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Microsoft Media Center 2005 Reviewed
Thomas Hawk writes "Microsoft is set to release their new Media Center 2005 by none other than Bill Gates himself in Los Angeles tomorrow. In advance of this announcement, the New York Times (registration required) is running
an article on the new product today. The article says that the quality of the MCE television has generally been received as inferior to rival and competitor TiVo. I wrote a review on the new MCE 2005 last week called MCE 2005, Underwhelmed. I'm offering
continuing media coverage of MCE 2005."
due to Microsoft policy, any TV programs you record will be destroyed automatically after 30 days, unless they receive a notice from their legal department...
The article says that the quality of the MCE television has generally been received as inferior to rival and competitor TiVo.
...But wait! Have you seen all the new DRM features?
Microsoft salesman:
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
So Gates himself wrote Media Center single-handedly?
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
Maybe he will get a blue screen of death when he powers it up, much like he did with Windows 98. Sorry MS but you won't get to monopolize the TIVO industry
Lets see:
Tivo --- Cheap, works, easy to use, easy to setup.
MythTV --- Cheap, works, easy to use, difficult to setup.
MCE --- Expensive, works, easy to use, modertly difficult to setup.
Hmm...
So MS is saying that I can spend a thousand dollars on a PC, pay them around 150 dollars for the software, subject myself to DRM, and then risk getting my Television infected with spyware, viruses, and worms?
WERE CAN I SIGN UP?!!!!!
Imagine when we all exist as a cyberthalamus. You won't have all these information restrictions and wierd GUIs on your media collection. It'll just be some chip close to the cyberthalamus.
-I am an elective eunuch.
Coming soon... HDTV viruses & spyware
It's a MS product. It's non-functional 'till version 3. DirectX, Windows, IE, case in point.
Call me picky, but I find even the quietest hard drives (Seagate Barracuda line is the quietest I've found) are unacceptably loud when used in a media PC in my living room. That constant humming is a big annoyance. Add to that, unless the case is an ITX format or smaller, I find a media PC unacceptably large for my living room as well. I've experimented with various harddrive-less media players/recorders but haven't found one that I liked enough to even mention by name here.
I'm a big tall mofo.
http://www.google.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ny times.com%2F2004%2F10%2F11%2Ftechnology%2F11micros oft.html%3Foref%3Dlogin%26pagewanted%3D1%26oref%3D login&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=moz illa&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial
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Is this the edition that makes it good? HAR HAR!
That doesn't surprise me but I think that the figure is intrinsically misleading . . . at only 3% of the market, these media PC's are probably primarily bought by the diehard enthusiast types. These are exactly the same group that would be most likely to be very satisfied with the product. The average Joe that is much more fickle and impatient currently wouldn't even consider buying one of these for his/her living room . . . at least not until they become much more mainstream . . .
Last I checked, it's still 2004. Oh wait, I see, it's going to be be too buggy to be usable until sometime in 2005. Now I get it.
. . . Windows XP Media Center Edition is pretty cool. My roommate purchased an HP computer for college that came with MCE, though he didn't even try to set it up last year, this year he's gotten it working.
We've used it, so far, to record South Park episodes and Comedy Central's Secret Stash. There's nothing better than going off to Intro to Philosophy class after just having heard a 5-minute unbleeped tirade from an angry black man. We've now got it set to record every show of several series, and it's really nice to be able to start playing a show at a moments notice.
I'm kind of jealous that he's got it, actually. I'd like to turn my spare computer into a Linux box, but I'd also like to record shows on it, if such thing were possible. I have no idea if any equivalent to MCE exists on Linux.
