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• Introduction
• Requirements
• Windows Media Center Features and Arabic language support
  • Music
  • Pictures & Video files
  • TV & Movies
  • Tasks
  • settings
• Known Issues
• More Information

With all you want to do in your media life, such as watching TV, listening to the music, watch videos and building your own CD or DVD archives, Arabic user now has the ability for the first time to use the Windows Media Center interface fully localized in the Arabic language with a full support of the Arabic language characters and keyboard. Also lots of new improvements can be found for the Arabic language, such as the Arabic Tele-text which now supported for both cable and local broadcasted channels.

• Windows Vista Ultimate edition or Windows Home Premium edition.


• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1


• 1 GB of system memory


• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space


• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  
  
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)2
  
  
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  
  
  • 32 bits per pixel
  
  
• DVD-ROM drive3


• Audio output


• Internet access


• TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional)

To be able to use Arabic language and related features correctly in the Media Center the user is required to set the default input language as Arabic. Also there are some settings that the user should follow before heading to the setup wizard of Windows media Center, those setting should be correctly set in the Regional and Language Options within Windows Vista Control Panel.

1. In Windows Vista, Click on the Start (ابدأ) Button -> Control Panel (لوحة التحكم) -> Clock, Language, & Region
2. Select Regional and Language Options (الخيارات الإقليمية و خيارات اللغة) -> Formats (التنسيقات) Tab


Figure 1: Formats Tab


3. Make sure that the current format (التنسيق الحالي) is selected to Arabic settings for example "Arabic (Egypt)"
4. Then move to Location (الموقع) tab, and make sure the current location (الموقع الحالي) selected match the settings for the current format "Egypt"


Figure 2: Location Tab


5. Go to Keyboards and Languages tab (لوحات مفاتيح و لغات) -> click on "Change Keyboards (تغيير لوحات المفاتيح)"
6. From General (عام) tab, In the Default input Language (لغة الإدخال الافتراضية), select any Arabic local for example "Arabic (Egypt) – Arabic (101)" as the default language -> click OK (موافق).


Note: It’s important to set Arabic keyboard as default to enable the Arabic input mode in Windows Media Center keypad.


Figure 3: General Tab (Default input Language)

music Library in Media Center has many ways to access the songs of the music library added by the Arabic user, for example the user can simply sort the songs through Albums, Artist, Genres, or even by the Composers and all by the Arabic alphabetic.

• Launch Windows Media Center
• Select Music (الموسيقى) section from start page -> Click on Music Library (مكتبة الموسيقى)

• Launch Windows Media Center
• Select Music (الموسيقى) section from start page -> Click on Music Library (مكتبة الموسيقى)
• From the library view, select the category you want to sort the music with whether if it’s Albums, Artist, Etc…

to change some details in the metadata of a song in Media Center like the Song title, or composer or the Genre of the song, user can access the song details or the Albums details to a song by accessing the option of the "Edit Info" inside a song and easily add the Arabic metadata that the user wish to edit.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select Music (الموسيقى) section from start page -> Click on Music Library (مكتبة الموسيقى)
3. Click on Albums (ألبومات) from the menus -> Select any existing Album from the albums list
4. Album Details (تفاصيل الألبوم) page will be displayed to show all the information about the album selected

radio is one of the main features in Windows Media Center music section that allow the user to simply accessing the Aired Radio Channel on the Media Center through the TV-Tuners located in the PC. Those aired Radio channels could be saved as a Preset Settings in Radio section with Arabic names which the user could browse between those Presets Radio Channels through the Main View windows of Radio.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select Music (الموسيقى) section from start page -> Click on Radio (الراديو)
3. From the Sources (المصادر) section, click on the FM Radio box
4. Add the number frequency for the channel, click on Save as preset (تحرير إعداد مسبق) add the name you wish to add

to Give the user the ability to do more specific searches through the Media Center library whether in the Music or the Video or Pictures section, Media Center comes with a very powerful search engine that makes it very easy for the Arabic user to do searches with the least Arabic characters that the user can provide and display all the possible result that the user could get to narrow his search.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select Music (الموسيقى) section from start page -> Click on Search (بحث)

Media Center also have the same view feature of the Music view, but for Pictures and video files to make it easy for the Arabic user to be able to simply sort all the picture and Video files through the Arabic alphabetic which can be sorted by Name or folder. Arabic user in both libraries can simply access the library view for each section and browse through the Arabic folder and access the Arabic files pictures inside it.

