The latest version of Media Centre offers a host of useful features.
Unlike XP (which needed a separate edition) but as with Vista, premium editions of Windows 7 include the Media Centre application as standard. This suite of tools offers an interface through which you can access all of your photos, videos and music in a TV-friendly format. If you have a TV tuner card it can run that too so that you have all of your entertainment needs in a single package. The screens are designed to be used with a remote control so that you can create a home entertainment system for your lounge, and there’s an on-screen keyboard feature that allows you to still use the search function even when you don’t have a conventional keyboard attached.
When you first run Media Centre a short wizard will take you through the steps needed to configure it on your system. This enables you to set up any additional hardware such as TV and radio tuners. It also lets you set the optimum display settings for running the program and configure your speaker system. Once you’ve done that you can select which libraries you want to add to the Media Centre interface so that it knows where to find your music and other files.
Once you have the program configured, you’ll find it straightforward to operate. Use the main menu to select the relevant type of media – scroll buttons appear when you hover the cursor. Play music and it presents an album wall of all your cover artwork overlaid with details of the track you’re playing. You can switch to a visualisation if you prefer and there are shuffle and repeat buttons over on the left. Player controls fade out unless the cursor is over the window. You can use the back button in the top left hand corner to navigate between the various screens.
(For a full guide to Windows 7, order the Essential Windows 7 Handbook, on sale now from newsagents and online.)