As I understand it, MCE is just pro with added junk. If it retails for the Same as Home, could be a nice, cheap way to upgrade to Pro.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
" Although the product allegedly will support the ATI HDTV Wonder card it is my understanding that this card only supports OTA (over the air) HDTV broadcasts. WTF?" - From the submitter review
What an uninformed statement. This the fault of cable and sat companies. The htpc communities have screamed their heads off about for awhile now but with the new broadcast flags, I believe we will see the death of HDTV recording (on pc, too easy to share) all together. Unless there is a solid shared standard (with agreement of the copyright holders of course) you will never see anything from HDTV cable and sat on your pc.
If any one is wondering, NO you can not just record the component signal. The pci bus has proven to be to slow to handle raw High definition signals. Hell why do you think pci video card are practically dead?
http://thomashawk.com/2004/10/microsoft-media-cent er-2005.html
Chris Williams clw7500nc@gmail.com
... it doesn't crash.
Windows 98 crashes during Gates' Comdex demo
I've got a very expensive Sony Media Center PC. The program guide and remote control are nice, but the thing takes forever to switch channels, and video quality is poor (it appears to be dropping frames like crazy when receive standard broadcast TV with a lot of movement). Sure, I can pause live TV, but what good is that when it looks like crap? Of course, it is difficult to say how much of this is the fault of the software, and how much is because of the hardware -- but killing every other process running seems to help.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
For a minute I thought the "broken windows" icon replaced the Bill Gates borg icon. I was about to ask what happened, did Bill G. finally get tough with ./ ?
Speaking of blue screens... did anyone ever notice that the Windows XP Logon Screen (the pretty one with all the playschool buttons) is mostly... blue? Wanna guess why? Maybe they were hoping if XP bluescreened, a user wouldn't be able to tell from a distance because they'd still see blue and think it was the logon screen. ;P (I kid! I kid! Because of love!!!)
Un-news
The last thing I want to see is a picture of the Goatse.cx guy (or worse) frozen on my high definition, no less, television with an "Oh Snap!" or "Pwned!1!!" caption.
I use XBOX Media Center (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com) since a month now, and it is WAYYY better than whatever MS will be offering, the main advantage being u dont get stuck with M$ software. My XBMC works with the iBook and a Windows XP desktop that is kinfof like my "Media Server" lying somewhere in the bedroom.
Its all connected to the network wirelessly, and works exceptionally well. U can manage the songs using iTunes and play those on ur home theater connected through XBMC. There are also Optical Audio and Component Out kits available for the XBOX and it works really well. It has the mplayer media player which has all the nasty codecs which can play just about anything.
Also, xbox dosent make the noise that a regular PC will make. It now also supports 1080i DVD playback with DTS audio which is just what I need.
M$ has a media center extender for their xbox, but it only works with their shitty Media center PCs which is wayyy overpriced and too "closed".
As far as my XBOX can do everything i ever want (of course, except the HD-Tivo functions, which i would like leaving to Tivo), spending 150$ for the XBOX just makes too much sense. I would always prefer to have all the media stored on some PC but remotely accessible from a small non-noisy set-top box connected to the TV (like the XBOX).
Are you watching silent movies or something? I use Seagates and when watching tv at even a low volume I can't hear my PC at all. For movies, ie why you want a HTPC in the first place I can't hear anything but my 5.1 system.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
...it's an excellent way to identify B-Arkers.
Yes, there are women on Slashdot. Deal with it.
And halfway into the presentation, in front of all the world, inexplicably, BlankScreen(TM) turns a familiar shade of blue...
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I've always wanted to see hi-def goatsee and tubgirl. ;)
rivals and competitors?
Microsoft's entire success is due solely to protectionist schemes
Those schemes are self protection of Microsoft's own business.
Protecting customers and competitorsM-D partners is a different matter.
I don't see the Media PC booming into a brisk holiday sales season; the TiVo has much stronger word-of-mouth advertising.
Where the TiVo falters, IMHO, is in providing friendly HDTV recording capabilities.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
You are killing the wrong process try kill rundll.....etc works even better then try a freebsd boot cd. At root just type in (dd if=dev urandom of=dev ad0) these actions will speed up your sony.
