TV & Movies

Schedule show time on your own time

What's it going to be—the show's schedule or your schedule? Until now, it's often been one or the other. With Windows Vista you decide not only what you watch, but when and where you watch it. Welcome to the future of entertainment.

It's entertainment on your terms with Windows Media Center. If your PC has a TV tuner, you can use Windows Media Center (an integral component of Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate) to record, watch, and pause live television on your desktop or mobile PC. Use the built-in television guide^M and a compatible remote control^M for even greater convenience. You'll never miss a single episode of your favorite show. Into channel surfing? Use the mini-guide in Windows Media Center^M to scroll through other channels without interrupting your current program.

Entertainment the way you want it.

Make any room your media room

Take Windows Media Center to the next level and enjoy your favorite live and recorded TV shows, movies, music, and pictures on TVs throughout your home, with remote-control convenience using Media Center Extenders such as Xbox 360 or a stand-alone Media Center Extender set-top box. Windows Media Center supports multiple TV tuners so you can record a program on one channel while watching another. Connect up to five Media Center Extenders to create a versatile entertainment system that can grow with your needs and interests.

Expand your entertainment with Xbox 360.

Preserve your media library

Scheduled and Network Backup^A can automatically save your collection to another PC or hard disk drive on your home network so you'll never have to worry about losing your recorded or downloaded video. You'll also have the option to burn video programming to recordable DVDs for media archives that you can enjoy anytime, on PCs or on stand-alone DVD players.^U Beyond helping you select what to back up and where, premium versions of Windows Vista, including Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, offer automated scheduling and enable you to select additional backup destinations.

Back up files or your entire computer.

Right at home

Befitting a twenty-first-century entertainment center, Windows Media Center supports both high-fidelity audio playback and surround sound, so you'll be sitting in a sonic sweet spot whether you're at your desk or on the couch, engrossed in movies or grooving to music. To help you make that sweet spot even sweeter, Windows Vista features Room Correction settings that automatically optimize sound for your speakers and for a particular location in your room, such as the center cushion of your couch.

Configure your speakers with Speaker Setup.

Entertain yourself anywhere

Use your portable PC or your Ultra-Mobile PC to record and download your favorite programs or movies, then watch them on the plane or in your hotel. Windows Vista also supports on-the-go entertainment by simplifying the process of synchronizing portable devices such as MP3 players and Portable Media Centers with Sync Center. It works with Windows Mobile software so you can also enjoy video, photos, and music on your Smartphone.