Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We are pleased to announce we are launching NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service from NBC Universal powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic platform. This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA.

For more information visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/olympics.mspx
(Note:  This application is intended for Windows Vista users only. It will not appear in Windows Media Center for XP users)

Please try it out and give us your feedback!  You simply launch Windows Media Center and scroll down to the Online Media strip where you will find a link to NBC Olympics On The Go in default view. Follow the simple one-time installation steps and you’re ready to go.

With NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, you will get:

• NBC Sports’ complete on-air HDTV coverage of the Beijing Olympics on the NBC, USA and Universal networks – even when you don’t have a TV tuner for your Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC
• 225 hrs of long-form Olympics video over 17 days
• 24 sports, full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage
• Up to HD quality, with the vast majority of the video delivered in 840×480 progressive scan resolution at 1.5 Mbps bit rate, plus several events per day delivered in 1080i resolution

This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA:

• NBC’s in-house download offering, NBC Direct, will offer only short-form highlights from the Olympics
• While Olympics events not chosen for on-air broadcasts will be available only through NBC’s Silverlight player on www.nbcolympics.com, the NBC Olympics experience in Windows Media Center will deliver the video at a higher bit rate and play more reliably since videos will be stored on the users’ PCs.

Features of the NBC Olympics On the Go service in Windows Media Center furthermore include:

• Easy to install
• Select the sports you want and get automatic downloads of all available coverage for those sports during the Olympics
• Content becomes available as soon as NBC completes its primetime on-air coverage on the West Coast (i.e., beginning at 3 am EDT)
• Watch online or offline – during your morning commute or through any Extender device
• Rewind, fast-forward and re-watch your favorite Olympics moments

We are very proud of the collaboration with NBC and TVTonic and the resulting consumer experience. Please give it a try and let us know what you think.

The Media Center Team