When I first heard that AT&T’s U-Verse was offering a whole-house DVR solution, I was thrilled. It didn’t make sense to have seperate recorders every place you wanted to have TV in your house. You would either have to record everything multiple times, or go to specific TVs to watch specific programs. I’ve never lived anywhere with the possibility of using U-Verse, though. However, Windows Media Center affords a similar opportunity. Using Windows Vista (which comes with Windows Media Center), along with an inexpensive TV tuner card and Media Center Extenders, I have the very same setup that U-Verse would have afforded me, and I don’t even pay anything monthly for it. It’s a pretty simple setup. After installing your TV tuner card and attaching it to your cable or an antenna, run Windows Media Center. It will guide you through the setup process, and I’ve found it to be very intuitive. It will almost always set you up with no trouble at all. After setup is done, you should be able to watch and record TV on your computer. But really, nobody wants to sit around the computer all day to watch TV. That’s where Media Center Extenders come into play. I have an Xbox 360, which can double as a Media Center Extender, so I selected “Add Extender” on my Media Center PC, and it led me through the steps to connect the 360 to the Media Center. After about 3 minutes, the 360 is connected, and the exact same experience that can be had on the Media Center PC is had on the Xbox 360. You can watch live and recorded TV, listen to your music, and watch photo slideshows. When it came to adding a TV in the bedroom, I purchased a Linksys Media Center Extender DMA-2200. All it does is extend your media center and play DVDs. (It can be had on Amazon.com for as low as $110.) Setup for the DMA-2200 was as simple as it was for the Xbox 360, perhaps more simple. Now, I can watch live and recorded TV in three places at once - on my PC, in the living room via the Xbox 360, and in the bedroom via the DMA-2200. There is little to no performance hit on my computer when video is streaming to extenders, I never even notice it. I’m certainly no apologist for Microsoft, but I believe that Windows Media Center is one of the best (and certainly the most forgotten and underrated) products ever produced by Microsoft. The interface is simple and elegant, the presentation is beautiful, and it works exactly as it is supposed to. Microsoft’s eHome team should really get more respect, and maybe more say into how the rest of Windows works. (EDITED TO ADD: I now have a Sony LocationFree Station attached to the DMA-2200, so I can now access the media center from anywhere in the world, provided I have broadband.)

When I first heard that AT&T’s U-Verse was offering a whole-house DVR solution, I was thrilled. It didn’t make sense to have seperate recorders every place you wanted to have TV in your house. You would either have to record everything multiple times, or go to specific TVs to watch specific programs.

I’ve never lived anywhere with the possibility of using U-Verse, though. However, Windows Media Center affords a similar opportunity. Using Windows Vista (which comes with Windows Media Center), along with an inexpensive TV tuner card and Media Center Extenders, I have the very same setup that U-Verse would have afforded me, and I don’t even pay anything monthly for it.

It’s a pretty simple setup. After installing your TV tuner card and attaching it to your cable or an antenna, run Windows Media Center. It will guide you through the setup process, and I’ve found it to be very intuitive. It will almost always set you up with no trouble at all. After setup is done, you should be able to watch and record TV on your computer.

But really, nobody wants to sit around the computer all day to watch TV. That’s where Media Center Extenders come into play. I have an Xbox 360, which can double as a Media Center Extender, so I selected “Add Extender” on my Media Center PC, and it led me through the steps to connect the 360 to the Media Center. After about 3 minutes, the 360 is connected, and the exact same experience that can be had on the Media Center PC is had on the Xbox 360. You can watch live and recorded TV, listen to your music, and watch photo slideshows.

When it came to adding a TV in the bedroom, I purchased a Linksys Media Center Extender DMA-2200. All it does is extend your media center and play DVDs. (It can be had on Amazon.com for as low as $110.) Setup for the DMA-2200 was as simple as it was for the Xbox 360, perhaps more simple. Now, I can watch live and recorded TV in three places at once - on my PC, in the living room via the Xbox 360, and in the bedroom via the DMA-2200. There is little to no performance hit on my computer when video is streaming to extenders, I never even notice it.

I’m certainly no apologist for Microsoft, but I believe that Windows Media Center is one of the best (and certainly the most forgotten and underrated) products ever produced by Microsoft. The interface is simple and elegant, the presentation is beautiful, and it works exactly as it is supposed to. Microsoft’s eHome team should really get more respect, and maybe more say into how the rest of Windows works.

(EDITED TO ADD: I now have a Sony LocationFree Station attached to the DMA-2200, so I can now access the media center from anywhere in the world, provided I have broadband.)