What Media Center Is

NOTE

Media Center's hard disk recording is very similar to that found on TiVo and other popular personal video recorder (PVR) devices but without the monthly subscription fee.

In essence, Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) is a shell that runs on top of Windows XP. (You can easily switch back and forth between regular Windows XP and the Media Center shell.) This shell makes it easier to perform audio and video operations everything you need is right there, big and bold on the display screen.

What kind of operations are we talking about? Here's a short list:

• Watching television, cable, or satellite broadcasts

• Recording television programming on your PC's hard disk for future viewing

  NOTE

  The current version of Media Center is Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The 2005 version is a major improvement over previous versions; the interface is a lot less clunky, and most of the bugs have been worked out. If you're running an older version of MCE, contact your PC manufacturer about how to upgrade to MCE 2005.

  
  

• Watching DVD movies

• Listening to audio CDs

• Listening to digital audio files

• Storing your CD collection on hard disk, for digital playback

• Sending audio content from your PC to your home entertainment system

• Viewing digital photographs on your PC screen either singularly or in an automated slide show

Windows XP Media Center Edition lets you do all of these things via an easy-to-use, remote control-enabled interface. All the actual work is performed by the same Windows XP we all know and love, but the "pushbuttons" are provided by the new Media Center interface.