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Windows Media Center Edition

N

nageov3t

Lifer
I'm looking to build a media center-ish PC for my bedroom. Plan on using it for watching DVD's, mpeg's, and divx movies, not to mention recording television shows and listening to MP3's. Buying a SFF pc, an all-in-wonder card, and standard dvd/cdrw (with a remote control thrown in there as well, space allowing).

Will WMCE provide any additional functionality? Otherwise, I'd (probably) end up using Win 2k3 or XP Pro.
 
I didnt think they were releasing MCE to the general public (only to builders of the PC's that would require it)

MCE is alright, but it doesnt have anything extra apart from the MCE bit, it is exactly the same as XP Pro.

There are alteratives to the MCE bit of MCE but i cant remember there names at the moment,

If i was you i would install XP Pro, and get one of the free (if there is any) versions of programs that can do everything that MCE was built to do.

-=KHGamez=-
 
MCE wont work with the all-in-wonder cards; it will only work with a handfull of cards. And yes, for the most part MCE isnt available by itself to the general public.

For most of the tasks you are trying to do (play DVDs, mpeg/divx & MP3s) you would just need XP Pro. For recording TV shows you can use the software that comes with the all-in-wonder cards.

You dont need MCE just use XP Pro. "Win 2k3" is a server OS, dont run it.

-Erik
 
Originally posted by: spyordie007
MCE wont work with the all-in-wonder cards; it will only work with a handfull of cards. And yes, for the most part MCE isnt available by itself to the general public.

For most of the tasks you are trying to do (play DVDs, mpeg/divx & MP3s) you would just need XP Pro. For recording TV shows you can use the software that comes with the all-in-wonder cards.

You dont need MCE just use XP Pro. "Win 2k3" is a server OS, dont run it.

-Erik
Click to expand...

MCE now works with the All-In-Wonder cards - 9200, 9600, 9800.

MCE isn't available to the general public but soon system builders (ie the small guys, other than Dell, Alienware, Compaq/HP, etc.) will be able to sell it, so perhaps there will be more variety then.

For what I saw, XP Pro wouldn't even be required - XP Home is fine. But the MCE2004 is *really* nice, and it's all controllable with a remote. UBID frequently has MCE2004 PCs for $700 on up....
 
ATI "ALL IN WONDER" cards all come with all the programs tou need to make your PC into a home theater , retail boxs come with a usb remote that you can lay in bed and control almost everything . The AIW 9600pro even has a FM tuner built in . There are other proggies out there , some for free that will work great . Yes MSMCE works with all AIW cards 9200 up to 9800 .
 
AIW 9600 Pro has an FM tuner? Is this something brand new? I bought one about a month ago, and it certainly don't have FM 🙁
 
Originally posted by: steell
AIW 9600 Pro has an FM tuner? Is this something brand new? I bought one about a month ago, and it certainly don't have FM 🙁
Click to expand...

I'd like to know as well since I have an AIW 9800 Pro and don't see an FM tuner option anywhere 😕
 
Don't get MCE and gon't get the AIW. There are so many nice media/pvr front ends being developed and many are free. I really like xlobby but the pvr part is not finished so it does not meet your full requirements. SageTV is supposed to be very good but costs money. If you are willing to go linux, most people say MythTV is the best.
AIW cards are nice but I think you would be better off with seperate video and capture cards. Browse the forums at htpcnew, avsforum, or hardopc htpc to see where the card can be limiting.
 
I agree with the idea of different video and capture cards - that's a far easier method of setting things up.

RE: Media Center 2004, I think it's by far the easiest and simplest choice out there. It just *works* - you don't need to fiddle around downloading different codecs or front and back ends or installing a different OS - one OS, and it's done. Very simple, easy, and fast.
 
I've never used Windows Media Center but is something to be said for "it just works". To configure xlobby I needed Zoom Player Pro, ffdshow, dcaler, xmltv, Winamp, Daemon Tools, a few plugins, a icon pack, and my own custom skin. But, once that is all done it is nice to have the program function exactly as you wnat.
 
You've never used it, but you say not to get it? Wow. Not good.

Try it - it's really easy to use, simple, fast, and, for most of the population that wants just a Tivo-style device without any hassle, the greatest thing since sliced bread for TiVo lovers.
 
Use MythTV.

It's free and it works well. It won't work with newer All-in-Wonder cards.

However you can use it with the cheap Bttv-based cards, and it should work with the winPVR-250 and winPVR-350 cards.

And it kicks arse.

Ever heard of "knoppix"? It's a live CD linux. Meaning it's a OS that runs directly from the CDROM so that you don't have to install it on a harddrive.

well they made a version for MythTV
some advice

So you will be able to do something with the same functions as TiVO with out having to install anything perminately. Although you will be accessing the harddrive.

It does all the functions. Full PVR functions, record, fast foward, commercial skip, pause.

It can handle multiple cards for picture in picture type stuff, also so you can run one while recording on another card.


However it will realy shine as a full install on a dedicated Linux box.

