Windows Media Center: Movies

A world of entertainment in your hands

Windows Media Center lets you enjoy your favorite movies on your computer.

Movies on DVD, online, and on TV

Using Windows Media Center, you can watch movies on DVD and access more movies from a growing list of content providers through Online Media—an innovative portal that helps you find and enjoy movies over the Internet.

If you want a quick glimpse of all the movies you've recorded and movies coming up on TV, check out the Movies Guide (Guide). You can see movie jackets, search for films by actor, director, genre, or title, and read descriptions and reviews.

Love watching previews of films? The new Internet TV Beta (U.S. only) features a great selection of movie trailers from MSN Video. Find it in the TV + Movies section of Windows Media Center. The content on the Internet TV Beta will be updated regularly, so check back often to see what's available.

Browse top-rated movies

Windows Media Center also provides a way to quickly filter the list of movies available in the Guide by those that are rated highest. To try this, select "Top Rated" in Movies. You'll see a list of movies with at least three (out of four) stars sorted with the highest rated movies at the top.

If the list includes movies that air on channels you don't receive, you can automatically remove them using Settings > Edit Channels.

Watch movies wherever you are

When you're on the road, you can use your connected laptop or mobile device to enjoy live and recorded movies stored on your home computer through the WebGuide plug-in. With this feature, even if you don't have a TV tuner installed in or connected to your PC, you can still watch movies wherever you have a high-speed Internet connection.

Store more of your film entertainment

Because Windows Media Center digitally records your live movies on your PC's hard disk, you may be concerned that it will run out of disk space. Not to worry: You can choose to record shows to another section of the same computer, or to record directly to an external hard disk.

Make any room a media room

Take Windows Media Center to the next level and enjoy your favorite live broadcast and recorded movies on TVs throughout your home with remote control convenience using an Extender for Windows Media Center.