Quote: Originally Posted by sxpert
yeah, nice
locks you more into the proprietary / DRM-laden WMA/WMV file format
Actually it plays MP3s just fine and plays non-drm'd WMAs just fine.
Quote: Originally Posted by sxpert
crashes twice as often as standards windows XP
Considering my XP crashes once a month with heavy use (at the most) I'm not too worried about using it in my car to just play music.
Quote: Originally Posted by sxpert
doesn't work with those "supposedly protected" CDs that try to hack your system (such as the spiderman DVD, that tries to muck with the system's boot sector)
You might have a point here - I haven't ever tried those CDs. (Personally I'm more upset at the CD manufacturers for doing this than Media Center's inability to play them.
Quote: Originally Posted by sxpert
costs a bundle,
not normally available in stores, except with one of those new pcs with
integrated kitchen sink
Definitely a valid point. I would say it's not bad for someone that isn't interested in building their own media pc, but that still wants the features. (i.e. A non-linux guru who still fancies themself as a techie) And I would also like to see it sold separately from the hardware. Granted, I don't think these points really apply either myself or the Defiler since both of us were able to get it legally for "free" and were advocating it on those merits.
Quote: Originally Posted by sxpert
also, requires at least a P4 2.8GHz to run at reasonable speeds
Many people report running it well on a 1Ghz machine. I'm running it on my stock EPIA M9000 just fine (no fancy video card, arguably slow processor). Granted I'm just using it for music, associated visualizations, and launching of other programs. I have heard that it uses a LOT of processor to run the special 1080P Windows Media video format, but with 1080P resolution, I can understand needing some horsepower.
Quote:
and more importantly, here in France, people buying said PCs are forced to register for the Tv license tax...
Well I would say the lame thing about that is a tax structure that makes you pay a TV tax!
(But I can see what you're saying - it makes it more expensive)
Quote:
Thanks, but no thanks, I will keep my linux based system, that does the same thing in a mini-epia, at about 1/4 of the cost, plus none of the headaches.
Out of curiosity, what software package are you running on Linux for all this? (MythPC perhaps?)
Cheers,
Taytay