Based on customer feedback, we found that it was a goal to be able to access important information no matter where you are. This includes local networks, or in places as far away as Antarctica.

With Windows Home Server, you have the ability to share all of your digital content (pictures, videos, etc) with everyone, no matter the distance. When you are out of the home or office and on the road, Windows Home Server has Remote Access capabilities that make it possible for you to view, find files, and even use applications. By using an automatically assigned web address, you can log into your home network or home computers easily and securely. From this site, you will have the ability to upload all of your digital content (pictures, videos, etc), and have access to all of your Shared Folders on your Home Server back home.

*Screen shot of uploaded pictures while using Remote Access

We receive a lot of customer feedback and stories about their experiences with Windows Home Server. One that stood out with regard to Remote Access was a user that was stationed in Antarctica. This man’s story talks about how his Windows Home Server’s Remote Access capabilities allowed him to stay in contact with his Wife and Children back home while he was deployed to Antarctica.

Brain Irvin used this feature while deployed in Antarctica. In order to make the separation easier on his kids and wife, he started making short video clips of his time out on the ice. The only way he could share them was making them into compressed files so that they were small enough to send through email. Once his videos became larger, he realized that his wife back home could buy Windows Home Server and use Remote Access so he could upload and share his videos much easier. Irvin started uploading to the “Videos” folder on the Home Server and from there, his wife back home was able to watch them and share with their children. Irvin says that “They had a children’s book about penguins in the store, so I bought it and recorded me reading it.

One of the bigger flaws of Windows Home Server is the restore process.  Not only do you have to rely on the router and other network hardware, but your experience can alo vary depending on the client computer. Even having the right drivers doesn’t mean that it will work all the time, that is, assuming you can even find the correct working drivers.  It’s point of huge frustration for many.

Wouldn’t it be great to have the ability to connect a hard drive to the server and restore any computer to it? It’s just one of those things that would make Windows Home Server just soo much better. Well, there may just be a way.

Well, on the suggestion of the forum member Shidoshi, I investigated an executable file that is installed with the Home Server Connector software and is present on the server itself too:  “clientrestorewizard.exe”.  Don’t believe me?  You can check yourself.  It runs pretty much exactly like a normal full client restore, however you need to be *very* careful about the disks you select. If you aren’t, you may be instore for another restore!

What does this mean to you?  Do you have a laptop or netbook that you need to provide drivers for to be able to restore it, but it still doesn’t work?  Do you have a backup of your friends or parent’s computer who doesn’t leave with or near you? Or you just want to do a HDD upgrade but don’t want to wait three hours for the slow network to finish?

This is not supported, for many reasons. The least of which, just mentioned above. So this is definitely an advanced “at your own risk” guide. If you have any concerns about data loss, do not follow this guide!

I only had my server available to test this one, so pictures may vary or may not be accurate. But it should work on any computer with the client Connector software installed.

There are a number of other things that you will likely need to do also, like marking the boot partition as active, or editing the boot.ini file.  I’ve verified that this does in fact work, and if you noticed above, there is a chance that you can and may wipe the wrong disk.

So, that’s how to restore a client computer without using the client restore disk!

Source Article:
How To: Restore a Client Computer Without Using the Client Restore Disk

As many former Vista Media Center users know, Windows 7 brought a new format to the Media Center in the form of the .WTV file. This new format is the new standard for recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center, meaning all recorded TV will now be saved as WTV instead of the former standard DVR-MS. Unfortunately, this also means that programs with a long history of use by Media Center enthusiasts may no longer work with this new format. Luckily, however, Microsoft has been gracious enough to include a utility to convert WTV to DVR-MS through the right-click menu interface but doing all that conversion by hand can be tedious. That’s where WTVWatcher can take some work off your hands.

Sure there are other programs that have done this for a while now such as DVRMSToolbox but for the novice those solutions can be difficult to impossible to setup. For those looking for a simple solution to automatically convert WTV files to DVR-MS, it doesn’t get much simpler than WTVWatcher. To get started visit the WTVWatcher download site which will take you through the user agreement and required software and allow you to download the setup file.

Once installed, WTVWatcher operates as a system tray application with a small notification window to display progress. Upon running the program for the first time the display window will present you the option to set the folder to monitor for new WTV files, just press the button and select the location of your Recorded TV folder.

WTVWatcher also provides a handful of options by selecting the wrench icon at the top of the display window. In the preferences dialog you can set the time to wait before files are processed after completion, icon and display options and whether or not the progress window should be displayed.

Showing the progress window seemed to require the restart of the program, although not mentioned, but once restarted we were able to monitor the progress of the conversions. Taking around 3 minutes on average to convert an hour long HD file with the progress displayed as a simple Windows dialog.

