Ian's Digital Lifestyle

Tuesday, October 09, 2007 - Posts

I got a Zune!

This week I picked up a Zune (or Zune 30 as its going to be called). Zunes are not available in the UK but I had the opportunity to get this one and took it.

Most readers will know about the Zune but I thought I would write down some of my first impressions.

The first thing you notice is that the packaging is much better than most Microsoft products, it comes in a nice box with slide out draw, it's a well thought out design, much better than the impossible to to open without industrial equipment or cutting your finger off Xbox accessory packaging.

The actual Zune device is very nice, with a solid feel. Installing the Zune desktop software was a problem as Zune is not supported in the UK, so after a quick search I found a workaround and I got the software installed. The software is nothing special just a re-branded version of Windows Media Player, hopefully the V2 version will be better and have some kind of support for downloading podcasts like iTunes.

Syncing up was straight forward and I have my main Media Center PC syncing to the Zune and my UMPC as a 2nd syncing point.

In use the device is great, it is very reminiscent of Media Center with the pivots and galleries. It was great on the way to work listening to a random selection of my music, some of which I have not listened to in years. My next task is to sort some playlists out, on my Media Center PC I have all the family's albums including my wife's music (James Blunt and Elton John) and stuff for the kids so the random selection was great but it is dangerous driving whilst listening to James Blunt as it is know to make me fall asleep if I listen to more that one of his tracks :) So I think I should create a driving playlist.

It's great having all my pictures on the Zune, the automatic syncing means I will always have some recent pictures of the kids to show off.

I tried converting a DVD to WMV then getting that on to the Zune which worked great, and video playback on the Zune is very good. I am looking forward to the V2 software so that I can sync Recorded TV with it.

Overall I have been pleased with it, and am looking forward to the v2 software

Does anybody have any advice for syncing podcasts with a Zune? What Podcatcher do you recommend with it (and don't say iTunes!)

I have also opened up a Zune Forum on TheDigitalLifestyle.com

Posted Oct 09 2007, 04:31 PM by Iand with 4 comment(s)

Niveus Media Center Companion Review

Niveus Media Center Companion software is something I have been waiting for since I got my Samsung Q1 UMPC. At first the companion software looks like a remote control solution for Media Center but it is more that that.

You install the server part of the package on your Media Center PC and the client part on any number of other PCs. You then have complete control over your Media Center PC from the companion PC. While the program does have a virtual remote control what it does is much more impressive.

On the UMPC or laptop you can go in to My TV browse your recorded TV, get the metadata of the program and play the file and then on your Media Center PC the selected program plays. No need to touch a remote control or interrupt what you are doing on Media Center.

The same goes for music you can remotely browse you library play tracks and cue up tracks. You can select pictures, slideshows and videos. The best thing for me is that fact that the user interface is similar to Media Center and it works on the small screen of my UMPC and also on a larger laptop screen.

When I started up the Companion software on my UMPC I could browse the Zones available on the network. A Zone is a Media Center host PC so if you have the software installed on multiple Media Center PCs you can control each one separately including all Extender sessions (which is great as I mostly use Media Center on my Xbox 360)

So if you have Media Center PC connected to your Home Theater you can control that PC at the same time as controlling what music is playing in your kitchen via a kitchen Media Center PC. I should also say that the processing of connecting to a zone is very simple, the companion software lists all available host pcs and you just click on it to get started, one issue is that it will connect to any Media Center PC with the host software installed without any form of authentication which for me is no problem but I guess some people would prefer some kind of security like the way an Xbox 360 connects to Windows Media Center

Once you are connected to a Zone you are presented with a interface which is very reminiscent of XP Media Center 2005. Listed is My Videos, My Pictures, My TV, My Music, My Movies and My Remote.

Selecting My TV lists all your recorded TV files, again in a similar style to XP Media Center 2005 you then simply click on the file you want to play, you are presented with the meta data of the show and you can click on play to start the show playing.

Music is a very nice feature, you can browse your collection by Albums, Artist, Genres and Playlists. Once thing I liked doing is use the companion software to cue up music, so you don't need to be in the room that the Media Center PC is located. You could have the PC linked to your home audio system and from anywhere in the house (with wifi) you can browse and select music, no need to turn on the monitor or TV

My Remote presents a virtual Media Center remote so you can do everything you do with a remote but without having to be within Infra Red range.

The program also tells you what is currently playing on Media Center, so if you have cued up a selection of music you can see what is playing, including the Album Art.

All this means you do not need to turn on your monitor to listen to music , just use your laptop or UMPC to set it up.

One problem I did find with it is that the present screen resolutions did not match the resolutiuon of my UMPC, running on the a Sony UX1 at 1024x600 I had to run the software in a windows and I would have preferred it full screen, but after speaking to Niveus they pointed out a full screen option which is exactly what I was wanted .This software would work great with a wall mounted touch screen PC as it could control all your Media Center session from anywhere in the house.

Niveus Media Center Companion is in beta at the moment and no prices have been announced yet. You can download the beta from

http://niveusmedia.com/software/Companion/companion3.html

If you have a laptop or a UMPC I can see this being of real interest, and if your setting up multiple Media Centers around the home this is the idea way of controlling them from one location.