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Windows 7 for XP ProfessionalsUpdating Support Skills from XP to Windows 7by Bink.nu's Raymond Comvalius
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Microsoft will be releasing a beta of their new Internet TV plug-in today (US only), it should be automatically downloaded to your PC and will show in the TV+Movies strip. The video content will come from MSN Video, so you might have seen links to some of the content off your Hotmail account or after a search on MSN. Over 100 hours of content is supposed to be up, and I assume more will come as time goes on.
Since I have been playing with it over the past week, I must say that it is the most impressive Internet TV application I have used so far. The main reason I feel that way is because it is one of the few that actually have a UI that provides easy navigation, especially with a remote.
Video quality seems to depend on the specific content, some of which looks very nice and some of which is so bad I wouldn’t bother attempting to watch. There are a few Halo 3 trailers that looks pretty good (silently above SD), but I watched the premiere of Journeyman and it looked like it was about 320x240 at 400kbps. That is clearly not something that I wanted to watch through a Media Center Extender on an HDTV.
Content is actually pretty good for only having 100 hours up. Full seasons of Arrested Development are up, content from other joint-MSN properties like MSNBC and FOX Sports, a number of concerts from bands/groups like John Mayer, the Pussycat Dolls, Oasis, Elton John, and more. There is also select content from National Geographic, History, HGTV, bio, A&E, and more.
All of the content is ad supported with the help of YuMe Networks, which actually works nicely from what I have seen so far. Now, I’m not sure how much of the advertising was live but basically after the video is done streaming I got a quick ad. 90% of the time in my testing, it was a Xbox 360 ad or some sort. I except more to show up, and I really don't think it will be bad at all.
Overall, I’m impressed with the Internet TV plug-in just as I’m impressed with the Sports Lounge that was launched at the beginning of the year. As long as Microsoft continues to add content, I can see myself using this often. For a platform that gets very few feature updates on a regular basis, these plug-ins do a pretty good job filling the void.
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I like it as well, just wish some shows that I watched like some of the history channel shows, whould show the full episode. MSFT could also work with NBC, ABC, and SciFi whom all are offering some of their shows online already.