CHAITANYA: Improvements in Windows 7 Media Center

There are a host of improvements in the spanking new operating system of Microsoft - Windows 7. One important multimedia component of this OS is Windows Media Center and there are several improvements and new features added to make it even better.

WMC desktop gadget

Widgets have been an integral component of Windows since Vista, and Windows 7 continues the tradition. One of the interesting gadgets present in Windows 7 is the WMC desktop gadget, which lets you stay tuned to what is available through Media Center. This widget displays recently recorded TV show, sports, news programs, popular series, etc. You can also play a recorded program, music, or an internet streaming program, directly from the gadget.
To start the gadget, right-click an empty space on the desktop, select Gadgets, and choose Windows Media Center from the available gadget list. The number of new TV recordings can also be configured, as also the number of Internet shows per channel, the transition time between categories and the channels to be displayed.

New Internet TV

Contrary to popular belief, Windows Media Center does not need a TV Tuner to be installed in your PC. You can watch internet streaming channels with Windows 7 WMC's new Internet TV feature. There are several genres of channels to choose from, including TV series, news, music channels, movies, lifestyles, sports, etc. The good thing is that Internet TV is free, thanks to it being advertisement supported. You can view the Internet channels in the Guide and if there is a TV Tuner installed in your system, then these are displayed toward the end of the list after TV channels.

Gaming via WMC

The new WMC lets you launch Windows games from inside the application. You can find the games icons in the Extras Library, which you can click to launch the games.