MCE 05 Stable Enough??

[willbemcse]

I am thinking of switching to mce from xp pro. At present I am using wintv2000 to recoard program but I like the ability of record programs from the internet for mce.

Is it stable enough to use for playing games, doing regular day to day stuff. I read the reviews they were great about its interface .

 

[spyordie007]

MCE 2005 is Microsoft's MCE software running on top of XP Home. So the OS is every bit as stable as XP because it is XP.

I havent heard anyone comment on the stability of the MCE software; however I would like to assume it's pretty stable since it's frequently used as the only interface to the system (via. a remote). If it wasnt stable we'd probably hear a lot of complaints.

 

[DJFuji]

I was thinking the same thing, except i'm not too crazy about a system that runs on top of XP home. I want the advanced networking and development features (IIS) of XP Pro. Is there by chance a version of MCE that runs on top of XP Pro?

 

[crizzar]

MCE is built on Pro, NOT on Home, it has hyperthreading support, but you cannot join a domain with it

 

[DJFuji]

ahhh thanks crizzar. There are a lot of articles on the web (the inquirer comes to mind) that state that it's based off of XP home. But a lot of people have come out with corrections, noting that IIS can be installed natively...and other "Pro" features are there...it just can't join a domain like you said.

Now the real question: Is MCE suitable for a day-to-day power user's OS?

 

[rbV5]

but you cannot join a domain with it

You can also join a domain with it, but you lose fast user switching, and therefore MCE extender support. I know you get the option to join a domain with a NIC card installed during a fresh install of MCE 2005, and it seems I recall a hack for after the fact as well.

MCE 2005 has been very stable, and I'm using it as my OS for my 2 top rigs since it was launched last fall.

 

[willbemcse]

I installed MCE on a test machine and for some reason it keeps on freezing in the live tv option

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: DJFuji
ahhh thanks crizzar. There are a lot of articles on the web (the inquirer comes to mind) that state that it's based off of XP home. But a lot of people have come out with corrections, noting that IIS can be installed natively...and other "Pro" features are there...it just can't join a domain like you said.

Now the real question: Is MCE suitable for a day-to-day power user's OS?

To say it's based off of Home or Pro is inaccurate. It's based of the XP kernel with a particular feature set, just like the Home, Professional and Table editions of XP. It shares many of the same features as Pro.

The XP kernel will have the same stability regardless of the flavor you purchase. Just choose the feature set that meets your needs.

 

[ND40oz]

Originally posted by: DJFuji
ahhh thanks crizzar. There are a lot of articles on the web (the inquirer comes to mind) that state that it's based off of XP home. But a lot of people have come out with corrections, noting that IIS can be installed natively...and other "Pro" features are there...it just can't join a domain like you said.

Now the real question: Is MCE suitable for a day-to-day power user's OS?

Yes, it is. One of my boxes at work is MCE2k5. I joined it to the domain, and regularly use AD tools, gpmc and SMS 2003. It has all the capabilities of XP pro with the ability to watch TV in the upper right hand corner of one of my monitors.