Resources for Developing Media Center Apps on Vista
The guys that run the Windows Media Center Sandbox blog posted a nice one listing all the resources they talked about on the Hanselman #82 webcast a short while ago. It's a long list of SDKs, tools and samples and looks just like the right stuff to look at if you're interested in developing something for your Media Center setup.
I believe you need to have Vista to use the lastest SDK though, so if you're still on XP Media Center, maybe it's time to look at an upgrade? I just upgraded my XP MCE (yesterday) and it went pretty well except for a few driver problems I had with my HP printer, EPSON scanner and integrated SoundMax audio. I also had to upgrade the drivers for my tv-card (FloppyDTV) but I managed to find Vista drivers for everything eventually!
I'm about to download everything I need to develop something very small for MC and see if I can make it play on my XBOX 360 extender. Scott talked about hooking up a webcam to the door bell and display the picture on the screen. Sounds like a cool idea, but maybe just a bit too complex to start with. I have no idea how to trigger a program from a door bell on a Windows machine in the first place. I used to do stuff with IO ports on my ZX Spectrum some 25 years ago, but I have no clue how to do IO now... ;)