Katrina and Amie are hoping their property will attract professional couples, so over the last few weeks it's become increasingly important to them to be able to integrate some cutting-edge technology into their designs.
As the lucky winners of this week's Belle magazine photo-shoot challenge, the girls won a $5,000 Microsoft® smart entertainment package, which was just what they needed to give their house a high-tech upgrade.
"I love being connected," Katrina said. "I love social media and I love blogging and I sleep with my phone. But when we got to The Block we quickly realised this is another world. You're in your own little bubble. So when we got all our lovely products from Microsoft it felt like I was connected again. It was fantastic.
"I think for the sale of the house, having all these products will really help us hone in on our target market," she added.
Even the judges agreed that their networked Windows® Media Center would be a strong selling point for potential buyers.
Want to watch TV on your PC like Katrina and Amie? It's easy. All you need is a TV tuner (a device you can connect to your computer through an internal expansion slot or an external expansion port, such as a USB port) and a TV signal source (such as from a TV antenna or a cable TV jack).
Windows® Media Center is included with Windows® 7. It's easy to set up and there are no monthly service fees — it's all about the entertainment.
You can watch, pause, record and rewind live and recorded TV programs — even HDTV — and control all the action using a Media Center remote control or your PC mouse.
You can also use Windows Media Center as a library for music and photos, so you can listen to your favourite tunes, create different playlists, and even enjoy a slideshow of your photos set to your own music.
Of course, it works both ways. — why watch a movie at your desk if you can enjoy it on your big-screen TV from the comfort of your couch?
Katrina and Amie took advantage of their Belle challenge prize win, which included an Acer Revo Media Center — a Windows® 7 PC that includes a Blu Ray player, as well as lots of storage space, and is designed to be connected to your Home Entertainment system. As the Acer Revo is a PC, the girls wirelessly networked it to the other PCs in their house using HomeGroup, a feature that allows them to access to their content, wherever they are in the house using the same home network.
If you've got multiple PC devices and printers in different rooms, HomeGroup makes it much easier to stay connected. You can share your media and document libraries with other people in your home, but it's also password-protected, which means you're always in control of your stuff — you decide who sees what, and what remains off-limits.
To find out how to get started with Windows® Media Center, click here.
For more information on HomeGroup set up, click here.
