Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of Windows XP Professional modified my Microsoft for use in home theater PCs. MS’s goal was to create a system that would allow you to consolidate all multimedia functions of the PC into a “10 foot interface” – one capable of being output to a TV and controlled my a standard remote control – without sacrificing any of the functionality of the PC itself.

First released in early 2003, MCE was a fledgling product with a limited distribution and a small feature list. Supported hardware was unavailable to end user, and the feature list in the product was limited and somewhat buggy. However, in late 2003 MS released an updated version of the OS, MCE 2004. This version added requested features, fixed many bugs, and, more importantly, expanded the supported hardware list to include several tuner cards that were available to end users. MCE 2005 was released in October 2004, and greatly expanded the feature set of MCE, adding many highly-requested features such as HDTV support, multiple tuner support, music playlist support, an enhanced user interface, direct CD/DVD burning capabilities, internal Windows Messenger support and much more. In addition, 2005 supports Extender technology, allowing you to use an Xbox or set-top box to access recorded content from your MCE computer on TVs elsewhere in the house, and Protable Media Centers, which allow you to carry video, audio and picture content from your PC with you wherever you go.

MCE was initially sold only to large system vendors such as HP, Gateway and Dell, but MS has recently announced that they are selling MCE 2004 and 2005, along with suitable hardware packs, to smaller OEMs as well through their channel partner program. This will allow the MCE enthusiast market to flourish from a few power users with MSDN accounts or hacked copies into a much broader audience. It can be purchased from many OEMs for around $140 per copy.

However, MCE is not a particularly easy product to install or maintain. It is, in a manner of speaking, a much more fragile OS than the Windows XP it is based on. This article’s aim will be to walk you through some basic needs and precautions to getting your own copy of MCE 2005 running and stable. I am sticking with the official requirements. There are tweaks and tricks to get other devices working (other remotes, slower processors, etc), but they are outside the scope of this article.

First of all, let’s look at the hardware requirements:

• Intel- or AMD-based PC compatible 1.6 GHz CPU minimum. 2 GHz or higher recommended for systems with a hardware encoder based TV card
• 512 MB system RAM. More is recommended, especially if you plan to use the computer on a regular basis for purposes other than MCE
• A large hard disk drive. MCE can eat up a lot of space if you record a lot of TV. I recommend a 120 GB or larger disk, but smaller can be used if you aren’t worried about recording much TV. If you are planning on using an HDTV tuner card, a large capacity hard drive is highly recommended, if not outright required due to the large size of HD files. If you are using multiple tuners (especially if one of them is an HD tuner), a RAID array is recommended. If you are using multiple HD tuners, a RAID array will most likely be required.
• An officially supported graphics card (see below).
• DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, or CD/DVD burner. If you wish to watch DVD movies, a DVD-ROM or burner is required.
• One or more MCE-Compatible TV Tuner Cards (see below). MCE2k5 supports multiple simultaneous tuners, HDTV tuners, and combinations of them.
• MCE-Compatible Remote Control (See below). This is not required unless controlling a set-top box, but is highly recommended.
• Any Windows XP-Compatible sound card. MCE 2005 directly supports 5.1 and 7.1 audio solutions, and HDTV is broadcast in 5.1 sound in most cases, so a 5.1 channel sound card and speakers is recommended for best results under those situations.
• Internet connectivity.
• A supported software DVD decoder (See below).

A list of supported hardware can be found here. If your hardware is not on the list (especially the list of TV Tuners), chances are it is NOT supported by MCE2k5.

It's important to note that HD support in MCE is somewhat poor. I have seen multiple reports that while picture quality is good, reception is marginal. This appears to be an issue of MCE, as the tuner cards will have good reception with their own software, but for some reason MCE does not. Given that with HD broadcasts you have either a good picture or no picture at all, this is a serious issue. For this reason, I don't recommend purchasing MCE for its HDTV features at this time. If this changes, I will update this article.

Reception of HDTV broadcasts via a cable TV and Satellite HDTV broadcasts are not supported by any PC tuner card at the time of this writing and MCE2k5 is not capable of handling such reception. Windows Vista (Premium or Ultimate editions) will support bot the CableCARD standard and Satellite receiver cards which will enable this functionality.

