Hard to find Windows XP Media Center 2005.

[b3b0p]

rbV5:

With your HD Wonders can you pause live tv? Can you watch a previously recorded show while recording another in the background? Do you know if it is possible to use more then one HD Wonder in a system?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: RossMAN

EDIT: apparently it supports remote desktop, so maybe there is a way using that to login to your rig, I dunno..never used remote desktop either, but sounds cool if it would work.

I have done that several times, since I live on a college campus, I use Remote Desktop all the time. I even Remote Desktop to my MCE computer from a Remote Desktop session to my main PC. Since my MCE is my old P3 1GHz machine (works reasonably well for TV, etc).

One can Remote Desktop to login into the MCE, then open Media Center app and select things to record in the Guide. In the Settings in MCE 2005, it even helps you setup Remote Desktop in the MCE 10 foot interface. Of course you can do it the normal way also.

Also, you can play music and look at the pictures this way, but its not as smooth of course. Playing video does not work, and it will tell you if cannot play them because of Remote Desktop.

I still wish there was an Web browser based version of the guide, that I could have running on lite Web server, like some of the other PVRs. But overall, I really like MCE.

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: b3b0p
rbV5:

With your HD Wonders can you pause live tv? Can you watch a previously recorded show while recording another in the background? Do you know if it is possible to use more then one HD Wonder in a system?

Thanks,
Chris

Yes. Yes. No, only 1 HD tuner. Can have 2 non digital tuners.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: dkman

Originally posted by: b3b0p
rbV5:

With your HD Wonders can you pause live tv? Can you watch a previously recorded show while recording another in the background? Do you know if it is possible to use more then one HD Wonder in a system?

Thanks,
Chris

Yes. Yes. No, only 1 HD tuner. Can have 2 non digital tuners.

I've read on AVSforum that you actually can use multiple HD tuners (it may have been a couple Fusion models) so it may be possible. You can definately watch a recorded HD file while recording another HD (depending on your system of course) I know if the MCE GUI is not open, I've recorded 2 analog + 1 digital in the background at something a little above 20% CPU use(ATI rig in my sig)


Thanks dkman, I'm going to have to check out the remote desktop, that sounds like something I'd find use for.

 

[psxjunky]

I beg to disagree with both the previous poster that mentioned that MCE 2005 is based on XP Pro ... it is NOT. The original MCE and MCE 2004 were indeed based on XP Pro, but MCE 2005 is actually based on XP Home.

See it straight from Microsoft here --

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...aluation/features.mspx

All the Benefits of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP SP2
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is the first consumer OS built on top of the Windows XP Home and Service Pack 2 (SP2) foundation with Advanced Security Technologies including Windows Firewall, Pop-up Blocker for Internet Explorer, and the new Windows Security Center, all while offering all of the features available today in Windows XP Home Edition.


I also disagree with the comment that MCE 2005 is the weakest of the bunch ... it is a very nice and stable product with the most usable interface of the top three -- SageTV, BeyondTV and MCE 2005

I use SageTV as my primary PVR app, but I have been using MCE on my second HTPC PVR for over a year now. Recently upgraded to the 2005 edition and it is a nice upgrade from MCE 2004.

RossMAN - no MCE 2005 does not yet support web configuration and web scheduling of recordings. There was a 3rd party app that did this for the older MCE but not sure if this still works with MCE 2K5. Check out TheGreenButton.com forums for more details on this app.

rbv5 - I heard getting ATI HDTV Wonder to work with MCE 2005 is a PITA. Could you please comment on this ? Did you just use Windows Update to get the drivers for this, or did you have to use the Administrator options ?

 

[rbV5]

rbv5 - I heard getting ATI HDTV Wonder to work with MCE 2005 is a PITA. Could you please comment on this ? Did you just use Windows Update to get the drivers for this, or did you have to use the Administrator options ?

IIRC, I just inserted the original HDTV Wonder install CD when it booted into Windows the first time and was asking for drivers. I then went to Windows update and installed all the updates. I have a couple of eHome Wonder cards also installed in the rig. The install went easy and I installed the ATI DVD decoders last thing, and it all worked.

