Gordon Laing

Hallelujah! Microsoft has finally admitted what enthusiasts have known for ages: with the right software the Xbox games console can make a fantastic home media player.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced its Windows Media Center Extender technology which, with the help of new network appliances, will allow you to stream videos, photos and music from your PC to TVs in your home.

The good news is that Microsoft is also going to deliver a software title which will allow the Xbox to become such an appliance. The bad news is you'll need a PC running Windows XP Media Center.

This is the latest in a long line of announcements which bring a warm smile to your face, before slapping it.

Sony's Roomlink network media appliance was another product which sounded great until you were told it only worked with Vaio PCs. Fine if you own a Vaio, but you're not going to invest in another PC just so you can use a particular company's network player.

It's the same situation with Windows XP Media Center. Don't get me wrong, I love its user interface, which has to be one of the slickest takes on a home entertainment PC yet.

In fact, I'll go as far as to say I'd be first in line to buy a copy and upgrade my existing Windows XP Professional system. After all, I've got a PC with plenty of spare disk space which could double-up as a media server.

But that's not allowed. Windows XP Media Center Edition is only available on pre configured PCs to ensure "the best user experience", which means you can't buy a copy like an earlier Plus-Pack, even if you're willing to accept installation hassles.

Consequently, by releasing products which require a PC running Windows XP Media Center in the background, Microsoft is effectively telling most people they'll also need to buy a new computer to use them.

The irony is that the kind of people who are into media streaming already have a significant digital collection, and most likely a significant investment in one or more decent machines too. These people are unlikely to shell out on yet another PC.

There isn't any voodoo behind streaming media over a network. It's just that Microsoft and Sony demand that you invest in their products too, just to get hold of the software to make their respective appliances work.

I understand they want to sell their other products, but surely by allowing the streaming software to run on any PC, they'd then have a greater audience for their appliances.

It's not rocket science. Network media players from the likes of Pinnacle, Slim Devices and Linksys are supplied with utilities to stream content from almost any PC; Slim even lets anyone download it for free to try out.

Indeed if you're after a quick demonstration of how simple streaming can be, just open a media file stored on PC over a network using something like Microsoft's Media Player; it works seamlessly.

But if you want to use Sony's or Microsoft's forthcoming media appliances, you'll also need to buy into their PCs.

It's precisely these draconian limitations which encourage people to look for workarounds. One of the most impressive is the Xbox Media Player project, now updated to the slicker-looking Xbox Media Center.

This is an open source media player for the Xbox which allows it to decode all manner of video and audio formats, whether stored locally on the console's hard disk or streamed from a PC.

As an uncertified piece of software you'll need a modified Xbox to run it, but this process can be carried out by enthusiasts, or you can buy pre-modded units for less than most network media appliances, and it'll play games and DVDs. Go to www.xboxmediaplayer.de for details.

A quick browse around forums reveals modified appliances offering far greater flexibility and performance than what's currently available, while not tying you into specific platforms either.

Another great example are the numerous modifications you can perform on a Tivo PVR. By fitting a special network card, you could tweak the settings for better quality, download listings over broadband, remotely schedule recordings using a web browser and even extract the mpeg2 video from the Tivo into your PC and onto a DVD for archiving.

It's this kind of powerful functionality and lack of platform restrictions which power users want, and equally it's the same power users who, fed up with what's currently available, develop their own far superior solutions.

I for one am a convert to using my Xbox as the front end for viewing the video housed on my perfectly normal PC.

It's still early days for media streaming in the home, but as companies such as the BBC talk about housing their archives on peer-to-peer systems, an increasing number of people will find themselves with PC-based video collections they'd like to view more comfortably.

The industry seems to agree that downloading media onto a back-room PC and streaming it to players throughout the home is the answer, I just wish the solutions from the big names weren't so proprietary.

Certainly until they become more open and compatible, and work with my existing kit, I'll be sticking to the modifications.

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