Microsoft has moved to clarify the situation around the Media Center update formally known as Fiji. It was keeping the details under wraps until the CEDIA trade show in September but due to some less than discrete beta testers Microsoft felt the need to release the details.

I know the main bone of contention will be the availability of the update, which is OEM only. This means that if you have built your own Media Center PC you will not be able to download the update from Microsoft.

Even if your machine is from an OEM like HP it's likely that you will not be able to get the TV Pack as it looks like OEMs are only going to offer the update on new machines (if they offer it at all).

All for the best possible experience

"In order to ensure that users get the best experience possible, this update will only be available from OEMs, as they are best positioned to provide the testing and hardware configurations for a great customer experience," explains Microsoft's Ben Read.

"This is due to the fact that in some geographies there are specific technical and hardware requirements for the Windows Media Center TV Pack that are best handled by the OEMs."
I am sure the enthusiast community will be very disappointed with this decision, especially as there are many features we've all been waiting for in the update.

Here is the official list of new features:

  • The Windows Media Center TV Pack is primarily targeted at adding support for additional international broadcast standards including:
  • Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial (ISDB-T) Digital television standard for Japan
  • Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite (DVB-S) free-to-air satellite standards in Europe
  • Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T) digital television with improved user experience in Europe
  • ClearQAM (Unencrypted Digital Cable) in the United States
  • Interactive television with integrated Broadcast Markup language (BML) in Japan and Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group (MHEG) (MHEG5) in Europe


I have only been able to test DVB-T and the update has added subtitles, MHEG support, in band guide data and Favorites. While these are nice features, and do improve the experience, I wouldn't feel I was missing out much if I returned to the standard build.

What is not included in the update is H.264, and native support for subscription-based satellite tuners, which were pulled from the beta. There were no reasons given for this late removal and no information given on when, and if, it will be supported in the future.

The other major change is the TV file format, out goes DVR-MS and in comes WTV. My standard Media Center machines would not play the new format, which was a problem, as I share content between machines. Furthermore, the Zune software would not sync the WTV files to my Zune, nor would any of the 3rd party commercial skipping applications.

Problematic guides

Overall, there are a lot of nice updates to the TV side of Media Center and it's a shame it will not be available to all. Having played with the beta version and had some pain with it (including lots of guide data problems), I can see why Microsoft has gone down the OEM route.

But I still think it's a missed opportunity to improve Media Center for the existing customer base - especially as we have waited so long for the update. The silence around the beta testing has meant that the Fiji product has been built up to something that is not and will leave a lot of disappointed enthusiasts in the community.

I'll have more details on next week's The Media Center Show podcast.