Jesse Stay wrote:
I know I'm going to get bashed for this, but one of the best Media
servers I've ever used is Vista Media Center (through Vista Ultimate).
They're about to release a Home Server that will do the same and
serve as centralized storage.
If you have an Xbox 360 or soon they will be releasing Media Center
Extenders for Vista, all you need is a network connection to where
each of your TVs will be and you can stream all your TV through your
home network. I currently watch all my TV over my home network.
It serves as a PVR, as all shows can be scheduled to record on the
main Media Center machine, paused, fast-forwarded, etc. They have
some other really cool features such as a sports section that will
tell you all the games currently playing, let you watch them, and view
all the current scores at the same time. There are also many online
services they provide as well, such as one that lets you download
movies for a monthly fee and also watch them on any Media Center
Extender-based TV. You also have access to all your music, photos,
home videos (or downloaded videos), etc.
I really can't speak with any authority about this since I know barely
anything at all anymore when it comes to Microsoft products- especially
console gaming products, but a guy in my neighborhood was showing off
his XBox 360 to me a couple months ago. He was using it to play some HD
video content stored on his XP machine down the hall (to which he had a
Cat-5 cable strung across the carpet) on his projector screen in his
home theater.
Yeah, it looked pretty cool and I have to admit the interface guys at
Microsoft made a very pretty, candy-coated user interface for this
feature of the XBox 360... if you're into that sort of thing.
One GLARING problem with the XBox 360 was its painful lack of support
for common media formats. Again, I don't know if there are ways to get
around this or even if it is true, but my neighbor said the XBox would
only play WMV media (which wouldn't surprise me, considering who made
the dang thing). No DiVX/xvid AVIs. No Quicktime files. No MPEGs. Only
WMV. The word "sucks" went through my mind a few times.
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] is Doran L. Barton, president, Iodynamics LLC
Iodynamics: Linux solutions - Web development - Business connectivity
"For Sale. Three canaries of undermined sex."
-- Seen in a newspaper ad
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