Ever since CableLabs approved CableCARD devices to enable tuner sharing owners of the Ceton InfiniTV 4 have been waiting for Ceton to release the firmware that would turn this functionality on. While it hasn’t been released to the public yet, beta testers of the quad tuner CableCARD device can now do just that. Tonight I installed the latest beta firmware, bridged the connection between the tuner card and my ethernet adapter, and setup a secondary PC to use the InfiniTV 4. Once everything is setup on both ends, you simply go through the standard guided setup process on the secondary PC(s) to setup the tuners, as you would any other tuner device. After that it works just like any other tv tuner. I was able to instantly start watching live HD television immediately, without any noticeable lag from the streams being broadcast across my network.

Again, this is currently only available to Ceton beta testers, but this is definitely good news. Hopefully it means that the firmware, and corresponding software, will be released to the public very soon.

Tuesday is here at last, and for Windows Home Server owners that means one thing… Power Pack 3 Day!

Microsoft have released PP3 for download via Windows Update, and it’s free and waiting for you to download. Simply open your WHS Console, go to the Settings dialog, and click Update Now in the General section. You’ll need to restart your home server, and each hope computer connected to Windows Home Server, after which Power Pack 3 will be yours!

Let’s recap on what’s new, courtesy of the Windows Team Blog:

Windows 7 Libraries integration

When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries.

Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression

After you install the Windows Home Server Connector to enable the home server backup for your computer running Windows 7, you can suppress the Action Center warning reminding you that Windows Backup has not been set up.

Windows 7 power settings

You can configure your computer running Windows 7 to wake up at a scheduled backup time and then go back to sleep after the backup finishes.

Console support for Windows 7

Windows 7 is properly displayed as the operating system shown in the Computers & Backup tab.

Windows Search

Windows Search 4 is included to improve query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Extended Remote Discovery increases the efficiency of searching across all your libraries running Windows Search 4. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.

TV archive

Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices.

Console view

You can view information about your home server’s storage space, hard drives, backup status, and more from Windows Media Center.

Complete details are available in the Power Pack 3 Release Documentation.

If you’ve been running the Power Pack 3 beta, make sure you uninstall it before you install the final PP3 update. Here’s how (thanks to Janne Strom for the heads up!):

1. Access the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop (How to connect to the Windows Home Server Administrator’s Desktop)

2. Navigate to the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta folder at Start > My Computer > D: > Shares > Software > Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta.

3. Run the Uninstall.cmd file to un-install Power Pack 3 Beta. After reboot, your Home Server will revert back to your previous version.

4. Re-install the updated Windows Home Server Connector software on your home computer. (Windows Home Server Connector installation)

Source Article:
Windows Home Server Power Pack 3, Waiting For You

One major advantage to be had when using a Windows 7 Media Center over your standard cable DVR is the ability to scan and remove commercials from Recorded TV shows. Programs such as Lifextender, which can be setup to use either comskip or Showanalyzer, can arrange for new shows to be scanned and the commercials removed without having to process each file by hand. Unfortunately, Lifextender doesn’t work with the new WTV format so first we’ll need to convert the files using a program such as WTVWatcher.

To get started you’ll need to download and install both WTVWatcher and Lifextender or, if you prefer, we’ve also got a guide on using DVRMSToolbox with Lifextender. Once you’ve got both programs installed you’ll need to setup WTVWatcher to monitor the Recorded TV location. Use the preferences to set the location of your Recorded TV folder, typically C:UsersPublicRecorded TV. WTVWatcher will begin to go to work converting the WTV recordings into DVR-MS files that are readable by Lifextender.

WTVWatcher uses the built-in conversion program provided by Microsoft to convert each WTV file into a DVR-MS file. For even more information on WTVWatcher check out our previous review of this handy little tool right here. Once the files have been converted we can setup Lifextender to automatically scan for and cut commercials from these files. Next, open Lifextender and choose Options by right-clicking the icon in the system tray.

Under the general settings be sure to set the TV Recording path to the same directory as the one you set previously inside WTVWatcher. Also, unless you plan to run the process by hand enable the Automated Library Scanning so that Lifextender will automatically find your new shows for processing. To test your settings you can start a manual processing of the files by right-clicking the Lifextender system tray icon and selecting Scan Media Center Library.

