Microsoft Corp. today announced at the DigitalLife conference in New York City the availability of a new software update for Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 that will provide new entertainment experiences for Media Center Edition customers around the world. Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 will enable customers to stream digital music, videos, photos, and standard and high-definition television and movies from Media Center PCs to any television in their home via the Xbox 360™ gaming system. Windows XP Media Center 2005 customers can obtain Update Rollup 2 free of charge via the Windows Update download site as of today. The software update is also available on new Media Center PCs.

What’s new in Update Rollup 2?

• Xbox 360 Extender functionality. Customers can seamlessly access digital music, video, photos, and standard and high-definition television and movies on Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs through any Xbox 360 game console in the house. Do you know anyone with an Xbox 360? I don’t. (Microsoft, if you want to send one my way, you have my address…)
• Away Mode. Away Mode will bring the convenience, quiet performance and instant on/off functionality of consumer electronics to the Media Center PC. This feature requires new hardware that is not yet available for sale.
• DVD changer support. Media Center now offers integrated support for external DVD changers, enabling consumers to watch movies and manage DVD selections (up to 200) from the Media Center interface. Again, this feature requires new hardware that is not yet available. I actually have a 300-DVD Pioneer changer; it sure would be nice to use it with Media Center, but that’s not going to happen, apparently.
• DVD-burning improvements. Updates to the Sonic DVD burning engine improve the performance and capabilities of DVD burning in Media Center. Now consumers can convert high-definition TV shows to standard definition and burn to a DVD all in one step. If you built your own Media Center PC, as I did, the Sonic software is not included. For some reason, this feature is free with computers built by big-name OEMs but is not bundled in single-copy OEM media.
• Additional HDTV tuner support. Update Rollup 2 provides support for up to four TV tuners. Users will now be able to utilize two NTSC (analog) capture boards and two ATSC (digital) capture boards. Supports over-the-air HD only, which means that most people won’t be able to use it.

Still no CableCard support, and yes, it’s free! Available here.

More info from Microsoft