home media center feature list?

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rhmahoney

rhmahoney

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Feb 9, 2005
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What are the features of a home media center as envisioned by MS?

My Mac has:
-TV tuner electronic program guide and Tivo passthrough via an el gato eyeTV200 that uses Mac HD as DVR
-DVD/CD player/burner
-iTunes to manage, play, share music, podcasts, and video
-photo viewing built in
-photo import is external - CF card reader only fits in the laptop and wifi to tower Mac
-audio out to stereo system via USB

What else is there?
 
When they talk about a HOME media center, they usually mean using the PC as the mass storage  and control point for ALL home media.  As you have noted, that's not a big step from the capabilities of most any newer PC or Mac. Much of it is mostly a matter or wiring everything together and concocting comprehensive software so the average home user can do it easily. The parts all exist - it's mostly  a matter of pulling it all together.

Some of the enhancements would be:
1. Route digital audio stored on your PC/Mac pc to your home stereo/theater system for playing (the pc is the mass storage device & jukebox).
2. Do #1 for video
3. Do both #1 & #2 for real time audio/video content from the Internet
4. Capture video or audio from external sources (antenna, CATV, etc) via the pc
5. Use of the pc as the menu to select media content to be played and where to play it (on the pc itself, on some amp or speakers elsewhere in the house, build & use  media playlists, etc. Example: "play these 14 mp3 songs in random sequence through the bedroom stereo for two hours at 11 pm tonight"


I'm sure there's more, but that's the idea.
 
Thanks Gary, about what I expected. I have all that through separate programs. Apple is starting to introduce an all in one program to handle the various media choices.
 
Proselytizing, Russ?

I bought a media center pc to use as a tv in the trailer so I could easily hook up Tivo to the little box. Ended up buying a small tv anyway. I'm sure, if I knew what I was doing, I could hook up all the tv's and Boses here at home and do amazing things...
 
Not Proselytizing lucy, just checking to see what bells and whistles i need to add to my system.

"I'm sure, if I knew what I was doing, I could hook up all the tv's and Boses here at home and do amazing things..."

Now that is just what I have heard about the MS home media system... overly complex. The various media playing programs work fine for me, first time and every time.
 
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