Initially I did have some issues with one of my eHome Wonder cards after trying to ge the tuner on my AIW working in MCE (I'm fairly certain that AIW tuner cannot work with eHome Wonder cards installed) After giving up on that, its all been nice and stable and working great.

I will add that I had my HDTV Wonder working well in XP using MMC for a couple of months prior to MCE, and that prior to that, I had my other HD card working well for almost 2 years. My antenna and rig were already set up and successfully watching HDTV before even trying HDTV Wonder, which I think was key to my success...I already knew it worked, and had very few issues setting it up. Now if MIT would release some BDA drivers for my MyHD card, I'd be a happy guy!

 

[loup garou]

A quick question and some comments on my MCE2k5 experience:

First off:
So rbV5, the remote comes with a receiver with 2 IR Blasters? Are these usable with digital cable boxes? Say I have a video card or tuner card with aux video in, I could run the output from a digtial cable box to the input and control it (similar to Tivo's IR Blasters)? Does MCE support digital cable program guides? Could I do this with 2 boxes since it comes with 2 Blasters? Hope I made my questions clear.

So I got MCE2k5 with our office's action pack a week ago. After some hiccups with install (if you have an SN41G2, make sure you disable ALL the integrated peripherals before installing, including the video, or it will loop through setup looking for a file...don't know why, but that was my experience), I got it working.

First impressions...the interface is great, smooth and easy to use. If my question above didn't make it obvious enough, I don't have any TV tuners installed, so I don't have any comments about that aspect. The my music portion is fabulous though, I love flipping through my albums with the cover art. TV setup is nice, I'm surprised how good it looks even through an old GF2 svideo out (going to switch to a Radeon with a component adapter soon). All in all, I like it very much, even if it is just for getting music to my stereo. It's a work in progress and I hope to add an HDTV card and possibly another tuner in the future, in addition to the remote whenever I get that from Newegg (soon!).

A tip: If your music isn't showing album art (just the generic headphones or white & blue music notes), in explorer, make sure the folder properties are set for it to contain music and you can also map whatever folder.jpg you want to show up in the MC. Also, if you have custom mixes, you can give the folder a custom pic and use the advanced tag editor in WMP to attach album art for individual tracks.

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: rbV5

rbv5 - I heard getting ATI HDTV Wonder to work with MCE 2005 is a PITA. Could you please comment on this ? Did you just use Windows Update to get the drivers for this, or did you have to use the Administrator options ?

IIRC, I just inserted the original HDTV Wonder install CD when it booted into Windows the first time and was asking for drivers. I then went to Windows update and installed all the updates. I have a couple of eHome Wonder cards also installed in the rig. The install went easy and I installed the ATI DVD decoders last thing, and it all worked.

Initially I did have some issues with one of my eHome Wonder cards after trying to ge the tuner on my AIW working in MCE (I'm fairly certain that AIW tuner cannot work with eHome Wonder cards installed) After giving up on that, its all been nice and stable and working great.

I will add that I had my HDTV Wonder working well in XP using MMC for a couple of months prior to MCE, and that prior to that, I had my other HD card working well for almost 2 years. My antenna and rig were already set up and successfully watching HDTV before even trying HDTV Wonder, which I think was key to my success...I already knew it worked, and had very few issues setting it up. Now if MIT would release some BDA drivers for my MyHD card, I'd be a happy guy!

Thanks for the detailed response, rbV5 ! Appreciate it.

Yeah, it will be great if MIT would release the BDA drivers. I have heard great things about the MDP-120

Many people in AVSForum seems to like the AccessDTV better though ... do you have any experience with this ? Or the Fusion Gold for that matter ?

Do you know if either the team working on AccessDTV or the Fusion manufacturers have any plans to release BDA drivers for MCE 2005 ?

 

[rsd]

Originally posted by: werk
A quick question and some comments on my MCE2k5 experience:

First off:
So rbV5, the remote comes with a receiver with 2 IR Blasters? Are these usable with digital cable boxes? Say I have a video card or tuner card with aux video in, I could run the output from a digtial cable box to the input and control it (similar to Tivo's IR Blasters)? Does MCE support digital cable program guides? Could I do this with 2 boxes since it comes with 2 Blasters? Hope I made my questions clear.

