Recording TV Shows with a Media Center PC

The real reason you want to watch TV on a Media Center PC is so that you can record television programs and play them back at a more convenient time. And if you have two tuners in your PC you can watch one program while you record another, or even record two different programs at the same time.

The easiest way to record an upcoming television program is to schedule the recording from the Program Guide. It's a fairly straightforward operation.

All you have to do is use the Program Guide to navigate to and then click the program you want to record. When the Program Info screen appears, click Record. The Program Guide is now updated with a red "record" icon for that program, as well as a "This program will record" message at the bottom of the screen. That's all there is to it.

You can also schedule programs to record by using Media Center's search function. From the Media Center Start page, select My TV > Recorded TV > Add Recording. Then, from the Add Recording screen, click Search. Next, enter your search query, one letter at a time, and from the list of shows that match your query, click the program you want to record. When the Program Info screen appears, click Record, and you're ready to go.

Recording an Entire Series

The previous routine was for scheduling a single recording of a single instance of a program. But if you're a Law and Order junkie, you want to record all the episodes of the series, preferably without scheduling each episode one at a time. Media Center makes this easy to do. Start by scheduling a recording of a single episode of a program, as discussed previously. Now return to the Program Guide and click the scheduled program again. When the Program Info screen appears this time, click Advanced Record. Then, when the Record Settings screen appears, click Settings for the Entire Series.

This displays the Series Settings screen. You can now select to record episodes on this channel only, or to record episodes on all channels. You can also choose whether you want to record first-run episodes only, first runs and reruns, or live shows. Click the Record button when you're done.

Recording the Program You're Watching

There's one more way to record programming with Windows Media Center, and it's an easy one. If you want to record the program you're currently watching, you don't have to search through the Guide. All you have to do is click the Record button on your Media Center remote control. Media Center automatically starts recording the program that you're currently tuned to, and continues recording until the program is over, at which point it automatically stops. It's that easy!

Michael Miller is a writer and commentator on technology and digital lifestyle topics.