Right now, the Windows Media Center Extender (running through my Xbox 360) is the main interface for watching video content on my television.

I have some serious frustrations with the interface:

• WMV videos are show in Icon form - 9 per page. You get like 11 characters to figure out what it is. Yes, you can push the “Info” button to get more - but how annoying. What if you have a series of shows? It is hard to find what you’re looking for - I guess they expect you to organize stuff in a good file format. I don’t want to have to organize stuff.
• One of the exciting things about this was Podcast consumption (audio and video). Not only can you not bookmark audio content but you cannot fast forward through music files (this is a known issue with a Knowledge Base article and everything). Earlier today, a 45 minute Podcast started over again 15 minutes into it - and to add to insult to it all - there was no way to jump to that part.
• Speaking of Podcasts, it took 10 days after I downloaded the thing (into the My Music directory) and it still wasn’t listed in My Music. I had to do a “Search” to add it. Every time I add something to my library, I need to run a 10 minute search? What am I missing?
• Even though I can download video content through Akimbo, I have to watch it by choosing “Online Spotlight” or “More Programs.” Huh?
• Some “Online Spotlight” items work great with Media Center Extender (MSN Video, Reuters News), others don’t (Comedy Central, VH1), and finally some require that you download content first from your Media Center before you can do anything. Stuff that I can access from my remote should be content that I can access from my remote, right? What am I missing?

Yeah, pretty ugly. I miss my Tivo and am hoping for early deliver of my Apple TV.

Or am I missing something here?

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