I HIGHLY recommend you purchase an officially supported remote control to make full use of the software. It is REQUIRED that you have one if you want to control a cable or satellite box with MCE. In addition to the list above, there are a number of remote controls on the market that are fully compatible with MCE2k5, notably the Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition and the Logitech Harmony series remote controls. However, be aware these products require the Microsoft IR Receiver that comes with the basic remotes or a Media Center PC to function in MCE, so you will need to acquire one in order to use them.

To install MCE 2005, use the following steps. DO NOT START THE MCE APPLICATION UNTIL TOLD TO DO SO.

• Make sure all hardware is properly installed, including the IR sensor from the remote and the IR Blasters for controlling an external sat/cable box. If you are using a set-top box, have the remote for it handy if possible.
• Install the OS from CD as normal. Clean installs will work much better than upgrades.
• Install the drivers for your tuner card(s).
• Install all hardware device drivers.
• CONNECT TO WINDOWS UPDATE AND INSTALL ALL PATCHES, ESPECIALLY THE MCE UPDATES
• Install your chosen DVD player application.
• Copy all of the music files you’d like to be accessed to the My Music folder. Make sure that they are all properly tagged with at least artist and song title, and preferably album title.
• Start Windows Media Player 10. Add all of the files you just copied into WMP’s music library (F3), and use WMP to update album information if necessary.
• Copy any pictures you might want to view with MCE into the My Pictures folder.
• Start the MCE application and walk through the setup wizard. If you are using a sat/cable box, be sure your IR blasters are lined up properly and that your channels change properly. Getting the channel changing combinations with a set-top box working may take some experimentation, especially if you don’t have the remote for it on hand.

You should now be fully functional. However, take the following precautions:
• DO NOT disable System Restore on your MCE system. If MCE has a problem with drivers or codecs, System Restore may be your only route to getting it functional again.
• If you are going to use MCE to play DIVX/XVid use FFDShow to install the codecs. DO NOT install any of the WMV codecs from FFDShow, or any windows media plugins – it WILL break MCE.
• MCE is INCREDIBLY sensitive to 3rd party codecs. NEVER use the large codec packs (ACE, Klite, Nimo, etc) on an MCE machine - use FFDShow as mentioned above. Install any other codecs with EXTREME caution. Be sure you create a system restore point before installing ANY codecs in case they break MCE.

Good Luck, and remember, although discussing it is fine, asking for or posting links to pirated software is strictly forbidden by the board rules. I will remove any such posts and warn any person doing so here or in PMs to me.

-Illy

Updated 10-14-05: Reworked the entire guide to include modern information. Thanks ~*McoreD*~ for pointing me to the official hardware support page

Nice post Illy, thanks!

yeah thanks

Oh, and for the record, because I know it's gonna get asked:

The ATI TV Wonder cards are NOT MCE compatible. (Do you see them on the list? No!)

Nice report there!

Couple of small typos, but I'm sure you'll fix them

Thanks again

Feel free to point out typos. If I haven't seen them by now, my brain is probably permanently locking them out

hey is the ATi remote wonder II campatable with MCE?

Not directly. You need to use GRIDER to make the Remote Wonder emulate an MCE remote. Even if you do, it won't allow you to use the satellite/cable box control features of MCE.

its better to get MCE COMPATIBLE hardware. period. teh workarounds will get you no-where...

Agreed. The MCE remote is around $30 at NewEgg, and is well worth the money. It's a very nice, well-laid out remote that does exactly what you need it to do as soon as you plug it in - no drivers or dinking with GRIDER required.

Thaks cause i was planing on getting one. I'll just get the MCE remote instead

When I was at Germany, big technology-related store , "Saturn" had a very impessive MCE machines, they are awsome and very easy to use

Pin it! Good write up Illy!

Nice post Illrigger

I was just wondering if anyone knows of a way to force a WinTV-GO card to work on MCE? I just get this error when I try and watch TV through it:


Is that to do with my card, or something else?

No. As I stated before, MCE requires a hardware encoder card, which the WinTV Go is not.

I've now updated the guide with full info on getting MCE2k5 running!!

wow nice work dude!!!

Does anyone know what needs to be doen to get MCE 2005 up and running, I have it installed, just can't get the TV to work nor can I get the DVD player to work.

I have the ehome tuner card.

I get a message saying:

Tuner not Found, tuner is either malfunctioning or not insatlled

Can anyone help

I would like to add that the Prolink playtv@7000 card is also compatible with MCE 2004.

