Ok, I’m new to ALL this. Just a couple questions 
Currently I have a home PC, Nvidia 8600gts card. Vista Ultimate. Wired/wireless network. I am -considering- a Xbox360, I guess to use as a media extender. I have 2 tv’s in the house, and have DirectTV satellite. Can someone give me the basics for interacting them? I keep hearing about a TV tuner card, I have none. Is it -mandatory-, with the previous hardware? Will I be able to import TV from DirectTV to the PC via an Xbox? Maybe an idiot’s guide to the basics (not the MS website please) would be great.
Thanks!
Warren -
You would need a tuner card or a video capture card with svideo and/or composite video inputs. you can get the media center remote and reciever which also includes an ir blaster to control your directv/dish/cable box. media center handles changing channels etc. --you would set this up through the configuration wizard. for the extender you can use a xbox360 or one of the recently announced extenders from d-link and others.
Check this out:
Only $79!!!
I bought it tonight at Best Buy. I’m hoping it works with MCE. I think it has a good chance after reading this:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/aa79e7b4-e423-4459-ad22-1c240a8ffcd51033.mspx
Make sure you expand the bottom section titled:
“To set up a digital cable TV signal with a Digital Cable Tuner (United States only)”
Good luck to any of you that can try this. Let us know your results!!!
My best,
Josh
any idea on using a 360 controller in media center? (without xbox 360)
Can anyone tell me how I add music to the media centre library. I first added my music a couple of months agho but it took to long so I carried on with other opterations and it only copied some of my music. Meida centre says it is watchin my music folder but doesnt seem to want ot show all the music in the folder. I have deslected the folder to view and then tried to reslect it but it doesnt seem to want ot deselct the folder in the first place!!! This is riving me up the wall! I dont want ot reinstall vista for the sake of stupid meida centre so I wont use it but if there si an easier wyh I would be very appreciative.
Does anyone knows how to play .avi files on Vista MCE???
It only plays .mpg videos, everytime I trie it sais “There is no codecs to play this video” but I can play the videos with Windows Media Player.
I’ve tried with thousands of codecs but it’s useless. Any idea???
From what I have read is that Vista MCE is totaly not stable and crashes often. You failed to mention any details about stability. Which is a very important factor when considering a Microsoft based DVR system which may be left on for very long periods of time. How long did you run Vista MCE it before posting this article?
As Mike K Said in February:
As many of you know, the Windows desktop doesn’t display nicely on most lcd/plasma TVs due to resolution incompatabilities. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about; the resolution that works correctly for TV veiwing and DVDs, does not work for your Windows desktop. The desktop is too big and important edges are lost (like the min/max/close buttons on the top of a maximized window, and 3/4 of the start bar).
_____________________end quote
I am having this same problem and can not find a way to fix this-- I cant find the res. settings within media center (the button on the remote I have works on DVDs but not the computer screen) and the real problem is that even when I reboot the resolution is still messed up- I dont change the res- when I watch a DVD it gets changed and then I cant find a way to get the edge of my screen back at all.
Any help? I am new to media centre and am not very happy yet…
Oh and stability wise… if I put a DVD in before I open Media centre it freezes and has to be closed via task manager (three finger salute).
If I pause for too long… only thing that will get me back to my movie is to stand up and push the open button ON the computer- not the remote not the keyboard… then I restart usually…
Granted I am a new user but this seems buggy to me.
I think vista mce is a huge improvement. Running it for 8 months now. I had some issues but mainly because my self build originae X15 htpc was not working properly and Nvidia’s drivers were not very well at the beginning. Now these problems are solved. Vista MCE is great. Don’t forget to add the newest MyMovies for your DVD’s. Vista is very stable. Only one big issue (if you use MCE), my pc doesn’t want to go into sleepmode. So I have to leav it on all the time if I want to record tv programs when I am not at home.
ANSWER ON THIS:
am having this same problem and can not find a way to fix this-- I cant find the res. settings within media center (the button on the remote I have works on DVDs but not the computer screen) and the real problem is that even when I reboot the resolution is still messed up- I dont change the res- when I watch a DVD it gets changed and then I cant find a way to get the edge of my screen back at all.
Any help? I am new to media centre and am not very happy yet…
IF you use a NVIDIA graphic card just download the newest driver. It has a special option to solve this issue very easily. You can set you resolution setting bij dragging to huge arrows. A child can work with this. My tv resolution is 1076 by 634 or something like that and that was easy t set. Good luck
Hi
I have WMC 2005 on a Philips MC and a Toshiba WLT66 32" LCD. On XP I can’t get the native reslution of the panel 1366xwhatever closest I can get to it is 1024x768. It’s intel onboard vid and a Nvidia DualTV card which I believe is supported in Vista.
I’ve upgraded the memory in the Phillips, installed a bigger h/d and ready to move to Vista Home Premium will I get the 1366x??? native screen resolution?
