Dell MEDIA CENTER User Manual
media control
buttons
back
Dell™ Media Center
User’s Guide
standby
Media Center
start menu
volume
mute
recorded TV
guide
numeric
buttons
clear
more info
arrow buttons
channel/page
live TV
DVD menu
enter
NOTE: The remote control that you received with your computer may be slightly
different than the one described in this document.
NOTE: When entering text in a Media Center search or text box on a computer
running the Japanese Microsoft
operating system, you can enter extended characters using the numeric buttons.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
®
Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
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Notes and Notices
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the
problem.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2004 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell and the DELL logo are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products.
Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
September 2004 P/N P6712 Rev. A00
Contents
1 Quick Start
Remote Control Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Starting Media Center
Exiting Media Center
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Playing DVDs
Playing a DVD Movie
Playing a DVD Already in Your Drive
Watching a DVD Movie in a Resized Window
Viewing Your Pictures (Digital Photos)
Viewing Pictures in Media Center
Viewing Pictures as a Slide Show
Sorting Pictures
Viewing a Slide Show With Music
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 If Your Computer Has an Optional TV Tuner
Watching a TV Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Television Program Guide
Using the Television Program Guide
Recording TV Programs
Recording a Program Using the Television Program Guide
Recording a TV Program Using the Search Option
Recording a TV Program Manually
Changing Your TV Program Guide Settings
Changing Recording Priorities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . . . . 17
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Watching Recorded TV Programs
Playing a Recorded TV Program
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Contents 3
3 Other Features
Using My Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Copying a CD to the Media Library
Creating a Queue and Saving it as a Playlist
Playing Music
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Using My Videos
Organizing Your Videos
Playing Digital Videos
Using More Programs
Sync to Device (Synchronization)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4 Contents
Quick Start
The Dell™ Media Center is your all-in-one computer entertainment center. Whether you want to
watch or record TV programs, play or create CDs and DVDs, or view digital photos or videos from
your video camera, Media Center does it all.
Here’s how your audio and video components work together with your Dell Media Center
computer.
speaker system
flat-panel
monitor
TV
remote sensor
remote control satellite or
infrared transmitter
cable receiver
Dell Media Center computer
digital camcorder
You use the infrared (IR) transmitter if you have connected a digital cable TV box or a satellite
receiver to your Media Center. Then, by pointing the remote control at the remote sensor you can
control Media Center functions and change channels on your television through your digital cable
TV box or satellite receiver.
The following instructions explain how to explore some of the more common functions of the
Microsoft
mouse/keyboard or the all-in-one remote control. For additional information, click
®
Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, using either your
?
to access the
Media Center online help.
Quick Start 5
Remote Control Buttons
NOTE: The remote control that you receive with
your computer may be slightly different than the
one described in this document.
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1 media control
buttons
2 BACK Returns the computer to the previous window
3 OK Activates Media Center options you select.
4 START Starts Media Center and opens the Media
11
5 VOL Increases (+) and decreases (–) sound
6 MUTE Mutes the sound.
7 REC’D TV
12
13
14
15
16
17
(recorded TV)
8 GUIDE Opens the Guide (television program guide)
9 numeric
buttons
10 CLEAR Deletes the selection and functions like the
11 standby Puts the computer into a reduced power
12 MORE Provides more information about TV
13 arrow buttons Helps navigate within all Media Center
14 CH/PG
(channel/page)
15 LIVE TV A shortcut to the full-screen view of live TV. It
16 DVD MENU A shortcut to the main menu for your DVD.
17 ENTER Selects the desired action or window option.
Controls features for a TV, DVD, and CD.
within Media Center.
Center start menu window (see page 7).
volume.
A shortcut to the Recorded TV main menu.
(see page 13) to display available TV channels
and programs you can watch and record.
Changes channels or enters text into the
Media Center search or text box.
NOTE: When entering text in a Media Center
search or text box on a computer running
Japanese Microsoft Windows XP, you can
enter extended characters using the numeric
buttons. Follow the instructions on the screen.
<Backspace> key on your keyboard.
mode.
programs you can watch and record.
windows.
Changes the TV channel and moves up (+)
and down (–), depending on available options.
also moves to the current point of a live TV
program after you pause the program.
