Vista Service Pack 1 fixes several items in Media Center. This Service Pack is more an incremental step in the evolution of Media Center and not the next leap in features. Besides a roll-up of hot fixes, SPI adds the following features:

• Adds support to enable new types of Windows Media Center Extenders, such as digital televisions and networked DVD players, to connect to Windows Media Center PCs.
• Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.

According to Microsoft’s release notes, here is a list of the over 20 items fixed by SP1:

• Fixes error message when you try to watch live TV in Windows Media Center on a Windows Vista-based computer: “Restricted Content - Display Driver”
• Windows Media Center does not correctly configure a combo TV tuner that supports both ATSC and NTSC signals on a Windows Vista-based computer
• You may not receive audio in the desired language when you use Windows Media Center to view television in Windows Vista
• On a Windows Vista-based computer, DVD movies that are contained in a Niveus Disc Changer are not displayed in Windows Media Center after you click “DVD library”
• You cannot hear the audio in Live TV or on a DVD in Windows Media Center after you wake a computer that is running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate
• When you play a Windows Media High Definition Video DVD in Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, the video may not be synchronized with the audio
• Error message when you configure the Media Center feature or when a scheduled program guide download occurs in Windows Vista: “Windows Media Center Store Update Manager stopped working”
• The screen may be black or the menu screen may be unresponsive in Windows Media Center in Windows Vista
• Error message when you start a Windows Vista-based computer: “Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed”
• The screen of an external monitor is black, or it appears to be broken when the monitor is connected to a Windows Vista-based portable computer that is running Windows Media Center in full-screen mode
• You lose channel listings for some channels and the recordings that you schedule cannot run when you configure Windows Media Center to use a digital TV tuner in Windows Vista
• Error message when you start a Windows Vista-based computer that has more than one TV tuners: “Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed”
• Windows Media Center stops responding when you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from hibernation
• When you watch Live TV or Recorded TV in Windows Media Center on a computer that is running Windows Vista, the picture may appear distorted or pixilated
• Error message when you use Windows Media Center to play music in Windows Vista: “Audio Error: An unknown audio error has occurred”
• When you use an integrated LCD screen to watch a video that uses a 50-Hz PAL signal, the video playback quality may be poor in Windows Media Center on a computer that is running Windows Vista
• When you try to watch live TV on the LA7 channel in Windows Media Center, you hear audio, but you do not see video on a computer that is running Windows Vista
• When you use Windows Media Center to play live TV or a DVD on a Windows Vista-based computer, you cannot hear the audio after you wake the computer from sleep
• The TV screen appears as solid green or as blocky pixels when you use Windows Media Center to watch HDTV content on a Windows Vista-based computer
• After you are prompted to upgrade the DRM components on a Windows Vista-based computer, Windows Media Center cannot perform a security upgrade
• The Manage Discs feature in Windows Media Center stops responding after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or hibernation

With four CableCard tuners, the Inteset server can distribute to up to 5 media center extenders with four Live TV streams and one pre-recorded stream.

At $300 a piece, 4 digital cable tuners will cost you about $1200. That is a steep mark-up for tuners. However, four tuners begin to make extenders more attractive. With time, the cost of tuners should decline. Right now, the Denzel server, with 4 DCTs and 4 TB of storage, is clearly a product for the high-end market.

With the recent news that Sony is selling standalone digital cable tuners, enthusiasts should be able to add quad support to cheaper solutions like HP’s DCT computer.

Extremetech has an article on how to turn your Xbox 360 into a media extender. As I have mentioned before, the Xbox 360 is the only version 2 media extender to work with Vista’s Media Center.

From the article:

Once you’ve configured the Xbox 360 and your PC, you can share almost any media on your computer right through the usually-superior speakers, video equipment, and other gear that comprises your entertainment system. It’s a great way to show photos to friends, watch digital video that you’ve uploaded from a camcorder, or listen to your favorite tunes. The 360 even ports over playlists from your PC, and you can create your own on the fly.

The article is a good step-by-step of how to setup the Xbox 360. Pretty basic stuff but worth reading nonetheless.

Microsoft has positioned the Xbox 360 as a media center extender for Vista. This means you can control your Vista PC through your Xbox 360, accessing your content wherever there is a 360. The Arcade has no hard drive, but that does not impact its functions as an extender. Most importantly, it still has a a HDMI port.

If you are looking to pair a 360 with your Vista Media Center, look no further than the Arcade.

Several companies announced this week upcoming releases of the second generation of media center Extenders. For $300, you can get an Extender that has a wireless Internet card and can play Divx files from your computer. While expensive, it is cheaper than an Xbox 360, especially if you need the wireless network connection.

