xp media center - more info please

gk172

Just got one problems sorted and now looking at a new pc and came across xp media center and it can be hooked up to you tv and record programes now this sounds good to me as our video has died and been thinking this could be good but i know nothing about it apart from its based on xp pro o.s. can anyone educate me a bit more on this and what i would need on my pc for this to work, as if its an affordable option i would be most happy and since new pc has not been picked out yet my options are open, i have one system priced for what i thought i want but would like to know more and what it would require for me to run this media center instead of running xp home, just collecting info before i buy so any help would be most appreciated.

wolfman

It depends what you want to do. If you want to record, use playback etc...

Have a look at this thread
http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-3.html#ss3.1

It'll give you an idea of what your specification is capable of. I'm looking into creating one myself but only have a P3 733MHz

alanrowell

XPMC isn't very robust and is very sniffy about the components (and component mix) that you use.

The best advice is to buy a PC that already has it installed rather than trying to build a working media centre PC from scratch

wolfman

...Or build a Linux based media center. There are plenty of tutorials on the web.

gk172

alanrowell wrote:

XPMC isn't very robust and is very sniffy about the components (and component mix) that you use.

The best advice is to buy a PC that already has it installed rather than trying to build a working media centre PC from scratch

Sorry i meant i havent bought the system yet so no firm specs at the moment, im just wondering whether to go along that avenue and get a price for a compatible pc with xp media center, i know what i want my pc to do and then this came along just wondering is it worthwhile?

TechSaver_2

@gk172 - the following links may be helpful: review, user forum. There was also a two-part article on building an MCE system in PCW magazine recently.

I've built an MCE2005 system based on a SFF (small form factor) PC, and would agree that it can be a bit fiddly, but I'm happy with the result.

lipidicman

If you want a general purpose PC then go with XP, media center isnt that great as a general OS (AFAIK). If I was going to run it it would be in a tiny (fanless) chassis to go in the HiFi rack and record programmes and serve audio.

tryingtosave_3

I’m not sure I’m answering your question, but I’ve been considering a media centre myself … however, my conclusion is that it’s more a replacement for my HiFi and DVD player than my pc.

I've seen a number of media centres in action - all XP MC edition based – and, put to good use, they are fantastic. Yet the goal is a quite different experience from a PC.

Obviously, at the end of the day they are a pc. Yet the extra functionality - digital tv tuner (and tivo type functions), music playing, etc., and the fact you would typically output into a TV rather than a monitor, means that you probably aren't going to be word processing or emailing from it. This is especially true if it sits in your living room in the place of your TV.

I personally wouldn’t replace my desktop with a media centre, unless I had a laptop or another terminal for “computer stuff”, i.e. emailing, online banking etc. This is partly because there are times in our household when I will use the computer whilst the TV is in use or vice versa, but partly because I don’t want to do these things sitting on the sofa …

I do think the media centre concept is the next step for home users though, but I'm not sure we're there yet. It really depends what your primary use of your PC is ...

gk172

Thank you all for your replies, i didnt know it was run through your tv and not a monitor so i guess that bombs that idea out completly, i thought it maybe some wireless adaptor or something that connected both, ok so back to original spec with xp home

lipidicman

You dont have to run it through your TV. You can have a normal monitor, or a mini lcd monitor - its down to you

tryingtosave_3

lipidicman wrote:

You dont have to run it through your TV. You can have a normal monitor, or a mini lcd monitor - its down to you

Sorry, completely agree, I didn't mean to suggest you could only use a media centre with a TV, more that you're quite likely to want to use it with your TV!

gk172 - it might be worth popping into Dixons or somewhere like that just to see a media centre in action (probably cheaper to buy online though). There might be a set up that would suit you - you can definitely deliver content via wireless (802.11g maybe b), but I'm not sure about connecting the TV to the media centre that way. I'm pretty certain you couldn't use Bluetooth because it's not fast enough / broad enough. There are wired options though.

I think media centres are great - I want to get one - I just see them as replacing the audio-visual stuff more easily than the computing stuff ... it also depends on how much fiddling around you want to do!!