At home with Media Center

Microsoft's oft-quoted mission statement - 'a computer on every desk and in every home' - is the driving force behind its ambition to dominate personal computing. But well before this ambition can reach fruition, there seems to be a new vision at work.

Forget desks for a moment: Microsoft now foresees a computer under every telly. And we're not talking a number-crunching beige box running business software, but a sleek, quiet, integrated home entertainment centre that plays music and video, records TV shows, plays DVDs and is controlled remotely from the couch.

Cue the launch last year of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004, a hardware-software package heralding Microsoft's first foray into the world of consumer electronics. Actually, strike foray: Media Center is an all-guns-blazing assault on the traditional territory of standalone DVD players, hi-fi systems and home cinema set-ups.

Here we take a step back from the hype and consider whether your next PC should be a Media Center machine.

The big squeeze
You can hardly have failed to notice the trend towards technological convergence, by which we mean the propensity to squeeze as many features as possible into every electronic device. So why buy a separate hi-fi system, DVD player, digital video recorder and multi-channel set-top box when a computer can fulfil all of these functions, and more?

If you're tempted by the prospect of reducing the brushed-aluminium real estate in your living room - and the consequent snake-pit of cabling and over-abundance of remote controls - consider yourself prime Media Center material.

For this is the current king of convergent technologies, powered by a special edition of Windows XP with a funky big-button interface, built by computer manufacturers to Microsoft specifications, supplied with a remote control and destined to dominate the living room as surely the Windows PC reigns supreme in the study. Well, perhaps.

Set-up scenarios
The first important factor is the Media Center's split personality. You can use it as a 'normal' Windows XP computer, as a dedicated home entertainment centre or as both. In fact, it's important to figure out up front just how you might use one.

In the first scenario, you might set it up on a desk with a mouse, keyboard and monitor attached, plug in a TV aerial cable and treat the home entertainment angle as a pleasant adjunct. You might, for instance, run Media Center in a window (or minimised) and half-watch (or record) a TV show while you work. With decent speakers, it would also make a fine CD and DVD player. However, you would be unlikely to enjoy an evening's entertainment on the monitor so this is not the way to see Media Center at its best.

In scenario number two, you could tuck the computer under or beside the telly and use the TV screen as your sole display. You won't need to keep a keyboard or mouse permanently connected, as Media Center can be controlled entirely with the remote control.

However, it's important to appreciate that in this configuration you won't be able to work with Windows programs. A television screen simply lacks the resolution to display icons, menus and text with anything approaching acceptable clarity.

The bottom line is that if you want to use a Media Center PC as a Windows computer, even if only occasionally, you'll need to plug in a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You will also need these during initial set-up and periodically later should you wish to create shortcuts to networked folders, modify MP3 ID3 tags or install antivirus updates and Windows patches (never forget that a Media Center is a PC under the covers, and occasionally you need to work in Windows mode).

Alternatively, you could invest in a TFT or plasma-screen TV that effectively doubles as a high-resolution monitor-cum-telly. Whichever way you approach it, though, a Media Center PC configured to function exclusively as a home entertainment centre is something of an extravagance given that you're effectively paying for an unused Windows XP computer.

In the third scenario, you would connect the computer to a deskbound monitor and a television set and alternate between its Windows XP and Media Center modi operandi according to where you are sitting and what you want to do. This, we feel, is the best arrangement in principle, for you get all the benefits of a home entertainment centre and a Windows XP PC.

Cable extensions mean you needn't have a computer desk hard up against the telly, but we appreciate that this is not for everyone. Also think about audio playback. You have three choices here. The simplest approach is using stereo speakers supplied with the computer, in which case you should locate them by the TV so the sound emanates from the same corner of the room as the screen.

Alternatively, you can relay audio from the PC to the television set's built-in speakers. Finally, you could opt for a separate amplifier with a subwoofer plus stereo or surround-sound satellite speakers. This is perfect for high-quality DVD soundtracks and music playback, particularly if you intend to use the Media Center as a hi-fi replacement.

Center forward
The Media Center interface runs full-screen (usually), masking the usual Windows Desktop, Taskbar and icons. It works on a simplified Windows model where you select and activate menu items via buttons on the supplied remote control. Judged purely on design, we thinks it's quite superb; for ease of use, we have barely a quibble. But what does it actually do?

Media Center is modular, so different sections are devoted to particular functions. The chief module is My TV. Once you have connected the computer to a source TV signal (a rooftop aerial socket or a cable, satellite or Freeview set-top box), told it where you live and downloaded programme listings, this is where you come to watch and record television - full-screen or windowed, on a monitor or a TV.

In fact, behind the scenes, something clever is happening. Rather than relaying pictures directly to the display, the Media Center continuously saves the incoming signal as a digital video file on the hard disk. It then plays back this file almost instantaneously. In effect, when you watch 'live' TV on a Media Center you are in fact watching a pre-recorded video.

The benefits of this 'buffering' are significant. You can, for instance, pause a live programme and return to it up to 30 minutes later without missing a beat (the live programme is recorded in the background while the picture remains frozen on screen at the pause point).

You can also rewind a live broadcast, which is ideal if you miss the beginning or simply want to watch your own instant action replays. You can then either continue watching the show in delayed mode ('time-shifted') or fast forward - through the adverts, perhaps - until you catch up with the real-time broadcast.

