- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 44 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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74 out of 84 people found this review helpful
1.0 stars
"XP MCE 2005: A HUGE waste of dollars!"
Pros: Good for watching TV only...but for all that money? No!
Cons: Highly restricted by copyright protection.
Summary: Are you looking set up a digital replacement for your clunky
old VCR? Are you looking to copy live TV to your hard drive
for editing and burning to recordable media? Well Windows
XP Pro Media Center Edition is definitely NOT for you!
That's what I thought I was gonna do, so I spent quite a wad
building a new system. It's mandantory that you do that. You
absolutely must have a super-charged CPU, a large-capacity
SATA hard drive or two, an MCE-compatible TV tuner card
and a special Microsoft MCE Remote Control. (The system
laughs at you if you try to configure it with only a mouse)
Everytime you buy something new, it turns out you still don't
have enough. The end result is that you find out the whole
project was a big waste of time to start with! The shows that
you copy to your HDD you'll find are in a format you've never
experienced before (.dvr-ms) which is totally unfriendly to
people who want to save their favorite shows and movies
onto recordable digital media.
It seems that Microsoft has joined in with this copyright-protection
frenzy that has taken over the world of entertainment. And
I mean they have joined in with a vengeance! They don't give
a rosy rat's ass what their customers think about it either. This is
really ironic, considering the fact that Bill Gates got started in
the computer business by copying other people's software.
Whether or not you personally think these new laws are valid,
the fact remains that people have been copying live TV for
about three decades now, for their own domestic use and with
no thoughts of piracy or profit. But now that we've graduated
from VHS to DVD, for some reason the industry moguls have
gone livid with paranoia, certain that everyone who breathes
is trying to "steal" from them. Forget that practically nobody
sells the stuff they record.
Well, save a televised movie to your new expensive SATA
HDD and then try to transfer it to DVD-R, +R, RW, or whatever.
You can't do it! You can only view the saved content through
Media Center, as long as it's still on your hard drive which, as
we all know, can fill up pretty dang rapidly.
The unprotected shows can be recorded to DVD, but you're on
your own to find the software you'll need to re-encode DVR-MS
to regular MPEG first. The first program I found cost 40 bucks
and took over two hours to encode a half-hour episode of
Malcolm in the Middle. And that was only after I re-set it up
from three initial crashes. Then I had to find more software to
help me cut out the commercials which the first program
dishonestly claimed it could do. Luckily I already own DVD
authoring software, so I didn't have to purchase that. But then,
after all that work and expense, I found out that the end product
really and truly SUCKS. The video is actually worse than VHS.
And, speaking of VHS, try to transfer your old tapes to DVD using
this piece-o-junk system. It would take too long to relate all the
gory details here, so just trust me that it's not worth the immense
trouble to even try it.
Do yourself a favor. Buy a standalone DVD recorder to connect
to your cable or satellite receiver in place of your old VCR. It'll
be much cheaper and simpler, not to mention the fact that the
end result will be much higher quality and, most of all, it works!
I wish somebody had told me all this stuff before I spent all that
dough. My only consolation is that I now own a really kick-ass
gaming computer.
- 21 replies to this review
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hey dirty al, if you want to sell the media
center edition you have i'll buy it from you.i have many editions of windows and would like to own a copy of media center.
momonee11@yahoo.com{j.r.gleaton} -
Hello,
I bought a new computer with xp media. Thinking that it would be a great tool for video and dvd.
I couldn't believe how unstable the program was. It kept crashing. I couldn't even surf.
I had to go and buy Alta Vista. I love Alta Vista by the way. It's way better than xp media. -
For christmass I bought myself a new Gateway GT5220 with XP media center installed. The way the sailsman talked it would greately enhance my audio and vidio experence. NOT SO! I have spent more time trying to fix the daily freeze-ups and reinstalling the operating system than I have experencing the low budget digital experence it produces.
My 1994 HP (pentium 2) networked with my 300W sterio would rattle thwe neighbors windows 1/2 mile away. Not media center. I ended up installing Sound blaster for a quality digital experence.
I think the whole problem with media center is the background programs that run all the time. I suspect that some of them are add/spywhare because when I scan and deleat them my computer freezes while the HD runs forever. By the time I ghet it restarted my registry files are corrupt and i cant start Windows.
