Windows Media Center
Encyclopedia
Windows Media Center is a digital video recorder
and media player developed by Microsoft
. It is an application
that allows users to view and record live television, as well as organize and play music and videos. The application is included in various versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition
, Windows Vista
Home Premium and Ultimate and all editions
of Windows 7 except for Starter and Home Basic.
Media Center can play slideshows
, videos and music from local hard drives, optical drives and network
locations. Users can stream television program
s and film
s through selected services such as Netflix
. Content can be played back on computer monitors or on television set
s through the use of devices called Windows Media Center Extender
s.
It is possible to watch and pause live TV with support for up to four TV tuners or two dual-tuner cards (a maximum of two tuners outside of the United States
). These TV tuner cards can support TV broadcasts in Standard Definition as well as high definition video through DVB-T
and ATSC
standards. These standards are unencrypted broadcast television. It is possible to view encrypted private network television stations that are not broadcast over the air with internal and external tuner options that support the insertion of a CableCard
provided by the Cable TV company. Many brands of tuner cards allow connection of traditional TV antennas to the RF
connector on a PCI or PCIe expansion card that is installed within the PC with Windows Media Center functionality.
called Windows XP Media Center Edition
. A new version of Windows Media Center was included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions
. The user interface
was redesigned and tailored for the 16:9
aspect ratio
. Support for multiple tuners was added in later releases and varies depending upon the version of the operating system purchased. Also introduced to U.S. users was Internet TV, which allows access to streaming content through the Media Center interface.
Microsoft later updated Windows Vista Media Center with a feature pack known as TV Pack 2008. This release, which was previously codenamed "Fiji" was only made available via OEMs
for new computers that came preinstalled with the update. It is not available as an update for existing Windows Vista Media Center users. The update tweaked the user interface, replaced the .dvr-ms filetype with .wtv files, added support for digital subchannels, QAM, as well as increased the total number of each type of tuner allowed, added DVB-S
and MHEG. In the beta there was support for H.264
(which allows for DirecTV) streams, however that feature was removed from the release version.
Much of the functionality added with TV Pack 2008 was included with the version of Media Center included in Windows 7, along with an update to the user interface.
to play back and record TV
shows from standard antenna, cable or satellite signals. Users can record television programs manually or schedule recording via the electronic program guide
. Recordings can be burned to Video DVD or, barring copy restrictions, be transferred to a portable media player
. Media Center supports both analog and digital tuners and allows up to 4 of each tuner type [Analog, Digital OTA, Clear QAM, Cable Card] for a possible total of 16 TV tuners to be configured. All the tuners use the same guide data but it can be edited and configured to include additional channels such as Clear QAM not found or included in most Titan Guides. While watching live television, the program keeps a buffer that allows users to rewind or pause live TV, allowing users to skip commercials
. (A third party program MCEbuddy allows automatic commercial skipping on recorded programs.)
Media Center can stream live and pre-recorded television to Windows Media Center Extender
s such as the Xbox 360
console, but other Windows computers can just access recorded, not live content. Playback of content on television is possible through Media Center Extenders or by directly connecting a computer running Windows Media Center to a television. The menus of Windows Media Center are displayed in a 10-foot user interface
suitable for viewing on large screen televisions and can be navigated using various remote control
s. Windows Media Center PCs require a sensor to be able to interact with the remote control. The sensor must have Windows Plug and Play device driver
s. To advertise Media Center support, remote controls must also have certain buttons such as the Green Media Center logo Start button and buttons for navigation, playback and volume controls, power and channel flipping.
s. Analog FM radio
support is also available if the user's TV tuner supports it.
Media Center allows users to browse pictures and play them in slideshows, as well as play video files. Media can be categorized by name, date, tags
, and other file attributes. In addition, users can organize and play film
s through the "Movie Library" feature introduced in Windows Vista Media Center. Through the "Internet TV" feature, users can also stream television and web shows from select content providers.
. Windows 7 Media Center supports adding CableCard to existing hardware, provided the hardware meets certain requirements. Shortly after the release of Windows 7, Microsoft released the Digital Cable Advisor tool to verify that the requirements are met before activating CableCard support.
Pocket PC
s, smartphone
s, Portable Media Center
s and other players that can sync with Windows Media Player
. Microsoft's Zune
cannot use the sync function, but can play Media Center recorder TV files when they are copied to a Zune monitored folder.
While synchronizing television shows, Windows Media Center encodes the shows using Windows Media Encoder
to a Windows Media Video
format at a lower quality than the original format used for viewing on the desktop media center. This is to complement the limited storage space and processing power of such portable devices. Optionally, music can also be re-encoded to a smaller file size upon synchronization.
