Media Center 2005

KTRIC

Ok, so I gots me Xbox 360, 32 inch HD LCD and I ordered Media Center 2005 from Komplett yesterday. I should be seeing it tomorrow or the next day.

I haven't used Media Center before so what can I look forward to with it ?. What cool things can I do with the XB360 and media center ?

Go on get my hopes up

Limerick Dude

K-TRIC wrote:

Ok, so I gots me Xbox 360, 32 inch HD LCD and I ordered Media Center 2005 from Komplett yesterday. I should be seeing it tomorrow or the next day.

I haven't used Media Center before so what can I look forward to with it ?. What cool things can I do with the XB360 and media center ?

Go on get my hopes up

you bought media centre when not knowing what it can do?

KTRIC

Limerick Dude wrote:

you bought media centre when not knowing what it can do?

Of course I know what it can do, just want to know what sort of stuff I can get the Xbox 360 to do with it.

Riesen_Meal

Can you stream video with Xp SP 2?

Or will I have to buy Media Center?

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Fieldog wrote:

Can you stream video with Xp SP 2?

Or will I have to buy Media Center?

You will have to buy Media Center, you can stream audio and view images with XP (sp2)

KTRIC

Just finished setting up Media Center and so far I'm impressed. I needed a licenced OS so I got this instead of XP Pro and I'm very happy.

Riesen_Meal

I thought u werent actually allowed to upgrade to MC?

How much did it cost to buy as I only got a new pc last week and its SP2, id really consider getting MC to take advantage of the video thingy!

Stokolan

Tis €130 on komplett.ie LINKY

Alnilam

If your going to install MCE make sure your system is compatible before ordering the os.

I speak from Experience here if your Graphics card ain't listed it will need to be replaced same for your TV Tuner, soundcard, motherboard etc. I speak from the experience of having had to go and buy a graphics card after I had already installed MCE and been left with windows working fine but launching MCE crashing the damn machine. the lesson, It pays to do your research

One really nice little tip that I learnt once you have it all up and running open Internet Explorer and set the region to US, then when you log into "onlight Spotlight" you get all the american content some is PPV type stuff but the beauty of it is it's all on your 360 as well

Effectivly anything you can run within MCE is available on your 360. I have a load of other plugins I want to try when I get my network issues resolved. MCE SKype and MCE browser in particular

KTRIC

Alnilam wrote:

If your going to install MCE make sure your system is compatible before ordering the os.

I speak from Experience here if your Graphics card ain't listed it will need to be replaced same for your TV Tuner, soundcard, motherboard etc. I speak from the experience of having had to go and buy a graphics card after I had already installed MCE and been left with windows working fine but launching MCE crashing the damn machine. the lesson, It pays to do your research

One really nice little tip that I learnt once you have it all up and running open Internet Explorer and set the region to US, then when you log into "onlight Spotlight" you get all the american content some is PPV type stuff but the beauty of it is it's all on your 360 as well

Effectivly anything you can run within MCE is available on your 360. I have a load of other plugins I want to try when I get my network issues resolved. MCE SKype and MCE browser in particular

Can you post a link for some good plugins ?

Alnilam

most of the ones I use at the moment I got through "online spotligt" to be honest, There are 2 great resources for MCE online "the green button" which everyone knows although I don't like there site layout myself and the fact that its slow.

The other is Iandixon.co.uk he does 2 regular podcasts both of which are great but the MCE show is the relevant one he regularly interviews MS peeps and all sorts of 3rd party developers, including some south african nut who built MCE into the dash of his car!!! ( i wonder how many penalty points he has ) this is the best resource I know of, he pulls together so much information from all over the web. If you ever need help post in his forum, e-mail or Skype him he will help.

Also google for Thomas Hawks blog, it's not MCE specific but it's all about the connected lifestyle as he puts it.

one thing I do miss from other MCE type apps I have used is free plugins, most of the good plugins for MCE require a small charge to enable fully, but to be honest it's a damn site better value than the Oblivions Horse crap, I mean armour