The Media Center Blog

If you have TV Pack or Windows 7 installed you might want to take a look at a PlayReady update that’s just been posted on the Microsoft Download Center. Supposedly this version reduces start up and decryption times. For a little more information on the update, check out the AppScout website.

TigerDirect has the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB 32MB cache hard drive for only $79.99 after a $30 rebate. Great price for a 1TB hard drive if you don’t mind paying $109.99 (plus shipping) and waiting for a rebate.

According to an update on the Cox website, my area (Topeka, KS), along with other areas in Kansas and Arkansas, is getting 8 new channels on November 18th. While I’m not too overly excited about any of the channels (Spike HD, MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD, Planet Green HD, Lifetime Movie Network HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, and Nickelodean HD) I am glad that they are giving me 8 more! It appears that they’ve moved some channels with lower viewership over from analog to digital to make room for these channels so I’m assuming they aren’t switching over to switched digital video just yet.

Also, since I found out about this in advance (I usually don’t find out until they just show up) I decided to use this as a test for seeing if I could get Zap2It to update the guide listings in advance so they are ready on November 18th. Following my post on how to report guide discrepancies in Media Center I reported the new channels to Zap2It and let them know that they would go into effect on November 18th. To my surprise, I actually received a response from them:

James
 
thanks for the update
 
 
Thank you,
The Zap2it Team

I’m hoping this means they will have it updated on November 18th. In the past I’ve had to wait at least a week before the channels actually showed up in my Media Center guide. I will update this post to let you know how it works out for me on Tuesday.

That’s right…not only do you get a Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender for a great price but Newegg is also throwing in FREE stuff to go along with it. For instance, you could choose a combo deal with an HP printer…or how about Gears of War 2…or a 250GB hard drive?

To take advantage of this great offer, hop on over to Newegg and check out the variety of combo deals they have available with the DMA2200.

Ed Bott has made a nice little discovery with the pre-beta release of Windows 7…a driver for none other than that elusive DirecTV HDPC-20 tuner for Media Center. While it has been a long time coming (first anounced in January 2006) it is nice to know Microsoft didn’t give up on it all together. Some even believe that an OEM PC won’t even be required for the tuner which means you’ll finally be able to add full HD support to your current machine (assuming it’s powerful enough of course)! I don’t believe that’s been confirmed quite yet but we can all hope right!

If you’ve read my blog before then you know I currently have a CableCARD PC. Prior to going back to cable I had DirecTV for a few years and I loved it. I couldn’t wait until all the new HD channels were coming out. Then I discovered that I have too many trees around my house and some pretty huge trees would have to be trimmed back for me to install the new larger dish. That’s what finally made me go back to cable and get a CableCARD PC. So while I’m excited this tuner appears to finally be coming, I probably won’t even be able to benefit from it unless I move within the next few years. My next house will definitely have a huge, open view of the southern sky so I at least have the option of DirecTV again!

For more information on the discovery by Ed Bott, head on over to his blog.

We Got Served got their hands on some screenshots and information on the next release of Windows Media Center that will be shipping with Windows 7. I must say I love the changes that have been revealed thus far. The changes to the guide make it even easier to get information about your favorite programs and the changes to the mini-guide definitely look like an improvement. The music wall also looks like a cool feature that should’ve been included a long time ago. I mean, it’s cool viewing a picture slideshow while listening to music but I always thought there should be something else in the background when you didn’t want to view a slideshow. Another biggee for this release is the inclusion of H.264, which should finally allow for that ever elusive DirecTV tuner that many have been impatiently (for good reason) waiting for.

It looks like Windows 7 might actually be ready for a 2009 release…we can only hope! To see all the goodies, head on over to We Got Served.

Edit: I just came across a posting on Charlie Owen’s blog that has even more information. Be sure to check it out as well!

UPDATE: If you are interested in participating in the Windows 7 Media Center Beta be sure to check this post.

The RTM release of Media Center Gadgets for SideShow was released today. For full information and to download the gadgets, go ahead visit the Windows SideShow Team Blog.

