Posted by Scott on May 22, 2009
Microsoft recently recently released/pushed out a new add-on for interacting with Netflix, allowing for the viewing of “instant” movies from within the Media Center 10ft. UI.
One quirk that you may run into is that videos are not playing after installation. You might need to break out the keyboard, as Silverlight will have opened a dialog behind the Media Center window asking you to enable protected content. Once that hurdle is crossed, it should be smooth sailing.
Netflix in Windows Media Center
[Microsoft Windows: Netflix in Windows Media Center]
[via Hacking Netflix]
Posted by Scott on December 1, 2008
Microsoft has just released the Web Platform Installer (RC1). What is the Web Platform Installer you ask? From Microsoft:
“The Web Platform Installer (Web PI) is a simple tool that installs Microsoft’s entire Web Platform, including IIS7, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and the .NET Framework. Using the Web Platform Installer’s user interface, you can choose to install either specific products or the entire Microsoft Web Platform onto your computer. The Web PI also helps keep your products up to date by always offering the latest additions to the Web Platform.”
The Web PI certainly looks promising as a quick ramp-up when setting up a development environment (or even a one-off server environment).
Posted by Scott on July 12, 2008
Windows Media Center cannot play this DVD. Please Restart Windows Media Center and insert the DVD again.
What a great error message. I’m not sure what update I could have installed that would prevent me from playing DVDs in my Vista Media Center PC, but one of them removed that ability. The fix(es)? Re-enable UAC or map your DVD folders to a network drive. Why this only affects local media (and not network media) is anyone’s guess. I opted for re-enabling UAC as this seemed easier than remapping 4 external USB drives.
Posted by Scott on March 7, 2008
There is a new kid on the block when it comes to Netflix and Vista Media Center integration, and that is MyNetflix. Having had a chance to play around with this a bit, I can safely say that for a “beta” release, I’m completely on board with the functionality provided. Perhaps one of the most interesting features on this Media Center add-on is the ability to view “Watch It Now” movies from Netflix. I’ve written in the past about the problems that I have had with the “Watch It Now” feature on my Media Center, and I’m happy elated to report that “Watch It Now” works perfectly through the MyNetflix plug-in.
That said, there is one small complaint that I do have about the plug-in in it’s current form and it relates to full screen viewing. When viewing a “Watch It Now” movie, I feel it would be beneficial to have some type of control that is accessible from the Media Center interface to allow for entering full screen. Short of that, MyNetflix is a winner.
MyNetflix can be downloaded from the Software page at Anthony Park.