Visual Studio 2008, the latest version of Microsoft’s popular integrated development environment (IDE), launched on Monday as reported by Somasegar. You can download the free C# Express Edition here. In a post today at the Windows Media Center Sandbox blog, Charlie provides some useful information for Media Center developers:

We put the template support in for Visual Studio 2008 towards the very end of the 5.3 development cycle as a ‘bonus’ to fulfill community requests — you’ll notice we don’t even mention it in the What’s New section of the SDK documentation at all since we didn’t know the street date for Visual Studio 2008.

He notes that if you only have one of the Visual Studio 2008 SKUs installed, then a template will be missing after installing the Windows Media Center SDK 5.3. To solve the issue, make sure you have a Visual Studio 2005 SKU installed alongside 2008 (they can happily live side-by-side). If you install VS2005 after VS2008, you’ll need to a repair on the Media Center SDK.

And as a best practice, install the Media Center SDK after you have installed the IDEs.

For more information on version 5.3 of the Windows Media Center SDK, see this post.

Wondering how to get started developing applications for Windows Media Center? Wonder no more. Uber geek Scott Hanselman and Windows Media Center program manager Charlie Owen talk all about on the latest Hanselminutes podcast:

The result is a pretty nice introduction to what you need for development, the tools included in the SDK, some of the samples which are included in the SDK and some basic beginner concepts.

The episode is just over thirty minutes in length. Here is a great list of links to topics covered during the podcast, and here is the MP3 download.

Windows Media Center Extenders are devices that allow you to “extend” the experience you get with Media Center to other locations on your network. The most well-known example is the Xbox 360 - you can look at pictures, play music, and watch recorded video that is stored on your Media Center PC. The Xbox 360 is the only so-called “version 2″ extender, but Microsoft has long promised that other extenders would be available, and now we have some proof:

Nathan Weinberg points to another post that shows some of Microsoft’s recent domain name purchases. Some of them on our radar would be MediaCenterExtender.net, MediaCenterExtenderSandbox.com, MCExtender.net, and ConnectsToMediaCenter.com.

Okay, so all we’ve got are domain names, but still - that’s better than nothing right?

Come on Microsoft, give us some new extenders!

Who decided that you can only eat bacon and eggs for breakfast? Seems like a useless “rule” to me, and thankfully restaurants like Denny’s allow me to order breakfast food 24/7. Similarly, who decided your Media Center has to be in the living room? That “rule” is also useless, and thankfully there’s MCEDev to make the devices useful in other rooms, like the kitchen (via TV Squad):

The idea is simply – why not use the powerful Media Center platform in the kitchen? Watch news, your favourite episodes or let the Media Center play some music while you’re cooking.

What would be the most interesting application for a kitchen? Correct - a cookbook.

Sounds like a pretty cool application - an interactive cookbook that helps you with recipes, everything from preparation to a step-by-step walkthrough.

Even more amazing are the mirror displays that adnotam makes (they approached MCEDev about the app). They make the kitchen look like a normal kitchen when the Media Center is turned off.

Awesome! What other rooms would be good for Media Center customizations? Maybe the garage?

I recently did a couple of guest posts for the last100 blog that WindowsMediaBlog.com readers may be interested in. In part one, I looked at the history of Microsoft’s television-related products and services. In part two, I took a closer look at what the company offers today, and speculated on some of the things that we can expect in the future.

I had fun writing the two posts, and I’d love to know what you think!

According to a report published at MediaGuardian.co.uk (registration required) last Tuesday, British Sky Broadcasting is in talks with Microsoft to make its proposed pay-TV service available to computer users via Windows Media Center. BSkyB COO Mike Darcey made it clear that his company sees this as the wave of the future:

“The delivery of premium services to Media Centre PCs in this way will place the UK’s DTT platform at the forefront of innovation and at the centre of the convergence of the TV and PC industries.”

If such a deal could be struck between the companies, it would definitely strengthen the case for BSkyB’s proposal as it would allow customers to subscribe to pay-TV without having to use a set-top box.

It would also be a good thing for Windows Media Center users in Britain, who likely would appreciate the ability to keep their PC as the “natural epicentre of their entertainment world” as Darcey put it.

If approved, BSkyB’s service could be launched early next year.

Source: Ian Dixon

An update rollup for Windows Vista Media Center users has been released. It fixes a couple issues affecting the Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate platforms, both x86 and x64. These include:

• Windows Media Center does not correctly configure a combo TV tuner that supports both ATSC and NTSC signals on a Windows Vista-based computer (KB929011)
• When you resize the Windows Media Center window in Windows Vista, video playback may stop (KB932753)
• You cannot hear the audio in Live TV or on a DVD in Windows Media Center after you wake a computer that is running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate (KB931967)
• Several fixes for the Media Center Extensibility Platform
• An update to the Digital Cable Card component to provide better support for interaction between the digital cable tuner, the CableCARD, and Media Center

The knowledge base article for the update is here, and the download is here.

Sounds like Microsoft is trying to become a big player in China’s living rooms with their investment last week in Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd., one of China’s largest TV makers. The USD $12.3 million investment ensures that Changhong will develop TVs and other products that can hook up to the Internet.

The deal is about Microsoft’s software, not hardware:

Current versions of Windows are capable of connecting a TV with the Internet, and these types of systems are already available in China.

Changhong’s own M10 Living Room Entertainment Center is an example. Based on Windows XP Media Center Edition, the M10 is designed to connect with a television and comes with a remote control and wireless keyboard, allowing users to access music, videos and the Internet from a couch instead of a desk.

I think Microsoft is simply trying to make some new friends in the emerging Chinese marketplace. If the Changhong deal goes well, it’ll definitely give a boost to both Windows Media Center and the recently announced Mediaroom too.

Microsoft also signed an agreement with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) last week. Financial terms were not disclosed, but SMG agreed to “use Microsoft products across its new-media division, which includes Internet video, IPTV and mobile television.”

I expect we’ll hear more from Microsoft in China very soon!

If you were looking forward to the next version of Windows Media Center, I have bad news for you - it looks like the project has been delayed. The update, which is believed to go by the Fiji codename, looks to be stalled according to Chris Lanier:

The beta program, which many of you may have registered for isn’t exactly moving along. The invites that were supposed to be sent out on May 31th have gone no where fast. This leads me to think that the target ship date for Fiji is no where close. 

Chris suggests that Fiji may not see the light of day until late 2008. Ars Technica picked up the story too, and mentioned that DirecTV support, HD-DVD playback, and improved support for CableCARD are all rumored features of the update.

Of course, one should keep in mind that Microsoft has not officially described Fiji as a Media Center-specific update. There seems to be something of a lockdown at Microsoft when it comes to future versions of Windows, so it could very well turn out that Fiji is actually Vista SP1 or something like that.

Either way, it looks like Windows Media Center fans will have to wait a while for new stuff on the software side of things.