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TV, Microsoft Style | |
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| Time: 09:14 EST/14:14 GMT | News Source: PC World | Posted By: Chris Hedlund | ||
Windows Media Center PCs aren't ready to rule the home just yet. Remember Microsoft and Intel's "Digital Joy" ad campaign, which touted Windows Media Center PCs as the perfect holiday gift? Well, if that's joy, I'll take heartbreak. Personally, I would rather be trapped in a bomb shelter with Donald Trump than plant an ugly, noisy Windows machine in my living room (see "Keep the PC--I'll Take TiVo," March 2004). But over the past year, Microsoft has spiffed up Media Center--the OS can now stream live TV, recorded shows, music, and pictures from a PC to your home entertainment gear via a third-party set-top box. And companies like Creative and IRiver have come out with portable players that let you carry around your favorite TV shows (provided you record them on a Media Center PC). | ||
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| #1 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 1/28/2005 11:37:32 AM |
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I am not really surprised at the setup problems... but "page 2" of that story tells you the author's bias:
Contributing Editor Dan Tynan dreams of a Windows-free world. |
| #2 By 1474 (160.125.253.9) at 1/28/2005 12:42:08 PM |
| I have a Windows Media PC (Gateway 820GM) - it's the bomb; No Problems with setup or applications. D-Link router, D-Link DSM-320 Media Center, D-Link networking cards for the other laptop and PC's. TiVo isn't worth a second look. |
| #3 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 1/28/2005 1:45:11 PM |
| Radcoe--I'm curious, I've read some reports that the "live TV" and recorded TV are a bit lower in quality than the straight cable feed. What kind of cable do you have, and have you noticed any difference in quality vs. the cable hooked up directly to the TV? |
| #4 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 1/29/2005 1:18:23 AM |
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Our MCE is the most used PC we have - it's been great and runs and runs.
The TV qaulity under MCE 2005 has been the best I've seen. I cannot wait for cable cards, etc... I cannot see anyone getting any other kind of PC for the home - there is just so much there and it makes digital media of all types not only easy, but truly enjoyable. |
| #5 By 7754 (65.27.87.2) at 1/29/2005 3:07:22 AM |
| lketchum--what kind of tuner card do you use? Everything I've seen in the xpmce.com forums, for example, suggest that the quality is worse through the PCI card tuners than straight to the TV. I'm looking into one, so I'm wondering if getting the right tuner card is critical. |
| #6 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 1/29/2005 6:33:54 PM |
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#7 - this is a good site for all things MCE. http://www.pcalchemy.com
Be sure to use the models with 250, which corresponds to the chipset used. We use the dual tuner 500's on the custom MCE's we build - [the 500 model, http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/161?osCsid=f299e4b4e6cf6b6cbbf6e2e0bd2fccbb ] We've never had any trouble with them and the TV quality is really good. |
| #7 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 1/30/2005 2:30:45 PM |
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#6, please see posts at 8, 9 and 10.
The tuner you use is the "most" critical decision you will make when building an MCE. You can go for a good mid-range video card, but do not skimp on the tuner. When you build your MCE, follow the guides at the OEM Systems Builder's Site - they are solid. Be sure to manually add your vide card drivers and if at any time you get a problem with the MCE TV palyback or recording, re-install video card drivers first. ATI's installer can be a problem, so be sure to use their file uninstall utility and reboot "before" applying new or updated ATI vid drivers. If one doesn't, one is begging for a corrupt aagp440.sys error that wil be hard to fix in the recovery console. |
| #8 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 1/31/2005 3:40:03 PM |
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#7: I've been browsing a bit at the XPMCE.com forums (www.xpmce.com/forum), and saw reports mostly on the Hauppauge tuners, as well as some comments on the ATI cards. Generally, the ATI cards were widely disparaged. While the Hauppauge cards seemed to be regarded as some of the best, I saw many posts saying the colors appeared "washed out" and that the picture was not very sharp. For example:
http://xpmce.com/forum/ftopic71112.html (confusing post to read, though) http://www.xpmce.com/forum/ftopic83198.html http://reviews.cnet.com/Microsoft_Windows_XP_Media_Center_Edition_2005/4505-3672_7-31138402-5.html?tag=top http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3672_7-5536454.html "The picture looks good--not great--with the PC connected to a computer screen, but the prototype Media Center Extender we tested performed poorly when connected to a TV. The picture quality doesn't look good even when directly connected? That's a little scary to me. There were also many posts detailing problems with installing the dual-tuner cards. Personally, I'm going to try the eVGA dual-tuner card. Wish me luck. It sounds like I might need it! I probably should take lketchum's advice since he's already built several of these, but the card is already sitting at home (I'm still waiting for a video card replacement, as the original was broken out of the box :( ). The reports at eVGA's forums aren't too good so far--it sounds like a good number of the cards were shipped in a non-functional state. |
| #9 By 2459 (69.22.124.228) at 1/31/2005 11:06:56 PM |
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bluvg, I'm using the evga Dual Tuner NVTV card in the system I just put together. I don't think you'll be disappointed in the output quality. My setup is output through the s-video port of a Chaintech Geforce 6600GT. If you have an HDTV, the Chaintech (and most 6600 GTs) can also output via component and, of course, VGA/DVI.
I got my tuner from http://www.compuadds.com/Product.asp?prodcode=D%2D032P1NVTVTX The NVTV card comes with NVIDIA's codec (not sure if it's the basic version or the platinum one which supports DD/DTS decoding). I'm using a the platinum codec purchased directly from NVIDIA. |
| #10 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 2/1/2005 1:09:16 PM |
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n4cer, thanks for the information--that's reassuring! I'm also going to use a 6600GT card (although mine is the MSI... the one that was broken out of the box... so much for saving by buying online).
Where did you find that price, anyhow? Usually I use Pricewatch.com, but I didn't find much on the eVGA card. I ended up finding it on Amazon for about $1 more, but I was in a hurry and spent a bit more on the shipping rather than using their free (slow) shipping. Too bad the video card didn't cooperate... oh well. |
| #11 By 2459 (69.22.124.228) at 2/1/2005 10:20:41 PM |
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I used Froogle http://www.google.com/froogle
for pricing that and most items (also checked Pricewatch and Pricegrabber). |
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