Win XP Media Centre Edition

S

Squirrel God

Guest
I've recently started using Win XP Home Edition and while I don't think it's as stable as Win 2K (seems to be a bit fussier with drivers etc), I like it.

Windows XP Media Centre Edition is a new edition of Win XP that seems to integrate everything media-related within our homes, such as TV, DVD, hi-fi etc. It's being marketed as a complete home entertainment centre by Microsoft and comes complete with a remote control to control everything!

ultimate0.jpg


Personally though, I like to keep things separate and the thought of a single computer controlling almost everything in my home is one that I'm just not keen on. Surely a single programmable remote like a Pronto is enough without having to stick a PC and WinXP with fancy apps in between the remote and your AV gear! The security issues this would raise bother me too.

Wondered what everyone else thought about this? Is it something you are interested in or do you think it's redundant? :)
 
Just a hint for you.
Have you tried clicking right clicking in a folder, go to view, then thumbnail. This is especially great for folders that contain pictures, also filmstrip is good as well, and you can enlarge pictures.
 
Feeling a bit thick today....thought this was a competition for some software...

Ian Guinan
 
I dont like the fact that the only way to get the Media Centre Edition of XP is in a PC preloaded and precongigured, probably to ensure compatability.

I fancy a go with it to see how well it works but wont buy a whole machine to have a go.
 
I have heard nasty things about XP Media Centre like "if you burn a DVD, it will only play on your PC, not any other player".

Sounds like typical Microsponge to me.
 
Originally posted by Garrett
Just a hint for you.
Have you tried clicking right clicking in a folder, go to view, then thumbnail. This is especially great for folders that contain pictures, also filmstrip is good as well, and you can enlarge pictures.
Fully explored all the options during the first couple of days I had it but thanks anyway Garrett. What I really like is that it will show a picture of the album cover in the folder when you rip music tracks from CDs :)

Originally posted by John Spicer
I dont like the fact that the only way to get the Media Centre Edition of XP is in a PC preloaded and precongigured, probably to ensure compatability.
I didn't realise that! :eek: It does seem that way reading the literature!

Originally posted by kiwiranger
I have heard nasty things about XP Media Centre like "if you burn a DVD, it will only play on your PC, not any other player".

Sounds like typical Microsponge to me.
Sounds similar to the content protection function in Windows Media Player. You can disable it for CDs so I would presume it could be disabled for DVDs as well...?
 
Originally posted by kiwiranger
I have heard nasty things about XP Media Centre like "if you burn a DVD, it will only play on your PC, not any other player".

Sounds like typical Microsponge to me.

Apparently, Microsoft have now backed down and DVDs burned on the Media Center PC will play on another Windows PC running Mediaplayer 9.

They'll be manufactured by HP.:eek:
 
yep, Media Centre has been mentioned before.

really depends how expensive it is to get one of these boxes.

could be a very simple way of getting a decent progressive scan dvd player, fully equipped with remote control and low noise etc.

could replace a few Tivos too perhaps.;)
 
So how do we get our hands on a copy without having to buy a new pc with it preinstalled?
Also, are they including a cd in the price of the pc just in case of a reinstall situation?

Cheers
Rick
 
There is no way of buying the O/S without buying it bundled on a PC. I'm not wure when it will be available in the UK though as they will probably have loads of problems trying to get the EPG needed for their hard disk recording utility. I can't imagine Sky allowing them to do that easily - also they would need to be able to decrypt the Sky signals - again not easy without cooperation with the providers. It may be some time coming yet.
 
If you do a search in the web apparantly you can find the latest beta version and change a small file to allow it to run on a normal XP machine.

Okay as a beta but this of course would be illegal to do when the version is officially released.
 
I will have an installable ISO of XP Media Centre by Tuesday if anyone is interested in giving it a whirl PM me for det's
 
One of the main problems I can see with trying it out is that it will only be 100% tested on specific hardware components. I suppose if you can get an exact list of componoents used in the US computers then it may be worth a try...... but then again I'm not going to get in Microsoft's bad books - so I won't be doing it.
 
I'm just going to test it out on a spare HD for fun ...

My HTPC/HCPC is currently:

Aopen AK77-8X-MAX w/ XP 2200+ 2gb DDR
2x WD 180GB 8mb cache ATA
1x Panasonic LF-D311 DVDRam/DVD-R
1x NEC ND-1000A DVD+R/+RW
Radeon 8500DV w/ NEC LCD1810

Toslink out from PC to my Rotel stack, SVideo from Radeon to the 36"

ATM just using it as an overpowered MP3/DivX machine really

Got a 2mb ADSL from Griffin Internet into it, with wireless ethernet allowing two other notebooks and another PC to all play/share as needed and generally eMule driving any file gathering
 
myHTPC... Not bad for an alpha... Weather feature is cute, if a little excessive. But as you said, it does what it's supposed to.
 
Bear in mind for anybody trying to install MCE ... it dont support PAL or the UK yet .. trust me , I have tried.

In my experience .. as long as you have a PVR250 card a decent video and sound card , you should be able to get it working , as I did ... but as I said it doesnt support the PAL video standard at all the moment ...

If you can get hold of Beta 1 of MCE 2.0 (which is floating around on the internet) .. then this does support PAL
 
Bad boy have you got a link to the beta you mentioned?
 
nope ... otherwise I would have downloaded it myself .... try the usual places ...
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom