CNET'S QUICK GUIDE: Having fun with Windows Vista

Record TV and play games

Who needs TiVo when you have Windows Vista Home Premium? With Windows Vista Media Center, you can record, watch, and pause live television if your PC has a TV tuner installed. Windows Media Center lets you record one episode or the entire season--automatically--and you can record and watch TV on different channels simultaneously with multiple TV tuners installed. Windows Vista adds support for OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) devices, enabling you to watch and record your favorite premium HDTV from participating cable providers. Simply plug your digital cable signal directly into your CableCard-enabled PC to watch and record premium and HD cable content without a set-top box. And by supporting up to five Media Center Extenders, Windows Vista Media Center allows you to create a varied and flexible home entertainment ecosystem in a matter of minutes.

Finding what to watch or listen to has been simplified. Built-in DVD codec support within Windows Vista means you just insert your DVD and press Play. The Windows Vista Media Center Start menu incorporates information from online services such as MSNŽ Music. The Start menu is transparently overlaid on top of the currently playing show, so you never miss a moment of the action. Bundled within Windows Vista Media Center are various free and fee-based on-demand services including music and radio programming, TV and movie content, and personalized sports, news, and entertainment programming in the United States from Fox Sports, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, AOL, Yahoo, NPR, and CinemaNow. International services range from online banking services such as La Caixa in Spain to an interactive TV Shop Channel in Japan.

The Windows Vista Media Center will also access games preloaded within the Windows Vista operating system, such as Mah-Jongg or the new 3D Chess Titans. MSN Remote Record, which is available for download through Online Spotlight, further allows you to conveniently initiate TV recording on your home PC via any Internet browser.

There are parental controls included within Windows Vista Media Center; however, these controls differ from those included within Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. Parents can block specific entertainment content within the Windows Media Center based on ratings and type of content--features similar to those found within the operating system itself. Microsoft says that enabling the two systems within Windows Vista will provide a layer of security when combined, but we'd prefer that the features were integrated.

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