. The functionality of Windows Media Center can be extended by three different types of applications:
Windows Media Center Presentation Layer Applications: These are managed
applications written using the WMC API and packaged as .NET assemblies
. Presentation Layer applications can have full access to both the .NET Framework
as well as the Windows Media Center API, with the latter exposing a managed
object model
to access and manipulate the current states of the media management and playback, live television, video recording as well as the presentation capabilities of Windows Media Center. Presentation Layer applications are rendered using the bitmap
-based Windows Media Center Presentation Layer, the user-input and presentation system of WMC. Presentation Layer includes support for animations, dynamic layout, keyboard/mouse as well remote navigation. Presentation Layer applications can be streamed over RDP
to Windows Media Center Extenders; so Presentation Layer applications run on the extenders without any modification. Presentation Layer, however, exists only in the Windows Vista version of WMC.
XAML
Browser Application: WMC can also act as host for XAML
Browser Applications (XBAPs), which are rendered in the WMC UI itself. XBAPs are rendered using the vector
-based resolution-independent Windows Presentation Foundation
component of .NET Framework 3.0. XAML
Browser Applications have their UI written in XAML
with code behind in any .NET language. XBAPs are also limited to Windows Vista. WMC provides limited support for streaming XBAPs to Windows Media Center Extenders. XBAPs have been declared deprecated in Windows Media Center SDK version 5.3.
Hosted HTML Applications: WMC can host Internet Explorer
within its own UI (using WMC UI widgets) and can display web pages and web applications. This feature is supported in both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Web applications written specifically for being hosted in WMC can use a subset of the WMC API which is exposed via JavaScript
. HTML applications are also not fully supported for streaming to extenders.
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
and media player developed by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It is an application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
that allows users to view and record live television, as well as organize and play music and videos. The application is included in various versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of the Windows XP operating system designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released in October 2004.-Versions:...
, Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
Home Premium and Ultimate and all editions
Windows 7 editions
Windows 7 is available in six different editions, but only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate are widely available at retail. The other editions focus on other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use. All editions support IA-32 CPUs and all editions except Starter support the...
of Windows 7 except for Starter and Home Basic.
Media Center can play slideshows
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
, videos and music from local hard drives, optical drives and network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
locations. Users can stream television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s through selected services such as Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
. Content can be played back on computer monitors or on television set
Television set
A television set is a device that combines a tuner, display, and speakers for the purpose of viewing television. Television sets became a popular consumer product after the Second World War, using vacuum tubes and cathode ray tube displays...
s through the use of devices called Windows Media Center Extender
Windows Media Center Extender
Windows Media Center Extenders are devices that are configured to connect via a Network link to a computer running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium/Ultimate or Windows 7 Home Premium or higher to stream the computer's media center functions to the Extender device...
s.
It is possible to watch and pause live TV with support for up to four TV tuners or two dual-tuner cards (a maximum of two tuners outside of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). These TV tuner cards can support TV broadcasts in Standard Definition as well as high definition video through DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...
and ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
standards. These standards are unencrypted broadcast television. It is possible to view encrypted private network television stations that are not broadcast over the air with internal and external tuner options that support the insertion of a CableCard
CableCARD
CableCARD is a special-use PCMCIA card that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets without the use of other equipment such as a set top box provided by a cable television company...
provided by the Cable TV company. Many brands of tuner cards allow connection of traditional TV antennas to the RF
RF
-Science and technology:* Radiative forcing, a measure of the change in balance of the energy absorbed and emitted by the Earth's atmosphere* "Rate of flow", as in Volumetric flow rate* Radio frequency...
connector on a PCI or PCIe expansion card that is installed within the PC with Windows Media Center functionality.
History
Originally codenamed "Freestyle" during development, Windows Media Center was first included with a special edition of Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
called Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of the Windows XP operating system designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released in October 2004.-Versions:...
. A new version of Windows Media Center was included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions
Windows Vista editions
Windows Vista is available in six different marketing editions. With the exception of Windows Vista Starter, all editions support both 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures....
. The user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
was redesigned and tailored for the 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
aspect ratio
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
. Support for multiple tuners was added in later releases and varies depending upon the version of the operating system purchased. Also introduced to U.S. users was Internet TV, which allows access to streaming content through the Media Center interface.
