Microsoft have released there ‘last’ update for WinXP Media Centre Edition 2005; and guess what? Yes you guessed it almost all the updates are to get the OS ready to support XBox 360.

The service pack is called Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 now that is a mouth full and a half.

The update includes the following fixes and new features

• DVD changer support New integrated support for external DVD changers will enable consumers to watch movies and manage up to 200 DVD selections from the Media Centre interface. Media Centre will display information and cover art for each movie loaded in the DVD changer. Media Centre-supported DVD changers will be available beginning this year.
• Away Mode Away Mode will bring the convenience, quiet performance and instant on/off functionality of consumer electronics to Media Centre PCs. Away Mode improves upon current PC power-management systems by enabling the system to silently perform unattended tasks — such as recording TV shows and streaming content to Media Centre Extenders — in a low-power mode that makes the PC appear off. Away Mode will be available on select new Media Centre PCs in upcoming months from partners Acer Co. Ltd., Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Gateway Inc., HP, Phillips Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Shuttle Inc.
• DVD-burning improvements Updates to the Sonic Solutions DVD burning engine will improve the performance and capabilities of DVD burning in Media Centre Edition. Consumers will be able to convert high-definition TV shows to standard definition and burn to a DVD all in one step, as well as burn to a DVD from other PCs on their home network.
• Additional HDTV tuner support Update Rollup 2 adds support for one more HDTV tuner, meaning it will support up to four tuners: two analog and two ATSC high definition. U.S. customers will be able to use two NTSC (analog) capture boards and two ATSC (digital) capture boards. This will enable personal video recording of two shows at the same time, broadcast as either ATSC digital TV (480p) or high-definition TV (720p/1080i).

So if you run MCE 2005 I would recommend a quick pop over to www.windowsupdate.com to get the update down, it is worth it for th DVD Burning improvements alone.