I second that. There are millions of potential users if they created an MCE plugin for VUDU.
The irony is that I used to work for VUDU, now I work for a manufacturer or Media Center based servers.

I also use a Canon, HF100 to shoto home movies in 1080p AVCHD. I was surprised to see that I could simply plug the camera into my WIn7 Media Center and received a Media Center prompt to import the HD files and any still pictures (with the option to delete off the camera when complete.) The whole process was completely simple.

I knew Win7 could play the files natively, but I always used Windows Explorer on a seperate PC to manually copy the files over. This easy integration within the Media Center interface was simple enough for my wife to use.

The bulk of the prize goes to the hard working installer, in this case Vision Audio, not so much the home owner.

For full details on the content and prize package:
http://www.microsoft.com/ceinstaller/content/installs/uic/Overview.aspx

"7:38PM Dustin Andrew of Odessy Texas"

It's Dustin Anderson of Odessa, please correct.

More bad news:

Kaleidescape loses appeal.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351510,00.asp

Great post, I would love some ZUNE HD integration with Media Center. I've never owned a ZUNE because my car has OEM iPod integration but this would be enough for me to ditch the iPod and go line-in for the car.

To those using the Media Center client complaining about picture quality, not sure if it's the same in Win7 as it is in Vista Media Center but the Netflix plugin would incorrectly set the video stream to 500kbps although I have a much faster connection. You could manually set this to 1500kbps by hitting CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-S during playback to bring up the settings menu. This provided huge improvements in PQ for me and others.

You may need to have Media Center in windowed mode for CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-S to work, and it may take a few tries.

I'll jump in here again with shameless promotion.

Mark hits the nail on the head here, there is a LOT to know ahead of time in order to properly configure a dedicated Windows Media Center system to run reliably. Even our own authorized dealers make mistakes (such as automatic updates enabled) which will bring a system down.

Before working for a Media Center OEM, I worked at Kaleidescape where you basically plugged it in and it worked, little to no configuration. It can be this easy because it pretty much does one thing, storage/playback of your DVDs. It doesn't do TV or Photos or Mp3s or Blu-ray, just one thing really well which makes it easier to setup. My microwave does just one thing as well and that was easy to setup too.

Media Center is far more powerful, but like in Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility" The user must take it upon themselves to get highly educated on the topic or go with a systems provider like us ( Niveus www.niveusmedia.com ), S1Digital, or Lifeware. These companies take the headache out of qualifying hardware, testing hot fixes, patches, drivers, service packs and just sell and support dedicated media servers that just work.

You probably won't see a new crop of extenders, but you will likely see DRM relaxed on encrypted CableCard recordings allowing them to be played on other Media Centers and not just extenders.

Hello Ed,

Sorry for the shameless promotion, I can't find a way to Private Message someone.

I can definitely address your "not good looking HTPC" concerns, as well as explain the differences from Vista Media Center to Win 7 Media Center.
www.niveusmedia.com

Give me a call at 510-687-0717 option 2 for sales.