You can record any live programme - whereupon it is saved to the hard disk - and schedule recordings in advance. This feature relies on the services of an electronic programme guide (EPG), by which means the Media Center PC downloads TV listings for the forthcoming 14 days. Recorded shows are listed in a Recorded TV menu and can be viewed, saved and deleted on demand.

The EPG is free, but it does require an internet connection; something else to think about when planning where to site your system.

Music and more
The My Music module is essentially a pretty front end for Windows Media Player, the primary multimedia component in Windows XP. It plays commercial and home-burned audio CDs and MP3/WMA files.

Surprisingly, given copyright implications, it also invites you to copy CDs, whereupon tracks are saved on the hard disk as WMA files. Then again, Windows Media Player does this too; Media Center just makes it easier.

Music can be sorted by album, artist, song or genre, and searched with keywords. Grant Media Center authority to access the internet and it will download album information (where possible), replete with album cover thumbnails. If you have an MP3 collection on a different computer, you can also instruct Media Center to stream files across a network. This saves the tiresome palaver of copying across files, and saves hard disk space.

The My Pictures module may hold little obvious appeal - all it does is display digital pictures individually or in a slideshow, with or without animation and a soundtrack - but in fact it's a terrific way to showcase your efforts with a digital camera to a captive audience, particularly when viewed on a television screen.

Again, you can access images held on a networked computer so long as you instruct the Media Center where to find them. Most Media Center PCs also have multi-format memory card readers, so you can pop in the memory card from your camera and view your pictures immediately without fussing with cables. There are even a couple of basic image-enhancement tools on hand.

The Play DVD module plays - but doesn't copy - DVDs, and that's about it. The My Videos module organises and plays video files saved on the hard disk or streamed across a network, and is probably most useful for playing movies you make yourself from camcorder footage.

All Media Center PCs have FireWire ports for the easy connection of digital camcorders, and Movie Maker 2 comes bundled with Windows XP (you have to work in Windows when making movies, which means a monitor, mouse and keyboard). You can also play video clips downloaded from the internet, but only if they are in a format that Windows Media Player, which powers My Videos, supports.

Finally, some Media Centers include an FM radio tuner. Big deal in a digital age, you might think - and we'd agree. Besides, you may already receive digital radio stations through your TV service, in which case you can listen and record them with the My TV module.

All singing, all dancing, or what?
Saying something conclusive here is not straightforward, for so much depends on how you personally could benefit from a Media Center. If you are in the market for a new computer, and if you can use it both as a Windows XP PC and as a home entertainment centre, then it may well may make sense for you.

Certainly, with its integrated music, video, pictures and television features, a Media Center kills a small flock with a single stone. The flipside is the eggs/basket equation: if your Media Center goes bang, then so does your VCR, DVD player, hi-fi and more. You also have to keep the machine protected with anti-virus updates, a firewall and all the rest. A sceptic might say if only the Media Center wasn't a Windows PC, it would be perfect.

We don't believe any computer has an automatic right of residence in the living room. That said, Media Center is the most comprehensive exercise in convergence we've seen so far; and when it works smoothly - which is by no means always - it's a pleasure to use.

All-in-one entertainment
Home entertainment integration comes from all angles. While the Media Center PC busily apes the role of DVD player, VCR and stereo system, many consumer electronics devices now look suspiciously like computers.

One of the first to set the trend was TiVo: a digital video recorder with a modem, hard drive and downloadable EPG data. Though still extremely popular with existing owners, Tivo's commercial success in the UK was limited and the units are no longer actively marketed in this country. The current Sky Plus service is similar but here you get a second TV tuner to overcome the frustrating limitation, common to the TiVo and Media Center, of not being able to watch one non-terrestrial broadcast while recording another.

Meanwhile, the TiVo Series2 in the US (not available here) also has dual tuners but goes one step further: connect it to a home network and it can play MP3s and displays digital images just like a Media Center. It may not offer the functionality of a standard PC - but you don't have to keep a keyboard and mouse connected.

You can also buy televisions with built-in hard disks, DVD recorders with integrated Freeview tuners, hard disk recorders with EPGs and all manner of wireless receivers that can stream music across a home network from PC to stereo. The next generation of games consoles will likely blur the boundaries further. The Media Center PC may be the latest thing in convergent home entertainment but it's by no means the last word.

The DIY alternative
It isn't possible to buy Media Center software off the shelf and upgrade your PC. You can, however, clone Media Center functionality, more or less - but it's not for the faint-hearted.

On the hardware front, the minimum you will need is a TV tuner card with remote control. If your graphics card has a TV-out socket, you can use a TV as a display; if not, you'll have to get a gadget that converts the monitor port to a TV-out signal (ie S-video or composite video) but then you won't be able to use a monitor and television simultaneously. Other must-haves are a sound card, large hard disk and a DVD drive (preferably a writer).

Optional extras might include a hang-on-the-wall plasma TV, surround-sound speakers and a second TV tuner so you can watch one channel while recording another. On the software side, the best option is ShowShifter.

Like Media Center, this program ties together all the main home entertainment features in a modular interface that looks fine on the low-resolution display of a TV. You can teach most TV tuner remote controls to work with ShowShifter, and even make it to change channels on a set-top box (this requires a separate infrared transmitter). ShowShifter is yours for $60 or $75 (about £34 or £42), depending on whether you have a digital TV tuner.

To come close to Media Center convenience, however, you'll also want to install a ShowShifter-friendly EPG. Get either a subscription to DigiGuide for £9 per year, or a free bolt-on EPG called XMLTV (see the ShowShifter website for details).