entertainment devices. The z500 series (link goes to PDF data sheet) supports dual tuners and most interestingly to me is compatible with the iPod (they say the Apple...

If you've got a Media Center PC running the first version of Media Center and didn't get an upgrade to Media Center 2004 then don't worry. When you install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP you'll be upgraded to Media Center 2004. See here for more info...

Right now the method for debugging Media Center applications is pretty much to use Visual Studio both for jscript debugging in HTML apps and managed code for add-ins. I know some people have had some problems getting this working and I'll try and post...

Betanews reports that Gateway/ eMachines will be offering a new Media Center PC for $599! The specs are pretty impressive for such a cheap computer: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 1GB DDR SDRAM 200GB hard drive ATI Radeon Xpress 200 8 in 1 media...

All the keyboard shortcuts for Media Center for those times when you just don't want to use a remote control are documented here . Update: If the page doesn't display, try again later, it's propagating around servers or something like that I'm told

Sorry I haven't had much (anything) to say for a while. I've been terribly busy on a number of things that it won't take a genius to guess about. So what's been going on? Well, I'm very excited about the XBox 360 and it's built in Media Center Extender...