Lifextender’s processing dialog will appear as the program scans each recorded show for commercials. This can take quite a bit of time depending on the length of the show and the complexity of commercial scanning process.

After processing each file will be added to the “blacklist” inside Lifextender’s options. This allows you to check the progress of Lifextender’s processing of files as well as preventing the program from scanning the same program each time the library is scanned for new content. You can find the blacklist under the Options –> Advanced tab. Here you can also add individual files to be excluded from processing, though if you have a certain show or channel you’d like to permanently exclude from processing there is an included Rules feature to allow for easier management.

Unfortunately, there has been some issues reported with Lifextender not accepting the converted files from WTVWatcher and the Lifextender program is no longer in active development. If you experience the same issue your only option may be to use the DVRMSToolbox method in this guide using an alternative program for converting the WTV files to DVR-MS. Also, be sure to drop a line in the comments below with as much detail as you can provide including which version of Windows 7 you’re using, Lifextender log info and anything else noteworthy. Perhaps we can sort out the issue with more information.

For most people, however, this method should provide a simple solution to easy commercial removal from Windows 7 Media Center recordings. Hopefully the future will bring us an alternative to Lifextender and more active development (and hopefully more open source projects as well!).

Source Article:
Using WTVWatcher and Lifextender to Cut Commercials from Recorded Shows

Since we had such a great response from our previous post on the Top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server, we thought it would be beneficial to share our thinking on the business side of things. Don’t let the name Windows Home Server fool you into thinking that this product was created for home use only. A lot of the reasons that you would use Windows Home Server in your home are just as applicable to a small or home office. Windows Home Server provides a dependable and affordable way to organize and safeguard your work on up to 10 computers. In order to help you see how Windows Home Server could enable you to work more efficiently and effectively, take a look at the top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server in your SOHO.

1. Conveniently backup important data with automatic image-based backup of up to 10 computers every day.

2. Quickly restore an entire PC, a specific hard drive, or individual files and folders in the event of data loss.

3. Remotely access PCs while away from the office to access files, check e-mail, review financial information, or look up an address or phone number.

4. Create a centralized and security enhanced location for important work documents that can be accessed by everyone in the company.

5. Easily find and share information by organizing data in a security-enhanced centralized location.

6. Help reduce downtime with automatic monitoring of the health of your computers on the network to keep them active and available.

7. Easily expand storage space and add new capabilities as your business needs grow.

8. Grant permissions for varying levels of access by team members to your business documents.

9. Easily extend your investment with new Windows Home Server add-ins for things such as virus protection, power management, and online storage.

10. Easy to use and set-up Windows Home Server in as little in 2 hours.

Are you one of the many Media Center users already running a Vista Media Center and planning to upgrade to a new Windows 7 install? If so, it’s likely that you’d want to move your recording schedule over as well. For those planning to do a simple upgrade the process should be automatic, however, if you’re planning a clean install it’s going to take a bit more planning and effort. Media Center developer Danny Ton has posted the method to getting this done over at The Green Button for those planning on a clean install of Windows 7 from Windows Vista.

This method will work for anyone who is moving from a basic Windows Vista install, without the Fiji pack installed, but will only copy the recording schedule. This means that the channel lineup and other custom settings will not be carried over and will need to be setup by the user. The recording schedule works by scanning the TV lineup for shows listed in the schedule then marking them for recording. The schedule is actually more of a list than a schedule, containing a list of shows and a set of rules for recording than a list of times, dates and channels to be recorded.

To get started, the files we need to access are located inside a hidden folder so we should enable the viewing of such folders. In the Control Panel, select Appearance and Personalization then Folder Options. Under the View tab in Folder Options select the Show Hidden files and folders option and press OK.

Once you’ve enabled the viewing of hidden folders open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:Program Data\microsoft\ehome\recording. Copy the contents of the folder to a backup location such as a flash drive or network storage location. Now proceed with your clean installation of Windows 7.

Once you’ve completed your clean install, follow the steps above to show hidden folders once again and locate the C:Program Data\microsoft\ehome\recording directory (or create it if it doesn’t exist). Now place the recordings.xml file you backed up from Windows Vista into the folder before running the Windows 7 Media Center setup.

During the initial setup of Windows 7 Media Center the recordings.xml will be converted into the Windows 7 Media Center recordings schedule and all of your recordings should be processed once the TV guide listings have been processed. If you’ve already run the initial setup you can also achieve the same results by running the TV Signal Setup from the Settings area.

