Event Highlights Digital Media

Microsoft unveiled Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles, CA, at a company-sponsored event called Digital Media Anywhere. The event showcased new products and services from Microsoft and partners that will help establish the PC as the central digital entertainment device in the home.

Other announcements at Digital Media Anywhere include the following:

Media Center Extenders. Hewlett-Packard and Linksys (owned by Cisco) will manufacture these thin-client set-top boxes, which enable content from a Media Center PC to be played on a television. In addition, Microsoft is making available a kit that will allow users to turn their Xbox into an Extender.

Users attach the Extender to a television set and connect it to a wired or wireless (802.11a or g) home network, then use a remote control to access Media Center functions from the Extender, including watching or recording TV shows; accessing audio, video, or pictures stored on the PC; and downloading content from Media Center partner sites. However, the Extenders only allow users to access functions that are available from the Media Center interface-for example, users cannot access Office or other desktop applications from the Extenders.