INTERACTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INTERACTIVE ...

with a handheld remote control from across the room. This contrasts with the traditional
“2-foot interface,” where the user sits at a desk in front of a monitor and keyboard. Users
can use a wireless keyboard and mouse, but generally don’t have to, except to surf the
Web from the couch or to clear the occasional error message.
The “My TV” button will display an inset displaying the current channel the user
is watching, plus buttons for selecting an EPG, a program search function, and a list of
the last three shows recorded. If a TV is the primary or only display, the user can select a
high-contrast background. Many users find this useful because the default blue-on-blue
text of the first MCE interface was difficult to read on TV sets (Thurrott, 2004).
The EPG (which, unlike subscription-based DVR services like TiVo and RePlay,
is free) allows users to filter the cable guide to show just sports or movies, for example.
Similarly, a listing of separate recorded episodes of the same program can be collapsed
into a single listing, which can greatly help to reduce scrolling. In addition, users can
search movies based on genres, rating, actors and directors, or by title, allowing for a
sense of control over the viewing experience. Multiple tuner support allows users to
watch a live TV show while recording another program simultaneously (Thurrott, 2004).
One of the ongoing concerns about watching television on the computer had been
picture quality. Belfiore admits that “the display hardware and the drivers have to be of
high quality… the truth is, no one was really connecting PCs to TVs in high volume until
we released Media Center” (quoted in Thurrott, 2004). MCE, however, starting with the
2004 edition, features a display calibration wizard, a series of videos that users can watch
while setting aspects such as screen centering and sizing, aspect ratio, contrast,
brightness, and color balance. However, Matthew Elliott, a reviewer from CNET, says
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