So I got MCE2k5 with our office's action pack a week ago. After some hiccups with install (if you have an SN41G2, make sure you disable ALL the integrated peripherals before installing, including the video, or it will loop through setup looking for a file...don't know why, but that was my experience), I got it working.

First impressions...the interface is great, smooth and easy to use. If my question above didn't make it obvious enough, I don't have any TV tuners installed, so I don't have any comments about that aspect. The my music portion is fabulous though, I love flipping through my albums with the cover art. TV setup is nice, I'm surprised how good it looks even through an old GF2 svideo out (going to switch to a Radeon with a component adapter soon). All in all, I like it very much, even if it is just for getting music to my stereo. It's a work in progress and I hope to add an HDTV card and possibly another tuner in the future, in addition to the remote whenever I get that from Newegg (soon!).

A tip: If your music isn't showing album art (just the generic headphones or white & blue music notes), in explorer, make sure the folder properties are set for it to contain music and you can also map whatever folder.jpg you want to show up in the MC. Also, if you have custom mixes, you can give the folder a custom pic and use the advanced tag editor in WMP to attach album art for individual tracks.

yes the MCE 2k5 remote includes 2 IR blasters, to let you control up to 2 digital cable boxes (in case you have 2 analog tuners and want to feed both a signal from each box).

 

[b3b0p]

Originally posted by: psxjunky

Originally posted by: rbV5

rbv5 - I heard getting ATI HDTV Wonder to work with MCE 2005 is a PITA. Could you please comment on this ? Did you just use Windows Update to get the drivers for this, or did you have to use the Administrator options ?

IIRC, I just inserted the original HDTV Wonder install CD when it booted into Windows the first time and was asking for drivers. I then went to Windows update and installed all the updates. I have a couple of eHome Wonder cards also installed in the rig. The install went easy and I installed the ATI DVD decoders last thing, and it all worked.

Initially I did have some issues with one of my eHome Wonder cards after trying to ge the tuner on my AIW working in MCE (I'm fairly certain that AIW tuner cannot work with eHome Wonder cards installed) After giving up on that, its all been nice and stable and working great.

I will add that I had my HDTV Wonder working well in XP using MMC for a couple of months prior to MCE, and that prior to that, I had my other HD card working well for almost 2 years. My antenna and rig were already set up and successfully watching HDTV before even trying HDTV Wonder, which I think was key to my success...I already knew it worked, and had very few issues setting it up. Now if MIT would release some BDA drivers for my MyHD card, I'd be a happy guy!

Thanks for the detailed response, rbV5 ! Appreciate it.

Yeah, it will be great if MIT would release the BDA drivers. I have heard great things about the MDP-120

Many people in AVSForum seems to like the AccessDTV better though ... do you have any experience with this ? Or the Fusion Gold for that matter ?

Do you know if either the team working on AccessDTV or the Fusion manufacturers have any plans to release BDA drivers for MCE 2005 ?

I have or shall I say had (just sold it) an AccessDTV. IMO, the software was not up to par and the drivers are buggy. It would crash at least 2-3 times a day on me. This was on clean installs too.

I am now just waiting for a dell deal to replace my desktop to move it over to use as my HTPC. Then I plan on getting 2 pcHDTV cards to use with MythTV. I am also considering sticking with winders and getting a fusion, but very unlikely as everyone complains about how buggy they are and I don't like the fact I can't have more then one card in a system. Which kind of takes the whole point away from having a HTPC that can record HD imo.

 

[DarkAmeba]

So is this new version based on Pro or home?? I was looking at getting MCE but i'm not sure I want to roll down to something based on Home when my current OS is pro

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: psxjunky
I beg to disagree with both the previous poster that mentioned that MCE 2005 is based on XP Pro ... it is NOT. The original MCE and MCE 2004 were indeed based on XP Pro, but MCE 2005 is actually based on XP Home.

See it straight from Microsoft here --

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...aluation/features.mspx

MCE 2005 is made on XP Pro, like I said earlier...even thouh that certain Microsoft site says it is based on XP Home.

