The term media center refers either to a dedicated computer appliance or to a specialized personal computer software, both of which are adapted for playing various kinds of media (music, movies, photos etc.), and it usually has a Graphical user interface design to be used in living-room TV with a remote control. A media center allows watching DVD movies and watching and recording television broadcasts, Playing Audio (CD and MP3 WMA and other auido formats), Playing AVI container Files. The media itself may be stored, received by terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting or streamed from the internet.

Stored media is kept either on a local hard drive or on a (wireless) network attached storage. Some software is capable of doing other tasks, such as finding news (RSS) from the Internet. Media centers are often operated with a remote control, connected to a television set for video output, and can sometimes function as a normal personal computer.

A media center can be purpose-built, modified or created by individuals by adding media center software to a PC or some other computer, for example an Xbox. Lately, some video game consoles (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) with their network services can act as a media center devices by default.

Similar to 0 things you like: