Pros: Easy to use, installs like any other Windows, highly featured
Cons: Few features missing, Windows-based are inherently unstable at times
The Bottom Line: Non-techies: great Tivo alternative if bought with MCE-based computer. PC enthusiests:MCE OEM software is all you need to learn to build one from scratch!
nad_masters's Full Review: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Ful...
Tivo have changed the way we watched TV. However, not everyone wants to pay for the monthly service that goes along with it. The free "basic" is too basic to be useful. So what else is there?
For a long time now, PC enthusiasts already knew that computers can be used to do the same work. Of course, it was clunky, and not very intuitive. Others have stepped up to the plate to alleviate this problem. Software such as Sage TV and Beyond TV continue to be used by the enthusiasts. Microsoft finally sees this market as a viable way to make money, and decided to retrofit their Windows XP operating system to become a Tivo killer.
There are actually 3 different versions of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition: the original that came out in 2003, 2004, and now, 2005. MCE 2005 is when I decided to jump the bandwagon.
Installation
MCE 2005 comes on 2 CDs. The first one is Microsoft Windows XP SP2. The second is the Media Center software. As you can see, MCE 2005 is just Windows XP with the Media Center software - sort of a glorified Media Player.
If you have installed Windows XP Home or Professional, installing MCE is no different. The standard questions need to be answered. Interestingly enough, while the older MCE were based off the XP Pro, the 2005 edition is based on the Home Edition. However, during the installation, it states that it was a Windows XP Professional install.
During the graphical part of the install, it will as you for the 2nd CD. After it is done with the 2nd CD, it will ask for the 1st CD again. That would be the only difference between a standard Windows install and MCE.
Setting up
Now there are some special considerations when designing your own MCE HTPC.
1) DX8 video card with DX9 compatible video driver (native DX 9 video card recommended)
2) MCE-certified TV Tuner (must have hardware MPEG-II encoder)
3) DVD playback codec (software MPEG-II decoder)
The Shuttle miniPC I installed MCE on have the ATI 9100IGP, which is a DX8 part, but the driver is DX9 compatible.
Assuming you already have a MCE-certified TV Tuner and the associated drivers, you are ready to go. I personally have used the AVerTV PVR 150 Plus) card, and it seems to work great. I since decided to exchange it for the popular Hauppauge WinTV PVR 150 MCE. Both of them are very similar actually. Both have an FM tuner as well as the standard TV tuner.
MCE uses the software MPEG-II decoder to play back DVD as well as the recorded TV shows. Fortunately, if you have a relatively new Windows-based software DVD player, it may already be MCE-certified. Popular players such as PowerDVD 6 and WinDVD 5 is on Microsoft's list, as well as nVidia's DVD codec (which is not a player - just the codec). There are many debates between MCE enthusiasts about which is the best codec to use, but in the end, for the casual user, the DVD playback software gets bundled with your DVD-ROM or recorder drive is sufficient enough.
MCE Setup
Yes, you read right - MORE setting up. Once you are sure your MCE installation is finalized (sound, video, and TV card installed, drivers installed, everything tested working), it is time to start up the "Green Button" Media Center program.
This is the actual Media Center software that has the ultra-friendly interface. It has big fonts for viewing 10 feet away from your television screen. It is also easy to set up! The first time you run it, it will step you through.
Things such as what kind of television signal (cable, antenna, or satellite), the kind of display you are using, and the aspect ratio of the screen is asked here. There are also steps to improve the picture on your television by playing back sample videos and instructions on how to adjust your television's settings to optimally display the right brightness, contrast, color, and more.
What can MCE do?
The interface of the MCE is easy to use and understand. The main screen have just these options to choose from:
Play DVD
Online Spotlight
My Videos
My Pictures
My TV
My Music
Radio
More Programs
Settings
They are relatively self-explanatory. "Online Spotlight" and "More Programs" may not be, however.
Online Spotlight and More Programs
Online Spotlight lets you use special services online, such as AOL Music, which lets you watch music videos. More Programs lets you access installed MCE plugins. Like plugins in other programs, it extends the features of MCE, such as the ability to get info on the weather, or edit the "not editable" recorded TV. These plugins are usually created by the enthusiast community, but Microsoft probably intended it to be used by software developers wanting to make a dime off you.
My Videos
You can watch any videos that Media Player 10 can play. Then again, MCE is pretty much a glorified Media Player. This means with the right codecs, you can watch DivX and XviD videos (or any AVI files for that matter), as well as Microsoft's own WMV files. Standard MPG files also play just fine. This also means you cannot play QuickTime or Real files in the Media Center interface.