6 Quick Start
Starting Media Center
Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Remote Control
Click the
1
The Media Center
Start
button and click
start menu window opens.
Media Center
.
1
Press .
The Media Center
start menu window opens.
Exiting Media Center
Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Remote Control
Click .
1
2
Click .
1
Press and then press to move to .
2
Press the OK button.
Playing DVDs
Media Center allows you to watch DVD movies while using your remote control or mouse to
control the DVD menu items. If you play your DVD in another program, the use of some remote
control buttons is not supported.
Playing a DVD Movie
• Although Media Center supports closed captioning, subtitles, and multiple languages, these
options appear only if the DVD movie includes them.
Quick Start 7
• If your DVD includes its own playback software, Media Center may not start when you insert
the DVD.
• To watch your DVD movie in Media Center, cancel the messages on the screen to use the
DVD player software and then start Media Center.
Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Remote Control
Start Media Center (see page 7).
1
2
With the Media Center start menu window
open, insert the DVD into the drive.
The DVD plays automatically after a few
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seconds.
If you have another media playing, Media Center
asks if you want to play the DVD. If
to play the DVD, click the
an option, the DVD autoplays in full-screen
mode after a few seconds.
3
If a DVD menu appears, click the menu items
to control the DVD movie playback.
4
Click
Stop
to stop playing the DVD.
The
Stopped
menu appears with the following
options:
don’t want
X
. If you don’t click
1
Start Media Center (see page 7).
2
With the Media Center start menu window
open, insert the DVD into the drive.
The DVD plays automatically after a few
seconds.
If you have another media playing, Media Center
asks if you want to play the DVD. If you don’t
want to play the DVD, press the arrow buttons,
, to highlight the
button
.
If you don’t select an option, the DVD
autoplays in full-screen mode after a few seconds.
3
If a DVD menu appears, use the menu items to
control the DVD movie playback.
4
Press
STOP
Stopped
The
options:
X,
and then press the OK
to stop playing the DVD.
menu appears with the following
•
Resume
— Begins playing the DVD where it
was previously stopped.
•
Restart
— Begins playing the DVD at the
beginning.
•
Title Menu
— Allows you to go to the DVD
main menu, if available.
•
DVD Languages
— Allows you to change
the language for the DVD sound track,
subtitles, and menu.
Eject
•
5
To change the window size, click on the
— Opens the disc tray.
taskbar of the DVD window.
8 Quick Start
•
Resume
— Begins playing the DVD where it
was previously stopped.
•
Restart
— Begins playing the DVD at the
beginning.
•
Title Menu
— Allows you to go to the DVD
main menu, if available.
•
DVD Languages
— Allows you to change
the language for the DVD sound track,
subtitles, and menu.
Eject
•
5
To change the window size, you must use the
— Opens the disc tray.
mouse. Click on the taskbar of the DVD
window.
Playing a DVD Already in Your Drive
Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Remote Control
Start Media Center (see page 7).
1
2
Click
Play DVD
.
NOTE: If you do not see the Play DVD option, press on
your keyboard to scroll through the list.
1
Start Media Center (see page 7).
2
Press the arrow buttons, , to highlight
DVD
and press the OK button.
NOTE: If you do not see the Play DVD option, scroll through
the list by pressing .
The DVD movie begins playing in full-screen
mode.
The DVD movie begins playing in full-screen
mode.
Watching a DVD Movie in a Resized Window
Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Remote Control
1
While the DVD movie is playing, click .
The Media Center start menu window opens
with the DVD playing in the inset window.
2
To resize the window, click on the taskbar
and then manually adjust the window size.
NOTE: If you manually resize the Media Center window, the
DVD movie plays in the same window size.
While the DVD movie is playing, press .
1
The Media Center start menu window opens
with the DVD playing in the inset window.
2
To resize the window, you must use the mouse.
Click on the taskbar and then manually
adjust the window size.
NOTE: If you manually resize the Media Center window, the
DVD movie plays in the same window size.
Play
Viewing Your Pictures (Digital Photos)
Media Center allows you to view your pictures (digital photos) individually, as a slide show, or as a
slide show with music. You must organize your pictures in the
Explorer to view them in Media Center.
My Pictures
folder in Windows
Quick Start 9
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