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More info on Microsoft Internet TV
So here you go: It's an interface for interacting with media on your PC from 10 feet away. And it's built into Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. It's also included in Windows XP Media Center Edition.
The reason a lot of people don't know they already have Media Center is because while it's built into the software, they don't have the hardware to connect their PC to a television. Or if they do, they don't have the hardware to watch and record live TV using their PC. For the record, you can perform these tasks with a video-out graphics card, a media center extender, and a TV tuner card. Prices for these different devices range from $30 to $500.
But the nice thing about the new Internet TV service is that you don't need a TV tuner. You don't even to download legal or illegal videos from the web. Basically, the service is a user-friendly interface for watching video without a web browser.
The service launches in public beta tomorrow, meaning if you've got an internet connected PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, you'll probably wake up with a new "Internet TV" option in your Media Center interface. When we first read the press release this morning we were impressed to find that the service will include content like music concerts, news and sports clips and even TV shows including Arrested Development. And then we realized that this is all content you can already access for free from MSN Video.
In other words, there's absolutely no new content here. The only thing that's new is that it's accessible from within the Media Center interface. There are movie trailers, but no movies. But since this is a beta, we're hoping that Microsoft is just showing off the interface and working behind the scenes to sign up more content partners. The service will be advertising supported, so if Microsoft is willing to split the revenue with TV networks, we don't see why networks that are already putting many of their shows online for free wouldn't be willing to make the available through Microsoft's service.
Comments
8
Subscribe to commentsMikeSep 27th 2007 7:20PM
Isn't this the exact same thing as whats under "More TV" and "Online Spotlight" in the Media Center Menu. From there I can watch TV shows and movies too.
Brad LinderSep 27th 2007 7:24PM
Mike: What you see under online spotlight and "more tv" is content from third parties. It's sort of a mish-mosh of content, you have go through a series of menus to find what you're looking for, and VH1's menu system doesn't look the same as Showtime's, which doesn't look like Reuters'.
The Internet TV content so far is all from MSN Video. That means Microsoft has control over how it shows up on your media center, and in this case, that's a good thing. Essentially, you'll be able to browse TV shows, movie trailers, and other online content as if it were just more video stored on your PC. I'm just hoping that eventually Microsoft branches out and adds content that's not currently available on MSN Video, like the TV shows you can already access through "more TV" like The Daily Show, Colbert Report, or various VH1 programs.
MikeSep 27th 2007 9:24PM
I understand now. Everything is going to be uniform in this area which now that I think about it would be really nice. Trying to learn all of the different menus for the "Online Spotlight" is a pain and that's if it will even work. I'm looking forward to seeing this in action now. Thanks for the insight. At this rate I think I just might cancel my cable, the only problem would be what do I do with my pc that has cable cards in it.
alanwSep 28th 2007 8:54AM
Unfortunately, this great new service is only available to users in the US. Not a surprise, really, since MS invested a lot in advertising Media Center here in Spain but absolutely nothing on the actual product - no usable TV guide, no online spotlight, and now a raised middle finger when you select the new "Internet TV" icon.
zkamSep 29th 2007 9:19AM
Where's the love for XP MCE 2005 users?
GehxSep 29th 2007 9:26PM
I loaded up Media Center on my Windows Vista Home Premium machine, but I see nothing about Internet TV...where is it (yes, I'm in the USA)
tgdailyOct 26th 2007 7:56AM
On my Vista Ultimate machine its under "TV & Movies" and its between Movies Guide and Play DVD.
Make sure you have all the latest and greatest patches from Windows Update.
tgdailyOct 26th 2007 7:57AM
Oh and I think calling this "Internet TV" is a load of BS. This is more like Internet Media.
I am currently trying out AT&T's new FIOS-like service called UVerse and was very surprised to find the Motorola Set Top Boxes and DVR they use are running Windows CE with some kind of Vista-like Media Center app on them.
Its sad to see that Motorola and Microsoft can produce a machine that can watch and record 4 Digital TV Streams (1 HD and 3 SD or 4 SD) as well as play back the same stream at 1080i/720p and 5.1 surround using a 500Mhz Processor and Windows CE v5, while people running Vista Ultimate on $2000 PCs get this so called "Internet TV" which is laden with Ads and crap MSN decided you should watch. And the Internet TV still hiccups and pauses with buffer issues even on a 6mpbs line.
Start making home Routers Multicast aware and do away with traditional broadcast based TV. You can do almost all of this over the interweb now. Just ask AT&T.