Windows XP Media Center Edition: Exposed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 8, 2003 2:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
MCE's Hardware Requirements
First, Microsoft limited hardware support for MCE; Media Center will only work with TV tuner cards that handle MPEG-2 encode entirely in hardware, no offloading to the host CPU will be allowed. The idea behind this requirement is that hardware MPEG-2 will reduce CPU utilization and thus be able to guarantee no-stutter viewing more readily than software based MPEG-2 encoders.
The downside to this requirement is that the vast majority of TV tuner cards available will not work; this includes the TV tuner that’s a part of ATI’s All-in-Wonder Radeon 9700. Currently there are only two cards supported by MCE – the Hauppauge WinTV PVR and the Emuzed Maui PCI PVR (pictured above). We’ll talk about how effective (or ineffective) this requirement is later on in the performance section of this review, but right now we’re just trying to explain the requirements set forth by Microsoft.
As you can probably guess, this single hardware requirement has come under significant fire from both ATI and NVIDIA. From what we’ve heard, ATI is trying desperately to get Microsoft to lift this requirement so that their All-in-Wonder tuners may be used with MCE. As far as other hardware requirements go, the specification also calls for an IR remote among other things but the hardware MPEG-2 encode is by far the most unique.
The second part of Microsoft’s attempt to guarantee that MCE would work flawlessly as a PVR involves limiting who can make Media Center PCs. At the time of publication there are only six manufacturers that are producing Media Center PCs: ABS, Alienware, CyberPower, Gateway, HP and Northgate.
As you can guess, you can’t go out and buy Windows XP Media Center Edition; Microsoft’s reasoning behind this is that they don’t want a handful of “low-cost” or flawed implementations out on the market giving MCE a bad name. If Microsoft is to be taken seriously in the PVR market, MCE must be very competitive with both set-top and currently available PC solutions; poorly made Media Center PCs could seriously tarnish the brand and would work against Microsoft’s success.
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GreyMack - Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - link
Excellent review, but I don't think it was harsh enough.baboon68 - Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - link
Well, if nothing this article shows that MCE is NOT capable of settling comfortably the living room for a variety of reasons. MCE does not do away with the windows menu and the instability/driver issues. The HP box is certainly worse than a custom assembled Shuttle SSF or Ahanix box. The latest ATI Multimedia Center software in conjuntion with an RF (not IR) control is also quite close to the MCE experience - I have one and it works quite well on a cheaper Athlon 2K+. ALso free/cheap updates to the ATI software can only make it better - never mind the HDTV capability using the 40$ adapter. And last bat not least, if I look at the additional capabilities of Freevo or MythTV (Weather, RSS feeds, MAME, etc.). Also missing - at least from the article - is a discussion of: support for people outside of the US, possible DVB-S card support, external IR Transmitter support (to control a Sat receiver box), and more.I think the MCE is at best another flawed attempt by Microsoft to market beta quality software at a loss or at the expense of hardware integrators to gain market share in the Tivo market.
Anonymous User - Monday, October 20, 2003 - link
After reading this article I'm not clear why the author thinks MCE is preferable to alternatives like ATI All-in-Wonder, which sounds like does the same things and is more flexible what computers it will work with. In particular, the author says the MCE interface is significantly better than ATI but doesn't adequately explain why. Also, the ATI remote will work without line-of-site required and can control the computer mouse, which MCE can't. Seems like ATI is a better deal.Anonymous User - Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - link
Do the same thing for freewww.mythtv.org
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
This is a great review. Will a Dual processor xeon machine combat the stuttering? i presume its compatible as its xp pro based.Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
Thank you, AnandTech! Your review is extremely helpful, as it debunked some of the myths of Windows Media Center. Plus, it gave me inside look of the machine I'm looking to buy.Still, I have one question: About the "skip" function, when you skip 30 seconds ahead, does the machine record the commercials also or does it only record the areas not skipped? If it doesn't, is there some kind of software that can erase the commercials?
Anonymous User - Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - link
yeah basicallyAnonymous User - Thursday, July 17, 2003 - link
So, the the final word is the MCE is just Xp pro plus PVR right.. ???Anonymous User - Saturday, July 12, 2003 - link
This is a great review. It explains every aspect of this Media Center PC in great detail. I have looked all over the internet to find a review like this and this is the only one I could find. Thanks alot. This will make me even more jealous to buy it since I am planning to purchase one.