Custom Media Center Experience with Windows Embedded Standard 7

Win7 Embedded has been going around for OEMs for a while now in the hopes that they will leverage the OS for an optimized Media Center experience. What I find ironic about the below video demonstrating this is that Microsoft for so long has refused to support the changing of the interface’s look & feel, but now they are going a different route. I’m a fan though!

 

Windows Embedded Standard 7 allows Connected Media Devices manufacturers to leverage Media Center experience in their next generation of set-top boxes. Windows Embedded provides resources to allow them to customize this experience to make it unique. In this video you will discover what can be done to rebrand the experience, customize Media Center start menu with MCML or Silverlight and add custom applications and strips in the start menu.

MSDN Blogs

  • If we buy a device with W7

    If we buy a device with W7 Embedded could we make the same changes as well?

    • nightryder21 wrote:If we buy

      [quote=nightryder21]

      If we buy a device with W7 Embedded could we make the same changes as well?

      [/quote]

      i don’t think so. from my understanding, the customization tools are OEM only, although more important items have leaked before 🙂

      • Mike Garcen

        [quote=Mike Garcen]

        [quote=nightryder21]

        If we buy a device with W7 Embedded could we make the same changes as well?

        [/quote]

        i don’t think so. from my understanding, the customization tools are OEM only, although more important items have leaked before 🙂

        [/quote]

         

        Why can’t you just use the tools we already have? When I first saw MCE in Embedded in that first video, that’s what first came to mind ‘oh look, they modded the menu with Media Center Studio, and added a bunch of plugins’. It was different enough that when I showed it to a friend of mine, he thought it was a new version of MCE, and he was mad because he’d just finished setting his up.

  • I’ve been playing around with

    I’ve been playing around with W7 embedded trying out different set top box configurations. Unless a manufacturer does something really different, ctrl-alt-del still works within an embedded set top box system. After setting up a system I was still able to add a few plugins and surf the web (albeit using IE8).

    • Oldmajor wrote:I’ve been

      [quote=Oldmajor]

      I’ve been playing around with W7 embedded trying out different set top box configurations. Unless a manufacturer does something really different, ctrl-alt-del still works within an embedded set top box system. After setting up a system I was still able to add a few plugins and surf the web (albeit using IE8).

      [/quote]

      Most will disable that.  It is an option in the setup.

  • Wait so eventually there is

    Wait so eventually there is going to be a webcam app inside of WMC embedded; that is awesome

  • It doesn’t run within Media

    It doesn’t run within Media Center, it is just launched from Media Center.

  • Is there any reason why these

    Is there any reason why these same scripts can’t be used to modify the desktop version of Media Center? 

    I didn’t see Live TV in the TV strip does embedded support live TV or is the O.S. for extender use only?

    I had the trial version of embedded and pitched it because I did not want to install it on an ATOM box I have if I would have to reinstall every 90 days. I might check MSDN to see if there is a version without that limitation.

    • PAPutzback wrote:Is there any

      [quote=PAPutzback]

      Is there any reason why these same scripts can’t be used to modify the desktop version of Media Center? 

      [/quote]

      No reason.

      [quote=PAPutzback]

      I didn’t see Live TV in the TV strip does embedded support live TV or is the O.S. for extender use only?

      [/quote]

      It supports Live TV and from CES we saw an WES7 with an InfiniTV-6

  • Can this be leveraged into an

    Can this be leveraged into an MCE extender?

    We need new ones!

    CFC

    • CFC wrote:

      Can this be

      [quote=CFC]

      Can this be leveraged into an MCE extender?

      We need new ones!

      CFC

      [/quote]

      No its is just an embedded version of the media center on your desktop OS. Its has a lighter profile and the user wont be able to mess around on the desktop. Also there is no way to close it (ie by using the “X” close button). It would basically be just like any set top box on the market

  • Man, I really want to play

    Man, I really want to play around with Win7 Embedded. 🙂