1. Launch Windows Media Center.
2. Select Pictures + Videos (صور + ملفات فيديو) section from start page -> Click on Picture library or Video library (مكتبة الصور أو الفيديو)
3. Click on a folder that contains pictures or Videos files you want to view.
4. Move the mouse over any picture or Video to view the name appear below

when browsing through folders and through the pictures or video files exist inside those folders, usually the Arabic user needs to know which file and inside which folder does the picture or the video file exist, user can be able to know all those information through the Picture or Video file details dialog, that show the Arabic user the Arabic filename and the Arabic folder and when it was created and even the duration of a video file.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select Pictures + Videos (صور + ملفات فيديو) section from start page -> Click on Picture library or Video library(مكتبة الصور أو الفيديو)
3. Click on a folder that contains pictures or Videos files you want to view.
4. Move the mouse over any picture or Video file you want to view, right click on it select Picture detail (تفاصيل الصور)

one of the new feature inside Windows Media Center that the Arabic support was implemented for, is the Teletext feature for the broadcasted Live TV channels in MCE. Arabic region user now is able to broadcast and view all the Arabic Teletext fully localized on the local channels that the user is currently receiving on the MCE.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select TV + Movies (التلفزيون + الأفلام) section from start page -> click on Live TV (بث مباشر)
3. Broadcast to the channel that supports the Arabic Teletext, right click and select Teletext (قناة المعلومات).

to enhance and complete the home entertainment environment for the Media Center user, MCE has been provided with an option that let the user be able to Record the show or whatever is being broadcasted on TV channels with all the settings that the user could use, like the Timing and date and the quality to record the show with. Also the Arabic user could simply provide the recording option with the Arabic name that the show will be using to identify and distinguish between different Recorded Videos.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select TV + Movies (التلفزيون + الأفلام) section from start page -> Click on Live TV (بث مباشر)
3. Broadcast to the desired channel, right click on the channel screen select Record (تسجيل)
4. Click on the Change title (تغيير عنوان) button to change the name of the recording

giving the user the option of archiving the show that he usually watch using the Live TV option, he has also been given the feature to manage all the recorded shows that have been recorded using the MCE, such as viewing and managing all the shows by sorting them in Arabic alphabetic by using the Sort By Title view, or View the description of each recording and all the given details about it by viewing Movie Detail, or View all the past and upcoming shows with Arabic title that has been or will be recorded in the future through the Scheduled Recorded show view.

after recording the user record the show that he provided for an Arabic title, he can simply use the Recorded TV Shows view to display all the existing or being recorded shows and sort them in the Arabic alphabetic mode by title sorting.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Select TV + Movies (التلفزيون + الأفلام) section from start page -> Click on Recorded TV (عروض مسجلة)
3. Click on any Recorded show to view it’s details.

user has the ability in the Recorded TV shows to view all the details for a recorded movie, such as the Arabic description or even the title for the recorded show.

• Launch Windows Media Center
• Select TV + Movies (التلفزيون + الأفلام) section from start page -> Click on Recorded TV (عروض مسجلة)
• Double Click on any Recorded show to view it’s details.

to view all the past recorded shows or the upcoming series of a show that will be recorded in the future, user can review all the shows through the option of the Scheduled Recorded show view, that allow the user to sort all the shows by Date, Title if it’s in Arabic title, and also the history for all deleted or upcoming recorded show.

• Launch Windows Media Center
• Select TV + Movies (التلفزيون + الأفلام) section from start page -> Click on Recorded TV (عروض مسجلة)
• Click on View Scheduled (عرض المجدول).

copy to CD or DVD is one of the very helpful tools in Media Center Edition that was provided to help the user on continuing to archive all the data on his Media Center machine on media CD’s & DVD. User will now be able to copy all his data from Pictures files, Music files, Videos & Recorded shows from Media Center without the need of extending more storage on his pc by simply using the Copy to CD or DVD tool.

to provide more support for the Arabic language, user now is able to add Arabic titles for the CD or DVD that will be copied and burned through the Media Center.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Make sure that there is a blank CD or DVD in the CD/DVD buner
3. Select Tasks (مهام) section from start page -> Click on burn cd/dvd (نسخ على CD/DVD)
4. Select whether if it’s Audio, Video or Data CD, click next
5. Write the name of the CD.

the Step where the user is able to check mark all the desired data that will be copied to the CD or the DVD, from which also he can display all the content titles with Arabic language from Music files, Video Files, Pictures & even Recorded Show.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Make sure that there is a blank CD or DVD in the CD/DVD buner
3. Select Tasks (مهام) section from start page -> Click on burn cd/dvd (نسخ على CD/DVD)
4. Select whether if it’s Audio, Video or Data CD, click next
5. Write the Name of this CD (عنوان القرص) -> Begin on selecting the data & check mark on each file whether it’s Audio, Picture or Video File.

