Xbox 360 Media Center Extender

By Felix Lung
Krunker.com

Introduction
Most, if not all, of the media attention on the Xbox 360 has focused on the next generation gaming capabilities that the console delivers. There’s no doubt that the 360 has ushered in a new era of high definition gaming. However, there’s another feature that the Xbox 360 offers that is nearly as important as its next generation gaming technology and that’s the built in Media Center Extender (MCX) technology At Microsoft’s Zero Hour launch party for the 360, there was a large section dedicated to the MCX technology as well as demonstrations showcasing what you can do with the 360 and an Media Center system. This was dubbed the “Room to Room Experience” – a new slogan used to describe the vision that Microsoft has for the 360 and Windows Media Center PCs.

Here are some of the pictures that I took from the Zero Hour Launch party that focused on the MCX platform. Microsoft displayed a large plasma display in the center of a mock living room showcase. The Xbox 360 was running the MCX application which was connected to a MCE system hidden away.

Join me as I take a look at the Xbox 360’s Media Center Extender technology and what it brings to the table.

Room to Room Experience

Before we get into the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender technology, it’s important to provide some back story on the MCX. Microsoft introduced media center extender systems well over a year ago as a way to distribute content on an MCE to multiple locations around the house. There were basically two different MCX solutions – MCX standalone systems developed by HP and Linksys and a Media Center Extender software application for the Microsoft Xbox.

Unfortunately the Media Center Extender never really took off. The Xbox MCX application took too long to start up and was fairly slow to operate. The standalone MCX hardware systems were just that – standalone boxes that did nothing else but connect to a Media Center system. There weren’t that many people who were willing to shell out money for a single function device. The idea itself was sound but the limited market penetration of the MCE prevented widespread adoption of MCX systems. Microsoft needed a new vehicle to promote the Media Center Extender.

Now in comes the Xbox 360. With the 360, you now have a multi functional platform that provides nearly does it all – Play video games, watch DVDs, listen to music and photos, download content from Xbox Live, and of course access to a Media Center PC.

So now, picture this: A Windows Media Center PC sitting somewhere in your home responsible for all of your media collections, from music to videos to digital photographs. Your MCE system records all of your favorite television shows including over the air high definition content, stores and catalogs your MP3 collections, and houses all of your WMV encoded movies. Now pop an Xbox 360 and an HDTV in every important room in your home (of course I’m assuming there’s also a network connection of some sort) and you’ll now have access the very same content stored on that MCE system (well almost all of the content). With the Xbox 360 and a Windows Media Center PC, you instantly have a media distribution system.

It’s clear that Microsoft intends to continue pushing the Media Center platform despite its slow acceptance thus far. How do they plan on doing this? Here’s a short list:

• Expand the reach of MCE – When Microsoft Windows Vista finally comes out next year, there will no longer be a separate SKU or product for Windows Media Center. MCE will now come bundled in the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate Editions. What does this mean for the MCE platform? MCE will be found on more installed PC’s than ever before hopefully leading to increased usage of the platform.
• Expand MCE to third party devices – Microsoft intends on making the MCE user interface and the basic elements of the MCE available to third party hardware manufacturers and standalone devices other than PCs. Case in point – the new LG Electronics LRM-519 Digital Media Recorder. This DVR system uses the MCE user interface, the MCE Program Guide, includes a DVD burner and a large 160GB hard drive. It’s capable of streaming media from MCE PC’s on a network and displaying it on your television set as well as streaming recorded television shows to Windows systems.
• Xbox 360 – And finally the Xbox 360 will continue the Media Center evangelism by providing built in Media Center Extender technology to every household that manages to get the console.

Setup
Setting up the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender involves the following steps:
Step 1: Initiate the Media Center setup on the Xbox 360
You start up the Xbox 360, go to the Media tab and then select the Media Center option. This tells the 360 to go out onto the network and look for MCE systems. Once it finds one, you’ll see the following screen informing you what you need to do for the PC – basically go to the web and download an update package for the PC.

Once you pass this screen, you’ll be provided a security key to connect to the Media Center PC. Write down this key – you’ll need it when you set up the Media Center Extender software on the MCE system.

Step 2: Download Xbox 360 Media Download Package
The Xbox 360 Media Setup page is here. This page is dedicated to setting up the Xbox 360 to handle either audio/photo streaming from Windows XP PCs or setting up the Media Center Extender component on the 360.

We’re going to focus on the Media Center Extender portion so you’ll need to go to this page where you will download the Xbox 360 Media Download package. You should have Update Rollup 2 installed on your Media Center PC before you install this package.

Once the download has finished, start up the setup process. You’ll see the following screen shots.

The first part of the installation process installs the software components needed for the Xbox 360 to connect to the MCE. A restart will be required unfortunately so make sure nothing is recording your system.

Once your MCE is restarted, the setup process will modify your MCE system to allow extenders to connect (a new user is added to your system which the Xbox 360 will use to remote desktop in as). You’ll then be asked for the security key that the 360 provided. Once you provide the key, the setup process connects to the 360 and authenticates the connection.

