Windows XP Media Center Edition: Exposed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 8, 2003 2:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Watching TV (continued)
As we explained in the "How a PVR Works" section, whenever you're watching TV through MCE you are recording what you're watching; this is how you can "pause" what you're watching and resume viewing later or rewind to catch something you've missed.
There are some limitations to what you can do that are imposed by MCE; by far the biggest issue is that if you've been watching something and at the end of your viewing decide that you want to save it, you can't. Unless you hit the record button or have told MCE to record the show before hand, you can't go back and save your buffer for viewing later. Even if you hit the record button halfway through watching a show you will only be able to save everything after the point when you hit the record button, you won't be able to retain what you've watched previously. This is a feature that shouldn't have been that difficult to implement, especially considering that ATI lets you do it using their multimedia center software bundled with their All-in-Wonder cards.
Another issue, albeit understandable, occurs when you're not recording a show and leave the TV in paused mode; in this case, MCE will automatically un-pause itself after 30 minutes, which can be a bit startling if you forget to mute your speakers. Also don't forget to close MCE before putting the system into standby, if you don't the system will wake itself up with the TV running loud and clear in order to check to see if it has anything to record. To be on the safe side you'll want to leave the Media Center application closed; don't worry, it will still record your shows and let you know it is doing so by putting a record icon in the systray. The beauty of this silent record mode is that you can use your Media Center PC for just about anything while it is recording a show in the background; be warned though, you don't want to do anything that's too intensive as it could cause your recording to stutter.
If for whatever reason you want to record a block of time, you can do so using the manual record feature of MCE:
The options are fairly self explanatory and are very similar to the advanced record options when recording using the program guide.
Microsoft was very careful not to cross any sensitive lines with MCE and thus did not include an auto commercial skip feature, which is something that is included in the latest ReplayTV PVRs. With MCE you can skip ahead 30 seconds at a time by hitting a button on the remote, but you cannot automatically skip all commercials. Hitting another button will rewind 7 seconds and the combination of the two buttons helps make flipping through commercials in your recorded shows quite easy.
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The replay and skip buttons are pictured above.
This overlay is what you'll see when pausing, fast forwarding or rewinding while
watching anything in MCE; it goes into hiding after a short amount of inactivity.
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GreyMack - Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - link
Excellent review, but I don't think it was harsh enough.baboon68 - Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - link
Well, if nothing this article shows that MCE is NOT capable of settling comfortably the living room for a variety of reasons. MCE does not do away with the windows menu and the instability/driver issues. The HP box is certainly worse than a custom assembled Shuttle SSF or Ahanix box. The latest ATI Multimedia Center software in conjuntion with an RF (not IR) control is also quite close to the MCE experience - I have one and it works quite well on a cheaper Athlon 2K+. ALso free/cheap updates to the ATI software can only make it better - never mind the HDTV capability using the 40$ adapter. And last bat not least, if I look at the additional capabilities of Freevo or MythTV (Weather, RSS feeds, MAME, etc.). Also missing - at least from the article - is a discussion of: support for people outside of the US, possible DVB-S card support, external IR Transmitter support (to control a Sat receiver box), and more.I think the MCE is at best another flawed attempt by Microsoft to market beta quality software at a loss or at the expense of hardware integrators to gain market share in the Tivo market.
Anonymous User - Monday, October 20, 2003 - link
After reading this article I'm not clear why the author thinks MCE is preferable to alternatives like ATI All-in-Wonder, which sounds like does the same things and is more flexible what computers it will work with. In particular, the author says the MCE interface is significantly better than ATI but doesn't adequately explain why. Also, the ATI remote will work without line-of-site required and can control the computer mouse, which MCE can't. Seems like ATI is a better deal.Anonymous User - Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - link
Do the same thing for freewww.mythtv.org
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
This is a great review. Will a Dual processor xeon machine combat the stuttering? i presume its compatible as its xp pro based.Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
Thank you, AnandTech! Your review is extremely helpful, as it debunked some of the myths of Windows Media Center. Plus, it gave me inside look of the machine I'm looking to buy.Still, I have one question: About the "skip" function, when you skip 30 seconds ahead, does the machine record the commercials also or does it only record the areas not skipped? If it doesn't, is there some kind of software that can erase the commercials?
Anonymous User - Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - link
yeah basicallyAnonymous User - Thursday, July 17, 2003 - link
So, the the final word is the MCE is just Xp pro plus PVR right.. ???Anonymous User - Saturday, July 12, 2003 - link
This is a great review. It explains every aspect of this Media Center PC in great detail. I have looked all over the internet to find a review like this and this is the only one I could find. Thanks alot. This will make me even more jealous to buy it since I am planning to purchase one.