Microsoft later updated Windows Vista Media Center with a feature pack known as TV Pack 2008. This release, which was previously codenamed "Fiji" was only made available via OEMs
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
for new computers that came preinstalled with the update. It is not available as an update for existing Windows Vista Media Center users. The update tweaked the user interface, replaced the .dvr-ms filetype with .wtv files, added support for digital subchannels, QAM, as well as increased the total number of each type of tuner allowed, added DVB-S
DVB-S
DVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
and MHEG. In the beta there was support for H.264
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
(which allows for DirecTV) streams, however that feature was removed from the release version.
Much of the functionality added with TV Pack 2008 was included with the version of Media Center included in Windows 7, along with an update to the user interface.
Features
Media Center uses TV tuner devicesTV tuner card
A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for...
to play back and record TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
shows from standard antenna, cable or satellite signals. Users can record television programs manually or schedule recording via the electronic program guide
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
. Recordings can be burned to Video DVD or, barring copy restrictions, be transferred to a portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
. Media Center supports both analog and digital tuners and allows up to 4 of each tuner type [Analog, Digital OTA, Clear QAM, Cable Card] for a possible total of 16 TV tuners to be configured. All the tuners use the same guide data but it can be edited and configured to include additional channels such as Clear QAM not found or included in most Titan Guides. While watching live television, the program keeps a buffer that allows users to rewind or pause live TV, allowing users to skip commercials
Commercial skipping
Commercial skipping is an advanced feature in some digital video recorders that makes it possible to automatically skip commercials in recorded programs...
. (A third party program MCEbuddy allows automatic commercial skipping on recorded programs.)
Media Center can stream live and pre-recorded television to Windows Media Center Extender
Windows Media Center Extender
Windows Media Center Extenders are devices that are configured to connect via a Network link to a computer running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium/Ultimate or Windows 7 Home Premium or higher to stream the computer's media center functions to the Extender device...
s such as the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console, but other Windows computers can just access recorded, not live content. Playback of content on television is possible through Media Center Extenders or by directly connecting a computer running Windows Media Center to a television. The menus of Windows Media Center are displayed in a 10-foot user interface
10-foot user interface
In computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...
suitable for viewing on large screen televisions and can be navigated using various remote control
Remote control
A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
s. Windows Media Center PCs require a sensor to be able to interact with the remote control. The sensor must have Windows Plug and Play device driver
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
s. To advertise Media Center support, remote controls must also have certain buttons such as the Green Media Center logo Start button and buttons for navigation, playback and volume controls, power and channel flipping.
Media file support
Windows Media Center organizes and displays videos and music found on both local and networked computers. Music albums are arranged with accompanying album art that can be downloaded off the Internet automatically or added manually into Media Center. Users can create playlists of different songs or albums as well. While playing music, the user can pause and fast forward songs and view visualizationVisualization
The term visualization or visualisation may refer to:* Creative visualization* Flow visualization* Geovisualization* Illustration* Information graphics, visual representations of information, data, or knowledge* Information visualization...
s. Analog FM radio
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
support is also available if the user's TV tuner supports it.
Media Center allows users to browse pictures and play them in slideshows, as well as play video files. Media can be categorized by name, date, tags
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
, and other file attributes. In addition, users can organize and play film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s through the "Movie Library" feature introduced in Windows Vista Media Center. Through the "Internet TV" feature, users can also stream television and web shows from select content providers.
CableCard support
Windows Vista Media Center introduced support for CableCard devices. However, CableCard was only supported on OEM hardware that had been certified by CableLabsCableLabs
Founded in 1988 by cable television operating companies, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. is a not-for-profit research and development consortium that has cable operators as its members. System operators from around the world are eligible to be members. Members dues are based on revenue...
. Windows 7 Media Center supports adding CableCard to existing hardware, provided the hardware meets certain requirements. Shortly after the release of Windows 7, Microsoft released the Digital Cable Advisor tool to verify that the requirements are met before activating CableCard support.
Portable devices
Windows Media Center allows synchonization with certain portable devices. These devices include Windows MobileWindows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
s, smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s, Portable Media Center
Portable Media Center
Portable Media Center is a defunct hard drive-based portable media player platform developed by Microsoft. Announced at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show , and released in early 2004, it was originally positioned as a competitor to Apple's iPod.The platform was conceived in line with Microsoft's...
s and other players that can sync with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
. Microsoft's Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
cannot use the sync function, but can play Media Center recorder TV files when they are copied to a Zune monitored folder.