Once the machine has had time to scan the TV guide listings for your scheduled show recordings you should be able to view scheduled recordings from Recorded TV’s view scheduled area. That’s all there is to it! You should now have a completely transferred recording schedule from Windows Vista into Windows 7.

Source Article:
Bringing a Recording Schedule from Vista to Windows 7

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

Now that we’ve covered a handful of great plugins to improve your Windows 7 media Center,  it’s time to go through a few programs and background plugins that can greatly improve your experience. These programs and plugins will improve on the Media Center interface as well as adding some missing options and features that are lacking in the basic Media Center installation. Add logos to the TV guide listings, create your own Media Center themes, put Caller ID on your TV and more.

Programs

My Channel Logos allows you to quickly and easily add channel logos to your Windows 7 Media Center’s TV guide listings improving both the appearance and usability of the guide. The newest versions of this program even include sets of downloadable channel logos including color versions. Using the program is quite easy as well, once you’ve setup your TV guide listings inside Media Center just open the program and select your region then apply channel logos. My Channel Logos will search through your guide files and make the appropriate changes to add logos, just relaunch Media Center.

Media Center Studio, the successor to Menu Mender, is the ultimate in Windows 7 Media Center customization apps. Allowing you to design, create and distribute your own Media Center themes as well as customize and create your own start menu strips. Change the Media Center background, add a games strip and more all with ease using this handy program. This program makes it simple to create and rearrange your Media Center interface until you’ve got it just the way you like it. Make changes to the graphic interface by using your own images and fonts then just drag and drop start strip tiles to make your Media Center truly unique.

More Plugins

Though a sleep timer likely isn’t one of the firs things to cross your mind as a missing feature, if you’re used to having one on your television it can be a sorely missed feature. MC7 Sleep Timer is exceptionally easy to use as well. Simply install the plugin then use the plugin interface in the Extra Programs listing to set a sleep timer for any number of intervals. Quick buttons are available for 30 and 60 minutes as well as teh ability to create a custom timer button and even just turn off your monitor. This handy little tool is sure to make at least a few Media Center enthusiasts’ setups complete.

There are plenty of movie and media enthusiasts that prefer to watch their content the way is was originally intended, which includes in the original refresh rate. By default Windows 7 Media Center runs in the default resolution of your monitor, typically 60hz, however much of today’s HD media is intended to be played back at 24hz. Refresh Rate Changer will let you do just that. Just setup the resolutions and refresh rates for your monitor and media in the options file then access the plugin inside Media Center to change the refresh rate. Though not automatic and requiring an automatic restart of Media Center it’s a solution to the problem.

Not just for Vista any longer, Vista Caller ID’s developers have even create a plugin to allow you to harness the program’s functions to get Caller ID right inside your Windows 7 Media Center. A feature commonly included in modern cable and satellite DVR boxes and sorely missed by many making the switch. As long as you’ve got a compatible analog modem, install the basic program and the Media Center plugin to get started. Then be sure to setup your preferences and you’ll be all set.

Source Article:
Programs to Customize and Improve Your Windows 7 Media Center

In its first week of sales, Windows 7 has already surpassed Vista. Looks like the hype and impressive reviews of Windows 7 are paying off.

Windows 7 software unit sales in the U.S. were 234 percent higher than Vista’s first few days of sales, according to the NPD Group. In comparison, first-week retail sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista were almost 60 percent below sales of boxed copies of Windows XP in the week after its 2001 launch.

The numbers for revenue growth weren’t as stellar, but are still impressive. Due to low-cost pre-sales, discounts, and a lack of promotion for the expensive Ultimate Edition, Windows 7 clocked in just an 82 percent increase over Vista.

“Microsoft’s program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, in an e-mail message. “In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles.”

However, customers weren’t flocking to the hardware aisles as much as they were during Vista’s launch. Sales of Windows PCs were up 49 percent in units year-over-year and were up 95 percent over the week prior to launch. The growth of PC sales during Vista’s launch was, in comparison, 68 percent in prior year’s sales and 170 percent over the week prior to launch. There are several reasons for this. The economy, of course, limits the purchase of brand-new PCs.

During the Vista launch, Chris Swenson, a software analyst with NPD, said consumers “were getting the message that they need a more robust system to take advantage of some of the new features in Vista.” Vista was a notorious memory hog, and switching from XP to Vista was an intimidating feat that required powerful PCs. Accustomed to higher-end OSes, customers likely did not need to beef up their existing computers to handle Windows 7.

