Windows Media Center: TV

Your shows when you want to watch

Windows Media Center makes TV better by allowing you to:

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

• Schedule recordings with the Electronic Programming Guide.

• Find shows in the Windows Media Center Recorded TV library using picture thumbnails from the actual programs.

• View live TV through Picture-in-Picture or as a background while performing other activities in Windows Media Center.

• Visit SportsLounge (U.S. and Canada only), a dedicated sports service that integrates scores and alerts with games on broadcast TV.

• Burn your favorite shows to DVD for PC backup to watch in your home. Windows Media Center will even create a simple DVD menu, which you can navigate using your DVD remote.

• Stream your digital media to as many as five other rooms in the house with Extenders for Windows Media Center.

Getting started is easy

A TV tuner is all you need to start enjoying live TV on your Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate-based PC.² Simply plug your TV antenna, cable, or the video output from your satellite set-top box into your TV tuner, open Windows Media Center, and follow the appropriate set-up instructions.

Online Media expands your options

Using Windows Media Center, you can stream or download TV shows from a growing list of content providers through Online Media³—an innovative portal that helps you search for and enjoy TV over the Internet. The new Internet TV Beta (U.S. only) features a great selection of TV shows, movies, and music concerts 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.

Store more of your entertainment

Because Windows Media Center digitally records your live TV shows 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.

¹ Enjoying live and recorded HDTV (U.S. only) may require additional equipment, including but not limited to an HD compatible tuner and TV or other display.

² Windows Media Center supports as many as two NTSC Standard tuners and two ATSC HD TV tuners, for a maximum of four TV tuners in a Windows Media Center PC.

³ The screenshots shown here are for illustration only. Online Media services and applications available through Windows Media Center are subject to change.