MSN Remote Record is a service that interacts with your Media Center 2005 computer if you have a broadband internet connection.
You logon to the MSN television grid website from any computer with internet access and choose which programs you would like to watch on your Media Center 2005 computer.


MSN then communicates with your local machine to tell it to record the
programs you selected. You can instruct the system to record one
instance of the program or you can tell it to record every show in the
series.
You cannot delete programs you later decide you do not want to record
from the MSN site.

You have to do the deletions locally on your machine
proper. You can only add programs from the MSN website. You are also
required to have an MSN Passport to get into the site.
Locally you have to tell your Media Center 2005 computer to initiate
and then activate the MSN Remote Record service the first time.
Thereafter the process of communication between your machine and MSN
Remote Record is automatic.

Next you will be logged onto a website
where you will need to sign in with your Passport ID and then locally
install a small program that lives in your Task Bar (it looks like a
tiny remote control grasped by a hand with the thumb changing the
channel) that your system will use to receive information from the MSN
Remote Record site. You will then enter your Zip Code and choose your
channels lineup.
MSN Remote Record works well though the website is absurdly sluggish
when loading information and changing screens.

The MSN Remote Record
system is not intelligent enough to stop you from recording programs
that conflict at the same day and time. MSN Remote Record will, instead
of informing you of the program conflict, pick another showing of the
programs at a time and date of its choosing. I don’t like that system
because if you record a lot of shows or if you need to watch a certain
show at a certain time you will inevitably be disappointed as MSN
Remote Record decides when to program your conflicted choices and it
might be days later before the program actually records your wishes.

If you make a mistake in programming a record request you must be at
you local computer to delete the mistake. That means if you are at work
or on vacation or out in the field you cannot tell your system to not
record what you previously chose. If you made a mistake in a recording
choice and you need another program to record at the same date and time
instead you are in a mix of trouble because the system will not tell
you about the conflict — it will just silently resolve your conflicted
choice using its own pattern of reason: “I, Robot” becomes “MSN Remote
Record.”