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Media Center and XP Home???

Spyhunter

By Spyhunter
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Spyhunter Ultimate GameEx Guru!

Spyhunter

Posted
Posted

Can anyone tell me the answer to this silly Noob question (LOL)

Whats the main differences between MCE and XP Home?

Is MCE just XP with the ability to do what it does best (can it still be used as a normal windows operating system (eg: Play Half Life 2, etc..))

I know this sound silly but I am reinstalling my new HTPC and wondered if I should go for the MCE or stick with 'better the devil you know' XP Home

Thanks.

Neil

Tom Speirs GameEx God (Top Rank)

Tom Speirs

Posted
Posted
  Spyhunter said:
Can anyone tell me the answer to this silly Noob question (LOL)

Whats the main differences between MCE and XP Home?

Is MCE just XP with the ability to do what it does best (can it still be used as a normal windows operating system (eg: Play Half Life 2, etc..))

I know this sound silly but I am reinstalling my new HTPC and wondered if I should go for the MCE or stick with 'better the devil you know' XP Home

Thanks.

Neil

Actually more equivalent to XP Pro, at least the version 2005 I Have. As you get Remote Desktop and IIS with it. Yes, it does everyhing normal XP does, and can use the same drivers etc, although there are some optimised ones available. They say it has a few optimisatios under the hood for htpc use, but you would not know, and I am not entirely sure if thats true. You do get an extra application with it, just called Media Center, which does the HTPC stuff. I dont hink there is a better HTPC solution available anywhere for only the TV and PVR features, but that's my opinion. You should also check hardware requirements. It only works with certain TV cards, and requires a DX9 video card. Although I think that covers it.

samhain Member

samhain

Posted
Posted

MCE 2005 is XP professional.

I would personally recommend XP pro over home any day. Pro offers some more security features and capabilities the home ever will and is worth the extra cash it costs.

MCE2005 performs a default XP Pro install before it even loads up the MCE expansion files.

The only downside the MCE itself is that you can join a domain during the install, but if you need to shift domain names, you will need to do a complete reinstall of your media center.

samhain Member

samhain

Posted
Posted

Pretty much any of the Geforce 5000, 6000, and 7000 cards will work as well as most other DX8/DX9 cards out there. The only hardware that MCE is picky about is the PVR cards and TV Tuner cards. It will run without them though, so you don't really need them installed to run MCE.

Microsoft has a list of MCE compatible hardware on their site, I just don't remember the exact address other than www.microsoft.com.

Spyhunter Ultimate GameEx Guru!

Spyhunter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

thanks. although i am coming to the idea of normal xp with the gameex menu running i dont really see any main advantages over it although can gameex do the following (now or in future update?)

1) Is there an easier way to run MP3's (much the same way as the photo's) and can the queue be viewed/deleted/added to

(I really want to just view all my mp3's from my folders (configurable), that way every time you view the folder the mp3 list gets updated. does media player auto update files every time i add to the mp3 folders?

2) Can music (MP3) be added to a list for easier burning to cd from the menu (like the mc menu)

3) will there be an option to record tv, etc not that i need it, just wondered at this stage

4) Is there anything in MC not in GameEx?

P.S. I like the idea of it being a updated product whereas media center will get update eventually it doesn't mould to my needs now.

what does everyone of running gameex over media center anyday?

(and Tom can you answer the above questions for me please) - thanks)

Tom Speirs GameEx God (Top Rank)

Tom Speirs

Posted
Posted
  Spyhunter said:
thanks.  although i am coming to the idea of normal xp with the gameex menu running  i dont really see any main advantages over it although can gameex do the following (now or in future update?)

1)  Is there an easier way to run MP3's (much the same way as the photo's) and can the queue be viewed/deleted/added to

(I really want to just view all my mp3's from my folders (configurable), that way every time you view the folder the mp3 list gets updated.  does media player auto update files every time i add to the mp3 folders?

2)  Can music (MP3) be added to a list for easier burning to cd from the menu (like the mc menu)

3)  will there be an option to record tv, etc  not that i need it, just wondered at this stage

4)  Is there anything in MC not in GameEx?

P.S. I like the idea of it being a updated product whereas media center will get update eventually it doesn't mould to my needs now.

what does everyone of running gameex over media center anyday?

(and Tom can you answer the above questions for me please) - thanks)

1) I plan on having the option to load audio from a folder/s, but this folder will be set in the config, and the lists in the jukebox will still be based on tags and not folders on your hard disk. When implemented it will detect new files in the folder.

Recommendation: Tag your audio files.

2) No, and not likely

3) Likely, yes

4) Mainly just the PVR and TV features.

I use Media Center as my only tv in my flat [period]. its the bollocks.

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