Transcript: Chat - Windows XP Media Center Edition, September 2003
Published: September 18, 2003
Windows XP Media Center Edition, September 18, 2003
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Hosts: Joe Belfiore, General Manager of the Windows eHome Product Team
Moderator: KenM (Microsoft) Welcome to today's chat. Our topic is Windows XP Media Center Edition. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome. Moderator: KenM (Microsoft) I'll have our host introduce himself now.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Hello!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'm Joe Belfiore...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) General Manager of the Windows eHome Product Team.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) My team is responsible for the product development of Windows XP Media Center edition...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) that's all the sw engineering, test, design, usability testing, user assistance, etc.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'm happy to be here today to answer questions and to take back all your product suggestions!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (hopefully we can deliver them *really* fast. :) )
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) OK... time to take the first qustion...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Should we ever expect a MCE SDK? A: Aha.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) A: OK, I'll start out on this one by saying that TODAY, Media Center 1.0...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) ...ALREADY kind of has an SDK. :)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) it's the WINDOWS SDK, and it supports tons and tons of cool functionality for developers.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If you haven't already seen it, check out the product website for Sonic Primetime.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Primetime is an app that Sonic shipped last year that allows for a "distance" or "10 foot" experience for burning DVDs.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) It's pretty cool, and fairly well integrated with XP MCE.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Of course, I'm guessing a bunch of you knew that already and are wondering when there will be a more complete, more integrated SDK.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) The answer is REALLY REALLY soon.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) In fact, as I'd guess many of you know, we are launching the new version of MCE in just a few days, on 9/30.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) This new version has a real SDK, offering samples, guidelines, etc. for creating much more highly integrated MCE experiences.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) It's one of the things we are most excited and proud of in the new version.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'm going to move on to some more questions, but I'd be happy to talk more about extensibility in the new MCE if you folks are interested.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) OK --
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'm looking at a lot of the questions below...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and I'm noticing a lot of fairly specific questions on the next version.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) SOME of this stuff, I can talk about,
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) but SOME of it, I can't. :(
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (I wish I could tell you that the PR folks are standing behind me with weapons...)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (but that's not actually true.)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Let me pick a good question that I can KIND OF answer...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: When will MCE be coming to the UK (as stated in the Press Release) A: The new version that we're launching in a few days will be coming to the UK and some other countries. Watch for it soon!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Will MCE ever support Dual Tuners, or HDTV cards? A: Yes. :)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Does this count as 1 of my 60?
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Why do my resourse Peg past 80% or higher when I run MCE interface? any fix in the works?
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) A: I'm really probably not the best qualified person to give you a *specific* answer, but I can talk about how MCE works and why this might be happening
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) the MCE interface is actually something that we think has a cool architecture...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) it's implemented so that the UI draws on the screen using DirectX, so it's hardware accelerated by your graphics cad
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) that's one of the reasons we have cool, smooth animations.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (and btw, I'll mention that I think this is one of the places where we've really increased hte POLISH in the version you'l see in a couple of weeks)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) anyway, there are 2 things that MCE does that are really taxing on the PC...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) one is to render the UI, but in truth that's your graphics card. If you have a decent graphics card, then it shouldn't stress your CPU too much.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) the other is to decode video.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) One of the hardware requirements in MCE version 1.0 was that the TV tuner *had* to have an MPEG2 encoder in *Hardware*
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) the reason that was a requirement was so that we could make sure that PVR, trickplay, TV show display/recording wouldn't over-tax the CPU
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) when the video is decoded to get displayed on screen, there should be hw acceleration that happens from your video card.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If your CPU is pegged, it's probably because either...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) a) somehow you don't have hardware encoding on your tuner either present or turned on, or
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) b) you have hw acceleration turned off for video decode, or
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) c) your graphics card just isn't super poweful.,
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) In general, none of the shipping, preconfigued OEM machines should have this problem.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I should move on and hit more quesitons...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: On the Dual Tuners/HDTV anser, is that "in this next version" or ever? A: the original question was "ever", and I said "yes".
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Will I be able to run MCE maximized on a secondary monitor? ie my TV? A: Yes - in fact you can already do this in the shipping version.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Most (actually, probably all) the shipping video cards support dual-mode out, so you can configure MCE to show up on either
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (a) BOTH your TV and your monitor, OR
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (b) one of each
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (nice emoticons)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Will the next version support TV on your TV while you use the desktop on the monitor? A: sort of the same question...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) you can actually already do this! Just put your video card in "dual mode", but to make it work well with MCE, you make your TV the *primary* monitor.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Will MCE ever support Radio? A: Yes.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Definitely be sure to check all the news and www.microsoft.com/mediacenter on 9/30 for all the specifics of what's in the newest version!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Is HDTV in the next version? What about Plasma displays? A: On part 1, sadly, I can't comment on the next version, but I can say we will certainly enable HD in the future.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) on part 2, there's a bit of a story to tell.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Someone already mentioned that we support plasmas now, and even mentioend the VERY COOL plasmas that gateway offers with MCE as a bundle
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) However, if some of you have tried it with MCE1.0, you may know that our 16x9 support in v1 was
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) "just ok"
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) In the release you'll see shortly, it's one of the places that we've really tried to listen to suggestions and complaints..
