http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/aa700831.aspx

Windows Media Center has been our primary method of recording TV for a while. We finally decided to bite the bullet and build a custom machine instead of using my laptop all the time here are the ingredients:

1. An existing HD TV that supports optical and HDMI inputs.
2. A Mac Mini. The small form factor makes it ideal for placement in the lounge room. Now that Leopard has shipped, it comes with boot camp installed which allows me to easily dual boot. Buy at www.apple.com.au. I went with the more expensive one, so I could burn DVD’s.
3. A Lacie Mini Hard drive and hub 500GB in capacity. http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?pid=10727 (A cheaper option would be to replace the internal drive with a larger one)
4. A copy of Vista Home Premium or Ultimate.
5. A DVI to HDMI cable. I got mine at Myer for $89, JB Hifi sell one as well, but there’s was $100+. (A cheaper option is to use the mini’s S-video out)
6. A mini to Toslink optical cable – http://www.musicway.com.au/catalogue/musicway_listcatalogue_exec.asp?pid=20369 JB Hifi for less than $30. Harvey Norman had a similar one for $170 so it pays to shop around for your cables.
7. A Microsoft Windows Media remote and keyboard. I got these as a combo from AusPC Market
8. For the tuner I already have a Fusion HDTV nano which works a treat.

The external drive serves as the recording storage for the media centre. For the EPG I use EpgStream which works a treat 99% of the time. It will look like this:

So now I just need to wait for all the bits to be delivered and put it together.

Twice in the last six months, testers have told me stories. These stories are actually the same story which, in-fact is a testers nightmare. The project is in “ship mode” and literally about to go out the door. The project manager/project director/product manager (aka pointy haired boss)

After updating my phone two weeks ago, I had a need to be able to easily convert files recorded on my Windows Media Center to my iPhone. I didn’t like anything out there, so I decided to “roll my own”.

You can get it from http://www.codeplex.com/iPodConverter. It is definitely an alpha release, and it doesn’t support batch modes, or have any progress indicator (yet), but hey. It’s free.