Vista offers multiple media-sharing experiences

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 07/16/2007 2:22 PM  |  Life

Arnawa Widagda, Contributor, Jakarta

One of the most touted features of the Windows Vista is better networking, both for wireless and wired networks.

Just like other aspects of Vista, Microsoft has made great efforts not just to provide a more easy-to-use interface, but also beefed up stability and performance.

Better support for IPv6, VPN networks, gateway failure detections and the overall revamped networking stack are some of the most applauded features. Though these are important, especially for corporate and enterprise users, most SOHO users will likely appreciate features like Network Sharing Center, the Network Map and the much improved media and file sharing.

However, that's not the most intriguing aspects of Vista networking from a consumer standpoint. The most overlooked aspects of Vista's networking support is home networking and, more precisely, media sharing.

More and more users are finding the joys of sharing media files, be it music, video, pictures or TV recordings. The inclusion of Windows Media Player 11 and Windows Media Center puts Vista in the forefront of this market.

Once you have entered your media files into the Windows Media Player library, you can share these files with other users on the network. However, unlike traditional file sharing, these files are streamed rather than copied.

So, that means you can grant access to all users in the network without needing to copy files onto each computer.

In addition to sharing access to multimedia files, you can also share live TV -- while recording it at the same time.

Time shifting can be done not only on the main PC, but also on other PCs as well. With the use of two TV tuners or a dual tuner card, you can actually record two stations simultaneously or watch one station while recording the other.

High-definition broadcast playback and recording is also supported, though recording is limited depending on the policy of your cable company.

Since Windows Media Center shares its media library with Windows Media Player, you can also share recorded TV shows with Windows XP-based PCs if you want, and older Windows Media Center-enabled PCs as well.

As with everything else in Vista, meta tags plays an important part in media sharing. With file and folder sharing, the only way to organize sharing is by using folders to categorize which files you want to share and those you don't.

Tags let you be more creative: You can share files according to your personal taste with ""Ratings"", or by genre, release year, artists and so on. More importantly, parents will also be able to limit access to children by selecting ""Parental Rating"" for media files.

You can apply the rating you want by sorting the files, or pick an entire album collection or even the artist. Of course, this only applies to files in your library for which you have selected a rating. Thankfully, this is not so difficult.

Further, you can use Windows Media Player 11 media information capabilities to sync the needed information online. This also works both ways -- you can also use the same feature to check the files your children or other users have shared on the network.

What if you want to sync media files between your desktop and notebook? No problem.

In addition to simply copying files between the two, you can also use features like Multi Sync and Reverse Sync. With these features, you can easily move the files you want by using your portable music player or generic removable media, such as a flash disk or various storage card formats.

Reverse Sync can also be used to transfer recordings from your radio-equipped MP3 player, PDA or smartphone without the need to setup an ActiveSync connection.

There are still some rough edges here and there.

For one, older Windows Media Center Extenders do not work with Vista. So practically the only extender available is the Xbox 360.

For another, while you can burn media files to DVDs, CDs or make your own DVD and audio CD, there's no comprehensive backup for multimedia files in your library. That also includes DRM licenses you acquire.

Overall, though, Microsoft has done a very good job in delivering an experience that makes media sharing on your home network not just easy to use, but also fun.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.