CE 5.0 Feature Pack – Building connected media devices

Have You seen the Windows CE 5.0 feature pack?

 It is absolutely worth a closer look because it is a booster for a new class of devices: the connected media device.

Think of using your home computer as your own private media library for all digital media stuff you have. If you are running Windows XP and You have installed Windows Media Connect, one is ready to go from a backend perspective.

All we need to do now is to create a Windows CE 5.0 FP image on a HW board having AV capabilities (yes, this is fun for device developers ).

Connect this board to You favorite amplifier or TV set and easy access to multimedia from anywhere in the home via WLAN or LAN is quite simple.

 To make this even easier Mike Hall has created a tutorial showing how to do this.

 

In my eyes this could be the beginning of the home server era, where computers will play a vital part in providing entertainment, comfort as well as security to our home.

A showcase for such a scenario already exists since last year, when Bill Gates opened the "Haus der Gegenwart" in Munich, Germany.