Extenders make sense if you have a media center with four Digital Cable Tuners, which have also been recently announced but are only available through the custom install market. Currently, I pay $12.99 a month for my DVR receiver and DVR service through Cox cable. If I had two TVs with DVR receivers, I would pay almost $26 a month. Two Extenders would offer me the same functionality for only the rental price of 4 CableCards, which would cost just under $13 a month. I could save $12 a month by using Extenders or $144 a year. In two years, I pay for one Extender with that savings. Not too bad. The savings are even better if you have 2 Tivos and their monthly fees.

The real roadblock to Extenders is the cost of Media Centers with Digital Cable Tuners. To me, I am not interested in using Extenders unless I could watch HDTV through them. The custom install market looks to be the main consumer of these new Extenders, relegating this new hardware to the niche market. Hopefully that will change as media center computers fall in price.

The next generation of Extenders should be available before the end of the year. Extenders are any device that let you stream content from a Vista Media Center computer. If done right, Extenders could make a whole home system much easier.

With the impending release of the second generation fo Extenders, Microsoft has released an update for Vista Media Center. According to Microsoft:

Install this update to enable new types of Windows Media Center Extenders, such as digital televisions and networked DVD players, to connect to the Windows Media Center PC.

Via Chris Lanier’s Blog.

The most interesting feature of MediaSmart is that Divx and Xvid are finally supported by some type of extender. Take that X-Box 360. Some of the additional features include:

• Image files supported: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF and PNG
• Video files supported: MPEG, DivX, XVID, DVR-MS, WMV and AVI
• Music files supported: MP3, WMA, WMA Pro, AAC (unprotected) and more
• Crisp image with industry-leading 6ms response time
• Integrated a, b, g and 802.11n wireless networking
• Built-in wired Ethernet

It is hard to tell how much of a premium you are paying for the MediaSmart portion of the TV. With the upcoming release, of new Vista Media Center extenders, we will have to see if MediaSmart is a long term solution for HP. I would think most people who want the features a MediaSmart TV provides would also be interested in those new extenders, which by the way will also support Divx and XVid.

MediaSmart seems like a feature that is nice to have but won’t influence your decisionmaking when it comes time to buy that new TV.

Windows Media Center Extender Technology (or “MCX Technology”), code named “Pika,” is platform-independent software that will enable home network connected consumer electronics devices to deliver full, high-definition Media Center experiences. These experiences include live and recorded standard and HD TV, movies, photos, personal and premium music, and third-party applications and services designed for Media Center (with over 100 services now available worldwide).

Media center extenders in theory should provide a cheap alternative to stream your digital media from one room to another, without having to buy a full blown media center pc. The advantage for content producers is that the integrity of the digital rights management on your content is maintained. The Xbox 360 Elite, with a HDMI connection, integrates the best into your home theater system, though it costs almost $500.
CEPro.com indicated today that Microsoft may be waffling about the next generation of media centers. According to the article:

And still, not only are there no third-party extenders on the market, not a single company has even announced intentions to create such a thing (except for Monster Cable, which apparently jumped the gun). People in the Media Center geek circles are incredulous. Why all the secrecy? Where are the extenders?

Microsoft benefits the most right now by delaying third-party extenders. By making the Xbox 360 the only available extender, more people will obviously buy the 360, especially since it is the only way to stream CableCard content around your house. The technology has existed for over a year now, yet Microsoft is the only solution available. It is not too difficult to figure out what is really driving the delay.

It is not a coincidence that a Xbox with a HDMI-out was released about the same time as CableCARD-ready media centers became available to consumers. Users can now take advantage of keeping content completely digital while employing the Xbox as an extender of their Vista media center. This was not possible with the first generation of the Xbox 360, which only had an analog connection. In addition, the Xbox 360 is the only available extender for your CableCARD content until this holiday season, when more Media Center Extenders are scheduled to be released by third-party vendors.

The larger hard drive essentially lets you buy stuff from Microsoft, specifically the Xbox Live Marketplace, which offers a wide variety of video content from gaming and movie trailers to television programs and HD movie rentals. The whole point for the larger hard drive is for Microsoft to sell your movies and TV shows and have them stored on your Xbox. Microsoft is also pushing more digital content and is signing agreements with studios to release content via the Xbox Live Marketplace. From Missingremote.com:

Further capitalizing on the success it has seen with Xbox LIVE, one of the leading distributors of high-definition gaming and entertainment content in the living room, Paramount Pictures, for the first time on Xbox LIVE, will offer its feature films for download in high definition. Available titles will include “Braveheart,” “Team America: World Police,” “World Trade Center” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous with their availability on DVD, starting with “Sublime” and later “Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.”

This new Xbox is the next step for Microsoft’s bid to ingrain itself in your living room. If you are not interested in using the media capabilities of the Xbox 360, stick to one of the cheaper versions.