- Reasons why I should buy MediaCentre rather than XP Pro
- Posted by Nick on February 25th, 2006
Hi,
I'm building a new dual-core PC, and wonder whether to put XP Pro or XP
MCE on it. What do I gain/lose with MCE?
Does it support NTFS? Domains? Same hardware?
I want to use it for normal Windows things, and also watch/record TV
and radio.
Comments appreciated..........
Nick.
- Posted by Jaime on February 25th, 2006
Please spend a couple minutes searching this group, this topic has been
covered ad naseum.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), FL
"Nick" <nickbloodworth@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:1140907796.821157.265110@i40g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
- Posted by Dana Cline - MVP on February 26th, 2006
Basically, MCE is XP Pro, with 2 features removed - the ability to join a
domain, and cached credentials. It's easy to work around the domain issue -
you can join one when you initially install the software, or there's a
publicised hack that allows it. Supposedly if you join a domain, you then
cannot use Media Center Extenders.
It's cheaper than XP Pro, and if you have a tuner card and large hard drive,
it makes watching and recording TV a joy...
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
www.MediaCenterStuff.com - devoted to the do-it-yourselfer
"Nick" <nickbloodworth@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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- Posted by Eric Baines on February 27th, 2006
MCE doesn't let you record FM radio. You can record radio if you receive it
via a digital TV tuner, but then you can't listen to FM radio.
If you want to make video dvds of your recorded TV programs, prepare
yourself for a bucket load of grief.
That said, I have one and like it.
"Nick" wrote:
- Posted by Dana Cline - MVP on February 27th, 2006
You only have a bucketload of grief if you don't install the
SonicEncoders.msi file, available via the Internet (thanks to Google)...
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
"Eric Baines" <EricBaines@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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- Posted by Eric Baines on February 27th, 2006
It is true that it does work and produces a good product.
It is also true that it is far too slow, doesn't let me top/tail or cut ads
out, doesn't let me encode in background (eg to disk) so that the transcoding
process can withstand the PC being switched off and continued when the PC is
switched back on etc etc.
There is also the guilt factor for all those whose OEMs didn't provide it,
knowing that they have succumbed to the temptation of breaking the licence
laws.
"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:
- Posted by Dana Cline - MVP on February 27th, 2006
You bring up good points. Some of those could be solved if Microsoft's
MovieMaker had the ability to read dvr-ms files, but so far that hasn't
happened. There are a few free programs (DVREdit, dCut) that allow you to
cut out commercials, but I've had better luck with VideoReDo Plus from
www.videoredo.com. It does cost money, but it's a great program...
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
"Eric Baines" <EricBaines@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A2A29C96-0DAE-4527-A302-51B6BB271554@microsoft.com...
- Posted by Eric Baines on February 28th, 2006
I use DCUT and I'm quite happy with it. I wish, wish, wish that the compress
worked with it in the UK, because I'm convinced that that would increase the
speed of my DVD burning hugely. However, although the author's web site
indicates that the product is actively being developed, there seems to be no
response on that one.
VideoReDo doesn't compress in background, does it?
There is that slight frustration that I'm sure there is a programatic front
end to sonicencoders - and that some clever person somewhere could produce a
little app that interfaces to it and converts .dvr-ms files into video DVD
format on the hard disk, in a background queue. The user could then just burn
a dozen to DVD in no time at all. How perfect would that be?
I don't suppose there are any whispers out there of an update for movie
maker, that might support .dvr-ms?
"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:
- Posted by Dana Cline - MVP on February 28th, 2006
Replies inline below...
"Eric Baines" <EricBaines@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E1083E6D-479D-4806-BA80-8B4F929DBEA3@microsoft.com...
Doesn't compress at all. Reads in a dvr-ms, writes out an MPEG. Then you do
with it what you will...
Have you looked at DVDShrink?
None. In fact I heard the opposite, that it will never support dvr-ms. No
idea as to the reliability of the source.
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
- Posted by Eric Baines on February 28th, 2006
I thought DVD shrink only worked with DVD format files? After DCUT, I still
have .DVR-MS files. There isn't anything that can compress those, and still
output a .DVR-MS file for sonicencoders to burn, is there?
"Dana Cline - MVP" wrote:
- Posted by Dana Cline - MVP on February 28th, 2006
No, but you can use DVRMSToolbox to extract the MPEG file, DVDShrink that,
then use the SonicEncoders to burn the MPEG file to the DVD.
Dana Cline - MCE MVP
"Eric Baines" <EricBaines@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B8C9E007-8FF1-468C-A9A5-63ADD961DD31@microsoft.com...
- Posted by Martin Kirk on March 5th, 2006
I believe that the latest versions of Nero can work directly with /dvr-ms
file.
However, I would highly recomment TMPGEnc 3.0 Express. It converts .dvr-ms
to .mpg files pretty fast. I bellieve that there are otherprograms in the
suite for DVD authoring, but I don't use the,.
Take a look at www.pegasys-inc.com