Proof:
It has every feature of XP Pro except joining domains.

"BillD_MS (Expert):
Q: is media center edition professional or home/
A: Windows Media Center Edition is built on Windows XP Profession Service Pack 2"

"Justin Harrison MVP (Expert):
Q: MCE can not join a domain, right? Are there any other obvious limitations that are different from Win XP?
A: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 does not allow for you to join a domain but a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC upgraded to Media Center Edition 2005 can join domains. That is the only difference from Windows XP Professional."

Both quotes from
http://www.microsoft.com/windo...ripts/04october21.mspx

This was by developer in the MCE team and a MVP. I would say that they know more about the product then the marketing team that made the Web site with the features of the OS. Also think about what would be easier, adding many features from XP Pro to Home or to just rope off features from Pro, that they did not want included for the reason I said in an earlier post.

I even found a page saying that Remote Desktop for accesing the MCE is was not included in MCE2005 but it definitely is. Remote Desktoping into the Media Center was an issue with the first version of MCE (2003) but was changed so you could use it the way I desribed earlier. I don't see why the would take this out and of course they didn't, as I have used it before in 2005.

"Q. Can I access Media Center via a Remote Desktop Connection using the Remote Desktop Protocol?
A. No. Media Center does not currently support operation over a Remote Desktop Connection. It must be run locally on the Media Center PC.

This is incorrect. And most likely a left over question from MCE 2003 time.


Q. Can I connect a new PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to a work network or domain?
A. While you can access network resources on a work network or a domain, you cannot join a Windows XP Media Center 2005 PC to the domain. PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 are designed specifically for home use. Professional features, specifically Domain Join and Cached Credentials (Credentials Manager for logins) are not included. As a result, you will be prompted for your login username/password to access network resources after a reboot or logging back into the PC. In addition, file shares or network resources set to require a domain-joined PC for access will not be available. Remote Desktop and Encrypting File System support are still included.

Q. What about consumers upgrading from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004? Will they lose these features?
A. No. Consumers who are eligible for an upgrade to Media Center Edition 2005 will keep these features as they were a part of their originally purchased product."


http://www.microsoft.com/windo...er/evaluation/faq.mspx

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: psxjunky
RossMAN - no MCE 2005 does not yet support web configuration and web scheduling of recordings. There was a 3rd party app that did this for the older MCE but not sure if this still works with MCE 2K5. Check out TheGreenButton.com forums for more details on this app.

MCE 2005 will get support for this type of thing. It is called MSN Remote Record.

"MSN Remote Record
MSN, a world leader in delivering web services to consumers, will launch the MSN Remote Record service this Fall. The service allows users of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with a broadband connection to easily schedule TV shows to record at home from any PC with Web access. MSN Remote Record enables recording of single shows or entire series. The service enables scheduling conflicts to be resolved and keeps track of all shows remotely scheduled on the Scheduled Recordings page."

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...n/onlinespotlight.mspx

"Speaking of online services, one feature that many power users asked for was a way to remotely control Media Center TV recording from the Web. That way, if you were at work, or on a trip, you could call up a Web page and trigger a recording without having physical access to the PC. To satisfy this need, MSN Entertainment will provide a free remote recording service for Media Center users. As with the aforementioned MovieLink service, I wasn't able to test this service, but it should be available at launch or soon thereafter. Other services--from companies as diverse as Discovery Channel and ESPN--will also be shipping soon. I hope to look at these in the near future."

http://www.winsupersite.com/re.../windowsxp_mce2005.asp

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: rbV5

I've read on AVSforum that you actually can use multiple HD tuners (it may have been a couple Fusion models) so it may be possible. You can definately watch a recorded HD file while recording another HD (depending on your system of course) I know if the MCE GUI is not open, I've recorded 2 analog + 1 digital in the background at something a little above 20% CPU use(ATI rig in my sig)

Multiple HD tuners would be cool. But not officially supported according MS's site but since MS's site has been wrong about things sometimes....

I definitely want to get an HD tuner as soon as I can but I would like to buy a HDTV first. Go Black Friday..hopefully there is some deals on one.

