What's New in Windows Media Center

Available worldwide as part of Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate
No need to purchase a separate Vista product to benefit from Windows Media Center.

Multiple language support
Windows Media Center previously supported 19 languages; it now supports 36.

Main menu views expanded
Main menu is now easier to navigate, with both vertical and horizontal scrolling.

Smooth transitions between pages
Menu items and page transitions are now all animated.

Easy preview of media via representative thumbnails
Windows Media Center now creates and displays representative images (thumbnails) from your TV shows, in addition to images for your album covers, movie jackets, and media folders.

Widescreen optimization
Windows Media Center expands the interface to take full advantage of a 16:9 screen, displaying more onscreen content. At the same time, 4:3 still works well.

Express setup
Windows Media Center features a new, fast setup that gets you to your favorite media in just a few simple clicks. Learn more about setups.

Easy TV setup
In most locales, Windows Media Center auto-detects the type of TV programming you have—antenna, cable, or satellite—and whether you have a set-top box, then helps you configure your PC accordingly.

Away mode
Away Mode enables the system to silently perform unattended tasks, such as recording TV shows and streaming content to Extenders for Windows Media Center, while in a low-power mode that appears off. Now this feature no longer requires special BIOS support.

Mouse and keyboard improvements
Using a mouse and keyboard with Windows Media Center provides better focus and an easier ability to select interface elements.

Touch screen support
You can now control the Windows Media Center experience using a touch input screen.

Display calibration wizard
A simple wizard that helps you to identify the type of wired connections and type of display you have to optimize the experience for your screen.

Network tune-up
A new experience that graphically shows the performance of your network and lists the type of media, photos, music, video and HD video that your network can support.

Channel renaming
Replace the frequency listing of a channel with a more friendly name.

Frequency input
PAL/SECAM users can input frequencies to manually add channels to the Guide.

Exhaustive scanning
In PAL/SECAM countries where the channel line-up is not accessible, Windows Media Center thoroughly scans the available TV frequencies to identify all the available channels.

"Smart" Zoom Mode 4
When a 4:3 aspect ratio TV show is stretched via Zoom Mode 4, edges of the screen are stretched more than the middle. Images don't appear as "wide" in the middle of the screen, and therefore look more natural.

One-touch record
While watching a live TV show or when you find a show in the Guide, just press the Record button and Windows Media Center will record it.

Record whole season
When you add a recording, Windows Media Center can also be set up to record all episodes of a show including/not including reruns.

Record TV to another source
Windows Media Center lets you record television directly to another partition on the same PC or to an external, USB, or firewire hard drive connected to your PC.

Digital TV/HDTV pause/record
Watch, pause, and record live standard TV or HDTV (HDTV available only in the U.S.).¹

View Digital Cable, including HD, directly on your Windows Media Center-based PC
Support for Digital Cable tuners now available (U.S. only).

Scheduling priority
For recurring show recordings, you can adjust the priority of your recorded shows. In case you are not able to reconcile a scheduled recording, Windows Media Center will automatically default to the show with the higher overall priority.
In addition, recording "overlap" management ensures that recording begins as soon as the previous show ends, even if it ends a few minutes late.

Conflict resolution
When you have more shows scheduled to record than you have TV tuners available, Windows Media Center will present both selections and let you choose which show should be recorded and which should not.

Electronic Program Guide (Guide)
A free service that lets you browse, tune, and record all the available TV shows for as much as two weeks ahead. Now you can sort by programming category, such as Sports, News, Kids, Movies, and HDTV, along with designating which channels are your favorites.

Easy view of recorded programming via screen shot
Windows Media Center will find a representative shot from your recorded TV show, usually an action shot or an actor's face, and use that to represent the show in the Recorded TV Library.

Search by keyword, title, actors
This simple interface lets you find a show using your keyboard or remote control, by entering in a few letters from the show's title, or of the name of a cast or crew member.

Support for as many as two ATSC TV tuners for viewing and recording broadcast over-the-air HDTV content
As many as two dual TV tuners or four single TV tuners can be used in a single Windows Media Center-based PC—two for standard television and two for HDTV.

HDTV support
You can use a digital CableCard™ tuner to receive premium digital cable channels, such as HBO and Showtime. Alternatively, In the U.S. and South Korea, you can receive over the air (ATSC) digital TV broadcast format natively via an ATSC tuner.

Remote controls
A remote control lets you use simple, streamlined menus to navigate and select from the Guide.