The setup process will then look for media to add to the Media Center library.

After this step, the setup process optimizes the system for network performance.

That’s it. You’re ready to now try out the Media Center Extender experience on the Xbox 360.

The beauty of using the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender technology on a high definition screen is – you won’t have to worry about setting resolutions or checking to see if your UI correctly fits the screen. As long as your 360 is configured for HDTV correctly, your Media Center experience will be just fine. Want Dolby Digital decoding? As long as your Xbox 360’s audio setup is correctly configured (meaning an optical digital cable is connected from the 360 to your A/V receiver), then you’re all set with your Media Center’s audio also.

Xbox 360 MCX Experience
Using the Xbox 360 with Media Center Extender technology provides full access to your Windows Media Center’s digital music, photographs, videos and live television content.

The Xbox 360 system currently comes packaged with a Media Remote control pictured here.

Do yourself a favor and pick yourself up a better remote control if you plan on using the Media Center Extender. The Media Remote is just too small and klunky to be useful.

You can easily start up the Media Center Extender on the 360 by pressing the familiar green button on the lower part of the remote control. During this time, the Xbox 360 starts up, connects to the available Media Center PC, logs into the system and displays a remote desktop on the television screen of the Media Center User Interface. It takes very little effort for the Xbox 360 to connect to an MCE system on your network, often taking only 2-4 seconds to connect and display the UI.

Here’s something annoying – several buttons on the Windows Media Center Remote Control share the same infrared signals as the Xbox 360 Media Center controls. This is only important if your MCE is in the same room as your Xbox 360. For example – if you press the green button on your Xbox 360 Media Remote, the Windows Media Center user interface will respond AND the Xbox 360 will start up and attempt to connect the Media Center. Here’s a picture of the Xbox 360 About Media Center Extender:

As with other media center extenders, you have full access to the audio and video library that your media center houses – as long as it’s a Microsoft supported media format. This means you won’t find support for DivX or XviD or any other media formats commonly found on the Internet. This isn’t too surprising since this was the status quo before the 360 came about. You might ask why doesn’t Microsoft support these formats on the 360? It’s simple – they would need to include a codec for all the different media formats out there on the 360. It’s easier to add codecs that Microsoft supports or codecs that hardly ever change. So if you have a large library of DivX videos that you’d like to share around the house, then the Media Center Extender technology is NOT the way to go. However if everything you have is WMV, WMA, or MP3, you’ll be just fine.

The 360 MCX gives users access to the standard features on the MCE including My TV, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. With My TV, you can watch and record live television; watch prerecorded television, and view the Microsoft Program Guide for shows coming up.

The major change that Microsoft added to the 360 MCX is support for High Definition programming. If your MCE system includes HDTV tuners and is able to record HDTV content, you can now stream HDTV shows from the MCE to your Xbox 360. On a wired Ethernet network, I had no trouble streaming HD television shows from my MCE box straight to my Xbox 360. The picture was crystal clear and I was receiving Dolby Digital output from my Xbox 360. Having the ability to stream high definition content from a Media Center PC to an Xbox 360 is perhaps the single most important new feature found on this console. Keep in mind that this is the only Media Center Extender device that is capable of performing this task.
Here are some pictures of Will & Grace in HD on NBC. The shots are of the show being displayed by the Xbox 360 which is receiving the video stream from a MCE system with one HDTV tuner.

The Xbox 360’s MCX performance is extremely admirable. You’ll sometimes find a slight lag on some operations such as fast forwarding or rewinding a video stream. Other MCX menu operations are blazingly fast making you think that you’re actually on the MCE system as opposed to an MCX connection.

On the 360, you have full access to the Media Center’s Online Spotlight feature which means you have the ability to call up the excellent MTV Overdrive application (one of my personal favorite applications on the media center). Not familiar with MTV Overdrive? Make sure you have Update Rollup 2 and give it for a spin. If you love music, you’ll love the ability to download videos from the net and build music video playlists.

It’s easy to imagine Xbox 360’s littered around the home all connected to a single MCE system. If you do plan on going this route, you’ll want a beefy Media Center system – preferably something with dual core processors and LOTS of storage and of course HDTV tuners.

Of course once you’re all done with the Media Center Extender, you can always call up the Xbox 360 dashboard and switch back to high definition gaming. And that my friends, is the beauty of the 360. With one system, you can game all you want, converse with friends, check messages, watch and record live television, listen to digital music, and watch DVD movies.

Summary
The Xbox 360 not only ushers in a new era of high definition gaming, it’s also a vehicle for delivering Windows Media Center content all around the home. With built in Media Center Extender technology, you now have access to your media whenever you want as long as you have an Xbox 360 and a network connection. When you’re tired of gaming and you want to catch up on the recorded game, switch over to the Media Center and watch your show. Once you’re done and you’re ready to relax, call up your music library and listen to an album. Fall asleep.. wake up and enjoy some more gaming before heading off to work. Not a bad setup if you ask me.

Check out the Media Center feature on the Xbox 360 feature list for more information. The Microsoft Media Center and Xbox 360 web page is here.

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