Media Center PC – First Impressions
I ordered a MediaCenter PC from Carrera http://www.carrerassc.co.uk/

This is a brief note of my 'First Impressions'

Spec was
Carrera Media Centre Vision Plus +
Media Center Chassis (Silver)
Media Centre PSU
ASUS P4S800 MX MOTHERBOARD
6 IN 1 CARD READER
INTEL P4 3.0GHZ (800mhz) PROCESSOR
Intel P4 Fan
512MB PC3200 DDR 400 MEMORY
200GB 7200RPM HARD DISK 8MB CACHE
SONY DWU14 + & - DVD WRITER
SONY 16 SPEED DVD
256MB GEFORCE 4 FX5600myVIVO (8x AGP)
AUDIGY ZS 7.1 SOUNDBLASTER
IEEE 802.11 B WIRELESS PCI CARD
DIGITAL or ANALOGUE TV TUNER CARD
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MEDIA CENTRE SOFTWARE
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MEDIA CENTRE REMOTE
MICROSOFT OPTICAL CORDLESS KEY/MOUSE
CREATIVE INSPIRE T7700 7.1 SPEAKERS
19" NEOVO TFT F-419 DVI ((BLACK))
12 Months 24/7 Software support


Order Experience 9/10
order & delivery - good communcations throughout, perhaps based on corporate procurement relationship, but order, config and shipment were well handled
I arranged collection from a slough warehouse where the team were equally helpful. I really can't suggest an improvement in the service, except for the wait on hold for sales, but it was a busy pre-xmas period

Opening The Boxes - 6/10
The shipment was 4 boxes
base unit
lcd flat panel
ms wireless keyboard/mouse
creative 7.1 speakers

All in all the system was well packaged. The base unit looks good in black, and is satisfyingly heavy. I was surprised to find an analog s-video in - that's a plus, as the config discussion made clear that it was digital only tuner. Relieved to see a 'real' sticker with the activation code and identifying it as a legit copy of MCE!
(a small query on the video card - fx5700 - think i ordered a 5750, but I'll check later)

Unpacking the bits - the tft looks good too, except for cheap gray plastic base - expected black plastic at least
Box of accessories - first disappointment, where's the MS physical media, or documentation? I think this is a 'pre-release' so perhaps they expected computer literature users to understand. Well, it's a good job that I know where to plug stuff - otherwise I'd be screwed.

No 'getting started' doc at all - jumping ahead, nothing on the desktop later either. IMHO this is good and bad, as I hate the clutter, but without any physical doc something in the install would be useful
I was slightly surprised by non-descript usb attached 'receiver' - is it for the remote? but the remote has a receiver with a 3.5" jack plug which fits in the tv tuner card too...I'll find out later

Amazed that they managed a manual for the power supply but not the operating system - perhaps self build is not much different, but of course you can't self build an MCE machine (except with an MSDN distro), remind me why do i pay for an integrator? (need to try the after sales service later!)

Starting Up 9/10
Connected all the wires, and plugged my old Phillips 28W32 widescreen TV into the s-video out
Boot takes very long time to get to 'please wait'
TV boots in mono (? ntsc out) and loses video on wavy welcome to xp 3d screen

At startup the machine has an f10 recovery option - I assume the manufacturer has a 'clean' install partitioned somewhere. Not sure I like the option much for my family though...

Run through the usual bunch of setup stuff (computer name,ip etc) followed by reboot
Concerned that external tv still mono

Come back up to classic XP user login with chosen users plus 'user'
The video is fixed to colour (woopee!)

Logging In 8/10
All the usual xp nonsense on the 'do you want a guided tour' and 'cleaning up unused icons' - why do I have unused icons when I've just switched it on! Sadly, no user guide on the desktop ;-(

System kicks straight into nvidia config - TFT and TV screens both happy, a good user experience
For LAN access, there is no auto connect to 'unsecure' home wlan - but check the box and it connects ok. Check network in IE - working fine, so set Google to home page!

Starting Media Center 9/10
Boot up media center ui (from the start menu or from the remote). The remote works ok (without 3.5" jack connected, so what's that for?), and is a really nice device, not sure about the location of the back button.

During the TV tuner setup I was confused by 'cable or digital cable' reception - does this UK digital class as digital cable, or antenna? I choose 'antenna', and it all works ok on the next dialog.

Sadly, my poor local aerial confirms my suspicion that I need a new one - no digital channels found, but this was expected
Using 'My Music' I have some trouble getting MCE to 'see' CD cover art, I update it in MediaPlayer and in the operating system (using the properties of the folder to point at a cover ion

Final Thoughts 8/10
All in all, a good experience, probably 8/10, close to 9/10, but lack of doc knocks that point off

Sad that there is no TV/MCE friendly IE browser, some work to do to understand how to config the menu options on the MCE UI
I'll post this on my web site soon with some pics etc, hope that this is interesting to someone
John