Has anyone tried the new Windows XP Media Edition

[gchester]

Has anyone tried or bought a pc with this new operating system was thinking of getting it but its only available with new pc's

[chickeneater]

I have never heard of it... What is so special about it? I doubt that it would come with GOOD media players...

[gchester]

the whole operating system is built around Digital TV all pc's have it installed with this sytem as standard its part of microsofts way of getting a pc into the front room/lounge etc.. for me as a digital video editer/authorer it would be pretty handy if you look on the microsft web site its all there... im in the uk it always takes ages for anything to cross the pond

[shiny#3]

all that microsoft can do in media we can do better
without microsoft

[gchester]

that maybe true but as hard drive recording devices are so expensive in the uk it would be quite handy to have a old PC setup for exactly that purpose

[chickeneater]

so you are saying that M$ is cheaper?

[shiny#3]

I would not pay about 230 bucks for an os than offers me nothing new. I would waste my money rather on new hardware
since as you stated you still need a PC to get that fabulous
OS running. if you sum it up you might be able to afford a standalone dvd recorder along with some DVD-rw

[admin]

XP Media Center Edition is aimed at the HTPC market, for people who connect their computers to home theatre systems (something that I plan to do soon). From what I have heard, it basically adds some neat integration with remote control devices, allowing you to select various applications (eg. DVD player) without having to resort to mouse + keyboard. This version of XP requires PCs, such as those produced by Compaq and Dell, with the "Media Center" tag on them. Basically, Microsoft wants to establish their own home theatre PC standard.

They do have a point though. A typical PC's graphics card is way more sophisticated than even top end DVD players, so for the best possible DVD picture quality, a PC connected to a display using the pure digital DVI-D connector will yield "HD" like pictures on a HD display. And when HD-DVDs come out, all you need to do is to get a new HD-DVD-ROM drive, a software decoder, and you've got yourself a HD-DVD player without having to spend $$$ on a standalone.

With that said, there are lots of cheaper/free third party addon software that can make your standard XP install into a media center, such as TheatreTek DVD Player and myHTPC.

[techno]

its wicked! I love anything from M$

apart from that u know that 3 research students in the use used .net in this way:


a fridge freezer program that contains everything that you want a fridge to have - in terms of groceries.

lets say u go shopping - u take this electronic device and it tells u what u need! that is well wicked!

u take this portable device and the fridge will tell u what u need and stuff!

[atifsh]

im using the media center edition its same as xp pro with a builtin program called media center that will start with or without a remote control its just a couple of utilities builtin one program nothing much, and even u dont need a specific computer, i have this xp cd and when i installed it turned out to be a media center comes with a builtin mpeg2 / dvd codec if played with media center program or else u need sepaate decorder for ur media player.........

[MPS]

don't u have the feeling that each consecutive version of M$ Win is just a small addon/cosmetic change to what started as Win95? no revolution. no changeover. still the same 200-300$ bs...

[Batman]

XP media edition is nothing special. It just makes things easier for lazier people.

[Oriphus]

And lazy we are

[Batman]

...still not as lazy as the target group for XP media edition

[Oriphus]

True, but i am getting there,. couldnt find the remote for the TV last night to turn it off when i was in bed. Instead of getting out and walking the 1 metre to the plug i just left the damn thing on lol