Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center®

Changing Your Media Center’s Appearance and

Background

Media Center allows you to change various settings to customize the appearance of

onscreen features and menus. For example, you can do the following:

■ Change your background colors

■ Optimize Media Center for your display device

■ Turn systems sounds on or off

■ Turn transition animations on or off (see Chapter 4)

■ Keep Media Center “always on top”—even when minimized (see Chapter 5)

Changing Background Colors

To change the background color in Media Center, press the Start button on the

remote control to display the main Media Center menu. Choose Settings, General,

then Appearance (see Figure 21.1).

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 21.1

The Appearance

category tops

the list of

General Settings.

Under the Background Color heading, choose the – or

+ buttons to change the default value (Black) to one of

nine shades of gray, or white (see Figure 21.2). Your

choice will dictate the appearance of blank areas of

your PC or TV screen. Those areas can be large or

small, depending on the program you are watching

and the shape of your display screen. For example,

if you are watching a letter-box formatted program

on a standard TV-sized screen, you’re likely to see

quite a bit of background color showing through.

Try experimenting with your display color settings

to select the option you find most appealing.

Adjusting Media Center for Your Display

Device

The Appearance Settings menu also lets you choose

to format your Media Center interface for display on

a computer screen or a TV. Choosing TV changes the

resolution to provide the best picture quality on the

given device. You’ll also notice some subtle changes

in the appearance of the Media Center menus (see

Figure 21.3).

Adjusting Display Settings with the

Display Calibration Wizard

Whether you wantto watch video using your PC dis-

play, a TV, or both, Media Center has a wizard designed to help you optimize those

display qualities. The wizard will make it much easier to optimize your display

image, regardless of whether you are viewing on a standard CRT (cathode ray tube)

monitor or TV, a flat-panel LCD or Plasma screen, or a rear-projection or front-pro-

jection television display.

To launch the Display Calibration Wizard, select Adjust Display Settings from the

Appearance Settings menu. The following screen (see Figure 21.4) will offer you a

choice of launching the display wizard immediately or watching an instructional

video first.

CHAPTER 21 CUSTOMIZING THE XP MEDIA CENTER INTERFACE

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This capability to easily

toggle between PC and TV

display modes—without having to

put down your remote control and

pick up your mouse—was added

to the most recent release of the

Media Center software. Previously,

some Media Center owners had

devised various workarounds to

switch their displays without the

need to make tedious changes to

their display drivers. Some set up

macros to automatically execute

third-party programs such as one

called “Reso.” Evidently, Microsoft

got the message and incorporated

the feature into the Settings

menu.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 21.3

When the dis-

play is format-

ted for output

on a TV, you

can see the

wider letters and

reduced sharp-

ness (compare

to Figure 21.1).

FIGURE 21.2

Although Media

Center affords

you a choice of

11 background

“colors,” you are

still essentially

limited to black,

white, or gray.

To explain the calibration process and make it less intimidating for consumers,

Microsoft has included a video that shows a roomful of happy users, effortlessly

illustrating how the wizard allows them to optimize their display for providing

bright, colorful, and detailed images (see Figure 21.5).

After you’ve watched the video, go ahead and launch the wizard. Follow the

onscreen directions as they walk you through all the steps involved in optimizing

your display for Media Center. The primary steps in the calibration process include

the following:

■ Choosing your type of display device

■ Specifying whether you have a wide-screen display

■ Specifying the type of video connection you are using

■ Centering and sizing your display

■ Adjusting the aspect ratio, or shape of the display

■ Adjusting brightness

■ Adjusting contrast

■ Balancing the color

CHAPTER 21 CUSTOMIZING THE XP MEDIA CENTER INTERFACE

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FIGURE 21.4

The Display

Calibration

Wizard is

designed to use

a series of cali-

bration tests to

help you

achieve the best

picture for your

display device.