Microsoft’s stealthy Windows Media Center Team posts some FAQs, HBO GO, Xfinity, and iPlayer apps appear on the Xbox 360 while Microsoft reports that its Xbox LIVE service is used more now for entertainment than for gaming, and Richard may be toting a new Windows Phone before next week’s show. Make sure to join Josh and Richard for the live recording of the next episode of the show next Tuesday, April 3rd, at 8pm ET!
Click here to download episode #171
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Show Links:
- Making MKV files play nice in WMC with mkv2vob
- Microsoft and TiVo agree to drop ongoing patent suits, we ask the world to follow
- FAQ/Known Issues for Windows Media Center in Win8 Consumer Preview
- KIngsley WTV Converter
- Xbox 360 Comcast, HBO and MLB.tv apps arrive today on consoles used more for video than games
- BBC iPlayer launches on Xbox LIVE
- Xbox now used more for online entertainment than online gaming
- Will Your Phone Get Smoked?
- Kinect Controlled Media Center App from Amulet Devices
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The intro music is a song called Rogue by Raw Stiles
Good podcast guys. I do disagree with you, however, regarding your assessment of the Verge taking cheap shots or unfairly covering the whole windows phone challenge thing. They really covered it exactly like every other tech site did. But my hunch is you’re specifically referring to an article they later wrote called “Smoke and Mirrors: the microsoft phone challenge”. (or something to that effect) If you had read the article, you would have realized that the point of the piece was to call out how the contest was rigged, but rigged in a good way. The reason it’s “rigged” is not because of anything devious but rather that windows phone is designed to do common tasks extremely quickly. In other words, it was actually quite complementary of windows phone and it’s design.
Oh, one other comment: you guys were mentioning MKV’s, codec packs, etc. I recently ripped a good share of my DVD and blu-ray library and struggled with what codecs to use. (I also wanted to avoid installing any codecs on my HTPC) I did try mkvtovob, but I wasn’t able to get it to rewind/fast forward very well nor would it resume playback where I left off. For those reasons, I ended up using dvrmstoolbox to convert MKV’s to WTV. It had the advantage of transport controls (fast forward and rewind) as well as resuming playback – even across extenders.
Anyway, it’s entirely possible I was doing something wrong when using mkvtovob, but I thought I’d mention my experience with WTV because it works well for me and seems to have some advantages over other formats.