Dell Micrsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Owner's Manual

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Dell™ Media Center

User’s Guide

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

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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.

____________________

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.

February 2006 P/N P6712 Rev. A02

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Contents

1 Quick Start

Optional Remote Control Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Starting Media Center Exiting Media Center

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2 If Your Computer Has an Optional TV Tuner

Watching a TV Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

. . . . . . . . 18

. . . . . . . . . . . 19

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Watching Recorded TV Programs

Playing a Recorded TV Program

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Contents 3

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3 Other Features

Using My Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Copying a CD to the Media Library Creating a Queue and Saving it as a Playlist Using the

Optional Remote Control Playing Music

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using My Videos

Organizing Your Videos Playing Digital Videos

Using More Programs

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Sync to Device (Synchronization) Using the Optional Remote Control

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4 Contents

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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

remote sensor*

remote control* satellite or

infrared transmitter*

The following instructions explain how to explore some of the more common functions of the Microsoft

Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, using either your

cable receiver

Dell Media Center computer

digital camcorder

mouse/keyboard or the optional all-in-one remote control. For additional information, click

optional*

access the Media Center online help.

To use the optional remote, you must 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 optional 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.

Quick Start 5

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Optional Remote Control Buttons

NOTE: If you order an optional remote control, it

may differ from the one described in this document.

6 7

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 Center

Controls features for a TV, DVD, and CD.

within Media Center.

start menu window (see

page 7

NOTE: The optional remote control does not wake

the computer from hibernate mode.

NOTE: For portable computers, the remote control

does not wake the computer from standby mode while the computer is running on battery power.

5 VOL Increases (+) and decreases (–) sound volume.

6 MUTE Mutes the sound.

7 REC’D TV

(recorded TV)

8 GUIDE Opens the Guide (television program guide) (see

9 numeric

buttons

A shortcut to the Recorded TV main menu.

page 16) 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.

10 CLEAR Deletes the selection and functions like the

<Backspace> key on your keyboard.

11 standby Puts the computer into a reduced power mode.

12 MORE Provides more information about TV programs

you can watch and record.

13 arrow buttons Helps navigate within all Media Center windows.

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.

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

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Starting Media Center

Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Optional Remote Control

Click the

Center

The Media Center opens.

Start

button and click

start menu window

Media

Press .

The Media Center

start menu window

opens.

NOTE: The optional remote control does not wake

the computer from hibernate mode.

NOTE: For portable computers, the optional remote

control does not wake the computer from standby mode while the computer is running on battery power.

Exiting Media Center

Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Optional Remote Control

Click .

Press and then press to move to

Press the OK button.

Quick Start 7

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Playing DVDs

Media Center allows you to watch DVD movies while using your optional remote control or your mouse to control the DVD menu items. If you play your DVD using 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.

• 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.

8 Quick Start

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Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Optional Remote Control

Start Media Center (see page 7).

With the Media Center start menu window open, insert the DVD into the drive.

The DVD plays automatically after a few seconds.

Start Media Center (see page 7).

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, click the X. If you don’t click an option, the DVD autoplays in full-screen mode after a few seconds.

If a DVD menu appears, click the menu items

to control the DVD movie playback.

Click

Stop

to stop playing the DVD.

The

Stopped

menu appears with the following

options:

•

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

— Opens the disc tray.

To change the window size, click on the taskbar of the DVD window.

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

and then press the OK

autoplays in full-screen mode after a few seconds.

If a DVD menu appears, use the menu items to control the DVD movie playback.

Press

STOP

to stop playing the DVD.

The

Stopped

menu appears with the following

options:

•

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

— Opens the disc tray.

To change the window size, you must use the mouse. Click on the taskbar of the DVD window.

Quick Start 9

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Playing a DVD Already in Your Drive

Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Optional Remote Control

Start Media Center (see page 7).

Click

Play DVD

NOTE: If you do not see the Play DVD option,

press

on your keyboard to scroll through the list.

The DVD movie begins playing in fullscreen mode.

Watching a DVD Movie in a Resized Window

Using the Mouse and Keyboard Using the Optional Remote Control

While the DVD movie is playing, click

The Media Center start menu window opens with the DVD playing in the inset window.

Start Media Center (see page 7).

Press the arrow buttons, , to highlight

Play 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 fullscreen mode.

While the DVD movie is playing, press

The Media Center start menu window opens with the DVD playing in the inset window.

NOTE: If you manually resize the Media Center

window, the DVD movie plays in the same window size.

10 Quick Start

To resize the window, click on the taskbar and then manually adjust the window size.

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.

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