Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005: Feature and Performance Investigation

Online Spotlight

Originally introduced in MCE 2004, the Onlight Spotlight section of Media Center is a way to offer third party content to MCE PCs without breaking the Media Center interface.

While the theory is a sound one, there is a lack of quality control when it comes to the Online Spotlight experience. Not only does the interface for most of the Online Spotlight begin to look like a cheap Media Center knockoff but it's far too common to have to do something outside of the Media Center UI to complete a setup feature in one of the Online Spotlight applications.

For the most part, the Online Spotlight applications are just web pages that are designed to be viewed from within the Media Center interface. Through the Online Spotlight you can sign up for RSS feeds to be delivered to your MCE PC, purchase music through Napster or even order movies on demand.
The movies on demand features are provided by three companies: Movielink , CinemaNow and interActual. Remember that you're basically downloading these movies for a fee, so the quality and the speed at which you download the movies are dependent on the provider as well as your internet connection. It's obviously not as fast as cable TV on demand services but is about on equal footing as far as quality goes in the sense that you're not getting the highest quality video and anything above and beyond the bare minimum 4:3 format and 2 channel audio isn't usually provided. You're much better off recording your own movies (at least they're free this way) or renting a DVD.

Overall the Online Spotlight section of Media Center is interesting and it definitely has promise, but the fact that just about all of the interesting features of Online Spotlight are paid subscriber features and that the entire section itself feels like you've exited Media Center and entered a much less polished program ruin the experience.