Windows Media Centre though XBOX 360

[gweaver]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to pick your brains if you're running MCE through your XBox 360 please!

At the moment, I have my 360 playing through a 43" Pioneer HD Plasma and 5.1 surround sound. I also have my PC in the same room, running Windows XP. My PC is connected to my router via 54Mb wireless and the 360 is connected to the router via ethernet.

My question is - Is it worth upgrading my PC to Windows Media Centre to view HD content on my Plasma? Is there a lot of HD content out there? Is it expensive to download, or do you get it from P2P sites? I'd like to get the most out of my XBox and I'm considering doing this if enough people think it's worth it.

Thanks for your help,

Gavin

 

[slingshot]

Well I was rebuilding my PC anyway so just installed MCE instead of XP, I had licences for both anyway.

Too be honest the HD clips I have are pretty impressive for demo's but I don't have any real HD content, the only real way to get HD at the moment is to use P2P services and download content from US broadcast stuff.

I'd also imagine that you may have issues with HD content over a 54mb wireless, mine struggles sometimes with standard def, so I gave up and stuck a cable down the wall.

Anyway for me it was fairly easy to do, but I really don't play much HD on it.

Slingshot

 

[Goo5e]

In my opinion - definitely.

I have been using it loads to watch HD movies (currently got about 25 films). I'd strongly recommend against getting films via P2P as it takes forever to download - decent quality films can be anything from 8Gb - 20Gb. I use newsgroups (currently subscribed to newsdemon.com - about £10 per month for unlimited downloads, there are plenty of other subscriber services, Newsdemon seems popular as well). The advantage of newsgroups is that you'll get consistently fast download speeds, the disadvantage is that they aren't quite as easy to use as P2P (and the fact that they arent free obviously).

You can find a great guide on Newsgroups here:

http://www.slyck.com/ng.php

In addition to watching movies you'll also get the benefits of other Media Center capabilities, things like Napster, TVTonic and other third party plugins (which are discussed in more detail in this thread: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303530&highlight=plugins)

Hope this helps.

 

[gweaver]

Thanks Goose,

Just a couple more questions - Is the newsdemon.com legal?

Also, the most this is going to cost me is the subscription to the newsgroup and the cost of the operating system, is that correct? I've seen Media Centre on ebuyer.com for about £80. Is that a good price?

Is the GUI on Media Centre similar to XP, and can I run all the same programs as I can now on XP?

If I go down this route and I get lag because of my wireless connection, I might try an ethernet cable under the carpet.

Thanks very much!

Gavin

 

[slingshot]

Newsdemon is perfectly legal, however most of the content that you will be downloading will be breaking copyright law I'm afraid (the reason I don't use it).

MCE is basically MS XP professional underneath so everything should run the same as standard XP, there will be a few other services running but other than that you'll just be running XP.

Can't help with the price, but doesn't sound too bad to me for a legit licenced copy. scan have it for about the same :-

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=143742

Hope that helps

 

[gweaver]

Cheers Slingshot!

 

[gweaver]

Slingshot,

Is MCE a new operating system, or a modification to my current XP software??

Cheers,

Gav

 

[slingshot]

No it's a completely new O/S, also you can't upgrade to MCE, you have to install it from scratch which is the biggest pain.

So make sure you've got your PC backed up, because you'll either need to delete your existing XP installation or make your PC dual boot. If you want to go for the dual boot option have a search around and there should be some instructions.

Hope that helps

Slingshot

 

[rEVILospud]

It's a new OS!
It looks exactly the same as XP but has the added functionality of a Media Centre. This means that anything you can do with XP, you can do with MCE 2005.
Viewing HD content on your TV definately makes it worthwhile upgrading, but there are very few legal sources for HD material. You will probably find yourself watching a dozen or so HD trailers a few times each and thats it......for now.
In this case you might as well just buy an extra long VGA cable and plug your PC into your TV to see some HD loveliness.

 

[colinwheeler]

No it's a completely new O/S

Nope, it is actually just XP Professional under the cover with new UI and some other adjustments/extensions. There are also some upgrade options but not sure how they work. I do know some people have done them though.

 

[slingshot]

Nope, it is actually just XP Professional under the cover with new UI and some other adjustments/extensions. There are also some upgrade options but not sure how they work. I do know some people have done them though.

See my previous response message :-

MCE is basically MS XP professional underneath so everything should run the same as standard XP, there will be a few other services running but other than that you'll just be running XP.

I'm sure you can hack an upgrade by copying the appropriate files and hacking the registry, however Microsoft don't support upgrading to MCE, and if you simply try to upgrade say an XP home installation it will let you, but you'll end up with an XP professional installation with none of the MCE features.

Cheers

Slingshot

 

[colinwheeler]

I'm sure you can hack an upgrade by copying the appropriate files and hacking the registry, however Microsoft don't support upgrading to MCE, and if you simply try to upgrade say an XP home installation it will let you, but you'll end up with an XP professional installation with none of the MCE features.

I'll take your word for that one. I was just sure that I had heard of sombody doing an upgrade. I don't know if they sell a non-OEM version of the software yet or not. Anyway, aside from that, a new install will breath a fresh breath of performance into your system .