Doug Knox on Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server

Ceton InfiniTV4 CableCard Tuner

2011-09-06T21:31:19Z

Ok, I finally had some extra cash, and the fact that the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner dropped $100 in price, so I went ahead and ordered one. I’ve been using 4 ATI Digital Cable tuners for a while now, and had very few problems, but I figured if I could cut my monthly cable bill a bit, I might as well. Now, there’s good news, bad news and really good news. First the bad news. Of my four Comcast CableCARDS, two were M-Stream cards. Ok, I figured this was great. Take one of my existing...(read more)

Your Chance to Win a Lenovo A70z

2010-07-04T23:32:36Z

Thanks to Terri Stratton for her post at mobilepcworld.net! Contest Coming Soon!!! Thanks to Lenovo and Ivy Worldwide , we, along with 19 other sites, are bringing you the chance to win a new Lenovo A70z. Be sure to visit all the other sites listed below for your chance to win. Each site will have a winner. Contest details will be posted on each site the day that its contest starts. Each site has its own rules and requirements, but this is a legitimate offer! Date ...(read more)

MagicJack - Not so Magical

2010-05-25T02:55:00Z

I recently decided to see if I could "cut the cord" on my home wireline and go with MagicJack. It had received pretty good reviews, been around for a while and, for the price, looked like something I should check out. Sadly, I was very disappointed. The call quality was good, when it was there. But when it wasn't, it was a bad as a bad cellular connection. And then, after one or two successful calls, it would start acting up. I'd pick up the phone, dial a number and after the first...(read more)

Caveat emptor or "Let the buyer beware"

2008-10-05T14:48:03Z

Ok, this is a new one for me. I love to give good reviews of products and services, and generally hate to give bad ones. For years, one of my favorite places to go for things electronic was CompUSA. I could usually find what I wanted at a decent price, get it quickly and had no problems with customer service. Ok, sure, there were times that a competing big-box store had a better price, or an online retailer had a fantastic price that made it worth the 3-day shipping wait........... However, by and...(read more)

RadioTime for Windows Media Center

2008-03-21T23:03:00Z

I found a new (to me anyway) service today, thanks to an insert in the box my Linksys DMA2200 came in. Its called RadioTime, and its free. Its a Media Center plugin that allows you to stream Internet radio stations from all over the world. And it can present you with a list of local radio stations, based on your ZIP code, that are available for streaming. You can add your favorite stations to a Favorites list (who knew there was a country radio station in Prague?). This feature requires a free subcription...(read more)

Linksys DMA2200 Media Center Extender for Windows Vista

2008-03-21T22:53:00Z

My Linksys DMA2200 arrived today, thanks to the Media Center team at Microsoft (Thanks, folks!). I was fortunate enough to get to test a competing product, the D-Link DSM-750 , prior to this. PRO: The single biggest advantage of the DMA2200 over the DSM-750 is a built-in DVD player. This is a 1080p upscaling DVD player. Sadly, you have to exit the Media Center Extender UI to get to the DVD player, but........ Its an inconvenience, not a show-stopper. PRO: The UI in the DMA2200 seems to be a bit snappier...(read more)

MagicDisc - Another Nice Freeware Program

2007-12-23T13:54:42Z

MagicDisc is freeware. It is very helpful utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD drives and CD/DVD discs. For anyone who deals with CD-based programs – it is a MUST. MagicDisc allows you to use almost all CD/DVD image without burning them onto CD or DVD in order to easily access your favorite games, music, or software programs ---- It works like a real CD/DVD-ROM: You can run programs, play games, or listen to music from your virtual CD-ROM. Allowing you to run your game images...(read more)

Twenty (20) KB Articles Related to Windows Home Server

2007-12-23T13:47:45Z

To date, there have been twenty (20) KB articles published, related to Windows Home Server. http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?query=Windows%20Home%20Server&catalog=LCID%3d1033&mode=r&lsc=0&spid=12624&range=...(read more)

Possible Data Corruption With Windows Home Server

2007-12-23T13:38:05Z

A Microsoft KB article was released on 12/20/2007 which describes reported situations where data corruption may occur when you use certain programs to edit files stored in a Windows Home Server's "Shared Folders". http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/946676 When you use certain programs to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted when you save them to the home server...(read more)

New Media Center Update for Windows Vista

2007-11-12T23:45:44Z

A new update for Media Center in Windows Vista will be released through Windows Update this week. Among the fixes listed are: • Several issues that are related to the Media Center Extensibility Platform • An issue that affects digital cable card components when you use Scientific Atlanta cable cards • Interaction issues that occur between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender. • Autolaunch issues that occur...(read more)

Technical Brief for Windows Home Server Drive Extender

2007-10-30T23:58:28Z

For those interested in the workings of Windows Home Server, behind the scenes, here's a great technical brief that describes the Windows Home Server Drive Extender technology and how it helps ensure that you can always add adequate storage space quickly and easily. http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/F/C/2FC09C20-587F-4F16-AA33-C6C4C75FB3DD/Windows_Home_Server_Drive_Extender.pdf...(read more)

Microsoft-Home-Server-House

2007-10-28T18:41:17Z

Microsoft has posted an interactive video demonstration of Windows Home Server and what you can do with it. Microsoft-Home-Server-House...(read more)

CD/DVD/ISO Creation Alternative

2007-10-25T05:32:11Z

Ok, I've tried Nero and other utilities for burning CD/DVD media from ISO files, as well as creating ISO files. While Nero works fine, 99.9% of the time (others less so), I've been using a free CD/DVD burning tool called ImgBurn. It can be downloaded from http://www.imgburn.com . There's a full write up on the web site about what you can do with it. All I can say is, "It hasn't made a single coaster yet!!" And that's good enough for me. From the author's web...(read more)

Windows Home Server - My RTM Experience

2007-10-25T04:52:00Z

Ok, Windows Home Server has been RTM'd for over 90 days now, and many folks are getting their copies from various online retailers. I won't go into who's been bad and good in that department for this post, but lets say some vendors have been worse than others. We're also seeing a wide variety of pricing for the same disc set from vendor to vendor. If you care to post a comment about the retailer your dealing with, please keep it neat, clean and family friendly (if you don't, I'll delete your comment...(read more)

Vista Media Center with Four Digital Cable Tuners

2007-10-15T22:23:00Z

(or How Much TV Can You NOT Watch in a Week?) This is so very, very cool! For those of you who are considering buying a new Windows Vista PC with one or more Digital Cable Tuners (DCT), there is hope for some rockin' systems. We've seen various announcements that Niveus will be shipping a Vista Media Center PC with support for four (4) Digital Cable Tuners and I'm sure other vendors will follow. I really, really wanted to see this in action, so I asked the Media Center beta team...(read more)