Santosh’s World

I just watched Michael Phelps win the Gold in the 100m butterfly by .01s, followed by Usain Bolt’s incredible 100m and 200m victories. All these events were absolutely amazing, and exactly what a sports and Olympics fan would like to watch and re-watch at any time.

Thanks to the Olympics coverage on the Windows Media Center PC, this is now incredibly easy to do. I can easily select the event category (Swimming or Track and Field etc.) and the event I want to watch (such as the 100m Final (M), US vs BRA (W) Soccer Finals). The selected event is downloaded and displayed on the Media Center.

(Screen shot of the 100m Final)

How did I get it?

I have Windows Media Center PC on my home Vista Ultimate PC. I followed the ‘Download NBC Olympics On The Go’ installation instructions from the NBC Olympics Coverage on Windows Media Center site. The installation was pretty straight-forward and easy. After the installation, my Windows Media Center PC had a NBC Olympics section under the TV + Movies category. There was also a TVTonic Control Panel in my system tray.

Upon going to the NBC Olympics section, I could subscribe to the desired event categories, or browse various event categories, and select and download desired events to watch.

The UI is very intuitive, and user experience is seamless. I was very impressed by the speed of the download, and the quality of the display. One thing I did not like is that I could not see the desired event in native Media Center Full Screen mode.

(The TVTonic Control Panel showing my Subscribed Event Categories (Basketball, Gymnastics, Diving, Swimming etc., and the current events being downloaded)

From the NBC Olympics Coverage site I also learnt that NBC Olympics On The Go was developed by Wavexpress, makers of the TVTonic Internet video service, and not Microsoft. I am impressed that other companies are adding to the Media Center PC. The other great thing is that I can watch this NBC Olympics On The Go on my TV using the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender.

Final Thoughts

I must say I am very impressed by the Media Center PC add-on NBC Olympics On The Go service. This gives me the ability to watch the events I want to, whenever I want. This is easy to use, and a very comfortable way to watch the Olympics.

Great job done by Wavexpress….