In part2 we established the Win XP/MC ’05 PC, and that works great!  More smiles than dinner time at the Wickenheiser’s on Hamburger Helper night.

Here are my first baby steps into Xbox 360 extender and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

The initial connection was easy as pie.  Using 360’s Media blade simply select Media Center.  Follow instructions that will involve writing down a key code and then going to your computer and downloading extender software including Media Connect.

Once this is done you now have media bliss.  But not without a few small wrinkles and one rather big stinking problem!  There’s a sense of satisfaction to seeing the Media Center desktop on your big TV if you’ve only seen it on a monitor, it’s a bit like the first time you ever used Remote Desktop.  But you have to get your head around the fact that this isn’t Remote Desktop or VNC (Remote Desktop and VNC are tools that let you take control of another computer in a window on your computer).  You’re using a separate instance of the WinMC OS through Media Connect.

MP3s work great!  I told WinMC where my music was and it was all properly filed and compiled into a library.  I can surf the library through the 360 the same as if I were sitting at the PC, the album cover thumbnails were downloaded automatically to the folders for the appropriate albums.  You even have the ability to make your own album cover art for each album you have in your library. 

Here’s how from AVSforum’s amazing FAQ on WinMC.  Simply add an image called folder.jpg to the folder that contains the album. 

Picture viewer:  Obviously the closer in resolution the images you’re viewing are to the TV’s native res, the better they look.  Now this is how to look at baby pictures when the relatives come over or re-live last summer’s camping trip. 

Updating content to the extender:  This is where things get a bit sticky.  It’s probably my own fault for thinking in terms of Remote Desktop when I’m using the extender.  But you can’t simply add content (such as images, music or videos) to your instance of Windows MC and expect to see it over on the extender.  It must be added separately on the extender.  Use the Info button on the Xbox 360 remote control to bring up Windows MC’s “add” menu.  That should save you about five minutes of aggravation.  It’s conceivable to have two separate catalogues of pictures/music/videos between 360 and the ‘puter itself.