XP MCE has always looked to me like MythTV for people who are too rich and/or lazy to geek Linux or TiVo for Paul Thurrott or the Microsoft-zealot balding IT man at your school or workplace. A good thing to have, but with TiVo To Go around the corner to handle the DVD burning thing, is there any real advantage over TiVo? If you are using it like a TV (sitting at a distance) you won't be too comfortable using Word, particularly if you are using a standard-def or any small TV as your monitor, and there's no reason in particular to have Windows except MAYBE the games, and those would only be advantageous if you have a rather well-sized screen (e.g. a plasma).
TiVo may have a fee, but the box is cheap and when it dies you can just get a new one and the fee remains the same -- and if the fee is really a problem, get Lifetime. I think you can get Lifetime and a DVD-burning TiVo for less than a decent MCE box and you don't have to get antivirus, because it's a highly secure embedded Linux distro.
Releasing this may be a sign that Microsoft is moving more into the field of consumer electronics, and may be paying less attention to trying to release "serious" computer software.
Last time I checked, we are still 18 months away from the release of the next Microsoft operating system, and Microsoft still has not answered any of the serious questions about security or stability.
However, Microsoft is very good at one thing: designing things that are simple and attractive for consumers to use. If they can't make "scientific" operating systems, they can at least make pretty home electronics. It might be a fitting thing for them to do.
Or maybe this is only a blip on the radar screen?
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
I think there is a category error here. ReplayTV or Tivo are not direct competitors to MCE - different setup, different price points. People buy something like a ReplayTV precisely because they want to deal with as little PC-like cruft as possible. Which, of course, MCE offers in droves. MCE still requires too much sit-up effort rather than a more comfortable TV-like sit-back groove. It's possible it may always be burdened by this because of its full-scale Windows nature.
Surely the closest competitor to MCE is the equivalent PC PVR software such as SageTV or BeyondTV (or even the crappy pack-in software from ATI or Hauppauge). I know MS wants to imagine this is otherwise by not easily unbundling the MCE software from the hardware base, but it's a fact.
More stuff about (mostly) PC PVR software.
Da Blog
So I have a first-generation Tivo, and have been considering an upgrade to something else so I can play MP3s from my home theatre, since the first-generation boxes can't connect to a WiFi network.
Right now my decision is between a Tivo Series 2 and an MCE 2005 box. After thinking it over, I have to say it doesn't seem to make sense to invest extra money in a MCE system. If I want to record shows, for example, that means I have to leave my PC on 24/7, or try and remember to keep in on while the shows I want to watch are recording. What happens if I go on vacation for a couple weeks? I'm just supposed to keep my PC on that whole time?
Between that issue, and the MCE recording quality problems already discussed in this thread, I'm heavily leaning in favor of the Tivo Series 2. Am I missing something, or does using a PC to record video just not make a whole lot of sense?
Unless you upgrade from MC 2004 to 2005 (and have previously joined a domain) you can not join a domain with MC 2005.
This is because MC 2005 is cheaper than XP Pro, and MSFT doesn't want corporations abandoning XP Pro sales.
and I bought an OEM copy of MC 2005 through work on thursday. It's the only legitimate MS OS I've ever owned. And I'm absolutely gutted that they spent about as much time optimising the My Music feature as Bill spends mailing love letters to liberals. My TV's faster though.
I just spent a few days in Houston Memorial Herman Hospital where they have a sort of interesting setup.
h _hostech.html
The old TV's are gone, they have flat screens on a boom that you can pull down to your face and watch TV on, surf the net, etc..
My complaint with it was that it's credit card driven, you get about 10 channels for free but they are all bullcrap channels, women's talk shows, soaps, "The Aquarium Channel" and other useless nonsense.
If you want to watch anything else you have to swipe your credit card in a slot on the side to activate the half way decent channels or get on the net. The proxy is heavily censored/nannied and you can't do much more than go to disney.com and other 4 year old level crap. Any site with naughty words are off limits.