 

[psxjunky]

dkman: Thanks for the update on whether MCE 2005 is based on XP Home or XP Pro. Note that I mentioned in my above post that the original MCE AND MCE 2004 edition both were indeed based on XP Pro. I have seen direct comment on this from Microsoft before. That is why if you upgrade from the original MCE or from MCE 2004 edition, all the Pro features are retained.

However, I am not sure if a fresh installation of MCE 2005 will retail any XP Pro feaures.

Can you tell me a couple XP Pro features that are NOT available in XP Home. I have access to all three favors of XP - Pro, Home and MCE 2005 (fresh install). I can try it out right now and tell you if this works.

Once again, note that I am talking about a NEW installation of MCE 2005 on a formatted hard disk ... NOT an upgrade from a previous version of MCE.

Let me say before I forget, that I will be happy to be proved wrong

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: psxjunky
dkman: Thanks for the update on whether MCE 2005 is based on XP Home or XP Pro. Note that I mentioned in my above post that the original MCE AND MCE 2004 edition both were indeed based on XP Pro. I have seen direct comment on this from Microsoft before. That is why if you upgrade from the original MCE or from MCE 2004 edition, all the Pro features are retained.

However, I am not sure if a fresh installation of MCE 2005 will retail any XP Pro feaures.

Can you tell me a couple XP Pro features that are NOT available in XP Home. I have access to all three favors of XP - Pro, Home and MCE 2005 (fresh install). I can try it out right now and tell you if this works.

Once again, note that I am talking about a NEW installation of MCE 2005 on a formatted hard disk ... NOT an upgrade from a previous version of MCE.

Let me say before I forget, that I will be happy to be proved wrong

Yeah, I agree with you that 2003 and 2004 MCE were based on XP Pro.

A fresh install of MCE 2005 should have the Pro features except joining domains. I am currently using a very close to final version of MCE 2005 because I have been to busy with school work to reformat my MCE machine. I will want to install the final version soon, probably by this weekend...maybe even today. Since I am not running the final version I cannot say for certain that it is true but I don't see how they would remove all the features of Pro, that are in the version I am running (early August version of MCE2005).

XP Pro has Remote Desktop, encrypted file system, IIS 5.1 (Internet Information Services, for Web server and ftp server, smtp server, etc. limited version of what is in Windows Server), Offline Files and Folders,etc.

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...owtobuy/choosing2.mspx for a comparsion of Pro vs home.

I definitely can tell you that the version I am using has Remote Desktop, Offline Files and Folders, IIS, EPS.

The only things that are notely removed from MCE 2005, that Pro has...should be just the things like joining domains, and possibly some of things that are business oriented like group policy, etc (but I am not certain on the those, except not being able to join a domain after install.)

Even in MCE 2005's Windows setup install, you can join a domain during that and then once it is installed it has that area grayed out. But that might not be in the OEM version and only in the MSDN version.

I'll post back with my results from the final MSDN version, if no one else does before me.

EDIT: The version I am current running is a clean install, on a freshly reformated drive. I really hope that the final version still has most of the XP Pro features and it should. I am currently installing the final version.

EDIT: From our favorite site http://www.anandtech.com/multi...oc.aspx?i=2240&p=4
Look in the screen shot that says Remote Connections. Remote Desktop is not a feature of XP Home, as it is a feature of XP Pro and by compostion a feature of MCE.

 

[Alternex]

I've got MCE2005 running and everythign is great except for it's inability to join my domain. It's a pain because whenever I want to transfer files from my file server I have to go to another computer to copy the files over. Computers on the domain can access the the network shares on the MCE box but the MCE box can't access anything on my domain.

Are there any tweaks/workarounds to get MCE to join a domain? When I do a fresh install I can't join my domain because at that point I haven't installed my NIC drivers.

 

[dkman]

Originally posted by: Alternex
I've got MCE2005 running and everythign is great except for it's inability to join my domain. It's a pain because whenever I want to transfer files from my file server I have to go to another computer to copy the files over. Computers on the domain can access the the network shares on the MCE box but the MCE box can't access anything on my domain.

