Enrich Your Olympics With Technology
First, you need a version of Windows Vista that supports Windows Media Center. This includes the Ultimate Edition as well as the Home Premium edition. You’ll also need to download and install the NBC Olympics On The Go plug-in for Windows Media Center. On that page, you’ll find versions for 32-bit and 64-bit Vista, as well as a tool to help you determine which version of Vista you have in case you’re unsure. After you’ve installed it, go into your Start Menu and find Windows Media Center, then fire it up.
This is, more or less, the screen that you will see upon firing up Windows Media Center. Notice the “NBC Olympics” option on the left? Go ahead and click it to get started.
That will take you to the NBC Olympics application, seen below. The first option you’ll want is the Browse Guide option. Notice the five buttons at the top right? Browse Guide is the third from the left. From here, you can subscribe and unsubscribe to the various Olympic events. Much like iTunes, the TV Tonic application will run in the background, downloading any new videos for your subscribed events as they’re made available. You can watch videos from the Channel Guide, which is the first button on the left.
So, how do you use this with your 360? The Xbox 360 can function as a Media Center extender. I use my 360 to stream video and audio files, including recorded TV programs, from the main PC elsewhere in my house to my TV, via wireless networking; and you can do this with the Olympics downloads as well.
To get started, go to the Media blade and select Media Center.
If you’ve never used your 360 as a Media Extender before, you will be asked to pair it up with your main PC. That process is beyond the scope of this guide; but if you’re having trouble, post in the comments section for this topic, and we’ll try to help you out.
Once you get it up and running, your 360 will connect to your PC…
And after a few seconds, Windows Media Center will load up. It works the same way through the 360 as it does on the PC; so just as before, select the NBC Olympics option on the left. You can watch all of your downloaded videos from here, as well as managing your event subscriptions.
That’s all there is to it! For those who are able to use this feature, it’s very helpful. If you’re having trouble getting it to work, please post in the comments section, and we’ll try to help you out.
August 14th, 2008 at 5:00 am
That’s pretty bad ass. I’m not a big fan of the Olympics, but I did want to watch the other day. Unfortunately, the two channels that had it on were playing Greco Roman Wrestling and Fencing…not really thrilling stuff for me to watch. Having it on demand is a way cooler option.
August 14th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Yeah, this is way cool. Honestly, I’ve never used the Media functions on any of my consoles, so this is a good primer.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Nice Work MC
August 16th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I dabbled with Media Center Extender before, surprised at how much content is on there, for awhile is was my main sports hub. Media Center option is in the back half of the blades however and I have a bad habit of neglecting it. Greate write up though, if I had ability to record tv to my PC I would most likely take advantage of it!