by Danny Briere and Pat Hurley Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ This page intentionally blank Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ This page intentionally blank by Danny Briere and Pat Hurley Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright  2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES REPRESENTA- TIVES OR WRITTEN SALES MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR SITUATION. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A PROFESSIONAL WHERE APPRO- PRIATE. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2003114375 ISBN: 0-7645-4357-1 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/QW/RR/QT/IN is a trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. About the Authors Danny Briere founded TeleChoice, Inc., a telecommunications consulting company, in 1985 and now serves as CEO of the company. Widely known throughout the telecommunications and networking industry, Danny has written more than one thousand articles about telecommunications topics and has authored or edited nine books, including Internet Telephony For Dummies, Smart Homes For Dummies (now in its second edition), Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, and Home Theater For Dummies. He is frequently quoted by leading publications on telecommunications and technology topics and can often be seen on major TV networks providing analysis on the latest communications news and breakthroughs. Danny lives in Mansfield Center, Connecticut, with his wife and four children. Pat Hurley is a consultant with TeleChoice, Inc., who specializes in emerging telecommunications technologies, particularly all the latest access and home technologies, including wireless LANs, DSL, cable modems, satellite services, and home-networking services. Pat frequently consults with the leading tele- communications carriers, equipment vendors, consumer goods manufactur- ers, and other players in the telecommunications and consumer electronics industries. Pat is the coauthor of Internet Telephony For Dummies, Smart Homes For Dummies, Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, and Home Theater For Dummies. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife and two smelly dogs. This page intentionally blank Dedication In the past few years, Danny has thanked his wife for being so understanding, his kids for helping Dad with his projects, his parents for investing in his educa- tion, his sister for her daily support at work, and a host of other friends, rela- tives, and business associates who make each book a success. One person whom Danny wants to thank in particular this time is Tom Redford, known to me as Mr. Redford when I was growing up in Richmond, Virginia. Tom was my scoutmaster, my employer, and many years later, my friend. He took me under his wing and introduced me to the way things really work in life. “Briere, how can someone so smart have so little common sense,” he used to tell me all the time, and unfortunately, he was right. Tom didn’t put up with my slick book smarts but rather challenged my lack of street smarts, whether I was navigating the furnaces and rats at his brick yard during a summer job or carrying the dutch oven to the top of a mountain on a camping trip. All of us need someone like Tom to whip the wimp out of us and challenge us to be something we would not otherwise become. To Tom, I owe my larger (yet still small) amount of common sense, the knowledge that sucking blood out of a snake bite really does not work, and the ability to describe how bricks are made. Oh yeah, and a much stronger and more thoughtful character. We all need a Tom Redford when we’re growing up, and I hope I can have such an effect on some smart yet stupid young kid someday. Pat thanks — well, thanks is insufficient but the best that can be offered in this venue — his wife, Christine. She put up with four books in ten months, rooms full of gadgets and gizmos, cables strewn across the floor, espresso stains every- where, missed Padres games, terrorized dogs, working vacations (oxymoron anyone?) — plus a house move. And she had to deal with all that while (in the words of Loretta Lynn) “One’s on the way.” Pat dedicates this book to her and to the schmoos (they know who they are). And he promises a real vacation, and soon! This page intentionally blank [...]... PC to Your Home-Entertainment System .297 Index 313 xix xx Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies Introduction W elcome to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies What a mouthful! But each word is important, nay, critical! This book is about Microsoft’s next generation of operating system, Windows XP But this is not an ordinary piece of software — Media Center 2004. .. the Media Center Edition PC .4 Part II: Integrating Your Media Center PC 4 Part III: Using XP Media Center Edition 4 Part IV: Connecting to the Rest of Your House 5 Part V: The Part of Tens 5 Appendix 5 Icons Used in This Book 5 Where to Go from Here 6 Part I: Introducing the Media Center Edition PC .7 Chapter 1: All about Windows XP Media Center. .. to us Part I Introducing the Media Center Edition PC M In this part icrosoft (and its partners in the PC business) looked hard at what home PC users want to do with their computers, and came up with an entirely new way of looking at the PC: the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC The MCE PC does all the stuff that any old Windows XP PC can do — send and receive e-mail, surf the Web, word processing,... in hand, you’ll have all the information you need about the following topics: ߜ Planning your home computing and entertainment system ߜ Evaluating and selecting a Media Center PC ߜ Installing and configuring Windows XP Media Center Edition in your home ߜ Watching and recording live TV ߜ Recording and playing DVDs and CDs 2 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies ߜ Surfing the Internet connection... Media Center PC 22 Chapter 2: A Look Inside a Media Center PC 25 A PC as an Entertainment Device? 25 Connections Galore on Your MCE PC 28 Speeding Up with Fancy Processors 31 Video Capabilities 32 Audio Features .33 xiv Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies Chapter 3: Evaluating and Buying a Media Center PC ... your set-top box, and other features may simply not function Complete the wizard (Patience, patience.) 11 12 Part I: Introducing the Media Center Edition PC Figure 1-1 : Sit on the sofa and control your MCE PC The Media Center Interface The Media Center interface, shown in Figure 1-2 , is the key to using MCE — it’s what differentiates MCE from plain Windows XP The Media Center interface is designed for. .. team for the MCE platform, so you’re getting the straight scoop here! 10 Part I: Introducing the Media Center Edition PC What’s new in 2004? Before Windows XP MCE 2004, there was one prior version, the original XP MCE 2002 program Some of the improvements in the 2004 version follow: ߜ New online capabilities with the Online Spotlight module, so you can access online media without leaving the Media Center. .. well take the PC to a whole new room — in your house Everything about Windows XP Media Center Edition is special, advanced, enhanced, entranced, romanced geez we can get carried away! It’s that neat What’s Special about XP Media Center Edition? An MCE PC is a high-end machine, with more features and faster processors than regular Windows PCs, as well as some specialized parts for media functionality... want to notify 126 Play Misty for me, automatically .127 Putting the kids in their place 128 Getting MCE online 129 Readjusting your remote control 131 It ain’t nobody’s business 131 Other Media Center Settings .133 xv xvi Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies Part III: Using XP Media Center Edition .135 Chapter 9: Watching TV ... some basic requirements — Windows XP Media Center Edition requires a specific hardware setup At the time of this writing, the hardware was available from only 12 PC vendors (listed in Chapter 3) These PCs meet strict system specifications that Microsoft provides only to the PC vendors who build MCE PCs Microsoft has put a lot of effort into refining Windows XP Media Center Edition so that it can run . Hurley Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 0703 0-5 774 www.wiley.com Copyright. by Danny Briere and Pat Hurley Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ This page intentionally blank Windows ® XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC FOR DUMmIES ‰ This page intentionally. Introducing the Media Center Edition PC 7 Chapter 1: All about Windows XP Media Center Edition 9 Chapter 2: A Look Inside a Media Center PC 25 Chapter 3: Evaluating and Buying a Media Center PC 35 Part