The display window also displays a simple list of actions taken by the program notifying you of the beginning and end of conversions and the current folder being monitored. It’s safe to say that once the program has been setup most users will be setting it to simply minimize to the tray and run in the background however. It’s also important to note that once your files have been converted the original WTV file will be deleted, which is likely the preferred behavior in most cases but there is no option to disable the behavior.

Aside from that small caveat, WTVWatcher performed flawlessly as expected. The program uses the built-in conversion tool to do the conversion from WTV to DVR-MS and simply takes the task of manually selecting and converting each file by hand saving you time. It doesn’t get much more utilitarian than this, WTVWatcher does what it was designed to do well and without any fuss or muss. For those looking to continue using Lifextender in Windows 7 this handy little tool is a godsend.

Source Article:
WTVWatcher Automates WTV to DVRMS Conversion

It seems that Microsoft has finally taken Internet TV out of beta and released a final version to public users. Not only does this give Windows 7 Media Center users support for Internet TV but also adds Netflix and Adobe Flash support to the package. Netflix was an entirely expected addition with the retail release of Windows 7 finally upon us as Windows Vista users have had access to Netflix for quite some time now. What wasn’t as expected however is the addition of Adobe Flash support, required to take advantage of the addition of some full length episodic content.

Upon first entering Internet TV from the main start menu, listed under the TV strip, you’ll be required to agree to the first in a series of end user agreements. Several sections of the new application require you to agree to extensive user agreements, a small price to pay to finally get the functionality Media Center needs to stay relevant in a world of ever more powerful cable and satellite company provided DVR boxes.

The new Internet TV application’s most apparent change is an extremely improved interface in terms of both design and functionality. The most popular shows are listed in a large format at the top of the interface, allowing you to quickly select and watch full episodes from a number of channels including CBS, PBS and the Zune Videocast library. This new interface is very reminiscent of the menu systems featured on the Xbox gaming consoles from Microsoft and it’s likely the company is finally utilizing it’s stable of talented interface developers for Media Center projects (or they’re at least talking to one another).

Scrolling down to the lower menus you’ll find a listing of previews for upcoming shows, available channels featuring full episodic content, top shows and a full lineup of news content. Hopefully Microsoft will be working on developing relationships which other networks such as NBC, ABC and Fox who’ve already shown a willingness to develop relationships with other internet broadcasting services such as Hulu. Here you’ll also find a listing for the popular Netflix movie service.

Entering the Netflix application you’ll need a Netflix unlimited subscription to enable downloading and viewing movies from your Windows 7 Media Center. Just agree to the Netflix user agreement and enter your username and password to enable Netflix viewing. You’ll also see a popular Netflix movies strip in the main Internet TV interface listing a handful of popular selections from the service.

To the actual meat of the application, streaming full episodic content, the first thing you’ll notice is the addition of Adobe Flash support to the Windows 7 Media Center program. This is important being easily the most popular format for distribution of broadcast network television over the internet. Most networks are now providing flash episodes through their corporate websites as well as other third party services. For years Microsoft has resisted this addition to the Media Center arsenal but it’s an integral part of the streaming TV revolution and was only an eventuality if Media Center was to remain the product it aspires to be.

After updating Media Center to include Adobe Flash you’ll be able to select recent episodes from a show listing, whether by channel or show. Each channel even includes a few sorting options to help you locate the program your interested in, though the listings are per channel. Perhaps as time progresses we’ll see a longer timeline of shows available as the product matures, currently only the most recent episodes are available. This, of course, is a vast improvement over the previous Internet TV offering however.

Launching an episode you’ll be presented with the customary commercial introduction along with an episode name and description. Selecting the content box will enabled full screen content viewing once the commercial has finished.

Typically this is about the time we get around to the downside and in this case it’s downright huge. In an era of HD everything and high quality video even on sites like Youtube the quality of content provided by Microsoft’s Internet TV application is still utter crap. There’s no sidestepping or candy coating the situation to be had. Watching NCIS or How I Met Your Mother inside Internet TV is almost painful, especially for those accustomed to watching those shows in HD.

We had hoped that the addition of Flash to the Windows 7 Media Center arsenal would lend itself to an improvement in video quality and perhaps it will in the future. For those truly desperate to catch the latest episodes of their favorite shows from the handful of partners provided there are much better methods to get your content fix. The convenience can’t be beat, free streaming internet TV from your couch, but the video quality seems almost defeatist.

Source Article:
Windows 7 Media Center Gets Internet TV, Netflix and Adobe Flash Support