Thanks for the review btw
forgot to add:
I’m a linux nut have been for over five years, so my media PC is the only windows box in the house, was considering not going for Vista and swapping the NVidia DualTV card out for a PVR card with strong linux support and use MythTV instead. Or are linux drivers available for the DualTV?
I don’t know mucha about wmc, actually nothing. I’m trying to set up a tv card I have in my gateway computer. I keep running into a wall when using the wizard. I can’t get my wmc to learn the calbe box remote code. Without the abiltiy for the remote to work, Windows won’t let me use the tv card.
Is there away around this?
Franc
For Derk:
you said on Jan8…
"So I have to leav it on all the time if I want to record tv programs when I am not at home."
I’m still using MCE of XP2005 and found the solution was to “enable hibernation” in "power options’ of control panel, and then when shutting down, use the shift key while starting to press the standby option key and it will turn into a key for hibernation…then the computer will keep track and come out of hibernation about 5 minutes before the recording is to start. That is the way standby also used to work.
I watch this closely, because while I have 3 media center PCs one has such a loud CPU fan that I can’t stand to have it on, even to watch shows. I watch them from another room over the network. I also wear “professional hearing pretection” just to walk around my home because of one lousy CPU fan. That is why is is so important for me to be able to make it stay OFF for as long as possible, just until it needs to record.
I have tried having someone change the CPU fan for a super low noise one, but that is still an ongoing nightmare.
For some reason at the beginning, 3 years ago, my HP went into sleep mode on it’s own, but now it won’t…it comes immediately back on, so I supect you have that problem.
I’m still figuring out how to make it go into hibernation mode on it’s own. So far, I have to do it manually when ever I notice it is not recording anything.
I have tried a few Media Centers and I find MEZZMO is pretty cool
My Xbox360 and my Playsation 3 actually pick up the broadcast from Mezzmo server and I can play files.
In reponse to everyone who has complained about the stability of Vista MCE:
It’s down to your hardware.
I live in the UK and have used XP MCE 2005 since December 2004, and upgraded to Vista Home Premium MCE in January 2007. Admitedly Vista was buggy initially, but since a hardware upgrade in May 2007, and a sequence of Microsoft fixes and 3rd party driver fixes, it is now one of the most stable things Microsoft has produced. Knocks the spots off XP MCE 2005.
My Vista machine is the main home entertainment centre having scrapped our HiFi, and we do not use a standard TV at all. An SPDIF connection is used to an external Pioneer amp for surround sound. All CDs are ripped in WMA Lossless. Sound quality is spot on. I have a Black Gold dual DVB-T tuner. The machine is left on ALL the time. S3 sleep and resume from S3 sleep works perfectly every time. (Wakes to record a program, goes back to sleep after). The PC is also used to stream music to various WiFi devices around the house at the same time as watching one TV channel and recoding another. All seamlessly. DVD playback is excellent with no judders.
The machine is only ever rebooted to install Windows updates and driver updates. Here’s my setup:
ASUS M2A-VM (Not HDMI) Motherboard. DVI-HDMI cable used. My own SPDIF connector. AMD Sempron LE-1250 low power CPU. On board ATI X1250 graphics. (ATI are better than nVidia when it comes to Vista compatibility / stability). Silverstone case. Silverstone fanless power supply. LG DVD/RW (v. quiet). SilenX fans (v.quiet). 1Gb RAM. Western Digital 500Gb driver. AcoustiPak acousting padding. Latest manufacturer’s drivers always.
Beats Sky + and all PVRs hands down, and is actually quieter than most. I just wish Microsoft and/or manufacturers marketed it better as a consumer home entertainment system, and not as a piece of software stuck on laptop, which misses the point completely.
Hope this helps. I’ve been through lots of hardware and software configurations, and Microsoft versions. This current setup is absolutely perfect, and more stable than my old Panasonic set-top box.
Hello
Anybody know how to make media center full screen, I have a 42 lcd and the picture looks crap, tried setup within media and can’t find anything.
happauge 1100 tv card
vista 32
2gb
500 gb drive
quad core 2.6
asus motherboard
ati radeon hdmi video card
Tv is linked by hdmi lead, work’s great apart from the picture size HELP
I was checking to see if anyone using Windows Media Center has or had issues locating all of your music. I’m using my XBOX 360 as an extender and I’m missing approx. 25% of my music from what I have in I Tunes. I’m seeing a couple of issues.
- I see the music in my My Music folder but when I go to Windows Media Center it is not there. Some music pulls up in WMC and other music does not.
- I’m also seeing some music in my My Music Folder and when played in WMC it only locates 1 or 2 songs of an entire album.
- I’m also not seeing some music completely in either my My Music folder or WMC but is on I Tunes.
It is random and cant figure out how to get all my music on Windows Media Center.
Any ideas…
forgot to add:
I’m using Vista Ultimate