I’m the kind of person that demands a lot from my tools and equipment. This is certainly true of my Windows PCs, and a great example is my hard-working personal video editing PC. I built this video editing PC (known on my home network as “VIDEO2”) a couple of years ago, and it has served me well. But...

Chances are you’ve experienced the sinking feeling when you've lost personal data. It can be the result of user error, mechanical storage failure, or other issues. Regardless of how it happens, data loss is a huge bummer. In most cases data loss is preventable, but many of the “traditional” options for...

I am amazed by the image quality that’s possible with today’s 4K digital cinema cameras. It’s like watching full-res images from a DSLR playing back at 24 fps on the big screen, 4K footage is just stunning. Seeing 4K footage on the big screen got me thinking about 4K displays and 4K video on a PC. With...

A while back, I decided it was time to get my hands dirty with the Kinect for Windows 1.5 SDK (see Tapping Into the Power of Kinect for Windows ). It was a fun project, and a great way to get started with Kinect for Windows. Here’s a high-level view of what’s already in 1.5 version of the Kinect SDK...

One of my favorite features of Windows 7 is Windows Media Center. For several years now it’s been the main way my family records and watches TV as well as watches Netflix and DVD’s. To add to some of the cool things I can do with it though I’ve been eagerly awaiting the first network attached CableCARD...

Revision3 has released a plugin for Windows Media Center making all their shows available to watch directly within Windows Media Center. Revision3 can be described as a television network for the Internet. They produce all-original episodic shows available online via streaming. Some of their most popular...

Back in October, we announced we were bringing the distribution power of Games on Demand to the Web with the Games for Windows Marketplace . The Games for Windows Marketplace is streamlined to provide an easy way for PC gamers to discover, buy, and download their favorite games. Anyone can browse the...

Whether its files and documents, your media or complete control of your system one of the advantages of a connected world is that there are many ways to get to what you want from where you want. I wanted to cover several techniques you can take advantage of to easily ‘phone home’ to your systems or data...

A few weeks ago, we looked at the benefits of using HDMI to connect your PC to your HDTV or monitor . Today, we look at a few things you can do to make sure your picture is as sharp and clear as possible, with a full, rich range of colors. While there are all sorts of recommendations on the PC side to...

If you’re ready to take the plunge and give your big screen HDTV over to Windows Media Center to manage your television, movies, music and more, then you’ll want to be sure you’re getting the best experience possible when running in full screen mode. The choice of how you connect your PC to your TV is...

Today, NVIDIA is announcing a new addition to the GeForce family of GPUs: the GeForce GTX 550 Ti . The GTX 550 Ti is designed to target gamers who care about performance but are on a budget. It fits in right between the GTS 450 and GTX 460. The GTS 450 continues to be one of NVIDIA’s top selling GPUs...

Space Shuttle Discovery landed yesterday at Kennedy Space Station in Florida, completing it’s final mission. I watched both the launch and landing of the shuttle Discovery on our main TV screen thanks to a cool little hack first published in the Windows Media Center community over five years ago: adding...

I read an interesting thread over on Microsoft Answers recently in which the poster had purchased a "connected” TV with a DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) logo on it. He reported that he had no troubles navigating from his TV to the shared media libraries on his Windows 7 PC and playing the...

Today we are launching a new blog called Extreme Windows . As you know (or don’t know) The Windows Blog is a network or family of blogs that together tell the company’s Windows story across different audiences spanning Windows, Windows Live, Internet Explorer and Windows Phone. Each individual blog has...

The year was 1982. My sister and I had decided to pool our resources and together we saved up enough cash to buy the ultimate gaming console: the Atari 2600. We spent many hours playing games on that console, and I can still remember the sound of the tanks driving in Combat. I would later move on to...

I am posting this on behalf of Wendy Stidmon, a Program Manager on the Windows PC Ecosystem Team. Wendy does enthusiast engagement – which means her job is to interact with folks like you. She and I thought we’d pass along some information for an event happening in Houston you may want to check out…...

Today, Ceton has unveiled their external USB CableCARD quad-tuner product: the InfiniTV 4 USB . The InfiniTV 4 USB will hit at around $299. It with first be available for purchase from Cannon PC and Fluid Digital on August 19 th with pre-orders expected to start shipping on September 19 th . InfiniTV...

Adding a CableCARD™ TV tuner is really the pièce de résistance in creating a full-featured Windows Media Center PC because it is the only way that US-based users can bring high definition, premium digital cable content directly into their PCs without using a set-top box. If you use Windows Media Center...

NVIDIA has been hard at work this year rolling out a series of new video cards including the GeForce GTX 690 , GeForce GTX 680 , GeForce GTX 660 Ti , and many others. These new 600-series video cards are based on NVIDIA’s latest architecture: Kepler. I recently spent some time running the GeForce GTX...

Hello everyone, my name is Gavin Gear, and I am going to be blogging regularly here on the Extreme Windows Blog. My background includes working on the Windows sensor team (see recent talks from BUILD HERE ), and before Microsoft I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Some of the things...

I’ve been using IE9 since the beta was released and while there is a lot I like I have really come to appreciate a few things in particular. I still run into people that haven’t heard about them or tried them out personally so thought I’d post about them here. 1. Pinning and Jump Lists. Given I’ve used...

We’ve been using Windows Media Center as our home’s main DVR for several years now. We have basic cable service, and over the past few months, my cable company has started to switch some of our channels from analog delivery over to their digital service. This type of change has become more and more common...

As of this week, the Games for Windows Marketplace has a new home on Xbox.com. When you now visit GamesForWindows.com you will be taken to Xbox.com. Now you can purchase and get details on your favorite Games for Windows and Xbox 360 games all in one place! Your Games For Windows and Xbox LIVE profiles...

If you’ve been to the movies lately, it’s likely that you’ve seen the amazing images that RED Digital Cinema cameras capture. Many of the big budget blockbusters recently released or about to be released were shot on RED cameras. These movies include The Amazing Spiderman, The Great Gatsby, and The Hobbit...

I’ve said before how it’s great to get to work with enthusiastic people who know tons about Windows. Recently I heard about one of those people sharing some great tips with everyone else in a really clever way. Michel Martin has created a video series of Windows 7 tips and tricks he calls...