LAS VEGAS - Several folks have hit the @thegreenbutton on Twitter asking for more details about the Media Room 2.0 / Windows 7 Media Center integration announced during Microsoft's keynote on Wednesday night.
Microsoft's John Hargarve demos in in the video below.
Here's some background for those of you not familiar with Media Room:
Media Room is licensed by service providers (aka "operators") to power experiences from a set-top box. In the US, it is the technology that powers AT&T's U-verse offering.
Media Room 2.0 is the new version, and it offers the ability to integrate other Windows 7 Media Center PCs, Xbox 360's and mobile devices in with the STB. The end result can be some very cool experiences, as we see in the demo. For this integration to happen, the operator has to choose to offer it to and enable it for their customers. On the Media Center itself, an app has to be downloaded and installed. Operators have yet to announce their Media Room 2.0 strategies.
In the demo, Microsoft uses a fictional operator (ContosoTV) to show how their STB experience, Media Center and Mobile experiences integrate, how you can access operator-provided services from the Operator on Media Center, and how the operator's brand can be included on the Media Center.