Not having a credit card, I was screwed until they caused me some extreme pain, I filed a complaint and they kissed my ass for the rest of my stay which included turning on all the channels.. (not worth the pain though!)
Anyway, the thing was crashing every few hours, it would boot up with a Windows 2000 start up screen then go through a very lengthy new hardware detection process, rebooting numerous times as it tried to detect and install all the goodies. It is a touch screen and the picture was a little better than poor and just under acceptable. You can go back and forth between the net and TV by touching the screen. Typing on it and filling in forms was a pain. There was a power, coax and an ethernet cable from the wall into the boom. I would be willing to bet that this device is insanely expensive. Considering though that they charged me about $100,000 for everything, I would think they may have put a dent in the bill for this system.
At first glance, it looked neat. After serious scrutiny, it's buggy and low quality. But most people laying in bed, in pain could care less.
Here's a link to a story all about the system.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/technology/020104_tec
I don't understand the slashdot crowd???
Software has spyware and you guys go apeshit.
Yet this hardware was able to determine the number of people who rewound the Janet Jackson clip and you guys give it a pass.
Is spyware ok now?
Thomas, I found this excerpt quite interesting (emphasis added):
I wrote a review on the new MCE 2005 last week called MCE 2005, Underwhelmed.
How was it that you were able to get advance access to the software and avoid violating confidentiality agreements that you must have signed?
We were at a Microsoft media briefing a couple of weeks ago and were required to sign NDAs specific to the Media Center Edition 2005. The information was embargoed until the October 12 official launch of Windows Media Center Edition 2005. The NDAs applied to everyone, including major media with millions of readers/listeners/viewers.
In the case of the New York Times, and a few selected media outlets, I'm sure that they got special access. Either that or the NYT is violating an NDA as well, which I think is improbable.
So how has Thomas Hawk managed to get the software and write about it so far in advance without violating an NDA or otherwise going up against the Microsoft legal department?
Or is your "review" like a lot of game "reviews" where you haven't even seen or used the software, and rely on third-party accounts as the basis of your "review"?
There's been a lot of jokes/comments about BSOD with Windows Media Center and as much as I love my TiVo I did want to balance the negative comments. I'm unhappy to report that my TiVo does crash about once a week. Typically it occurs when it attempts to change channel to start recording. The crash requires a full reboot - which means yanking the power cable since there is no power button on the TiVo. A reboot takes about 7 minutes. Is any one else experiencing problems or do I have a bad box? I never had crashes until I updated to the Home Media Option (with an approved Linksys USB wireless adapter).
Na, someone else was working on it. They gave him a computer with this OS on it. After playing around with it for a few minutes he shouted to Ballmer, "I WANT IT!"
Ballmer tried to explain that they couldn't just take it, but Gates didn't care.
It is one of the most poorly written, colloquial things purporting to be "articles" or "reviews" I have ever seen linked from Slashdot.
Sorry, but it is so biased and slangy it is hard to get into.
I agree with your point, though. Standalone, not preloaded on an expensive PC.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
Sorry to disappoint you, but Microsoft removed exactly that feature from MCE. That was to be expected, of course. :(
The only reason why MCE is based on XP Professional (instead of Home) is because of the Remote Desktop support, which will be required for the extenders to work. At least that's what I've understood about it.
"Oooh, does that mean we get to kick some puffy white mad zionist butt?"
Don't try to create the mythical and impossibly expensive silent pc. There no point. Just move the PC outside the living room.
e directZ1QQfromZR8
Just cough up those $50 on a AV wireless transmitter and receiver and put your PC in the utility room.
http://search.ebay.com/av-wireless_W0QQsokeywordr
That "highest presale" wasn't reported by Microsoft, though. The reporter simply assumed, without fact-checking.
Then why is Mozilla more secure? Why have 10% of the people using IE switched to FireFox?