I also tryed making a DVD out of some home movies with media center. What a joke. The quality reminded me of the old Godzilla movies 30 years ago. But I did figure out how to use Cyberlink to create DVD's I can play in my home player. I converted them to the correct format with "Insignia media converter", made a disk immage in Cyberlink and then copied it to a DVD-RW. With Photoshop Elements 5.0 I cleaned and enhanced the video and Soundblaster enhanced/dubbed the sound. What a hassel. Cant whate to see if Vists Premium works better.
I have one questiion though. How can I make a Boot disk with my cd/dvd drive. Gateway doesn't provide a floppy drive, but fir $300 they will install one. I can't make backups either. Shure could use some info> -
Great review, I get fedup with the misleading claims of soft/harware companies.
Here's my conspiracy theory... The real reason behind the copyright paranoia isnt paranoia, that's just a smoke screen! They want to stich up the market so that they can ultimately charge pay per view and have a constant (and obscenely large) income stream. Once they have stopped ownership of portable copies they can do this and probably will. The same will happen with software as it moves 'online' from the desktop. No coppies + no piracy = trickle charging and massive revenues. -
Sorry to hear you had just poor luck. I've had great success with my experience with MCE2005. From viewing to burning, to extending to remote TV's its been a great experience.
Enjoy your gaming! -
I haven't had any problem burning my TV recordings to DVD. I just clicked through the software and was done. No problem. No 3rd party software needed.
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Here is the link to convert your dvr-ms files and even cut commercials: http://www.download.com/DVRMSToolbox/3000-11444_4-10444368.html. This download is on cnet's very own site. Open DVRMStoMPEGGUI, open the file you want to convert and end it with .dvr-ms this converts it to mpeg. From there you can do what you want with it, there are millions of programs out there to convert mpeg to anything . . . avi(compressed), vob(dvd) which are free, just use google.
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I don't play games, only NLE and photoshop, also have lots of 8mm to convert. Can't use a not standard program.
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Not only was this review/caveat true, but it was fun to read too. I have been going down the same road Dirty Al has. I keep having to buy bigger and faster stuff. I wanted to pull the plug on my satellite AND my Tivo and just record my own off-the-air HDTV shows because frankly, the stuff on satellite is crap and not worth the $$$.
Got a Fusion HDTV card which works fine with its own software. The scheduling is a little kludgey, but it works and it's free. Plus the quality is amazing. Not satisfied and wanted a full-Tivo-Like PVR I sought out Sage-TV, Beyond TV, and even Windows Media Center. Fortunately, the first two were trials, the latter (MCE) I can get for free.
From all the reviews of MCE I've seen thus far, I don't even want to bother to install it. My main gripe is that they record in a proprietary format. Forget it! You can't have it. Thanks, but no thanks.
Turns out I am coming back full circle to just using the software that came with my fusion card. The other stuff is too buggy and way, way too complicated. It's this way because they are trying to support all kinds of tuners so, QA is nearly impossible. In some cases it's a downright joke. Tech support often is non-existent or you have to wait three days for even a response. Hmm, my fusion stuff is looking better all the time!
But for all the hassles, I have to say that HDTV (over the air) is totally worth the hassle. I have a projector and the quality is truly amazing. But it's a new technology too, and got its quirks. The biggest is the signal quality. If you can get a 100% signal fine, but if the signal vacillates down to 89-90% you will have jerking and pixilation. That said, I am still amazed that it was so easy to set up.
Back to the review though. I don't think I'll be trying MCE. So far, Beyond TV has been the best in terms of ease of use and picture quality. Ah, but when you run into a problem you have to start down the debugging trails and you are, for the most part, own you own. If BTV can't cut the mustard, I'll be happy with DVICO's Fusion HDTV 5 Gold's software. At least I feel good about that purchase! -
i wish i had read your comments before plunking down cash for media center edition
.. i have about the same experience you have .. and its not a hate microsoft thing .. so far its been very frustrating .. i had hope on hope that someone would have fixes for the many problems ..and it looks like some of your replies do present that .. but its so hard to find software that actually works without messing something up .. but sounds like there is such stuff around .. just a matter of a few hundred hours reasearching/experimenting/reloading ... i have noticed that nero 6.6 just drops out if you have a copywrited disk loaded with MCE ... so does several other aps .. and my media center insists on logging on to the internet when i try to play anything .. i feel that its NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS what i play on my computer.. and i dont like this unwanted intrusion ... i tried Linux the other day and i am beginning to love it .. -
Record a TV program, edit out the commercials, burn to DVD, I do this all the time! I have started a pretty good collection of John Wayne movies, got a ton of Twilight Zones, 24, Lost, you name it! I have burned them and shared them. All on a $1000 PC. I love it! Sorry you can't seem to make it work for you.
