XP Media Centre 2005

sermad · 18 Apr 2006 at 01:20

Ive been running xp64 for a few days now and I'm truly fed up with the lack of drivers (no sony camera of mine, no delta 66 soundcard) so instead of going back to xp I thought I would buy media centre with the remote.

Can this run 4 gig of ram? Ive got 2 gig now and 4 gig will come at the end of the year (I do heavy photoshop work).

Any general issues with mc?

FatRakoon · 18 Apr 2006 at 03:15

I got MCE on a P4-3.6Ghz, although at this time, I too am running XP64.

The MCE, I feel, is quite honestly a pile of pooch-plop.

Its basically WinXP Pro, but with lots of useless junk bodged onto it.

Its slower than Vanilla XP, and this is probably due to all the junk... On my version, thankfully, it can all be removed, but its still not as quick as if I had just installed XP on its own.... I have tried a couple of customised installs based on the original CD, starting with simply disabling stuff, up to completely removing the Media Center folder altogether, but no matter what I do, it fails to install, so I am annoyed at that ( Myself? ) for that.

This is mainly due to the fact that the CDs I have for MCE are specific to that PC, and also has its own idea of whats needed, so the normal version of MCE should allow for "adjustments".

Now, the Media center extras that you do get are pretty much available in other prorams... ShowShifter is one that rings a bell, as is creative media player too! - although I have a few Creative cards with the drive bay extra hardware junk, and the LiveDrive IR and the Audigy 2 and the XFI all have remote controls, I have found that the software on those also kill off any chance of me having a half decent performing PC, so I dont use them... Basically MCE has turned my 3.6Ghz P4 into a 1Ghz Celeron, and the creative software has turned my 3Ghz AMD64 into a Duron, so I have opted for a fresh install with absolutely no junk for the remote controls... PERIOD.

Hell, dont get me wrong. Having a TV card in a PC is fine. Useing a PC for all your Media is just fine, and as long as there is no silly junk for bone idle users, there is nothign stoppign your PC from doing anythign you could ever wish it to do, and have all *** speed in the world, but seriously... As soon as you take that idle road and add a remote control to it... Kiss any possibility of performance goodbye.

dirtydog · 18 Apr 2006 at 09:17

Hmm I think you're exaggerating a tad there, FatRakoon

I've used MCE2005 and it is just as quick as XP Home or Pro.

MrM3 · 18 Apr 2006 at 09:25

FatRakoon said:
This is mainly due to the fact that the CDs I have for MCE are specific to that PC, and also has its own idea of whats needed, so the normal version of MCE should allow for "adjustments".

Well sounds like this is the issue not MCE.

MCE runs just as fast as xp pro and you use it the same. It just has the media bit on top if you want it... just like an additional piece of software.

numnutz · 18 Apr 2006 at 10:07

MCE is built ontop of Win XP PRO, and im my experience runs at exactly the same speed as pro does

It only becomes slower when it starts doing some TV recording (it still records programs if you dont have MCE frontend open). The only other reason i could see it becoming slower is to do with the addtional services it runs to enable the media centre functionality (Scheduler etc)

Anyway thats my input....

Otacon · 18 Apr 2006 at 10:29

The maximum amount of memory XP Pro (and hence, MCE) can address is 4GB. *However*, this includes the size of your page file as well, so if you have a 1GB page file, the system will only address 3GB of your physical memory.

GuruJockStrap · 18 Apr 2006 at 10:41

Got WinXP MCE running on my laptop and it feels just as fast if not faster than my desktop system.

Disabled the Media Centre services (bit impractical on a laptop) plus a few other and now have around 22 running processes.

FatRakoon · 18 Apr 2006 at 15:15

dirtydog said:
Hmm I think you're exaggerating a tad there, FatRakoon I've used MCE2005 and it is just as quick as XP Home or Pro.

Ok, maybe a tad, but the version I have, is definitely a lot slower than the basic XP Home and Pro CDs I have.

MrM3 said:
Well sounds like this is the issue not MCE.

MCE runs just as fast as xp pro and you use it the same. It just has the media bit on top if you want it... just like an additional piece of software.

Yes, thats almost definitely the reason, however, I say almost because on the P4, I have tried Pro, MCE, and XP64 and they all run fairly poorly on it compared to my AMDs. Pro, Home, and XP64 all have some issues in that the system needs half a dozen extras, these extras are installed with the MCE CD and these extras are obviously down to the extra hardware needs for that particular system... These too could also be causign the differences between MCE and the others.

As I said, I dont have a stock MCE CD to have a try and compare, but the version I have, is a total dog.

Slam62 · 18 Apr 2006 at 16:05

fundementally, how can this rubbish be true, mce is identical to xp pro apart from domains, if you're not running the mce bit, theres nothing running apart from a couple of services.

What a complete load of old hogwash, mce has its issues, but resource hog it is not.
The only extra hardware you need is a tv card which most pc's come with anyway.

If you're going to post made up stuff, at least try and justify it with real data somehow, otherwise please dont bother, i find kids talking rubbish very unhelpful.

:rolleyes:

Otacon · 18 Apr 2006 at 16:57

Slam62 said:
i find kids talking rubbish very unhelpful.

