Window$ MCE 2005 for $134

[ViRaL1]

Newegg has this in their weekend specials. Does anyone think it's worth it?

[Capmaster]

If I knew what "Window$ MCE" was, I could answer. Is that a Windows clone?

[rallynavvie]

MCE is basically XP Pro with the Media Center app for an HTPC built in. Apparently MCE 2005 fixed a lot of problems that were present in the 2004 release. I'm planning on getting it so I can run my old SMP rig as a file server and HTPC. With the new GbE infrastructure I've set up at home I can rip and manage from the other workstation, even control wirelessly via remote desktop with the laptop as a giant remote control. I've got some other hardware purchases to go through first like getting a dedicated PVR. The video card that's in there should be able to handle output plenty well enough.

[Capmaster]

MCE is basically XP Pro with the Media Center app for an HTPC built in. Apparently MCE 2005 fixed a lot of problems that were present in the 2004 release. I'm planning on getting it so I can run my old SMP rig as a file server and HTPC. With the new GbE infrastructure I've set up at home I can rip and manage from the other workstation, even control wirelessly via remote desktop with the laptop as a giant remote control. I've got some other hardware purchases to go through first like getting a dedicated PVR. The video card that's in there should be able to handle output plenty well enough.

Ahhh. Thanks rally

My vote: Not at that price

[glockjs]

are you 100% its like xp pro and not xp home?

[ViRaL1]

Before, I was under the impression that it was PRO, but looking at M$ site, it says it's built on top of XP Home SP2. Rethinking it.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/features.mspx

[glockjs]

xp home

[Faustus]

I've seen MCE and I'm not impressed with the video quality. I've seen it by several different brands at that. Until they let me bring the video in RAW and do the MPEG conversion on the fly (quite possible, I've seen it done with other software) I wouldn't touch it. Consumer hardware mpeg encoders suck.

[rallynavvie]

Video quality is completely dependent on your PVR and codecs, doesn't really have anything to do with the OS. If you're using crappy hardware/software it's going to suck no matter what the platform.

I dunno why it says it's built on XP Home. MCE 2005 has support for SMP, Remote Desktop, and IIS. Those are all standard features for Pro, not Home. Guess I'll have to find out when I get mine installed and running. It's going in an SMP machine so it better be based on Pro.