I'm not finding any references to this card being supported, but it is a hardware encoder so it is possible - my list is far from comprehensive. Where did you see this? Does it need special drivers, and where do you get them if so?

I am using this card now with MCE 2004. The drivers from the included CD work out of the box. I am in SE Asia so finding a working card was tough. I went through 4 before I found this one. The included remote also works out of the box and it has some nice features though the remote is huge. No IR blaster though so external control (cable box, satilite reciever, etc) is not possible. Picture is darned good though I am using analog cable so my source is not that great.

This is by far the most dense and easy to follow information on MCE on the web... I've been looking for this for a while. Thank you.

In my readings, I found information that suggested the ATI HDTV wonder can be used as a second tuner in MCE2005. 1 pvr card is mandatory though.

The Avermedia sells for cheaper on www.newegg.com and the reviews seem like the quality is equal. (http://www.newegg.com/app/SearchProductResult.asp?DEPA=0). Is the Haupage 250 quality better than the Avermedia 150?

Any info on quality using the Fusion receiver vs the HDTV wonder solution? I think the Fusion looks more promising.

Media Center Edition 2005 also supports HDTV via broadcast (OTA) and unencrypted QAM. This is accomplished via BDA (Broadcasting Driver Architecture) compatible drivers. As of this writing, the following tuner cards are confirmed compatible with MCE2k5:
• Vbox DTA 151
• DVICO Fusion-HDTV3-T



Does your post mean either of these two cards can be installed as the 1 and only tuner?

I honestly don't know. They should, but I have heard of people having issues doing so. However the people having issues with it are having other issues as well, so it's hard to say one way or the other.

Ok found out a couple tidbits so far. I read in a couple places that a hardware mpeg2 is required in the main tuner which neither the Fusion nor the Vbox have looking at the specs.

This doesn't mean that it can't be the main turner. Apparently ATI is releasing a software mpeg2 decoder for the HDTV Wonder to work with MCE2005 so the HDTV Wonder can be installed without any additional tuners.

Hopefully this method works since the Fusion and Vbox are the only cards that I can find right now that support 64/256 unencrypted qam decoding.

I'm still in the research phase so any more hdtv advice/experiences would be really helpful.

Careful; even though the CARDS support QAM, I've seen no indication that MCE does, and most cable companies are now instigating the CableCARD standard, which will replace unencrypted QAM entirely. If you're buying the cards based purely on QAM, you might be wasting your money. I'm holding off until early next year when MS does their QAM\HD Sat update and the new hardware for it ships.

Great Post, thanks for the info. I was starting to look into this as the wife and I are currently in the process of getting approved for a mortgage to purchase a new build house, and since I'll have a clean slate to work with, I want to do things like build a MCE system with a large HDTV, my current 6.1 surround sound, etc. The house will cat 5 throughout as it is, which is nice for transfering media say from the family room MCE system to the master suite system.

Can't wait, but I'm going to take my time, both for preventing more problems and because this is going to cost me some serious $ !!!

Is there a way to get MCE to recognise .ogm and .mkv files? Its annoying when u have an anime collection that u can't watch.

OGG Media should be playable if you have the latest development FFDShow installed. I haven't tried any .mkv files, but do some searching for a directshow codec and you might be able to get them to work.

Be sure you make a system restore point before you install any codecs in case they hose MCE!!!

oh noes, after installing Catylst 4.11, MCE05rtm gets video card support errors.

What if you already installed MCE 2005 and ran MCE with a tuner card that is not compatable (Pinnacle PCTV Pro)?

Can you add a tuner card later and reconfigure MCE?

Also if your building your own, what would be the best case to use for a nice addition to your Living Room, but at a great price and with the best functionallity?

Yes, you can re-run the TV setup from the Settings menu.

As far as cases go, that's a personal preference. The most popular ones out there are the AHANIX desktop cases, but lots of people are using different ones, such as the Antec Aria and the various mini-pc cases like the Shuttle XPCs. As long as they meet the minimum requirements, it really doesn't matter.

Were you able to actually get the DVICO Fusion-HDTV3-T to work in MCE2005 at picking up unencrypted QAM channels? If you used certain drivers, would you point me in the direction in obtaining said drivers? I have the card and it works with ATSC channels.

According to Microsoft and I quote, "Media Center support for digital TV is only available in the United States and only for digital TV that is broadcast over-the-air (OTA)."