You can add folders either locally on the PC or a PC that is networked with videos, and they will show up in this section. Play, pause, fast-forward, or rewind. One note on FF and RW - you can use the REW or FF on the remote to do this. You have to use the "Skip Forward/Back" buttons, which is strange. Also, when using these skip buttons, it skips 30 seconds forward, but only 10 seconds back. This was on purpose for watching recorded TV, but when watching videos, this behavior is still there.
I would like the ability to create a play list of videos to play in order. This way, I can queue up all the episodes of my favorite TV or anime show (ones that are not recorded from the TV tuner) sequentially without lifting a finger to switch to the next episode once the current episode is done playing.
My Pictures
Viewing photos are also easy. Just like videos, you can add folders from networked PCs or the local PC itself. Also new to 2005, you can view photos off removable drives (such as CD/DVD, SD Cards, and CF Cards) without requiring you to sync it to the My Pictures folder of the local PC (in other words, copying the pictures from these drives to the hard drive).
You can go to My Music, My Video, Recorded TV, or My TV (live TV) to start a media playback and have a slide show going! So you can set a mood with your slide show - such as a slow love song to wedding pictures, or loud and heavy to racing event pictures.
My TV
This is where you can watch live TV. You can pause and rewind the live TV, since once you start it, Media Center starts recording. This also means that MCE always lags a bit compared to an actual live feed television. That also means you cannot realistically hook up your Playstation or XBox to it and play on it, least you mastered the art of playing with a couple seconds of delay.
My TV is also home to Recorded TV - this is where you can schedule your recordings, and watch already recorded television. It is very easy to schedule, as Media Center offer many ways to do so. First, you can use the Guide to select the shows and series, or manually enter the time and date. Amazingly, you can also do a search for a TV show's name, or movies with a certain actor. However, you will have to enter it in a strange "telephone keypad" like interface if you are just using the remote. If you have a keyboard, it'd be easier.
The Guide is also lumped into this section. The Guide goes online to download your program listings according to the type of television signal you chose during the set up of MCE, as well as the zip code you supplied. The programming is pretty accurate here in Chicago's public television network (air). Only a couple of stations that showed up I actually do not receive (or have really weak signals to be unwatchable). You get 14 days of listings at a time. You will need a constant connection to the internet for the Guide to download whenever it needs to, or you can set it to remind you to download it manually. That is best if you only have a dial-up modem. But who doesn't have broadband now-a-days?
There are settings that deal with how long of a lead or end time for a scheduled recording, as well as quality settings that are beyond the scope of this review. Suffice to say, you will find them easy to understand and change.
My Music
If you ripped your music CDs using the built-in ripper, or you ripped using Media Player 10, and have a live internet connection, MCE will automatically download the album art and info. This is also true when you stick in a music CD just to play, not rip.
Ripping in Media Center only prompts you if you want to protect the ripped music or not by using DRM (copyright protection). Of course, most of us would not want to, as it restricts you to playback only on the machine you ripped it on. You cannot bring it with you on a MP3 player unless the player supports the DRM as well.
Ripping in Media Center does not ask you about quality settings. You must already set this up in the Media Player first. So before you rip your first CD, go to Media Player and play with the ripping CD settings FIRST! Otherwise, you may end up with music files with things you don't want on it (such as DRM, or ripped on an undesired quality setting).
Playing music files on Media Center allows you to create play lists, and even display visuals. If you want to customize the visual settings, you have to do this in Media Player.
Another item in my wish list is that you can play with all of these essential settings in Media Center instead of having to get out of the nice interface, get up close to the TV screen, and use the standard keyboard/mouse to navigate to Media Player to do some of the "advanced" stuff.
Radio
If you have an FM Tuner, you can listen to the radio here. I find the reception on the AVerTV PVR150 card to be lacking, while the WinTV was excellent. However, with the WinTV card, the radio skips! Just like TV, it starts recording when you run it, which allows you to pause and rewind live radio. However, unlike TV, you cannot record radio for later playback. So this missing feature is obviously in my wish list.
You can preset radio stations for easy access by just hitting the preset number on the remote.
Another missing feature I want (now in my wish list) is the ability to integrate online radio of my choice. Like many SBC Yahoo DSL customers, I get free full access to their Launchcast online radio. This would be the perfect interface to use Launchcast on! Yahoo and Microsoft, listen up! Also, a lot of other people like the more rouge Shoutcast. Online television exists too! You can find these features on WinAMP. But being able to access those in the Media Center interface would be nice.
