Windows 7 Media Center Gets Internet TV, Netflix and Adobe Flash Support
by Michael Healy @ 9:30 am on October 21st, 2009 in streaming tv with 30 Comments and Permalink
It seems that Microsoft has finally taken Internet TV out of beta and released a final version to public users. Not only does this give Windows 7 Media Center users support for Internet TV but also adds Netflix and Adobe Flash support to the package. Netflix was an entirely expected addition with the retail release of Windows 7 finally upon us as Windows Vista users have had access to Netflix for quite some time now. What wasn’t as expected however is the addition of Adobe Flash support, required to take advantage of the addition of some full length episodic content.
Upon first entering Internet TV from the main start menu, listed under the TV strip, you’ll be required to agree to the first in a series of end user agreements. Several sections of the new application require you to agree to extensive user agreements, a small price to pay to finally get the functionality Media Center needs to stay relevant in a world of ever more powerful cable and satellite company provided DVR boxes.
The new Internet TV application’s most apparent change is an extremely improved interface in terms of both design and functionality. The most popular shows are listed in a large format at the top of the interface, allowing you to quickly select and watch full episodes from a number of channels including CBS, PBS and the Zune Videocast library. This new interface is very reminiscent of the menu systems featured on the Xbox gaming consoles from Microsoft and it’s likely the company is finally utilizing it’s stable of talented interface developers for Media Center projects (or they’re at least talking to one another).
Scrolling down to the lower menus you’ll find a listing of previews for upcoming shows, available channels featuring full episodic content, top shows and a full lineup of news content. Hopefully Microsoft will be working on developing relationships which other networks such as NBC, ABC and Fox who’ve already shown a willingness to develop relationships with other internet broadcasting services such as Hulu. Here you’ll also find a listing for the popular Netflix movie service.
Entering the Netflix application you’ll need a Netflix unlimited subscription to enable downloading and viewing movies from your Windows 7 Media Center. Just agree to the Netflix user agreement and enter your username and password to enable Netflix viewing. You’ll also see a popular Netflix movies strip in the main Internet TV interface listing a handful of popular selections from the service.
To the actual meat of the application, streaming full episodic content, the first thing you’ll notice is the addition of Adobe Flash support to the Windows 7 Media Center program. This is important being easily the most popular format for distribution of broadcast network television over the internet. Most networks are now providing flash episodes through their corporate websites as well as other third party services. For years Microsoft has resisted this addition to the Media Center arsenal but it’s an integral part of the streaming TV revolution and was only an eventuality if Media Center was to remain the product it aspires to be.
After updating Media Center to include Adobe Flash you’ll be able to select recent episodes from a show listing, whether by channel or show. Each channel even includes a few sorting options to help you locate the program your interested in, though the listings are per channel. Perhaps as time progresses we’ll see a longer timeline of shows available as the product matures, currently only the most recent episodes are available. This, of course, is a vast improvement over the previous Internet TV offering however.
Launching an episode you’ll be presented with the customary commercial introduction along with an episode name and description. Selecting the content box will enabled full screen content viewing once the commercial has finished.
Typically this is about the time we get around to the downside and in this case it’s downright huge. In an era of HD everything and high quality video even on sites like Youtube the quality of content provided by Microsoft’s Internet TV application is still utter crap. There’s no sidestepping or candy coating the situation to be had. Watching NCIS or How I Met Your Mother inside Internet TV is almost painful, especially for those accustomed to watching those shows in HD.
We had hoped that the addition of Flash to the Windows 7 Media Center arsenal would lend itself to an improvement in video quality and perhaps it will in the future. For those truly desperate to catch the latest episodes of their favorite shows from the handful of partners provided there are much better methods to get your content fix. The convenience can’t be beat, free streaming internet TV from your couch, but the video quality seems almost defeatist.