Sounds like Windows 7 is doing a bang-up job of leaving its Vista predecessor in the dust. You can almost hear the champagne corks popping at Redmond.

Source Article:
Windows 7: The Numbers Are Looking Good

According to the U.K. Telegraph, Microsoft has confirmed that computer users will be able to test the new Windows 7 operating system for up to 120 days before they need to buy it.

Once the four month trial period ends, users will be asked to enter an activation code, which proves they have bought the software.

Windows Vista, the predecessor to Windows 7, contained a similar loophole, and Microsoft has given users tacit consent to exploit it. “A total of 120 days total time is available as a grace period to customers that take advantage of rearm,” a spokesman for the software giant told Computerworld.

Windows 7 goes on sale on October 22, and Microsoft is hoping it will be better received by consumers and commentators than Vista, which was widely criticised for being slow and processor-intensive, and for failing to work with many peripheral devices.

The new operating system has sought to address some of these concerns by introducing faster installation and boot times, improved out-of-the-box peripheral support and easier access to drivers, intelligent power management, and a smaller, less power-hungry footprint.

Windows Secrets, the website that first alerted the web community to the activation loophole, has issued instructions for the “rearming” process. Users must first pull up a command line by going the Start menu, selecting All Programs, then Accessories, then Command Prompt.

Once the Command Prompt appears, users must type “slmgr -rearm”, without the quote marks. Once the computer is rebooted, the activation calendar will have been reset to zero, giving users another 30 days of free use.

Some commentators have speculated that Microsoft is allowing a period of grace to users in order to let them fully get to grips with the new operating system, and to experience themselves the benefits of upgrading from Windows XP or the unloved Vista, and to reassure them that Windows 7 offers an improved user experience across the board.

Source Article:
Windows 7: ‘free 120 days’

Around here we love when someone comes along and creates an application to take even the simplest processes and refines them into an even easier single solution. Previously we covered creating your own bootable USB Windows 7 installation manually and today we’ve got a couple of applications that make the entire process a snap. Even better, both applications are entirely free of charge. Installing Windows 7 from USB makes the perfect method for installation on that home-brew movie streaming box in the bedroom or even a drive-less main media center machine.

The first application is from Tweaking with Vishal which provides a very streamlined interface for creating your new bootable Windows 7 installation. To get started you’ll need to download and install the program from the askvg.com page. By default the installation will create a desktop icon from which you can launch the program.

On the first run of the program a handy Help guide will appear walking you through the steps to create your new installation disk. The process is incredibly simple, first insert the USB drive into the USB port. Next press the Check USB button and select the disk from the dropdown box. After selecting the proper drive press the Format USB button, note that if you’d prefer to do a fast format saving quite a bit of time be sure to enable it in the Options before pressing the Format button.

After formatting has completed select whether you’d prefer to create the installation from a DVD drive or an ISO file. This is a handy feature that the other program we’ll be looking at doesn’t have, the ability to copy files from inside an ISO without mounting it first. After choosing ISO or DVD and selecting the proper location of the files press the Start button to begin the process of copying the files to the USB drive. This will take some time depending on the disk’s speed and whether or not the program will need to extract files from an ISO.

Afterward you should now have a complete Windows 7 installation USB drive. Just pop it into the destination machine, make sure that the BIOS is set to boot from USB and get started.

The next program we’ll be looking at is WintoFlash, a program first featured on Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows. The process with this program is fairly similar. Begin by downloading and extracting the program to your hard drive then launch the wintoflash.exe file to begin. Once opened you’ll have the choice of running the program as a wizard or manually by selecting the Welcome! or Task tab.

Under the Task option, select the option to transfer Vista/2008/7 setup to flash. The next screen will prompt you for the USB drive type, file system format and format type. The default selections are adequate and shouldn’t need changed. Under the setup files path you will need to select the DVD drive or mounted ISO image to load the files from. As mentioned earlier this program doesn’t offer the option to load an ISO file directly. Next select the location of your USB drive and press Create to get the process started.

Another super simple way to transfer Windows 7’s setup to a flash USB drive! Both these programs performed quite well for the task they were designed to perform though the “A bootable USB” program’s ISO option certainly gives it an edge.