Windows MCE Question

[Hobo]

Do you need specificly-made hardware for Media Centre, or can I, say, just buy the OS on eBay? (I've found it cheap and since GameEx is designed to integrate, I was just wondering)

[Tom Speirs]

Do you need specificly-made hardware for Media Centre, or can I, say, just buy the OS on eBay? (I've found it cheap and since GameEx is designed to integrate, I was just wondering)

You dont have to buy a specifically made PC, but the main hardware requirements are a DirectX9 Video Card (e.g Radeon 9600), and for TV use, one of the supported cards. The main requirement for TV is that it is either Digitial terrestrial or analog, or HDTV that has its own MPEG2 encoder such as Hauppauge 150,250,350. The Hauppauage cards now come with MCE drivers and for digital terretrial a Blackgold is a good card. Not 100% sure on sound and motherboard, but most modern boards and cards work, such as Nforce 2,3,4.

EDIT: I dont mind the slightly off topic post, but look here for help if your considering it:

The Green Button and XPMCE

Great Windows Media Center resources and forums

http://www.thegreenbutton.com

http://xpmce.com