5.1/7.1 surround sound audio support
Windows Vista can decode 5.1/7.1 audio without additional software.

Burn videos to DVD
Burn your home movies, photos, or slide shows to a DVD that can be played back on any consumer DVD player in your home.

DVD changer support
Load as many as 200 DVDs into a compatible changer and then use Windows Media Center to pick and choose any movie you want to watch (U.S. only).

Enhanced DVD playback
Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium include drivers and codecs for DVD playback, so no additional software is required.

DVD menu
When you burn a DVD, Windows Media Center auto-creates a DVD menu to jump to the right media file quickly.

Media mode
Hides the max/min/close buttons so children cannot accidentally dismiss the Windows Media Center experience and navigate to other parts of Windows Vista.

Movies Guide
(For U.S. only) Find currently playing or future movies in a movie theater poster gallery. Use the cast and crew listings or similar movies option to find even more movies.

Family friendly features, such as enhanced Parental Controls available in Windows Vista
All countries can set DVD movie ratings. In the U.S., TV ratings can also be set. In both cases, a simple personal identification number (PIN) can be used to lock and unlock content.

Online Media²
Windows Media Center now offers online services from popular media companies such as Showtime, Starz, and FOX Sports (U.S. only).

SportsLounge
A partnership with FOXSports.com (and available only in the U.S. and Canada), SportsLounge is the place to catch your favorite games, players, teams, and fantasy sports leagues. Also get real-time scores on the Live Scoreboard that runs across the top of the screen.

Internet TV Beta³
This new feature (available only in the U.S.) allows you to enjoy free streaming video content on demand with a TV tuner. Choose from more than 100 hours of TV entertainment, music concerts, movie trailers, news, and sports content from MSN Video.

View and search large music libraries using thumbnails
Thumbnails are now indexed, providing smoother navigation.

New album views
View your music in a more dynamic way with updated Album, Artist, and Year views. Also view your content using the previously released views like Genre and Playlists.

Easy access to radio sources
Go to one place to access both your terrestrial and online radio sources.

Radio station customization
Add a custom name to each of your radio stations instead of having to find them by frequency.

Burn music CDs
Burn your music to CD so you can play it on the go.

Burn to CD or video/data DVD
Burn a digital memories disc, complete with a slide show featuring both pictures and music or home videos to CD/data DVD/video DVD. The video DVD support is native to Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium (without third party codecs) and allows you to create discs that can be played on most consumer DVD players.

High definition slide shows
Photos and slides are displayed at the maximum resolution of your screen, which really brings them to life. And by using the built-in slide show feature, Windows Media Center lets you automatically add dramatic cinematic effects, such as fades, pans, and zooms.

Slide shows customized with music
Add music to make your slide shows come alive even more.

Photo touch-up and printing
You can conveniently rotate, crop, auto-adjust contrast, fix red eye, or print on your color printer.

Related pictures and videos
When you're viewing the Photo Gallery, only pictures in your media folder are displayed; however, you'll see an option to view related videos that are stored in the same folder. Likewise, you can easily switch from the Videos Gallery to related pictures located in a media folder.

Tags
Apply tags in Windows Photo Gallery to flexibly organize your photos—then use those tags in Windows Media Center to view/share your photos.

Support for full HD
All new Extenders support full HD streamed playback, most of them as high as 1080p.

Wireless networking
Most new Extenders have built-in dual band wireless N networking, which means you can more reliably enjoy any media—including HD video—through a wireless connection to the PC.

Multiple devices from which to choose
Extenders are now available built in to TVs in addition to being available as standalone small and quiet consumer electronics devices. There are even DVD players with built-in Extender functionality in the Extender product lineup.

HD connectivity to TVs
Most new Extenders offer both HDMI and Component video connection to the TV set for optimal picture quality.

Surround sound support
Most new Extenders offer digital audio outputs that support as much as 5.1 multichannel surround sound for audio/video streaming from a Windows Media Center-based PC.

Additional audio/video formats
Device manufactures of Extenders may support additional audio/video formats beyond what is natively supported as a certified Extender device.

Certified for Windows Vista
Extenders for Windows Vista Media Center are Certified for Windows Vista devices.

Quiet and low power operation
New Extenders are quiet, with no moving parts, and are designed to consume low power.

Use Xbox 360 as an Extender
If you have an Xbox 360⁴, you may not know that it's also an Extender for Windows Media Center. Setup is easy, and soon you'll be cruising through Windows Media Center menus using your Xbox 360 anywhere in your home.