Screenshots of Media Center in Windows 8

I saw a post on The Green Button, showing some screenshots of Media Center in Windows 8 Build 7955 M3. This is the first time I have seen anything showing Media Center in Windows 8. There has been allot of discussion on the forums if Media Center would even be present at all?

Nothing looks to have changed with the UI yet, apart from the version number, but these pictures appear to confirm that at least Media Center is still present in this early Windows 8 build, which is good news.

If it will remain that way or if Media Center will gain any new features is yet unknown? Probably not until the first public beta release, likely to be available at the end of the year.

Stuart’s A/V install project–Part 6 The Final One?

Hello welcome to part 6 the final post on my A/V install project. Today I have some pictures of the finished Living Room and Children’s Bedroom.

I’ve still got a few odd jobs to finish, I need to install an additional network point behind my lazy boy chair for the laptop and get a new aerial installed on the roof and hooked up to Media Center.

Living Room:

Windows 7 HTPC + Sherwood AVR + Nintendo Wii

AMD / ATI based HTPC using an Antec Remote Micro Fusion case.

I didn’t have any money in my budget for an AVR and 5.1 surround sound speakers, I was going to use my Denon stereo amp and a pair of speakers in the living room and purchase an AVR + 5.1 speakers at a later date. However I saw a local advert on Gumtrree for a cheap old Sherwood RD-7106R AVR + Eltax 5.1 speaker set, so I bought them! The AVR only supports SPDIF Optical in so I am using that for audio pass-through from the HTPC and HDMI direct from the HTPC to the HDTV for video signal.

I’ve not got a sub woofer at the moment either but the sound is still decent enough when playing movies in DTS and Dolby Digital, no HD audio support obviously. I am using a Logitech remote control with RF extender as with the equipment in the cabinet and the position of it the IR does not work when sat in my chair. The Logitech RF works better than I expected.

Wiring behind the Alphason App1000-blk cabinet.

My chair with laptop table and a Logitech Harmony 895 which is an older remote but I have to say it is excellent. I had to install an additional power socket behind the chair so I could easily plug in the laptop and remote control charger base without having wires trailing across the room from else where.

Logitech Harmony 895 Universal Remote Control

Wall mounted rear surround speakers, due to the odd shape of my Living room this was the only place I could really mount the speakers, I am very happy with the way in which the speaker cable just appears out of the ceiling to connect to the speaker!

Rear of the Living room with the stairs

Front and centre speakers, I did have the front left / right speakers on Gale speaker stands but I haven’t really got the room, so I put them in the bay window instead to give us more floor space. The cables for the speakers come up from underneath the floor!

LG 42 inch LED HDTV – Yeah it was cheap and the picture on black / dark scenes bleeds white in areas, but for the money I spent I am happy with it. 1080P Blu-ray movies in Arcsoft Total Media Theatre 5 look awesome. I purchased this TV from http://www.1staudiovisual.co.uk as they had a good price and I know the owner of the company who lives in Thailand.

I am toying with the idea of a ceiling mounted projector and motorized projector screen to come down from the ceiling and cover the bay window, maybe later if I am feeling flush!

My Movies 4.01

My side lamps in the living room and also the lamps in the bedrooms are controlled with Z-Wave Home Automation plug-in modules and the excellent mControl Home Automation software from Embedded Automation. I can also recommend PowerController MCE for Z-Wave in Media Center

You may also notice an Amulet Voice activated Remote Control for Media Center from Amulet Devices.

Eltax Millennium 100 front speakers and a Eltax Silverstone Center speaker.

Windows 7 Music Library – Now Playing

mControl MCML Media Center add-in for controlling the Z-Wave lights (Two pictures down). I also use the mControl mobile webpage on my iPod Touch to control the lights.

I have also just purchased an Aeon Labs MiniMote which I have not received yet and its late in the post: take note http://zwave-products.co.uk/ so I can control the lights when the WHS and mControl are in S3 sleep mode.

Another cool feature I have just figured out how to setup is for the side lamps in the living room to auto dim down and brighten up when I start / stop and pause movie playback in Media Center / My Movies.

Children’s Bedroom:

Kind of happy with this room, I would like a larger TV and some better matching Denon speakers but the kids are more than happy with their new TV setup.

Linksys DMA 2100 Media Center Extender and a Denon UD-M31 stereo amp

My Movies TV Series Library – Blue’s Clues

TunerFree MCE add-in – Cbeebies

Well sadly that’s it for part 6, I hope you have enjoyed reading this series of blog posts, its certainly different as you don’t see many posts on this kind of installation topic. I was thinking about maybe doing a part 7 showing my Media Center User Interface and all the add-ins I am currently using? I might do it if there is some interest so leave your comments and feedback below.

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Windows Experts Community or the new Green Button forum website???

I’ve been sitting on the fence with regards to what Microsoft have done to our beloved The Green Button forums. Initially before the upgrade happened I was up-beat and optimistic about the planned change, however now its happened and we now have the resulting Windows Experts Community site, my enthusiasm is dwindling some what. They haven’t even given us a Green Button banner or logo as a token of who and what this community was. Now we have yet another bland Microsoft forum site that is still difficult to navigate.

Well there maybe hope if you are feeling a little lost and home sick? A new forum site has been created by some of the members off the old TGB at www.thegreenbutton.tv if you go and take a look it’s pretty much just like the original TGB site as far as layout and feel is concerned.

