CES 2008: What's on the Windows Vista Media Center Horizon? Windows Fiji?

According to Microsoft, Windows Vista has passed the 100 million sold license milestone in 2007. During the introductory keynote at 2008 International CES, Robert J. Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division, revealed that "Media Center continues its success and is on the vast majority of the 100 million-plus Vista PCs that are in the market today." Bach's statement manages to fit perfectly on Vista's market performances in the past year, as statistics indicate that the Redmond company has especially pushed the Home Premium and the ultimate SKUs of Vista, namely the editions that come with Windows Media Center as a default component.

But neither Bach nor Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates discussed the future of Windows Media Center in relation to Windows Fiji. The next version of Windows Media Center is reported to be on track for 2008 as a standalone product, and not integrated into the Windows platform, and it is being developed under the code-name Windows Fiji. Instead, Bach focused on the extenders that are coming to Windows Media Center this year.

"In addition to having Media Center on the PC, it's very important that we increase what's called the Extender technology, this is the ability to take content that's on a Media Center PC and extend it through a TV. Now, Xbox 360 is the first place we got started with the Extender technology, and that's been quite successful. Tonight we are announcing that Samsung and HP will also be introducing new extender devices that connect the TV. And HP will be the first to build Extender into their new high definition TVs with their Media Smart TV. So that's on the Media Center side", Bach explained.

Samsung Electronics will deliver the Samsung Home DMA extender, basically including Windows Media Center extender technology into its Home Digital Media Adapter (DMA). Alongside Samsung, Hewlett-Packard will offer its own extender, the HP MediaSmart Receiver x280N. Both items are designed to integrate seamlessly with television sets that support high-definition.

"People want to bring digital entertainment from the PC to a big-screen HDTV, and with the addition of popular consumer companies such as Samsung to the growing list of Extender partners, Windows Media Center makes that possible for an even wider audience", said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Connected Television Division at Microsoft. "Such growing industry support validates Microsoft's approach of using Extender for Windows Media Center technology to deliver the ultimate connected entertainment experience."