People will do backend and frontend type things. Like have a PC box be a backend, recording everything, and have a hacked Xbox hooked up to your TV for the actual front end. The picture gets streamed over the network.

etc etc etc.

Also has some plugins and stuff for weather monitoring and video games (like nintendo emulation type stuff)

MythTV home, screenshots, and feature set

And it's free.

The trouble is that it's often not the easiest to setup. However once it gets going on a fast machine then its probably going to be one of the nicer solutions out there.
 
http://hust.la/KnoppMyth/ suggests that you can run the *viewer* from the Knoppix CD, but the Knoppix application (and Linux) must be installed to the hard drive on the PVR machine. It would be nice, though, if they could have a version of KnoppMyth CD that would be bootable and would include PVR functionality, rather than just the viewer....
 
Ya. But you need to have access to the harddrive.

A half hour show recorded at high quality mpeg2 bitrates will take a couple gigs of disk space. You'd have to have some hardcore large amounts of RAM in order to create a disk-free buffer.
 
You'd just need a disk with a filesystem that Linux could write to. The objective here is to avoid having to install an operating system, not to avoid having to write to disk.
 
XP MCE is a big pain if you try to set it up yourself. There are tons of incompatibilities, you need special drivers, it doesn't include an MPEG-2 decoder so you need to use a third party one, and the official ATI drivers don't even work with non-hyperthreading CPUs (that's IF you pay the $20 or so to get them, because they ain't free).

If you get an All-In-Wonder, just use ATI's software. It ain't perfect, but it works and they're making improvements.
 
Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Originally posted by: steell
AIW 9600 Pro has an FM tuner? Is this something brand new? I bought one about a month ago, and it certainly don't have FM 🙁
Click to expand...

I'd like to know as well since I have an AIW 9800 Pro and don't see an FM tuner option anywhere 😕
Click to expand...

Did you choose it in the installation? Mine's in Programs->ATI Multimedia Centre->FM
 
Originally posted by: clicknext
XP MCE is a big pain if you try to set it up yourself. There are tons of incompatibilities, you need special drivers, it doesn't include an MPEG-2 decoder so you need to use a third party one, and the official ATI drivers don't even work with non-hyperthreading CPUs (that's IF you pay the $20 or so to get them, because they ain't free).

If you get an All-In-Wonder, just use ATI's software. It ain't perfect, but it works and they're making improvements.
Click to expand...

There's a point to that. The only way you'd set it up yourself is with an MSDN subscription, so the assumption is that you're technical enough to resolve minor setup hassles. You'd essentially need to:
1. Set up XP and then add MCE2004.
2. Install the MPEG2 card and MCE-compliant drivers.
3. Install the video card and MCE-compliant drivers.
4. Install the DVD-playing software.

It's not *that* bad, but if that is an issue for anyone, lots of vendors sell MCE2004 computers nowadays.
 
Anyway, go to xpmce.com for information. Their forums are pretty useful, and they have a modified encoder that can be used on non-HT CPUs (not sure if it's legal or not). As you will see, there are a lot of success stories but also a lot of frustrated users trying to build their own.

I managed to get my hands on a copy and installed it on my XP-2000 and AIW9600pro system. CPU usage while watching TV was around 60%, while the ATI software is usually around 3% for me. I have no idea what they did to make it so high, I think that perhaps it always encodes it to MPEG-2 in real time while you're watching.
 
CPU usage is a sore point - the MC application is what sucks all the CPU time. The actual encoding application in MCE2004 using 2-3% of the CPU, so if you quit the 'tv watching' application, you'll use next to no CPU.
 
Thanks for the link to the MCE website!

I just ordered a Dell Dimension 4600 from Dell outlet for a good price.
It comes with a low end AIW card and MCE.
I will get the system tomorrow.

I have no idea what to do with the AIW card and MCE.
XP Pro does all that I need an OS to do.
 
Originally posted by: steell
AIW 9600 Pro has an FM tuner? Is this something brand new? I bought one about a month ago, and it certainly don't have FM 🙁
Click to expand...

You bought an AIW 9600 then, not AIW 9600pro....AIW 9600pro/XT have the FM tuner in addition to the analog TV Tuner. No other AIW card has the FM (yet).
 
Originally posted by: abovewood
Thanks for the link to the MCE website!

I just ordered a Dell Dimension 4600 from Dell outlet for a good price.
It comes with a low end AIW card and MCE.
I will get the system tomorrow.

I have no idea what to do with the AIW card and MCE.
XP Pro does all that I need an OS to do.
Click to expand...

You'll like it. Once you've got it all set up it's really nice, reasonably easy to use, and very customizable. It's just handy. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: abovewood
Thanks for the link to the MCE website!

I just ordered a Dell Dimension 4600 from Dell outlet for a good price.
It comes with a low end AIW card and MCE.
I will get the system tomorrow.

I have no idea what to do with the AIW card and MCE.
XP Pro does all that I need an OS to do.
Click to expand...

It does come with a hyperthreading P4, right? Any other processor doesn't go well with MCE. 🙁
 
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