You make too many assumptions, and you attitude stinks. Adjust it, or you will no longer be welcome in here.

Slam62 · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:12

So i'm wrong then am i? dont tell me this is just another of those cosy little internet forum clubs, i thought people in here were better than that, obviously the guy is one of your special friends octagon does that mean i cant post anything that disagrees with one of your chums. If so, you should make this clear to anyone reading the forum.

Please show me some evidence that mce is slower than pro or home, i dont believe there is any, but i am happy to acknowledge true evidence if it exists, i thought people asked on here for real advice, must have been wrong i just try to tell the truth.

thanks

Logan09 · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:23

I run MCE and can honestly say that I do not notice any difference in speed between it and XP Home/Pro. As it is essentially XP Pro (minus domains) it should run with 4GB of RAM fine (although if Otacon's correct, and I have no reason to doubt him, then that's physical RAM + page file).

A lot of people **** MCE off, mainly for not being customisable (is that a word?) enough and too simplistic. I've never really heard any complaints levelled at it about being a resource hog, and I've never had any problems even whilst it's recording.

As for things like showshifter that FatRakoon reccomended and mediaportal (which someone will doubtless reccomend soon enough) as an alternative to MCE I think it comes down to a choice of simplicity versus customisability (I'm sure I'm making words up here). For me MCE has always just worked and is simple enough for anyone to use (even my most technophobe friends can manage it), whereas mediaportal and some of the others offer much more flexibility, but IMO do not match the ease of use of MCE.

Logan09 · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:29

Slam62 said:
So i'm wrong then am i? dont tell me this is just another of those cosy little internet forum clubs, i thought people in here were better than that, obviously the guy is one of your special friends octagon does that mean i cant post anything that disagrees with one of your chums. If so, you should make this clear to anyone reading the forum.

Please show me some evidence that mce is slower than pro or home, i dont believe there is any, but i am happy to acknowledge true evidence if it exists, i thought people asked on here for real advice, must have been wrong i just try to tell the truth.

thanks

It's not what you're saying that's the problem (I'd tend to agree with your main point), but the way you say it.

Slam62 said:
If you're going to post made up stuff, at least try and justify it with real data somehow, otherwise please dont bother, i find kids talking rubbish very unhelpful.

That type of comment only serves to offend people and make you look arrogant. If you think someone's wrong then say so, but no need for insults.

Slam62 · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:34

fair enough, but i thought fatrakoon was dong just that yet for some reason its fine. I appologise for any offence caused

Logan09 · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:43

No worries dude, just easier if everyone gets on. I know the Dons here seem quite harsh at times, but it beats having thread after thread degenerate into slanging matches. I've seen other forums where one person says something slightly insulting, then another retorts, and it justs snowballs from there.

Otacon · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:46

Slam62 said:
So i'm wrong then am i?

No, I agree with you almost entirely, but I wasn't commenting on your views on MCE.

Slam62 said:
dont tell me this is just another of those cosy little internet forum clubs, i thought people in here were better than that, obviously the guy is one of your special friends octagon does that mean i cant post anything that disagrees with one of your chums. If so, you should make this clear to anyone reading the forum.

I have no idea who the OP is, nor who you are. I spend my time on here ensuring people are keeping to the rules, and maintaining the atmosphere, and your post was down right rude. I have no problem with people picking up on people's technical arguments, but getting personal and arsey like that is against the rules for one, and I wont have it.

Slam62 said:
Please show me some evidence that mce is slower than pro or home, i dont believe there is any, but i am happy to acknowledge true evidence if it exists, i thought people asked on here for real advice, must have been wrong i just try to tell the truth.

Again, I didnt even quote any other part of your post, or tell you that you're wrong, so I wont retort here.

As you have apologised, the matter is dropped as far as I'm concerned. But I implore you to observe some respect when addressing other members. This is a forum for sharing knowledge and helping each other, and I wont have petty insults thrown around.

FatRakoon · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:51

Hmm... I have said a few times too, that the CD I have MCE on, is customised for the PC that it came with.

I have said fairly clearly, that I do not have a stock MCE installation CD.

I dont know how well the stock CD works, because as I said, I dont have it.

But, the simple truth, is that from my own experience with the one and only CD I have, MCE is severaly choked down wit hthe extra junk that the supplier has thrown into it.

I have also said, that if I do not use the supplied CD, and use another stock CD instead, for Home, Pro, or XP64, then *** system runs far, far better, but also a lot of the hardware does not properly install either, which then causes other issues

I am only going by the one PC I have, with the one installation CD I have of MCE.

NathanE · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:53

To be fair this is the first time I've seen Slam62 say something good about a Microsoft product

Let us rejoice! :cool:

Slam62 · 18 Apr 2006 at 18:24

damn!!! ............. you got me :eek:

BONES__69 · 18 Apr 2006 at 18:37

Used MCE for a couple of weeks and was amazed at how rubbish it was at being a media centre!! A friend of mine told me about MediaPortal and I tried that

Well it's miles better than MCE imho. Yes it needs a little bit more setting up than MCE but once you got all that sorted it's a much better media centre.