While synchronizing television shows, Windows Media Center encodes the shows using Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Encoder is a freely downloadable trial version media encoder developed by Microsoft which enables content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and on-demand delivery. It is the successor...
to a Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
format at a lower quality than the original format used for viewing on the desktop media center. This is to complement the limited storage space and processing power of such portable devices. Optionally, music can also be re-encoded to a smaller file size upon synchronization.
Application development
Windows Media Center was designed as a programmable platform; other programs can tie into the Media Center UI using the WMC API, which is provided as a managed APIManaged code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. The functionality of Windows Media Center can be extended by three different types of applications:
Windows Media Center Presentation Layer Applications: These are managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
applications written using the WMC API and packaged as .NET assemblies
.NET assembly
In the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
. Presentation Layer applications can have full access to both the .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
as well as the Windows Media Center API, with the latter exposing a managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
object model
Object model
In computing, object model has two related but distinct meanings:# The properties of objects in general in a specific computer programming language, technology, notation or methodology that uses them. For example, the Java objects model, the COM object model, or the object model of OMT...
to access and manipulate the current states of the media management and playback, live television, video recording as well as the presentation capabilities of Windows Media Center. Presentation Layer applications are rendered using the bitmap
Bitmap
In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to...
-based Windows Media Center Presentation Layer, the user-input and presentation system of WMC. Presentation Layer includes support for animations, dynamic layout, keyboard/mouse as well remote navigation. Presentation Layer applications can be streamed over RDP
Remote Desktop Protocol
Remote Desktop Protocol is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft, which provides a user with a graphical interface to another computer. The protocol is an extension of the ITU-T T.128 application sharing protocol. Clients exist for most versions of Microsoft Windows , Linux, Unix, Mac OS...
to Windows Media Center Extenders; so Presentation Layer applications run on the extenders without any modification. Presentation Layer, however, exists only in the Windows Vista version of WMC.
- Presentation Layer applications are created using an XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
based declarative markup languageMarkup languageA markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...
, known as Media Center Markup Language (MCML). MCML is used to define the user interface, with animation, text input, navigation, data binding, and local storage support available from the markup itself. If custom code or other functionality is required to implement a certain feature, .NET assemblies.NET assemblyIn the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
can be referred. Any .NET language can be used to write the code-behind assemblies that implement the required functionality. An MCML document defines the interface as a collection ofUIelements, each exposing four attributes:Contentwhich defines what that UI element will display,Propertiesto control the presentation aspects of the element,Localswhich enumerate the set of private state data for the element, andRuleswhich allow the attributes to be modified based on certain triggers. By modifying these attributes at runtime, either from markup or code behind classes, the interface is generated.
- Presentation Layer applications can either be locally installed, or downloaded from the web as necessary. However, in the latter case, the code is untrusted; only the .NET classes that are marked as safe for use by Internet-originating code can be used. Before an application can be used, it has to be registered with Windows Media Center. An application can either register itself as a top-level menu item, in any of the sub-menus (depending on the type of application), as an autoplay handler, into the Program Library (the menu category for all programs), or as a background application without a user interface running as long as a WMC session continues.
XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
Browser Application: WMC can also act as host for XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
Browser Applications (XBAPs), which are rendered in the WMC UI itself. XBAPs are rendered using the vector
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
-based resolution-independent Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
component of .NET Framework 3.0. XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
Browser Applications have their UI written in XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
with code behind in any .NET language. XBAPs are also limited to Windows Vista. WMC provides limited support for streaming XBAPs to Windows Media Center Extenders. XBAPs have been declared deprecated in Windows Media Center SDK version 5.3.
Hosted HTML Applications: WMC can host Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
within its own UI (using WMC UI widgets) and can display web pages and web applications. This feature is supported in both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Web applications written specifically for being hosted in WMC can use a subset of the WMC API which is exposed via JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. HTML applications are also not fully supported for streaming to extenders.
See also
- XBMC
- MediaPortalMediaPortalMediaPortal is an open-source media center software project, often considered an alternative to Windows Media Center. It provides a 10-foot user interface for performing typical PVR/TiVo functionality, including playing, pausing, and recording live TV; playing DVDs, videos, and music; viewing...
- Comparison of PVR software packagesComparison of PVR software packagesThe following is a comparison guide for popular DVR software packages.-General information:Basic general information for popular DVR software packages....
- Home theater PCHome theater PCA Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
- Microsoft MediaroomMicrosoft MediaroomMicrosoft Mediaroom is the latest update of the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform software, which is the Smart TV platform from Microsoft that is intended for interactive television use to access on-demand, live television programming, and applications via a 10-foot user interface...
- Personal video recorder
- 10-foot user interface10-foot user interfaceIn computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...