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I've had my MCE 2005 for about 6 months now and absolutely love it. I've had a couple of problems, all very minimal, and the overall experience has been nothing but good. Sorry you've had so many problems, Dirty Al, but also understand that updates and improvements are made quite regularly so the machines being sold today are much better than the one you may have gotten.
I haven't had any problems putting programs onto DVD unless they are movies I recorded off of HBO or something which do come copyrighted. There are ways around that, however. TV shows are not a problem at all. I've also found that, contrary to many comments I've seen, my TV reception is supurb through my MCE - I even get HD and it looks fabulous...like you could just reach in and smack the people.
So, take my opinion for what you will... I do love my MCE and am very glad I invested in it. -
Well I can understand users' frustrations, I had some pretty good experiences with MCE 2005.
Since it's release, there have been improvments from MS and from some excellent freeware sites such as mcesoft - http://www.mcesoft.nl/
One of my favorites is AutoDVRconvert. I just extracted the file, double-clicked the reg file and was all set; just select a dvr file and wait a couple of minutes and boom, you have an editable mpg file. You can use a program such a Nero or TMPGEnc DVD editor to edit and burn to DVD/CD.
I built an MCE system myself, so I don't don't have the remote control. But I do have an ATI AIW remote. By visiting http://remotew.free.fr/plugins.htm you can download a plugin to enable the record and channel buttons.
Also. I haven't run across any protected tv programs yet; not sure what they would be - sorry.
In addition. You can also buy an extender. Since MCE 2005 is near the end of it's life (Win Vista soon), I went cheap and bought an Xbox extender kit. For the most part it works great. I can record say a sports broadcast and watch it on TV later. The remote is similar to the one that comes with MCE 2005 OEM. So you can skip the commercials with 4 or 5 clicks. An extender is also good for watching home movies, playing music, view picture slide shows, and so on. As for DVDs, I just use the Xbox DVD player.
As with pretty much any software, MCE 2005 isn't perfect, but it has alot of useful functions that I find to be enjoyable. -
Thanks Dirty Al, sounds like a lot of this information comes only from experience. I generally like Microsoft products, but it seems MCE will severely limit what I hope to get from a DVR/Media Center and make things more difficult than they need to be. You won't find a lot of that information on the Microsoft web site!
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Your opinion and experience will serve a better purpose. Otherwise, you just come off as having an agenda against Microsoft.
[Edited by: admin] -
this opinion of Dirty Al's was the best ever opinion i ever got in my life because it saved me from investing my life savings in a similar computer. i have checked up and the claims of Dirty Al's unfortunately true and i was unsure of what else to do with the WIN XP MCE 2005. thanx a lot Dirty Al and CNET
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Your post dissuaded me from considering WMC. However today I visited my friend who is running this OS and he was totally able to import the proprietary file into Nero Vision Express for editing. He didn't finish the process so I"m not 100% sure that he could edit and burn the file to DVD, but the fact of the matter is that Nero DID recognize the file as a supported video format and added it to the table of contents!
I fought buying Nero for years because Easy Media Creator was so much more user friendly, but I am sold on Nero since it really does offer the best tools for creating DVDs from a wide variety of sources. Nero rules! -
Your post dissuaded me from considering WMC. However today I visited my friend who is running this OS and he was totally able to import the proprietary file into Nero Vision Express for editing. He didn't finish the process so I"m not 100% sure that he could edit and burn the file to DVD, but the fact of the matter is that Nero DID recognize the file as a supported video format and added it to the table of contents!
I fought buying Nero for years because Easy Media Creator was so much more user friendly, but I am sold on Nero since it really does offer the best tools for creating DVDs from a wide variety of sources. Nero rules! -
You did exactly what I was thinking of doing, giving the thing a try. Your comments are like those I would have made after all that effort. Thank you for saving me so much time and expense. I will stick with stand-alone DVRs.
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I am building my new house and am trying to get it to be completely automated. I hear MS is making a digital hub for the digital house based off of Bill Gates house. I thought I would go ahead and get the XP-MCE but I am gonna wait and save the dough. Maybe there will be a Linux based MCE that will actually do what it should.
Cheers -
many folks i know are considering this MCE2005 but i was sketchy. DA's thorough post connfirms' my suspicions and saves me further research. they should have called it "Windows Audio Center 2005" 'cause i think it'll integrate pretty (very?) well with a stereo system but for video it's basically a beta.
Where to buy
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005:
$139.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$139.00 | Yes |
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