You know we really thought Microsoft learned its lesson back in February when the first wave of the analog channels went dark, but we were wrong. A quick trip to The Green Button shows that the hottest topic this weekend is the fact that any ATSC channel that changed frequencies on Friday, doesn't work anymore. The exact cause isn't known, but what is, is that while anyone who has a $50 digital converter box can just rescan to find the channels at their new home, Media Center users have to go well beyond anything your mom could do to get all the channels back. Our guess is that instead of looking at the PSIP data of discovered channels, Media Center uses guide data to map the frequencies to the channel and this data wasn't updated on Friday. On Vista you'll want to first manually delete the channels in your atscchannels.xml file, then you can add the missing channels via a menu (Settings>TV>Guide>Add Missing Channel) -- Windows 7 users don't need to edit the file first. You will need to know the new frequency when doing this, which you can find on Antennaweb.org. Or you can just wait a few days until Microsoft gets its act together, it isn't like there's anything on TV in the Summer anyways.

Access to premium HD on computers has eluded most for way to long, so as soon as we heard that it was finally possible for anyone to add a CableCARD tuner to just about any Media Center, we just knew we had to try it for ourselves, and more importantly, share with you exactly how to do it. This doesn't really require any hacking, or anything illegal for that matter -- we're not lawyers -- but it isn't cheap. The internal version of the ATI Digital Cable Tuner pictured above can be found new on eBay for about $195, or new from PC vendors like Cannon PC for just under $300. If that doesn't seem like a bad deal to you and you already have an HTPC up to the challenge, then you should join us on our journey to HD bliss by clicking through.

HTPC fans were devastated when it was revealed that only OEM PC builders would have the privilege of building Vista Media Center PCs with CableCARD support, but hope is here: it looks like a few members of The Green Button forum have figured out how to build their own CableCARD ready HTPC. There's two barriers to overcome, which unfortunately still make it more difficult than just picking up an internal or external ATI Digital Cable Tuner, but they're not terrible: would-be system builders just need to score an OCUR tuner product ID number and use a BIOS contains the correct OSFR table. No one's figured out how to tweak just any BIOS yet, but apparently most ASUS P5Q motherboards work fine -- so really you just need to score some used CableCARD tuners off eBay and ask the seller for the PID from their computer. Or you could throw caution to the wind and plug in the generic PID of 263DJ-2Y9YT-6X9G6-W28DB-697TF, which may or may not work. Anyone feeling brave enough to grab a new mobo and CableCARD tuner and give this a shot?

Sure there's other ways to get bits like Hulu and Netflix on your Windows Media Center and Media Center Extender interface, but since PlayOn media server's already set up to add streaming video from those and other services like ESPN and YouTube, why not slide them all in at once? If you've already dropped the cash for a PlayOn install or are trying out a demo, the vmcPlayIt add-in serves as a Vista Media Center front end for all those video sources. 32- and 64-bit versions are available for the low low price of free, if this matches your setup it should be worth a try.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

We'll say one thing for our friends in Redmond, they might not always be on the ball but they do recovery quickly. Not even 48 hours after we reported the problem of missing guide data for ATSC channels that no longer have an NTSC counterparts, Microsoft came up with a interim fix that should restore guide data to all those pre-TV Pack Windows Media Center users. As we suspected, the issue had something to do with the old analog channel requirement and the root source of the guide data -- you didn't think Microsoft hand coded all that information did you? Evidently one of the sources of data used for both NTSC and ASTC channels dried up, post analog shutoff, and it caught the eHome team off guard. The good news is that all should be restored when your HTPC requests new data and if your like us -- you know the impatient type -- then a quick visit to "Tasks --> Settings --> TV --> Guide --> Get Latest Guide Listings" should do the trick. The full response from Redmond after the break.

Media Center fans woke up to a rude awakening late last week when they realized that many of their OTA HD channels were missing guide data. After a number of reports at The Green Button -- where Microsoft is usually very receptive to programming data problems -- it become apparent that almost all the channels missing data were the very same ones where the broadcasters stayed on schedule and shut off their analog transmitters in February. We dropped a quick note to Microsoft to see what the deal is, but while we wait for a response we theorized that this might have something to do with the way OTA HD used to work in Windows Media Center Edition. Back in those days you had to have an analog tuner in order to add an HD tuner, so it makes some sense that the two were linked together, at least at some point. Further lending to this theory is the fact that those running the infamous TV Pack aren't affected and nor are those running a Windows 7 Beta -- MS completely rewrote how the tuners work in the newer releases. Now if you'll please excuse us while we go manually schedule all of our recordings, you know, like on an old VCR.

