Media Center Applications

First, I'd like to apologize if this has been discussed. I didn't find any in a few quick searches, since I'm at work I can't spend the time to hunt through more detailed searches.

I've got an MCE running Vista, and I'd like to have a few applications that work within Media Center. So, before I do something as drastic as attempt to write my own, I thought I'd ask first. What applications exist for Vista Media Center? The machine is going to be set up in a dorm room, so the more information it can display, the better. Weather, forms of automation, browsing are among a few things I'd like to get, if possible.

Thanks again. If this has been discussed, you can just link me to the older discussion.

i posted this a while ago:
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=304263#304263

but it was more about a new Media based UI for using apps on your tv

nosjojo wrote:

First, I'd like to apologize if this has been discussed. I didn't find any in a few quick searches, since I'm at work I can't spend the time to hunt through more detailed searches.

There have been plenty of apps for Media Center 2005 already written, but MCE2K5's "API" was just a HTA host. The programs really aren't that aesthetic.

Vista's MCE adds a better API which allows for hosted apps which are practically identical to the built-in ones (along with a wide-degree of flexibility). MS has made prototype apps for VoD services, for example. Personally, I'd love to see a MAME and ZSNES instance hosted in MCE.

But so far, there aren't many, maybe a couple so far.

I've never worked in a language outside of Java and scripting, how difficult is the Vista API to work with? I'd be willing to learn it for the purpose of writing a few small apps. Nothing incredibly complex, small things like local weather, for example. Also, you said that MS had a few things released, is the code available or are they closed?

I saw a few I might look into on that link, although they all seem to all be XPMCE.

I won't lie to you -- it's going to be a steep learning curve to learn Media Center Markup Language. But the payoff is quite nice, given the fact you can create experiences every bit as nice as Windows Media Center itself.

Some links...

SDK: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa286546.aspx
Discussion: http://discuss.mediacentersandbox.com
Team Blog: http://blog.mediacentersandbox.com

Charlie

Looking at the sample code in the SDK, it reminds me of XML a lot.

Has anyone found any tutorials or anything for simple codes? I was having trouble understanding the structure of some of the simple files, knowing why certain things are the way they are helps a lot. I only put about 2 hours of fiddling in last night, so I've still got some more work to do, obviously.