Software Review: Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition! - Page 6

PaCMaYNE · 11-04-2004, 06:43 AM

or you could use mediaengine, car

timothy · 11-04-2004, 07:50 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by brady

You HAVE TO download the newest drivers that support MCE 2005. When it asks you what operating system you have you HAVE TO select MCE 2005 or your video car won't work.
Even if you don't use the MCE 2005 frontend I still like the OS better than regular XP pro.

Sadly the latest drivers for my video card are from 2002, and under ATI's site it has no drivers for MCE

drib · 11-04-2004, 08:33 AM

What graphics card do you have? There are MCE drivers from ATI on there site to download, have another look.

xBrady · 11-04-2004, 09:12 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by drib

What graphics card do you have? There are MCE drivers from ATI on there site to download, have another look.

He is right. There are no MCE drivers for his card. There are MCE drivers but there isn't any for his specific card.

xBrady · 11-04-2004, 09:19 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by drib

Ok, I just installed WINDOWS XP without MCE with my first MCE2005 CD.

So when it asked for the second CD you reset your computer and Winows XP booted just fine?

nFiniteTuning · 11-04-2004, 05:51 PM

Ok....Once again if people would please read every post in here....Why are you still saying it can't be skined, when I allready proved that it can? the ehres.dll file has to be edited by a resource editor which inside there has all the wall papers, buttons...

And another thing, "resource hog"? Are you flippin nuts? Must be, because this operating system takes up less resources then regular XP W/SP2.

You say you work with computers and you contacted Microsoft through a friend? They were given wrong info, or atleast mildly altered info. The actual operating system is slightly different from regular XP/SP2. IT was changed for gammers/media people. 2 fresh installs of XP/SP2 and MCE2005/SP2. Regular XP takes up more resources then MCE2005.......Less resources running in the background that doesn't need to be running, means better gamming, better viewing/listning to movies/mp3's.

I dont know about you, but in any situation, I'd rather use the MCE2005 Operating system over regular XP/SP2 any day just because of that. I hate trying to open a game and things take forever because stupid things are running in the background that shouldn't, that I have no idea what its for.

And about the fat fingers, I was just joking, hope you didn't get upset.

And about fumbling around for a remote? You must have been into carputers for way too long. EVERY new stereo reciever you buy, like Clarion, Panasonic, Pioneer, all come with remotes, and everyone I know who uses the remote, finds it easier to drive because they aren't reaching over for a volume knob or to change the channel. They have the power right in thier hands, they dont have to move around to chance the channel, Learning a remote for volume or changing the channel or CD track, is very easy. I got used to holding the remote in my shifting hand while I'm cruising, never look at the radio at all or touch it, just press a button and its done.

Plus, working MCE2005 front end with the remote, is soo much nicer....I keep trying to steal my brothers remote...but I figure I'll buy one anyways.

Don 944 LA · 11-04-2004, 09:49 PM

OK, my copy of MCE 2005 has files for Tablet PC, but I can't install it over MCE 2005.

I tried the old version, but it won't do that either...

anyone having Tablet PC on MCE 2005 ?????

I may go back to older setup if I can't have the Tablet PC

Arathranar · 11-04-2004, 10:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by NightFireTuning

And another thing, "resource hog"? Are you flippin nuts? Must be, because this operating system takes up less resources then regular XP W/SP2.

I'm not sure what you reckon is gone. MCE is based on *exactly* Windows XP Pro with the ability to join a Domain permanently disabled. That single change may remove the odd service (but I doubt it). MCE itself adds a bunch of other services if you ever enable TV watching. And they are huge memory hogs.

So please do a comparison between XP SP2 Pro and XP SP2 MCE and tell us what services are no longer running on MCE. I'd love to know.

Arathranar · 11-04-2004, 10:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by drib

MCE2005 has no joining networks and file encryption, BOTH functions can be added after installation via windows update.

That's not correct. The only thing disabled is the ability to join domains. And it's permanently disabled. You cannot re-enable it. That was done because MCE is solder for cheaper than Pro but previously was a superset of Pro. It's a crappy decision but that's how it happened.

nFiniteTuning · 11-05-2004, 03:38 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Arathranar

I'm not sure what you reckon is gone. MCE is based on *exactly* Windows XP Pro with the ability to join a Domain permanently disabled. That single change may remove the odd service (but I doubt it). MCE itself adds a bunch of other services if you ever enable TV watching. And they are huge memory hogs.

So please do a comparison between XP SP2 Pro and XP SP2 MCE and tell us what services are no longer running on MCE. I'd love to know.

as soon as I go back to my brothers house, who happens to have XP/SP2, XPMCe2005 and XP64 installed on 3 diff hard drives on his system, I'll do a screen shot comparison of system processes. I'm only speaking from what I've read about MCE2005. I read that it was made so that less things were running in the background taking up system resources just for the people who game and crap like that. So the only things that are running in the background, are things that need to be running. I belive my games run better in MCE2005/SP2 then they did in XP/SP2 without turning anything off. I allways had to Ctrl+alt+del to shut down pretty much everything except explorer to play my game with no framing or freezing.

PaCMaYNE · 11-05-2004, 05:36 AM

im anxious for more info

i keep going back and forth for what i want to do

nFiniteTuning · 11-05-2004, 03:11 PM

Pac...why not just try it? you can get a cheap 5gb hard drive for like 10 bucks at a used computer place, just try it out for the 30 day trial microsoft gives you.