Once upon a time if you wanted to (legally) download Hollywood movies or TV shows, you turned to sites like MovieLink and CinemaNow. With all the attention focused on Apple, Amazon, Joost, and Netflix these days, we kind of forgot that these companies still existed. And then we got a friendly email from CinemaNow letting us know that starting today you could access the service through Windows Media Center, which is actually kind of awesome.
You'll need to register for a CinemaNow account to use the service. And of course, you'll need Windows Media Center, which is built into Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. You should be able to find the CinemaNow icon in the More TV section. If you don't see it, go into your Media Center settings and force your computer to download updates.
CinemaNow is actually kind of late to the game here. MovieLink and Vongo have had Windows MCE applications for ages. But with CinemaNow making its 3400 feature length films, 3000 TV episodes, and 2900 music videos available, we're going to say better late than never. Now if only Amazon, Apple, and Netflix would release Widnows MCE applications.
Update: As we've been reminded, this is not the first time you've been able to access CinemaNow from Windows Media Center. The company released a plugin for earlier versions of MCE which you could download and install in order to watch movies using the media center "10 foot interface." To our knowledge, this is the first time CinemaNow has been available to all Windows Vista MCE users without a separate download though.
Microsoft may have added "Internet TV" to Vista Media Center last year, but all you get right now are selected clips from MSN Video. If you want to watch YouTube, MSN Soapbox, and DailyMotion videos on your Windows Media Center system, you might want to check out Yougle, a third party plugin for Vista Media Center.
Yougle lets you search the sites we mentioned, plus Flickr, Yahoo! Music, and several other online audio, video, and image sources. The latest beta version of Yougle includes a number of improvements to the program interface, better parental controls, and an option to enable adult content.
Facebook raised some controversy over plans to broadcast users personal information like movie ticket purchases and travel arrangements. But the truth is that many Facebook users are perfectly happy to let the world know what they're up to through frequent status updates. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like to go to work, sleep, or the bathroom without changing your Facebook status, we've got a Windows Media Vista Center plugin that could save you a few seconds of typing time every day.
Developer Jussi Palo has put together a little Facebook application that will automatically update your Facebook status to reflect what you're watching with Windows Vista Media Center. If you're watching a live or recorded television program, your Facebook status will include the program name. If you're listening to a song, the artist and song title will show up. And if you're watching a DVD or movie, well, you get the idea.
In order to run install the Facebook Media Center plugin you'll need to download an executable file to your Windows Vista machine, run the installer, and reboot your system. Then you need to login to Facebook. Everything else happens in the background. Unfortunately your login information won't be remembered, so you may have to login to Facebook every time you restart your PC.
If you have Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate editions, you've got Windows Media Center. The software makes it easier to watch movies, listen to music, access online media, or even watch and record live TV (if your PC has a TV tuner) without holding your nose six inches from your computer display. In fact, Windows Media Center works best when your PC is plugged into your television set, not a traditional monitor.
But what if you didn't buy your computer to use in the living room, but would would still like to take advantage of the so-called "10 foot interface?" You could go out and buy a media center remote control. But if you've got a laptop PC or Windows Mobile PDA and a home network, there's really no need.
Home Theater PC makers Niveus have released two applications that let you control your media center PC from the comfort or your couch. The company's Pocket Remote software runs on Windows Mobile devices and lets you use a virtual on-screen remote control to access any Vista machine on your home network. You can play music, videos, DVDs, or anything else this way. If you don't like the virtual remote, you can also browse, search, and control playback of your music library directly from your phone or PDA. The Pocket Remote software is free while in beta, but will only work for 10 days.
Developer Lauri Taimila is working on an intriguing new Linux media center application called Entertainer that right now looks a lot like Apple's Front row but could eventually take on MythTV and Windows Media Center.
Right now there are two major limitations to Entertainer:
It does not support recording television programs
It's not actually available for download yet.
The second problem will probably be tackled before the first, which is why Entertainer is a bit more comparable to Front Row than Windows Media Center. The application presents an attractive interface for accessing downloaded movies, TV shows, music, images, and RSS feeds. But if the preview video above is anything to go by, once TV support is added, Entertainer could give full-featured Linux media center application MythTV a run for its money.
Entertainer uses large fonts and would probably look good on a TV screen assuming you've got a PC plugged into yours. The software is designed to work on Linux computers running the Gnome or Xfce desktop environments.
While Windows Vista may have been PC World's biggest disappointment of 2007, but it does have a few nice features. It's pretty to look at, and Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate both pack Windows Media Center, an awesome interface for accessing your movies, music, and other media in full-screen mode, preferably while sitting on your couch 10 feet away from your TV/monitor.
But if that's not a good enough reason for you to "upgrade" to Windows Vista, there are plenty of other applications out there that let you turn your PC into a media center, including commercial applications like BeyondTV and SageTV and free software like GB-PVR and Media Portal.
Media Portal isn't just free, it's open source. But it hasn't always been the easiest application to install and configure. So the developers behind Media Portal have released the first preview of Media Portal II. Right now Media Portal II actually has fewer features than its predecessor. For example, while you can enjoy music, movies, and pictures, there's no way to watch or record live TV using Media Portal II.
But the program uses a new framework that will make it much easier for developers to issue updates. Members of the Media Portal community should also have an easier time writing plugins and skins for the application, so we're hoping to see big things from Media Portal over the next few months.
TiVo, the company that has become pretty much synonymous with the idea of the digital video recorder plans to create a PC version of the software it uses on set top boxes.
The company is partnering with Nero to develop the software. Up until recently, TiVo's Linux-based software was designed to run only on TiVo-branded boxes. But over the past year TiVo has been partnering with cable companies like Cox and Comcast to develop software for those companies' set top boxes. Once the software was portable, perhaps it was only a matter of time before we saw standalone software.
There's no word yet on pricing or availability, so we're not ready to say whether desktop TiVo software will kill competitors like BeyondTV, SageTV, or Windows Media Center. Part of the appeal of these applications has always been that after you initially pay for the software, you get free program guide updates, while TiVo charges you a monthly subscription fee on top of the money you pay for the hardware.
Microsoft is rolling out the public beta of Internet TV for Windows Vista Media Center tomorrow. If you've got a machine running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, a new option should pop up inside of your media center interface, cleverly titled "Internet TV."
At launch, there will be 100 hours of programming available from MSN Video. The service is free, but ad-supported, meaning you'll have to put up with some 15 and 30 second spots here and there. YuMe is responsible for the ad.
But is there anything you'll want to watch? Here's some of the content available:
Full length episodes of TV shows including Arrested Development
Full length concerts by artists including Chris Cornell, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Pink, John Mayer, and the Pussycat Dolls
Movie trailers
MSNBC news clips
FOX Sports clips
Internet TV will be available from Windows Vista machines with Windows Media Center, and from Xbox 360 consoles.
