I know, I know, I haven't posted in a long while. I won't bother making up excuses though, I've just been busy. I just wanted to write a short bit about my adventures into Windows Media Center, which I have to admit is pretty darn cool. Recently I set up WMC with my TV Tuner. The TV Tuner card was purchased with the computer, I just never hooked it up. I have cable TV now running to my computer and I'm using WMC as a DVR. I've even opted for watching TV on my computer, which is handy when I'm working on it, I can make the screen smaller and view both windows on the same screen, or my screen is nice and big enough that I don't mind watch across the room if I'm not working on the computer. The tuner card did come with a cool remote and a USB censor so I can control WMC from across the room.
I was thinking today that it would be cool to be able to access the recorded TV files on the PS3, but after some reading online it looks like this might only be possible by finding a program to convert the files, and that's not really worth the effort. I'm sure getting the PS3 to see the files is no problem, but to actually read them is another story. I have this issue with my Rhapsody library, the PS3 will see the tracks in my library, but will not play them due to file type incompatibility.
The other thing I found for Windows Media Center is just a little plugin application called MceFM which adds some Last.fm functionality to WMC. This sounds a lot cooler than it really is though, it's pretty limited. I can create a queue based on tags or artists, that's just about it however. I don't have access to any of the social aspects of Last.fm and it doesn't seem to scrobble the tracks. The website does say it's in beta and has a request for features in the forum, so who knows, maybe it'll develop into something cool someday.
Overall, I like Windows Media Center's pretty interface, and the fact that I can control it via my remote is not bad either. I know there's a lot more I can do with it, especially in regards to extending it to the PS3, which I hope to figure out someday.
