Don't know who Jeff Sandquist is...?  Among many other things he is Robert Scobles' boss (do any of us envy him this role????????).  Jeff is also largely responsible for Newsgator Media Center Edition (which you can access from the Online Spotlight feature of Windows XP Media Center Edition).  Jeff introduced me to Greg Reinacker and convinced me Newsgator was worthy of our time and effort.  I hadn't heard of Newsgator at the time, had only recently been introduced to 'the blogosphere' and my cup (actually more of a bucket) was already running over working on some (fairly big name) partners at the time for the launch event.

I'm glad I paused and listened to Jeff and we chose to work with Newsgator.  As a result, I now enjoy all Channel9 videos (and a good bit of other *casting content) from the comfort of my couch.

Anywho, Jeff is putting together a blogger meetup.  I'll be there, Jeff -- and I'll try to bring a few others along with me.

Update on Michael Earls' travails (see this previous post)...

Sunday: Media Center is now the center of my Entertainment System, once again

Monday: Finally! Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on Media Center

In summary...

"I'm now the happy owner of one killer Windows Media Center-Driven home theater setup.  I don't think I'll ever go back."

Yay!  Michael, because of your honesty and transparency I'm sending you some nice SWAG.  Enjoy your Media Center the way it was supposed to be...!

Just one of the many reasons: Our product is fundamentally changing how people interact with their televisions.  Case in point: John Canning (my peer) and Andrew Adamyk (our boss) were in Europe this past week meeting up with Media Center partners.  As Andrew related...

We were doing internal training in Stockholm for subsidiary program management and in the morning John was demonstrating Media Center. On his machine he had installed a Media Center Add In which allows user to see news alerts within Media Center. In the middle of the demo an alert popped up saying "multiple explosions reported in London."  We all looked at each other and said - wow, what strange test data to use for an application. But then, after scrabbling around on different web sites, we realized we were seeing a real news alert…

It didn't matter where John was in Media Center (Music, Pictures, DVD, TV, Online Spotlight, etc.) -- he got an alert with important news -- doubly important for Andrew who is from the UK and has family / friends in London.

And here is the *really* exciting part: I was pondering John and Andrews experience today and realized it is totally possible to create a Media Center Add In which embraces and extends an Emergency Alert System.  The EAS today in the United States relies on the user listening to a live radio broadcast or watching live TV.  In many DVR equipped homes it can be rare for people to watch live TV (I even hear of some folks who ONLY watch recorded TV and forego all live events).  With Media Center it is possible to extend this important public safety system so those listening to personal music, watching a slideshow, playing a DVD, watching home movies or recorded (time shifted) TV -- in any room of the house with a TV.  Put another way, we have a platform which can be leveraged to alert people of important (and potentially life threatening events) in an ever increasing 'on demand' world where real time content is no longer the norm. 

I'll go into work from now on thinking *way* differently about our platform.  It's no longer just about great digital media experiences alone.  It's about doing our part to help keep friends and family safe.

A good friend shared this experience today.  I believe Jeff Foxworthy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour fellers could turn this into a 'You might be a redneck if...'

Yesterday we had a job fair at work trying to fill some slots for a new branch.  One of our human resource folks told me about an interview she had that morning.  She was telling the applicant an important element of being a teller is sales.  The girl replied 'Oh, I don't think I've sold anything since trying to sell pot in high school.'

My friends conclusion: If you wouldn't have told your parents about it in high school, then it probably isn't a good topic to cover in a job interview.

Keep that in mind if you ever interview with Microsoft.

Michael Earls, author of An Introduction to Developing Software for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Building .NET Add-Ins for Windows Media Center Edition has apparently given up on Media Center according to his post this morning.

But I don't think he has really convinced himself to do so, based on some of the kudos he gives in the rant...

"...the PC next to my television is exactly what I dreamed it would be - a way to record multiple television shows and maintain them for me, a way to listen to music, and a killer arcade machine..."

"The Media Center has worked great for recording television..."

...and the fact the root cause of his issues have nothing to do with Media Center itself...

"...all of the various drivers and software DVD decoders have caused me great pain..."

"...the problems I'm having with my machine have to do with the video and audio drivers..."

And I can't really believe as a developer he wants us to create yet another developer limiting (or downright unfriendly) set top box -- that would pretty much end his ability to extend Media Center (like his Yahoo example).

Michael, I'm happy to help you get the decoder and driver issues resolved...

A very common question developers and designers have is when to use the Shared Viewport or Custom Viewport in a Media Center application.  The sample code associated with this post illustrates how to create a Custom Viewport (and comment one line of code to get a Shared Viewport).

Download the Sample Code

To answer, we can list out the differences between the two, view screenshots of the implementations and understand their intended usage and limitations.

Shared Viewport

• Non-customizable media window.
• Always located at the lower left.
• Contains two types of content...
• Video (Figure 1)
• Audio Song Title, Cover Art (Figure 2)
• The Shared Viewport is the default playback experience for the PlayMedia or PlayMediaEx method calls.
• Can take and lose focus.
• Can be hidden while media playback continues.
• The dimensions or aspect ratio of the Shared Viewport CANNOT be changed.
• The user can select the Shared Viewport to go full screen with the experience.
• The Shared Viewport is always shown when the user leaves an extensibility application and returns to Media Center with a media experience playing.
• Use a Shared Viewport when the current media experience is secondary in nature to the other content on the page.

Figure 1 - Shared Viewport with video source (click to see larger version).

Figure 2 - Shared Viewport with audio source (click for larger version).

Custom Viewport

• Fully customizable media window
• Contains video content only (Figure 3)
• Can show for audio content, but the only thing you get is a black square or rectangle.
• Can take or lose focus.
• Can be hidden while media playback continues.
• The dimensions or aspect ratio of the Custom Viewport CAN be changed.
• Height
• Width
• Aspect Ratio
• You can position the Custom viewport anywhere on screen.
• You must use the HideCustomViewPort event to persist the Custom Viewport between pages.
• Use a Custom Viewport when the content is highly relevant to other metadata or action items on the page.

Figure 3 - Custom Viewport with video source (click for larger version).

Kristy Duncan-Johnson and Jeff Rank worked closely with the Media Center Team to develop MSN Remote Record using the same, exact API set available to all third parties.  Learn more about it over at Channel9 Videos.

MSN TV - Bringing MSN Services Into The Living Room

Another great resource if you want to read about MSN Remote Record is Schedule TV Show Recording over the Web Using MSN Remote Record Service by Microsoft MVP Justin Harrison.

And finally, the methods and properties used by MSN to develop MSN Remote Record are located in the Windows XP Media Center Software Development Kit (SDK) starting with the Click-To-Record Feature topic.

Generally speaking, we want to select colors from the web palette which are TV safe for our Media Center Hosted HTML applications.  For additional information see TV-Safe Colors in the Media Center Software Development Kit (SDK).  A couple of my favorite design tools are Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, which make it pretty easy to select these TV safe web colors using the Color Picker.

1) Double-click the fill or stroke color selection box in the toolbox or Color palette.

2) Make sure the Only Web Colors checkbox is checked and then select your colors in the range where no single color in the RGB gamut is less than 51 or greater than 204.

3) Although it's usually not necessary, just to be super safe about the colors chosen you can run the Filter --> Video --> NTSC Colors filter and watch for color shifts in your chosen pallette.