Review Data for Burning process
after Selecting all the data that will be copied to the CD or DVD, the user pass through the last phase of the Burning process to review all the data and to modify what will be copied in case there is modification to make before the burning process.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Make sure that there is a blank CD or DVD in the CD/DVD buner
3. Select Tasks (مهام) section from start page -> Click on burn cd/dvd (نسخ على CD/DVD)
4. Select whether if it’s Audio, Video or Data CD, click next
5. Write the Name of this CD (عنوان القرص) -> Begin on selecting the data & check mark on each file whether it’s Audio, Picture or Video File.
6. After finishing selecting all the files that will be written to the CD, click Next
7. Review & Edit List page (مراجعة قائمة و تحريرها) is displayed to give the user the last chance to review the copied data.

Windows Media Center Extender is one of the feature in Windows Media Center that let the user remotely access the Media Center machine and database through various hardware such as the game console XBOX 360 and many other consumer electronics devices that will be available soon in the market. By other means , the user will be able to totally access and execute all kind of feature that he use to do on the original Media Center, through the Extender, such as watching Live TV, listening to music, watching Videos. Extender feature is well supported for the Arabic localized media Center.

guide option in Media Center offer a lot of feature for the TV broadcast feature like modifying the channel list order, name, adding EPG listing to the channels and add missing channels, but most of the main options for the guide feature is not supported for any Arabic local such as the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) listing.

after scanning the entire channels list available for the selected local in Media Center, user usually gets a list of unknown channels that has no title. Arabic user was given the ability to be able to change any unknown channel title to any desired Arabic name title

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Click Tasks (مهام) -> select Settings (إعدادات)
3. Select TV (التليفزيون) -> Guide (الدليل) -> Add Listings to channels (إضافة القوائم للقناة)
4. Click on the unknown channel name that you want to rename -> then click on Rename this channel (إعادة تسمية هذه القناة)
5. Write any name you would like to use -> click Next (التالي)

sometime the Media Center scanning feature for the broadcasted channels for Live TV may not scan for the full channels available for the local and this sometimes happen due to the hardware of the TV-Tuner in the PC. User has the ability to add this missing channel manually by adding the name in Arabic characters of the missing channel and the frequency numbers of the channel

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Click Tasks (مهام) -> select Settings (إعدادات)
3. Select TV (التليفزيون) -> Guide (الدليل) -> Add Missing Channels (إضافة القوائم للقناة)
4. Click on Add Missing Channel (إضافة القنوات المفقودة) button-> write the channel name, click next (التالي)
5. Add the frequency numbers (التردد) of the missing channels -> click Add (إضافة)

user is able to setup the library content of the Windows Media Center by adding folders that contain the media files that the Media Center can monitor all of its changes from Adding new media files or deleting some of them. All this can be monitored through the library display for each content, whether if it’s music, movies, or pictures.

the only way for the Arabic user could add all the content for the media that he wants for Media Center to monitor, is through the Add folders to monitor option in the Settings. Simply the user can point to all the Arabic folders names that he wish media center to monitor, and media center will automatically sort all those files whether they are Picture, Music or videos files named in Arabic character.

1. Launch Windows Media Center
2. Click Tasks (مهام) -> select Settings (إعدادات)
3. Select Library Setup (إعداد المكتبة) -> click on Add folder to watch (إضافة مجلد لمراقبته)
4. Click on Add folders on this computer (إضافة مجلدات من هذا الكمبيوتر)-> browse through your computer and check mark the folder you want MCE to watch -> click Next
5. Click on Finish

Known issues usually is the section that lists all the problematic issues that still exist in the Arabic version of Media Center after its official release., Those issues are currently being addressed by Microsoft development center and will be fixed in the upcoming updates or releases of the products.

One of the issues in Media Center that will be noticed by the user once Media Center is launched, is the Clipping problem of some characters at the beginning of some words in some of the areas such as the Wizard pages inside Media Center

The Arabic input pad is one of the areas inside Windows Media Center that allows you to type using the remote control, if the user switch to the Arabic input mode in the keypad the user will notice that the Arabic characters "Seen" is truncated while all the other characters appear correctly.

Media Center doesn’t detect the date format used in Windows regional settings , so if the date format selected in regional settings is Arabic date format 2006\12\12 in media center is appear in English format 12/12/2006.

if the user copies some video files inside Windows Media Center as DVD movie type, it is required to add a title for the copied DVD to be displayed. If the title of the DVD is in Arabic characters; the title will be overlapped by the DVD movie scene in the DVD playback.

Arabic input keypad may not appear in the Windows media Center input mode if the “Default input language” inside windows “Regional settings” options is set to English keyboard. In order to enable the Arabic input keypad to appear in Windows media Center, Default input language inside Regional Settings should be set to Arabic

the electronic program guide (EPG) is one of the main features inside Windows media Center that let the user download the entire program list for the broadcasted channels in the LIVE TV. This feature is not yet supported inside Windows Media Center for the channels broadcasted from the Arabic region.