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and the 16x9 support is quite improved.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If you have a 16:9 screen you'll probably like the enhancments quite a bit.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: What are the major features of the version coming in two weeks? A: OK, preamble...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I can't answer this SPECIIFCALLY and COMPLETELY, but I can give you SOME STUFF!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) There are a few broad areas the team has really focused on...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 1) Fundamentals and Making Customers Happy
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 2) Making MCE more broadly available (think: more countries)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 3) "Extensibility" -- I talked about this a little already.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) on (1) I think a lot of you will find features that you've asked for... Guest_scusaguy is away: Away
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I already mentioned enhanced 16:9 support
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and there are plenty of others that folks like you have complained to us about that we've added or fixed.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) A few specific examples: people asked for CD Ripping in the 10' mode... you'll see that.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) people also asked for the ability to have Visualizations while you're listening to music. you'll see that too.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) There are a lot of features (too many to list here-- and that's the big news for the 30th) that I'd categorize as "Fundamentals and Making Customers Happy"
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) on 2) I already talked about some of the other countries.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) on 3) I mentioned the SDK and the extensibility enhancements
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) we've worked with a number of ISV-- "Independent Software Vendors"-- (like Sonic) to create more applications and experiences for MCE that really broadly add to what you can do from the remote.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I can't name any companies, but there are lots of examples of apps and web sites out there today that you could imagine would be really useful and convenient to be able to get to with a remote.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) You'll see a bunch of these at our launch.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: How will the new version be distributed to existing MCE users? A: I can't tell you the *exact specifics*, but I will give you a sense for what will happen with this...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We know that the folks who went out and bought PCs with MCE 1.0 are some of our best customers...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) these are people (probalbly like you) who are early adopters, who like trying the latest and greatest stuff...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and who generally are tech-savvy enough to want to upgrade their software.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) It's absolutely our policy and value system to make sure we keep customers like you satisfied,
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) so we have created a program that will make it possible for MCE 1.0 customers to be able to get new bits.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Again, I can't tell you the specifics of this program -- really our timing with the chat is just too close to the broad news announcements...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) but I also don't want to torment you and/or not let you know that we care about, value and intend to satisfy you.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Probably enough said for now.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Our PR folks are probably headed for my office to cream me now... :)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: So whats the future hold for MCE (i.e. 2004 onwards) A: whew.. a question that's not specifically about the product THAT LAUNCHES IN JUST A FEW DAYS! :)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Lots of stuff we're very excited to build and ship over the next many years...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Let
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Let's talk about scenarios...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) One scenario we really like and talk about in our team a lot is the scenario of MCE working with other devices.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We think besides being friendly, 10' UI, etc. that MCE is becoming useful to people as a place where
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) they can store and manage all their media content.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) This could be personal picutres, recorded TV shows, personal music...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and if you think about extensibility and services, it could also be other forms of commercial content. (think... down
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) (think... movies that you purchase or rent from an online service)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Getting MCE to work with lots of devices creates some great scenarios for users and some great industry opportunities.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) For example, even though many of you saw the picture of my HP MC in my family room (in the middle of floor, hooked up to the TV)...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'd really like to be able to access all my music, my recorded TV shows, etc. from other rooms in the house.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I have a TV and a bookshelf stereo in my bedroom, but right now there's not a great, inexpensive, simple, way to get my pictures, music, recorded shows to that TV.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We think this is a great scenario to work on with partners in the industry.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Another good scneario related to devices is being able to take your content WITH you.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Even with MCE 1.0, you can record TV shows, and as long as the broadcaster hasn't "forbidden" copying, it's possible to...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) put those TV show files on your Laptop and take them with you to watch on a plane or on a road trip.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) You could imagine a wider range of portable devices that could offer similar capabilities, at different price points, etc.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) This is another scenario we think is very compelling and one that we will work on for future releases.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Will their be more additional hardware that works 'within' MCE? For example a PROGRESSIVE scan internal DVD player? A: OK, I'm really a manager-type and not a DEEP TECHIE
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) but...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I'm 98% sure that your PC DVD player, sending output through your graphics card
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) is just as good (and in some situations better) than a progressive scan output DVD player.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If your graphics card has DVI out, for example, and you have a nice display (eg. plasma) with DVI in, it's a totally progressive system,
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) so it's a VERY high quality way to watch a DVD.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Furthermore the deinterlacing done by today's powerful graphics cards can give you really a SUPER high quality picture for DVDs.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Using a PC is a terrific way to get a high-end experience at a relatively low cost.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: will there be a newsgroup for those only MSDN MCE people? A: I agree there should be a newsgroup for MCE developers, and I'm fairly sure we are planning to create one.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If not, we'll look into it and try to get that done, it's a great suggestion.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) DO check back on 9/30.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: With all the noise about MCE over the last year, many people have listed many way of creating "media center" for a fraction of the cost of MS MCE systems. Do you think this will be a problem for marketability of the MCE ? A: There are a lot of interesting angles on this. Guest_scusaguy has returned.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) One of the things we thought was very important as a team while building MCE 1.0 was that we
