How-to: TV and Movies in Windows Media Center

To watch and record TV in Windows Media Center, you need to have a TV tuner connected to your computer. A TV tuner is a special kind of video device that lets you receive a TV signal to watch on your computer. The tuner might be a TV tuner card that you install in your computer, or it might be a USB device that you plug into a USB port on your computer.

Most TV tuners have inputs that you can use to connect to a TV signal, such as connecting a cable to receive a signal from an antenna or cable TV. TV tuners typically come with programs that you can use to watch and record TV programs.

If your computer has a compatible TV tuner installed, you can use Windows Media Center to watch and record TV on your computer.

An analog or digital TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center. If your computer did not come with a TV tuner, you might be able to add one. For more information about obtaining a TV tuner, see Get help for your TV tuner card or contact your computer manufacturer.

You can install most hardware devices such as tuners by plugging them into your computer. Windows will automatically install the appropriate driver software if it's available, or prompt you to insert the disc that came with your hardware device if it's not.

For more information, see What should I know before adding TV tuners?

Windows Media Center supports a wide range of TV signal types, including antenna signals, cable TV signals, and satellite TV signals. The type of signals you can set up is determined by the type of TV tuner you have installed on your computer, the area in which you live, and the cable or satellite television provider you subscribe to.

For more information, see Connect a TV signal to your computer

You can use Windows Media Center to watch TV and movies. You can also choose to pause live TV so that you can do other things without missing parts of your favorite TV shows. When you pause live TV or a movie, the TV show or movie that is currently playing is temporarily recorded as a video file. You can then rewind or fast forward through the recorded TV show or movie until you catch up to the current part.

When looking for a particular live TV show, it's often easiest to use the Guide in Windows Media Center. The Guide lets you see what is on TV and also enables you to search for TV shows in a variety of ways. For more information about using the Guide in Windows Media Center, see Use the Guide.

If you want to control Windows Media Center with a remote, you must purchase an optional Windows Media Center remote control.

1. To begin watching live TV, do one of the following:

• On the start screen, scroll to TV + Movies, and then click LiveTV.

• Using the Windows Media Center remote control, press LIVE TV.

• On the start screen, scroll to TV + Movies, click Guide, locate the TV show that you want to watch, and then click a show that is currently airing.

2. To display information about the TV program that you are watching, right-click the TV show while it is playing, and then click Program Info.

Click Watch to return to the TV show.

• To change the channel, move the mouse, and then click or to go down one channel or up one channel, respectively.

• (Optional) To go to the last channel you were watching, press the ENTER button on the remote control.

1. While you are watching live TV or a movie, move the mouse, and then click Pause.

2. When you are ready, you can use the transport controls to control the playback of the paused TV show or movie. Move the mouse and then click Skip Backward, Rewind, Fast Forward, or Skip Forward.

3. To resume playing the TV show or movie, move the mouse, and then on the transport controls, click Play.

To stop playing live TV or a movie:

1. While you are watching live TV or a movie, move the mouse, and then click Stop.

2. When you are ready, on the start screen, scroll to TV + Movies, and then click Live TV to resume watching TV.

You can choose to burn recorded TV shows or other video files that appear in your media library in Windows Media Center. By doing this, you can burn recorded TV shows and other video files to a DVD that you can play in a standard DVD player or on your computer.

When you burn video files or recorded TV shows to a DVD, the video files are converted so that they can appear and play in a standard DVD player.

Because the video files may need to be converted, burning a DVD can take a longer amount of time. The time it takes to burn a TV show to a DVD depends on different factors—the length of the added video files, your computer system resources, and the speed of your DVD burner.

1. Start Windows Media Center. Insert a recordable DVD into your DVD burner.

2. Click the Burn a CD or DVD notification that appears in Windows Media Center. Or on the start screen, scroll to Tasks, and then click Burn CD/DVD.

3. On the Select Disc Format screen, click Video DVD, and then click Next.

4. Using the keyboard, enter a name for your DVD, and then click Next.

5. On the Select Media screen, click Recorded TV or Video Library, and then click Next.

6. Click the TV show or video that you want to add to your disc so that a check mark appears on the selected TV show or video file, and then click Next.

7. If you want to add more video files to the disc, on the Review & Edit List screen, click Add More.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you have added the recorded TV shows and videos that you want to burn.

9. After you have added all the video files that you want to burn to the disc, on the Review & Edit List, click Burn DVD.

10. In the Initiating Copy notification, click Yes.

11. After the disc is burned, at the Completing Disc Creation notification, click Done.