Windows Media Center in Windows 7 Beta 1 in HD Action
The time is here! As promised, I have uploaded a number of videos demonstrating some of the new looks and features in the latest version of Windows Media Center in Windows 7 Beta 1. Did I mention it’s all in HD?
Main Menu
The first and most obvious change in the Windows 7 is the new main menu. Everything has been magnified…especially the fonts. The effect is nice and allows for better, more visible representations of the underlying features. Perhaps the most practical of these is the Now Playing icon preview (not shown) which is considerable larger.
The Music and Picture Walls
One of the better eye candy improvements is the addition of the “music wall” and the “picture wall”. Both of these are effects available when listening to music and are, on the whole, much more interesting then the VMC alternatives.
Live TV w/ Mini Guide
While functioning the same way, the mini guide now contains many more features allowing you to view virtually all show information without leaving the TV viewing screen. Viewing other programing is also more efficient with addition of a multiline view that is nearly identical to the way you view the information in the guide. Not too shabby!
Clickable progress slider.
One issue that has received its fair share of complaints is the lack of a clickable progress bar that most media players have. Not having this feature made a certain amount of sense: media center is geared for the 10 foot user who is probably trying to escape the mouse rather than find new things for it to do. But, at the end of the day, media center is PC software and adding the feature makes more sense. The result is a nice touch. This is available wherever the slider is visible including while watching Live TV.
Lastly, the new guide.
The guide has received quite a few updates. Microsoft has integrated many of their online features into the main guide. Unfortunately these features remain paltry. ABC On Demand, for example, goes to preview clips of shows…great…just what I always wanted. The guide also comes with a color coding option for show categories, which I enabled for this example, as well as the new speed scrolll…a very nice touch indeed.
Well, that’s it for now. I will post a more thorough review shortly and identify the things I like most, along with a few things that could be improved. If you are on a slow connection and can’t handle the HD streams above, feel free to browse my videos on YouTube directly.