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) really wanted to work closely with our partners-- eg., HP-- in making sure the complete experience
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) with MCE would be *great*.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We tried to make sure that the hardware would be able to support the fairly-high-demand of doing Guest_Chris_Lanier is away: Away
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 3d rendered user interface, with high quality TV scenarios (recording, viewing, etc.) at the same time as regular PC usage
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We chose to have "higher end" hardware requirements because we wanted consumers who bought those PCs to have a good experience.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) The good news is that even with our relatively-high version 1 hardware requirements, that the OEMs have done a nice job
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) of offering a wide range of MCE systems.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) HP announced a couple of months ago a version of the HP MC PC for less that $1000 ...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) and for a high end PC with all the capabilities of MCE, that seems pretty good. Guest_strat is away: Away
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) YOu asked if we thought this would be a problem for the "marketability" of Media Center--
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) in my opinion the answer is no.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) What's actually happened is that reviewers have written very positive things about version 1, for the most
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) part agreeing that this new "category" of PC makes sense.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) And, we know from customer surveys that the people who bought the PCs in general have been *very* satisfied.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Finally, the OEMs and retailers have seen MCE PCs as a success.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) So, for a category and product that's as YOUNG as MC is, we're very happy.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We also think that with the new version, that we'll see a wider range of PCs at a wider range of price points, so that the
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) maturing category will keep getting broader and broader, offering more choices to consumers.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Could I use a Tablet PC to remote desktop into MCE? A: In version 1, the answer was no...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) not because of anything specific about the TABLET, just because the 3-d based user interface of MCE couldn't be remoted at all using remote desktop.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) In the version coming out shortly, we've addressed this and it'll be possible to use Remote Desktop to access the MCE UI.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: Are you aware of the strong competition from the LINUX platform? LINUX is TODAY offering many features that Microsoft has not even talked about e.g. running as a complete tv/video-on-demand server. Is Microsoft preparing to catch up with this? A: Yep, we're definitely aware of this.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) One of the things we hold as a high value is really strong integration...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) that's integration *within* our software, but also integration *across* different parts of the industry.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) The truth is, you can browse the web and find lots of examples of software that's "kinda like" MCE...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) it's no mystery that a lot of the hardware vendors (eg., ATI) have had TV related products for awhile to support their cool hardware.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Furthermore, you can find lots of Windows apps-- in fact probably way more than Linux apps-- that do things that are similar to MCE.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) If you list things out on a feature by feature basis,.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) you're right that some of these solutions have features we don't.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) On the other hand , I'll argue a few things:
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 1) We also have plenty of features that are valuable and unique.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) 2) The number of features (or presence/absence of a particular feature) really often isn't the most important thing.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) On (1), we have to try to make smart choices on which things people will find the most valualbe, and we've really tried to do that in this new version. We hope you'll be excited by what we've got done.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) on (2) we've also tried to make sure that the whole experience is UNMATCHED in its smoothness, polish, attention to detail, ease of use.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We really want to show that a windows-based PC, when Microsoft and an OEM (and soon, a bunch of application writers) work together can be as
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) smooth, simple, compelling and valuable as a really nicely designed piece of Consumer Electronics equipment.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) To achieve this goal -- smoothness, simplicity, integration -- we are willing to sacrifice features that would go in a checklist.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We will keep at this, though, and keep building and releasing new versions of MCE with more of the features that you're asking for.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I think we're very very competitive, and we're just getting started. :)
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Q: One final question then.... Why should I buy a Media Center PC? A: If you're a digital media enthusiast... if you like storing music files on your PC, taking pics with a digital camera,
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) like the possibility of recording TV shows and taking them with you on a trip, are willing to try out new
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) experiences authored by tons of competent and exciting application vendors, and want to be able to
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) do all this stuff with the simplicity of a consumer electronics device, from the comfort of your couch...
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) then MCE is exactly what you need.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) You get all the power and compatibility (every windows app! every windows-compatible device!) of a Windows PC, backed by a whole industry building apps and peripherals
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) combined with the friendliness of a CE device.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I think it's well worth it, and there's a lot more features and scenarios to come. Moderator: KenM (Microsoft) Thanks for joining us today and thanks for the questions. It's time for us to go now. Please see the chats schedule for upcoming topics.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) OK, Looks like that's it for me.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) Please do come back to microsoft.com on 9/30 and read all the news for yourself!
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) I really do apologize that I couldn't be much more specific and detailed, but what's the point of having a launch event if somebody goes and spills all the beans a week and a half early.
Host: JoeB (Microsoft) We hope you'll find the new version really exciting and valuable
