Windows Media Center - Part 2

In my previous post about Windows Media Center (WMC), I shared some of its advantages. But it has more, and if you're not enjoying them, here are some things to consider:

It's better than Hulu
Hulu.com is great, and it's free, but it's not in high definition. If you have an HD tuner for your computer, everything you record can be in stunning HD. Hulu also forces you to watch commercials; WMC has a skip-ahead feature that works great to remove commercials.

It's better than Tivo
While it requires more tech savvy than Tivo (or some other video recorder), WMC has some distinct advantages:

• There is no subscription or any other fee; at $20/month, 5 years of Tivo costs $1,200
  
• You can burn DVDs of your favorite shows to save or share
• You can store a large library of shows to watch on your huge hard drive

You can add as much storage as you like to your computer by adding a second or even a third hard drive. Two terabyte hard drives, which can hold over 300 hours of HD broadcasts, can be had for around $100. Plus, any money you spend on your computer makes it a more powerful tool for many things while a high-capacity DVR can only do one thing. And with a DVD-burner, you can make a DVD that your aunt Matilda can watch on her DVD-player.

It's better than paying to watch shows on the internet
Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon all charge you to watch content that was once free over the air. And their image quality can't really compete with WMC. Of course, the trick is to set up WMC to record shows in advance. Then, you can watch them for free any time later. So, if you were born with the "planning" gene (or if you can learn), you can save money with WMC and have a superior experience.

What about buying a season of shows on DVD?
WMC is free. A season of shows on DVD costs around $30-$35. Now, while you do get extra features with the DVDs, you have to wait a year from the time the first episode airs before you can buy and watch them. And WMC can sort your recorded shows into series (sorting by title) then sort those series into episode order (sort by first air date). However, if you want a show that's only available on cable, you might avoid the cost of cable altogether by buying it on DVD.

Watching Windows Media Center in the living room
The biggest downside to WMC is that it is easier to watch on your computer (which is probably not in the living room and therefore less comfortable) than on your TV. But there are solutions for that problem:

• move your computer to the living room and connect it to your HDTV
• use your Xbox as a media extender
• use your Blu-ray player as a media extender
• add a large monitor and some easy chairs to your computer room

A media extender brings audio and video content from someplace else, such as your computer or the internet, to your TV. My Blu-ray player does this and it works fairly well. Adding a 22-inch (or larger) monitor to your PC (not to mention a decent chair) can really improve your computing experience and is well worth the expense.

Other features
The guide shows your current TV listings and listings up to 10 days in the future. It is searchable and you can easily record a single episode or a whole series. But what if you want to record something that isn't in the guide? You can add a search term to what you want to record, so that you can record everything with your favorite actor or your favorite sports team. If the network tends to run a little (or a lot) late, you can have WMC add minutes or hours to the end of the recording--so you never miss the end of the show. By adding a second tuner, you can record two shows at once on different channels, or watch one live while recording another (or even record two and watch a third recording).

Like most Microsoft products, this one is so loaded with features you may never discover them all. And if there's something else you need it to do, there is an army of developers out there with add-ons that probably do it.