We’re back again folks and Josh made sure that it would be a rousing episode.  We of course take time to go through all the the listener email this week and we thank all of you.
Josh’s Hockey Minute returns this week and we find out that if you stopped watching hockey four years ago because of the strike, you should probably start again!
Both VMC with TV Pack and Windows 7 Media Center received updates this week and we’ve got you covered on what’s included.  Not really a whole lot …

You read that right.  Slamingest is now a word.  So much so that I’ve added it to the dictionary so that it doesn’t get that red squiggly line under it.  I might have coined it, but after listening to our show, you’ll know that it’s James Montemagno who’s made it famous.  James is the owner of RevoHTPC.com and he’s joined us this week to share his experiences with the Acer AspireRevo PC he uses as his Media Center.  I’ve been curious about the Revo for a long time and …

Windows 7 was a big step forward for acceptance of certain codecs and containers by Microsoft.  Prior to the release, Media Center users had a lot of issues getting their movie files to play on extenders.  Even AVI wasn’t supported within the extender UI basically locking you down to some very difficult to obtain formats.  Windows 7 changed most of that.  The AVI container became supported as well as several other popular file formats.  One that was left out however was MKV.
Seen by some as nothing more than a …

Since buying an iPod Touch, I’ve been seeking ways to integrate the device into our media system.  Being a Microsoft Windows Media Center user, you wouldn’t think this would be very easy but as it turns out, there are several options that will not only allow you to stream content to a Touch/iPhone but remote control your HTPC as well.  I was pleasantly surprised at the number of apps available to turn your portable device into a full use remote control.  I’ve used two so far and you’ll find all …

Yep, I did it.  A certified Microsoft fanboy went against everything he believes and bought an iPod Touch.  I’ve moved towards the darkside and while it hurts a bit, there are reasons for it.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to, not review the Touch, but explain how people’s views can change and the reasons behind it.  First is a little history.
I’ve been a Zune owner since the Zune80 was released.  I liked the fact that it was from MS since I use a lot of their …

Welcome back and welcome to 2010!  For this, our first official show of 2010, we’re joined by none other than THE Custom Integrator, Derek Flickinger.  He’s bringing his industry expertise to Entertainment 2.0 for the week.
For those of you wondering why we’d be releasing a CES and 2010 prediction show after the Microsoft CES keynote, well, we recorded right before Mr. Ballmer took the stage and snuck in our final predictions for you.  We didn’t just talk CES though.  We walk our way all the way through 2010 so …

At the CES keynote Microsoft announced enhancements to the MediaRoom IPTV service in version 2.0 that is coming this year. If you’re in America you can experience MediaRoom if you use AT&T U-verse as your television provider. The major enhancements include the ability to watch U-verse through an XBox 360. It will also take advantage of MicroSoft’s Silverlight and SmoothStreaming technologies to bring you more internet content. And lastly, they showed off an on demand video store that not only works on the PC, but also on Windows Mobile phones.

Just like last year, Microsoft will be live streaming their CES keynote.  No one is quite sure what MS will be showing but there have been rumblings…
The company has worked a lot in the last year to bring Zune and Xbox Live content together and we have to assume they’ll continue to move in this direction.  As well, there have been recent rumors of Xbox Live content coming to Windows Mobile devices.  Of course, being a Media Center user, it’ll be interesting to see if us HTPC users …

This week we take time to catch up on the voicemail, email and comments you all have sent us.  Thanks for the feedback and questions!  We appreciate the time our listeners take to contribute to the show and we’ll continue to answer any questions you send us as quickly as possible.
There hasn’t been a whole lot of news hitting in the last few weeks.  Between holidays here in the US and (I believe) companies holding back information for CES in January, things are slow in December.  We’re putting together …

We’re finally back after a one week hiatus and hopefully it’ll be the last one we take for awhile.  We hope no one missed us too much.  This week we start off by running through the comments, questions and emails from the last show.  Thanks again for all of your feedback!
Once we get through the weekly stuff, it’s on to this week’s topic:  ripping and encoding DVDs.  You’ll find links for all of the software we discuss down below in the show notes.  Much like everything else with HTPCs …