One thing we know for sure is that the entire way Microsoft handled the TV Pack (code named Fiji) update was not well received by the enthusiast community. The primary reason for the disgust was the fact that the TV Pack update was OEM only (ie the likes of Dell and HP only), meaning those on the outside looking in felt slighted. The overall feeling seemed to be that Microsoft was once again pandering to the big OEMs -- like in the case of the original MCE or Digital Cable Tuners -- while leaving the build-your-own HTPC crowd on the sidelines. But here we are six months later and to our knowledge no OEMs are actually shipping Windows Media Center PCs with the TV Pack installed and we think we know why. At first we have to admit we had no clue what was going on, but then recently Microsoft proudly announced that unlike Windows Beta's before it, Windows 7 was only going to have one beta before going straight to release candidate 1 (RC1).

There were plenty of people upset -- including us -- when they discovered that they could no longer automatically skip commercials after upgrading their Vista Media Center with the TV Pack. Well we're very pleased to let you know that our assertion that Microsoft broke our favorite third party application on purposed, was unfounded. You see we recently got the word from the developer behind DVRMSToolBox that the Windows 7 Media Center SDK was in hand and that it won't be long before we'll be able to can skip commercials without ever picking up the remote -- nice.

We've already seen boxee for Windows previewed, but if you've been toying with the idea of integrating it into your Vista Media Center setup, you'll probably want to give the read link a look. In short, the step-by-step guide walks you gently through the integration procedure in order to provide easy access to built-in Windows functions (recorded shows, for instance) as well as boxee's portal to the best content the web has to offer. Have a look at the results video just after the break.

Aw, snap! Just over a month after DirecTV went and killed its totally promising HDPC-20 tuner, in flies this. DISH Network is apparently gearing up to unveil some sort of HD-capable DISH-to-Windows Media Center liaison, with current test setups involving a modified ViP 211K receiver attached via Ethernet to a PC. The initiative is being coined Draco, and we're even told that dual tuner setups (most likely using dual boxes for now) are in action and working beautifully. It's tough to tell if this is the same project that was rumored way back in April of last year, but it's safe to say DISH is hoping to pick up the pieces that DirecTV inexplicably dropped. Windows Media Center, you've just regained our attention.

Now here's a novel concept. The Amulet Remote, designed specifically for Vista Media Center but likely adaptable to other setups, is a voice-activated controller that enables users to record a series, watch a recorded show, skip to a new playlist or queue up a photo slideshow by simply hooting and hollering. The built-in microphone is there to take whatever vocal abuse you feel is warranted, and there are even a few actual buttons if you're still fond of the tried-and-true approach. It's expected to ship in March for a palatable $299; have a look at what it can do for you in the video after the break.

[Thanks, Vanbrothers]

One of the reasons why Microsoft's Media Center is so attractive is because of the extender functionality. It allows you to enjoy just about all the same content in every room of your house, without the need to buy more than one HTPC. But with variety sometimes brings hard choices, so this motivated us to start a quest to find the best Media Center Extender. While the Xbox 360 is the obvious choice for most, it isn't the best solution for everyone. So we started out by comparing it to every extender out there. But since our initial shoot out, a few more Extenders have made their way to market, and the most recent addition is the Samsung MediaLive Media Adapter. At first glance it seems that this is the perfect solution for anyone with a Samsung TV, and while the tight integration, great price, and diminutive size is attractive, you'll have to click though to find out why we're still on the hunt for the perfect Windows Media Center Extender.

It's been almost two months since we got our hands on the Media Center TV Pack (aka Fiji) and although CEDIA has come and gone, we haven't really seen much fanfare from Microsoft touting the new update for Media Center -- we haven't even seen as much as a change log or feature list. The good news is that when big companies fail to spell out what's new in an update, usually someone in the community steps up and fills in the gaps. This time around it's PC Mag, which has really done a great job of not only spelling out most of the new features, but the bugs as well. So instead of holding your breath waiting on big blue to clue you in if this update is worth all the fuss, head on over and give it a read.

Home automation/remote control applications for the iPhone/iTouch are a dime a dozen and most of them are pretty boring. We had the same feeling about the first version of the Intelliphone application when we saw it, but the latest version is a bit more interesting. What makes it more interesting is that not only can you use the ugly interface as a remote to control your Windows Media Center, but now you can also use it as a mouse and keyboard. More importantly this means you can take that mouse hidden in the cushions of the couch or the keyboard under the coffee table and put them back in the office where they belong. Because now, for $24, when that annoying dialog box pops up on your Vista Media Center, you can just pull out your iPod Touch and click OK.

[Via The Digital Livestyle]