I contacted the software developer of My Channel Logos regarding a separate matter and was invited to join the new www.thegreenbutton.tv site, others had also mentioned it to me as well. The contact at My Channel Logos turned out to be one of the creators of the new www.thegreenbutton.tv forum site, makryger. Also the other admins and moderators are names you will have probably noticed on the original Green Button site: holidayboy, stonethecrows and StumpyBloke.

Well I’ve signed up and joined, there are currently only 150 members but it does feel like the old Green Button already, if not a little quieter. I’m not sure if I will stick around or not? Not sure what to do to be honest.

I’d like to know your thoughts on the subject and how you feel about what Microsoft have done with the original www.thegreenbutton.com forums and if you might be tempted to join www.thegreenbutton.tv ?

Stuart’s A/V install project–Part 5

Hello and welcome to part 5 of my A/V install project, I’ve got some new photos to show today, of the finished master bedroom and the installation in the children’s bedroom. Also the install speakers in the kitchen and the Windows Home Server plus network kit in the cupboard.

Master Bedroom Completed

Cables and connectors behind the bedroom chest of drawers

View as you walk into the master bedroom

37 Inch Samsung LCD TV, Cambridge Audio Azur 350A Amp, XBOX 360 Slim.

XBOX 360 Media Center Extender – My Movies 4

Children’s Bedroom – Install

This room was really an after thought, I didn’t plan initially to do anything in this room, however I decided to wall mount the little 19” Samsung LCD TV I brought back with me from Bangkok and buy a Linksys DMA 2100 Media Center Extender for the children.

This meant I had to purchase additional AV wall plates for this room and a TV bracket. As the TV is so small I had to position the AV brush face plate, network points and electric socket closer together so they would all still be hidden behind the TV. At a later date when money allows I plan to put in a larger 26” TV in this room.

As there was going to be less cables in the wall channel in this room, I used smaller trunking, 50mm x 25mm in the other rooms I used wider 100mm trunking in the walls.

I had to lift the floorboards in order to run the CAT5e network cable in to the room from the cupboard under the stairs, I also ran one Coax cable from the back of the TV, down the channel, under the floor and up in to the loft via the airing cupboard that is in this room.

Wall plastering

Just four AV wall plates at the bottom of the wall: HDMI, Component, Composite and 2X CAT5e in a single face plate.

I broke and snapped the skirting boards taking them off, they were well mounted with lots of nails, I had to buy new skirting boards and fit them for the finish.

That’s me, at that point - thinking I’ve still got allot of work ahead!

Not sure about the Green but hey I didn’t pick it. It actually looks OK now the room is finished just the one wall in dark green and the other 3 in a much lighter green colour. Here you can see the wall plates connected and terminated etc.

Cheap TV bracket bought on impulse from Asda, its not great but does the job for a tenner.

TV mounted - as the TV is so small it didn’t look right at the height I was going to mount it at, about 1.5 metres up from the skirting board, so I pushed it up the wall higher still, but the bracket doesn’t tilt down as much as I wanted now all the connectors are connected at the back, I may change the bracket if we get a larger TV for the children’s room.

I bought this TV in Bangkok and it only supports analogue channels 1-5, it does not pickup digital Freeview which I thought it might have.

Don’t paint your walls to soon after plastering, I rushed one wall in my bedroom as the carpet fitters were coming the next day and bits of plaster were coming off in the paint roller. You need to wait a good 3 days to be on the safe side.

Cupboard under the stairs

Here you can see my home made 6TB Windows Home Server in the cupboard under the stairs. I need to tidy the cables up, as I just threw everything in to get the network up and running, I had a 37Mbps BT Infinity fibre Internet connection installed at the beginning of the week as well! The BT Home Hub3 and the new VDSL modem are now located in here but you can’t see them on these photos.

The BT engineer was very good, he fitted a new larger BT master socket in the living room where the telephone is located and even used my existing CAT5e network cable I had put in place, from the master socket that then went under the living room floor and into the cupboard under the stairs, to extend - so I could have the new VDSL modem in the cupboard with the rest of the network kit and not in the living room on display.

Currently I am just using a small 8 Port HP ProCurve Gigabit switch which you can see sat on the PC. The Linksys ADSL router you can see has been replaced with the new BT kit.

Cambridge Audio A1 MK3 Amp is also located in the same cupboard and drives the wall mounted speakers in the kitchen via the audio out of the WHS PC. I am using Squeezebox Server software installed on the WHS and the iPeng iOS app on my iPod Touch to select and play the music. I have also installed SqueezeSlave on my Windows 7 Media Center PC in the living room and use the SqueezePlay built in to iPeng on another iPod Touch in the masterbed room. This gives me a 3 zone audio setup that can play different music in each room or the same music in all rooms playing in sync. Although sometimes its not always exactly in sync I need to tweak the settings in Squeezebox Server. Ideally I’d like to purchase some hardware Squeezebox players.

Speaker binding posts positioned underneath the amp and connect to the kitchen speakers. BT data socket for VDSL modem located to the left and 24 port patch panel below.

Eon Intelliplug to turn on the Cambridge Audio amp when the WHS wakes from S3 sleep

New Cambridge Audio Pro NFM10 install speakers, I bought for my kitchen. I don’t think you can buy this particular model anymore, these were a pair of new old stock I bought cheap off eBay. These speakers sound totally amazing with the Cambridge Audio A1 MK3 Amplifier and fill the kitchen and outside patio / decking area in the back garden.

Kitchen

NFM10 speakers mounted above kitchen cabinets, this was much easier than trying to install ceiling speakers in here.

Well that’s it for part 5, I think part 6 will be the last one. I have some more photos of the children’s bedroom and living room that are now finished and completed.