Settings
Most of the settings listed under this section are just the same settings you originally set up when MCE first started. Here, you can fine tune things, including taking out TV stations that aren't in your area, or even add ones that are missing. If you change your display, finally added that highly enjoyable surround sound receiver, upgraded to a wide-screen HDTV, you can change MCE settings accordingly to match your new equipment here.
Experience
Even with a few things missing, Media Center is highly polished enough for daily use. My brother is not a computer guy, and he already warmed up to using it for daily TV and DVD watching. I personally love the fact that larger and larger hard drives are available for cheap now, and having a 300 GB hard drive allows me to replace my VCR for recording all of my favorite TV shows.
With the new 2005 version, you can finally record CDs and DVDs in the Media Center interface. Unfortunately, when you record your television shows onto DVD, they are not standard video DVDs that you can play on a regular DVD player. They are just video files on the disc, which can be played on any Windows XP machines running Media Player 10. Recording music CDs, however, creates a perfectly standard and playable music CD for the stereo system CD player or you car.
Crashes do happen, but it is usually a hardware driver that is the culprit. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do unless if the hardware manufacturer does not do anything about it (like update the driver). However, you can always change the hardware with another brand/model. I find the Airlink USB Wireless G adaptor to be troublesome. One day when I have the money, I will change it to a Linksys Speedbooster adaptor. Or if I have time, I will string an Ethernet cable into my living room where my MCE HTPC resides.
You do not need the Media Center program running to record scheduled TV! This concerned me originally, since I did not know that. In fact, you can put your PC in standby, and it will wake up to record when it was scheduled to! Unfortunately, standby and/or resuming from standby can cause lockups and other issues on some set ups. Windows standby was never reliable to begin with.
For now, though, the best solution is to set up power saving to your taste. For me, I leave my HTPC on all day, and set up hard disk and video display to turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity. This way, if my next show that is scheduled to record is 30 minutes away, I get to save SOME power for 15 minutes.
Maybe in the future, I will get a card with dual tuners, since MCE can support it. Being able to watch TV while recording TV is a great feeling. Being able to record two shows on different channels that are on at the same time is also great! But for now, one tuner is enough.
The experience is actually a sum of the software and the hardware. Does your sound hardware support surround sound? If so how? And your video - what kind of output does it support? Will it be able to handle higher resolution television in the future? Do you have a remote? Does it suit you? What about wireless keyboard/mouse? Is the mouse usable without a surface?
Conclusion
While there are some features missing, it is already pretty polished and very easy to use. Being based on the PC platform does also inherit the PC downfalls (such as instabilities). Nothing sucks more than missing a recording of your favorite shows due to a crash during your vacation or other reason of absence.
Thankfully, Microsoft is not done yet. The next release is rumored to be based off Codename Longhorn (the next version of Windows). While this does not mean that much, it will mean that Microsoft is continually updating and adding features that seem to be popular with the mass. This version of MCE is already much improved from the original and 2004. What will the next version bring?
So far, the MCE HTPC is almost ready for the masses (if only it was reliable), while it is a great way for PC enthusiasts to experiment and play with a new toy that is actually useful in your entertainment arsenal. It does give you a giddy feel when you first get it set up and watch your first scheduled recording. Being able to play your 100 GB of MP3, video, and photo collection off your networked desktop PC as well locally (or from a home server) will also give you that great feeling.
Most OEM machines are highly tested to be as reliable as possible, and is perfect for others who aren't technically inclined. I have no reservation on recommending a Windows Media Center Edition computer. I also have no reservation in recommending the OEM software for someone who is ready to learn how you can build your own HTPC. There are many online communities dedicated to HTPCs in general, so you will learn more from them.
It is a thumbs-up for me!
UPDATE March 3, 2006 - It's been more than half a year now, and my Shuttle/Windows MCE combo has been tickin' without any signs of failure. I have yet to miss a show I wanted to record (except for a few that was conflicting with time - that can be solved with a dual-tuner TV card!), nor has the system crashed on me. The Windows XP and Pro (and NT kernel) has proven itself to be rock steady to serve you as a NOS (Network OS), unlike the Windows 9x varients. My 2003 server rarely needs a reboot (except for updates).
Currently, according to Tsk Manager, my Windows MCE computer has been idling for 688:11:59 (and counting) - that is nearly a month! The system must've been on longer, since task mananger only keeps track of CPU cycles - other processes were shut down and are not on the list any more.
I do not put the machine on standby, however, for the fear of it not waking up when it is suppose to. Even when I did, I can hear the fans still going, which means that some electricty is still being used (the hard drive shuts down). Currently, I just leave the PC on all the time, but set the hard drive to turn off after 15 minutes.
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