I will say that I participated in this beta towards the end and used it briefly with my HTC Touch Pocket PC phone. In the end I ended up uninstalling it from my PC because I kept getting errors upon startup. It appears as though it doesn’t work with TV Pack 2008 because every time I went to the TV section on my Touch the gadget would error out.

You would think with the Gadget just being released it would work with TV Pack, which was released a few months ago but I guess we can chalk this up to two areas of Microsoft not communicating.

I guess there is a chance that there was something wrong with my PC so if you install the gadget and have luck with TV Pack please comment on this post.

I saw this awesome deal on the AverMedia M780 on Slickdeals.net and thought it was definitely worthy of passing along. Use the discount code SLICKDEALS to get 10% off which drops this tuner to $36 shipped. That’s a great price for a QAM capable tuner. Please note that it is a PCIe card so you will want to make sure you have an open slot in your PC.

Also, I remember a while back AverMedia released some beta drivers to enable QAM in pre-TV Pack Media Center so if that is of interest to you, you might want to go do a little research on The Green Button.

Edit: I went ahead and purchased this and it ended up being $34.99 for me so my shipping must’ve been a little cheaper. Great deal!

Another update: Cashback is now down to a measely 8%. The tuners can still be found for $199 shipped though which is a decent deal for these tuners considering they sell for at least $250 everywhere else.

Update: Cashback is now down to 25% but you can still save quite a bit with this deal. The going rate for tuners currently on Ebay seems to be around $199 plus shipping so taking the 25% you end up paying just under $150 plus shipping.

Ebay and Live.com are partnering up to offer 30% cash back on most items with Buy-It-Now and PayPal. There is a Buy-It-Now listing for ATI Digital Cable Tuners (CableCARD Tuners) for $224.95 with free shipping. With the 30% cash back, it will only cost you $157.47 after it’s all said and done. As of 8:50AM central time today, there are 22 in stock.

If you’ve never used Live.com cash back, here’s a primer on how it works. You buy something that’s eligible through the Live.com cash back program and they set aside whatever percentage was listed (in this case, 30% or about $67.48). In 60 days you can request that the money be sent to you. It’s somewhat like a mail-in rebate in that you have to wait for it but you don’t have to send in any forms or anything.

To get in on this deal, follow these steps (some may sound weird but trust me):

1. Go to live.com and type “wii” in the search
2. Below the search box but above any of the search results you should see a sponsored site that shows www.ebay.com and Live Search cashback (the box is grey)…click on this link
3. You should now be taken to Ebay where you will see the results of the cheap ps3 search
4. In the Ebay search box, type “ATI Digital Cable Tuner”
5. You should see a listing in the results that lists the price at $224.95…click on this auction
6. Once you click Buy-It-Now and enter your login information you should see the confirmation that you will be receiving cash back before you commit to buy
7. You may have to sign up for a live.com email account…I’m not sure as I already had one prior to participating in this offer

Please note that I did not participate in this deal. I’m just passing it along because I thought it would be of interest to some since it’s a pretty good price for these tuners. As with any Ebay auction, do your research on the seller. This seller is from Australia but they have almost 8000 feedbacks with 99.2% of them being positive which is pretty stellar in my book.

Also, as I mentioned above, this offer can be used for most auctions that have Buy-It-Now and PayPal. I was able to buy an Xbox 360 Arcade for about $150 shipped after cash back yesterday. I also purchased a Logitech Harmony One for about $115 after cash back last week.

As always with deals like this, it’s available for a limited time.

The Windows Media Center guide information is provided by Zap2it. If you’ve been in a situation where you notice you are missing some channels in your Media Center guide, it’s probably because Zap2it doesn’t know about the newly added channels yet. You can help solve this problem by filling out a simple feedback email and sending it on to Zap2it.

I had to do this once in the last 6 months when my cable company, Cox Communications, added several new HD channels. I’m not sure if the cable companies are responsible for sending this information to guide listing providers but I didn’t waste any time in sending in the feedback. If I remember correctly, it took 3 or 4 days for the new channels to show up. While this isn’t exactly prompt, it’s certainly better than waiting for others to report it. So if you notice that new channels are showing up on your cable box and not on your Media Center PC, be sure to submit the feedback to Zap2it quickly. The quicker you do it, the sooner you will be on your way to seeing those new channels!