Are there any tweaks/workarounds to get MCE to join a domain? When I do a fresh install I can't join my domain because at that point I haven't installed my NIC drivers.

For the part about during the fresh install, not being able to join the domain because not having the NIC drivers. Do you have any NICs that are included in the Windows XP drivers, in say one of your other machines that you could borrow or have laying around? Like temporary use it during the install and then change it over to NIC you want to use after install. For example I have an Intel Pro/100+ Management card and Windows has the drivers for it built in. That is the only way to join a domain, aside from doing an upgrade from 2003 or 2004, as far as I know.

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: Alternex
I've got MCE2005 running and everythign is great except for it's inability to join my domain. It's a pain because whenever I want to transfer files from my file server I have to go to another computer to copy the files over. Computers on the domain can access the the network shares on the MCE box but the MCE box can't access anything on my domain.

Are there any tweaks/workarounds to get MCE to join a domain? When I do a fresh install I can't join my domain because at that point I haven't installed my NIC drivers.

I would say the best option for you is to first install the original MCE, then apply the MCE 2004 update, and then upgrade the installation to MCE 2005.

A lot more work that installing MCE 2005 directly, but if you have to have support for joining domains, this is probably you best bet.

I believe you can still access any shares on your network even without being able to join a domain ... but you have to supply username and password everytime.

 

[psxjunky]

dkman: I just tried a few Pro specific features on the MCE 2005 machine, and you seem to be right on the money MCE 2005 does have ALL of the following features. I compared an XP Home installation side by side, and it does NOT have any of these features. So looks like MS is trying to pull a fast one on consumers so that people unnecessarily pay more for the Pro version.

- Encrypted Filesystem
- Access Control for files and folders
- Remote Desktop
- Offline Files and Folders

Thanks for enlightening me

 

[rbV5]

I was given the option to join a domain on a clean install of MCE 2005. It just won't support extenders if you choose the option at install from my understanding.

One bummer is that you don't get the sonic filters for burning to standard DVD's within MCE, it comes with the 3pack OEM version and can't be distributed seperately.

There are some 3rd party video apps that suport the DVR-MS file format for import however, and there is a ripper that rips the MPEG A/V from the ASF wrapper. I was having trouble with HD DVR-MS files and the ripper due to the ac3 audio, however I was able to build a simple graphedit filer graph to rip the MPEG video and ac3 audio streams(or MPEG A/V for that matter) so I'm confident that I can do anything with the DVR-MS file format I could do with transport streams or MPEG. That was one of my initial fears with the proprietary file format..doesn't look to be a big deal.

 

[jmunjr]

Does it have built in backup software? XP Home does not. XP Pro does...

Originally posted by: DarphB
No, you are incorrect on this. Windows MCE 2005 is not built on Windowx XP home. It is built on Windows XP Pro.

The only thing MCE 2005 cannot do, is login to a domain.

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: jnmunsey
Does it have built in backup software? XP Home does not. XP Pro does...

Originally posted by: DarphB
No, you are incorrect on this. Windows MCE 2005 is not built on Windowx XP home. It is built on Windows XP Pro.

The only thing MCE 2005 cannot do, is login to a domain.

Yes, MCE 2005 does seem to have the built-in backup app ... if this is the one you mean --

All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup

 

[Crucial]

If it helps with the confusion if you install MCE2005 with an XP Pro key it will install it as XPPro and it will not ask for the second disk.

The same install disks will install TabletPC edition if you have a TabletPC key.

 

[Fuzb0]

Originally posted by: Crucial
If it helps with the confusion if you install MCE2005 with an XP Pro key it will install it as XPPro and it will not ask for the second disk.

The same install disks will install TabletPC edition if you have a TabletPC key.

Yup, I was installing MCE and typed in a XP pro code to see if it would take... it did and installed XP pro SP2 (using a XP pro 2002 key). Saves me the trouble of installing XP 2002 (read pre sp1) then installing sp2 and waiting thru all that crap. Later tried a tablet pc code, worked as well.

Also DONT go walking arround thru [name your brick and mortar of choice] and write down the product key's on the side/underneath of the computers on display. Just because they work with OEM/Action pack CD's doesnt make it right.