Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

[cash_site]

So can you actually use MCE as an XP replacement? will other apps work ie. Office, etc

whats the difference between hardware tvtuners and 'normal' ones??

[phishhead]

So can you actually use MCE as an XP replacement? will other apps work ie. Office, etc

whats the difference between hardware tvtuners and 'normal' ones??

yes I replaced my xp with the mce and working fine. and havent had any issues with other apps not working. best way to explain it is like dos and win95...its basically a multimedia shell over xp. or you can shut it off so then it looks just like reg ol' xp.

my tvtuner is a tv@anywhere from msi and it strictly relies on the software to run. now I guess hardware tuners just utilize the drive and MCE controls the device via driver vs software. kinda like a winmodem or soft modem.

[SupaStar]

So can you actually use MCE as an XP replacement? will other apps work ie. Office, etc

whats the difference between hardware tvtuners and 'normal' ones??

Cash, it is just XP SP2 with a few extra media type programs, one of which is Media Center which is a central remote controllable application to manage/view/watch/listen to your MP3s, TV, DVDs, MPGs and AVIs. You dont have to run the Media Center app if you dont want to, but it's there if you do and works really well with a great interface.

I'd say that all TV cards are hardware based, its just the MCE will only work with those that use WDM drivers (for analogue cards) or BDA drivers (for digital cards). At least I think thats how it all works.

Come over for a demo (it seriously rocks) but be advised that I only have two channels so far...so we can't watch The Simpsons.

[Richard]

Cash, it is just XP SP2 with a few extra media type programs, one of which is Media Center which is a central remote controllable application to manage/view/watch/listen to your MP3s, TV, DVDs, MPGs and AVIs. You dont have to run the Media Center app if you dont want to, but it's there if you do and works really well with a great interface.

I'd say that all TV cards are hardware based, its just the MCE will only work with those that use WDM drivers (for analogue cards) or BDA drivers (for digital cards). At least I think thats how it all works.

Come over for a demo (it seriously rocks) but be advised that I only have two channels so far...so we can't watch The Simpsons.

I would also add, unless mentioned after this post.

It is like XP SP2 "home" edition, it doesn't have the "pro" ability to join domains and stuff

[SupaStar]

I would also add, unless mentioned after this post.

It is like XP SP2 "home" edition, it doesn't have the "pro" ability to join domains and stuff

True, but it's kind of in between home and pro from what I've been reading. You can join a domain, but only during a fresh installation which makes it useful for home users, but not corporations.

It has a few pro-only features too such as Remote Desktop Connections and the like.