Using Windows Media Center

If you have Windows Vista Home Premium rather than Windows Vista Home Basic, you can use Windows Media Center to play DVDs and videos, watch and record TV, listen to music, or view your pictures. Windows Media Center is designed to be easy to use, so this section gives you the broad outlines rather than every detail, showing you the main actions you’re likely to want to take but not every possible action.

Starting Windows Media Center

To start Windows Media Center, choose Start   All Programs   Windows Media Center. Windows Media Center displays its opening screen . To reach the item you want, move up or down the vertical scrolling list of categories; the list wraps around, so you can reach any item by going either up or down, although one way will be longer than the other. You can navigate Windows Media Center in any of these ways:

Remote Control Press the , , , and  buttons to navigate, and press the Select button to select the current item.

Mouse Click the item you want, or move the mouse to display a caret that you can click. You can also simply hover the mouse pointer above a caret to keep moving in that direction.

Keyboard Press the , , , and  buttons to navigate, and press the Select button to select the current item. From any screen, you can click the Back button in the upper-left corner of Windows Media Center to return to the previous screen, or click the Home button to the right of the Back button to return to the Home screen. Windows Media Center appears full screen by default. You can toggle between full-screen mode and windowed mode by pressing Alt+Enter.

Understanding the Windows Media Center Categories

These are the categories that Windows Media Center uses:

Pictures and Videos Includes the Picture Library item which lets you view your photos and the Video Library item which lets you view your videos.

Music Includes the Music Library item which lets you play your Windows Media Player songs, the Radio item which lets you listen to radio via the Internet, and the Search item which lets you search for music.

TV and Movies Includes the Recorded TV item which lets you watch shows you’ve recorded, the Live TV item, and the Play DVD item.

Online Media Includes the Program Library item, which lets you play some of the games on your computer.

Tasks Includes the Settings item see the next section, the Shutdown item for exiting Windows Media Center or locking or shutting down your computer, the Burn CD/DVD item, the Sync item for synchronizing devices, and the Add Extender item for adding an extender to send audio or video across your home network. Tasks also includes the Media Only mode item, which keeps Windows Media Center displayed full screen and hides its Minimize and Close buttons.

Setting Up Windows Media Center

Unless someone else has set up Windows Media Center on your computer, you’ll probably want to start by setting up Windows Media Center. Many of the default settings work fine, but you’ll have to configure Windows Media Center to work with your aerial or set-top box. To do so, take the following steps:

1.  Connect your aerial or your set-top box to your PC’s TV input. For example:

•    Connect an aerial to an RF input.

•    Connect a composite video input to an RCA connector.

•    Connect an S-video input to an S-video connector.

2.  If your Windows Media Center setup uses an infrared control cable, connect it to your PC and position the “eye” over the infrared receiver on your set-top box.

3.  Switch on your set-top box if you have one.

4.  Switch on your PC, log on to Windows, and then launch Windows Media Center.

5.  Navigate to the Tasks category, and then select the Settings item. Windows Media Center displays the Settings screen.

6.  Select the TV item. Windows Media Center displays the TV screen.

7.  Select the Set Up TV Signal item, and then follow through the TV Signal Wizard, which walks you through the process of choosing your region for example, United States, downloading the latest TV setup options for that region, and configuring your TV signal. Usually the wizard does a good job of identifying your TV signal , but if your setup confuses the wizard, select the No, Proceed to Manual TV Signal Setup option button, and then make the necessary choices manually.

The other settings that you should configure at this point are the Recorder settings, because recording TV creates large files. To configure the Recorder settings, take the following steps:

1.  From the TV screen, select the Recorder item. Windows Media Center displays the Recorder screen.

2.  Click the Recorder Storage item. Windows Media Center displays the Recorder Storage screen .

3.  In the Record on Drive box, choose the drive on which to record. The more space you have available, the more hours of TV you can record.

4.  In the Maximum TV Limit box, specify the amount of space you want to devote to TV recording. Windows Media Center grabs most of the free space, so you may need to reduce the setting.

5.  In the Recording Quality box, choose the recording quality you want to use: Best, Better, Good, or Fair. The higher the quality, the larger the files. Good quality is adequate for most purposes, but you’ll need to check whether it suits your monitor or TV and your eyes.

6.  Click the Save button. Windows Media Center saves your settings and returns you to the Recorder screen.

7.  Select the Recording Defaults item. Windows Media Center displays the Recording Defaults screen .

8.  In the Keep box, choose Until Space Needed, For 1 Week, Until I Watch, or Until I Delete, as appropriate. You can override these default settings for individual shows.

9.  In the Quality box, choose Best, Better, Good, or Fair, as needed.

10.  In the Start When Possible box, choose the amount of extra time you want to record at the beginning of a program in case it’s running early or if you just love commercials: On Time the riskiest setting, 1 Minute Before, 2 Minutes Before, 3 Minutes Before, or 4 Minutes Before.

11.  In the Stop When Possible box, choose the amount of extra time you want to record at the end of a program in case it’s running late: On Time if you trust broadcasters, 1 Minute After, 2 Minutes After, 3 Minutes After, or 4 Minutes After.

12.  In the Preferred Audio Language box, choose the language you want to use. Windows Media Center picks up your Windows language, so you may well not need to change this setting.

13.  In the Series Only Recording Defaults: Keep Up To box, specify how many recordings of a series to keep: As Many as Possible, or one of the numbered items for example, 3 Recordings.

14.  Click the Save button. Windows Media Center saves your settings and returns you to the Recorder screen. Now click the Back button to return to the TV screen. You may want to set up one of the other options:

Guide Lets you change the order of channels, edit channels, add listings to channels, add missing channels, restore default channel settings, or set up TV guide listings.

Configure Your TV or Monitor Starts a wizard that walks you through the process of setting up Windows Media Center on your monitor. If Windows Media Center looks fine already, you don’t need to do this.

Audio Lets you choose different audio settings. You may be happy with the default setting, Stereo.

Subtitle Lets you turn on the display of subtitles. You may not need them. You may prefer to return to this screen after experimenting with Windows Media Center and realizing that one of the default settings doesn’t suit you.