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What’s All The Hubbub?

The Hubbub

By now, most all of us are familiar with, or have at least heard of, Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system, right? But did you know about XP MCE 2005 - their Media Center Edition? If you’ve been thinking about getting a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) or TiVo, you may want to check this out.

Media Center Edition, or MCE as we'll call it, is still your basic Windows XP Professional version, but with a few really cool bells and whistles like Multi-tuner support, built-in DVD and CD burning, support for digital and high definition television programming, and personal video recording.

Aesthetically Speaking...

The main Media Center menu, or start page, is logically laid out with options for My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, Online Spotlight, Play DVD, and More Programs. You'll also find buttons for logging out, minimizing, restoring, and closing the Media Center application window.

The Requirements

The usual Multimedia PC will have the necessary TV tuner card(s) for interacting with your cable or satellite signal, DVI/S-Video/component out video card to plug into your TV, and an audio card (5.1; 6.1; or 7.1). To give your PC the capabilities of a complete multimedia entertainment system, it is recommended that you have two (2) TV tuner cards and an audio card with surround sound capabilities. Dual tuner cards will enable you to record one thing while watching something else.

And The Features?

MCE has a number of features you may find useful. Visit Microsoft's web site for a full list. Today, we will just focus on the DVR function.

In the My TV module, the Recorded TV section lets you manage your recorded television shows. Here, you can view programs already recorded, record a program while watching something else, or, record live TV while watching a previously recorded program. Add a DVD-R burner and now you can transfer those pre-recorded programs to DVD. Similar to a DVR, you can schedule programs to record and easily search for a program using keywords.

The program guide is downloadable from the internet and gives you an advance programming schedule. Unlike the programming information you get with TiVo, the Microsoft Guide is completely free, making this MCE feature more unique than some other consumer electronics rivals. You should also note that the underlying hardware purchase for TiVo and other PVR's is considerably higher than simply configuring your multimedia PC using the MCE operating system.

Did we mention you can also pause, rewind, or slow motion a live broadcast? Cool huh?

Among MCE's abundant features, the hardware is upgradeable, the software is cumulative, and your applications are unlimited. And don't forget - even though you've configured your system for multimedia capabilities, you still have a complete computer system with all the same functions as any standard PC.

The Downside

The one problem with Windows XP Media Center Edition is that it's not sold as a retail OS like the standard XP. MCE 2005 is only available as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or as a built-in, retail computer system. This means if you purchase a PC with built-in multimedia capabilities, the MCE 2005 operating system would come pre-installed.

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