Thanks in advance for the help.

It does not support QAM at the moment. Go back and read the guide, it was updated in late February with the latest info on HDTV support.

Im setting up a MCE2005 PC and want to be able to pause/rewind/fast forward... live tv , do I need to get a PVR tuner, such as the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250MCE or can I get a ATI Theatre 550. I just wasnt sure if it was something to do with the video card that runs the PVR features or MCE that does it. THanks.

<sigh> Does NO ONE actually READ the GUIDE I WROTE? As long as the card supports MCE, it's fine. Be aware that the Theater 550 is NOT getting very good reviews for image quality in comparison to the PVR150/250 cards, despite ATI's claims of "certified image quality".

Im getting ready to order one of the Hauppauge tuners. I would get a PVR-500 with the dual tuners, but it only has 1 s-video in, and Im running two set-top-boxes. Will I sacrifise any image quality if I get two 150's? Im really picky when it comes to image quality, I have a evga nvtv right now, not too bad, but I want something with better image quality, Thanks.

Hi,

Here is a fundamental issue. Can't see the MCE setup screen.

New install (MCE 2005) onto an oldish PC. S3 ProsavageDDR chipset with latest drivers installed. Only 32M RAM though shared with main board, which has 512M - Athlon CPU X-2400 ?.

DirectX9 dxdiag reports everything is fine and working - even 3d. Does run slow though on some draw tests.

Start MCE (press the green button) and a screen appears - BUT the hsync looks bad as its all lines out of sync. Looks like its expecting a TV monitor but the registry suggests its set for 'computerMonitor'.

Any idea's why this is not working or am I expecting too much of an old PC.

NB Also had MCE2005 running on an even OLDER PC - with SIS 300/305 32M, 256M and a PIII-450 :-O. At least it signed on and showed me a MCE menu !!.

Thanks

Regards

Graham

MCE 2k5 is picky about video cards. For one, it requires at least 48MB of video RAM, so even if you could get the interface up, you wouldn't get any further. Second, there are only a few cards that are really workable for 2k5; they're the Radeon 9x00, x700, x800, x850 and GeForce 5 and 6 cards. I've tried a lot other types and they tend to give lots of video artifacts if they work at all.

Hi,

Thanks for the response, I think I have sussed that now, got the system 'sort of' working with my SIS305 card, but sign on is about all.

Someone else recommended the FX5200, and as thats fairly low cost AND dual head, I'll probably give that a go. The project is a trial of MCE only, so I was trying to 'recycle' - maybe everything but the video card then.

MCE recognises my WinTV PVR 350, but tells me that the video drivers aren't loaded etc. so again - same issue.

Many Thanks

Regards

Graham

The GF5200 is proabaly the most popular card out there for dedicated MCE systems, followed by the Radeon 9550SE. Just get the cheapest one of those two cards you can; MCE doesn't care about clock speeds, memory bus width or how much RAM (as long as the card has over 48MB on it) it's video card has - it just wants video acceleration and shader support.

Honestly, the ideal card to have for MCE would be a GF6200 (because of it's superior hardware video acceleration), but they are only affordable in PCIe, as nVidia's promised $79 6200A-based AGP cards have yet to appear on the market.

Hi guys!

I have the same problem!

My computer setup is:
Dell optoplex 8400
PVR-500 MCE
GeForce FX 5200
PowerDVD

The card appear normally in the control panel

I have downloaded the latest drivers for PVR-500 and the geforce fx 5200.

But still the Win MCE 2005 do not find my PVR-500 card!?!?!

What could be wrong?

The FM radio part does not work either!

/Henrik

The only thing I can think of here is that you may have installed the wrong drivers for the PVR500. The MCE drivers are in a different location on the download site than the standard drivers. If that isn't it, I can only assume you have a hardware problem.

What is the benefit of dual tuners?

Does it only enable picture in picture mode?

Do you need it to record from one channel/source and watch another at the same time?

I'm considering a hauppage nova http://www.hauppauge.com/Pages/products/data_nova-t_mce.html

This lets people in the UK watch freeview, and works with MCE. It only has one tuner, so if i put two of these in a machine and split the antena signal into two, would i be able to watch one channel and record another?

Dual tuners lets you record two shows at the same time (while possibly watcing a third show you recorded earlier), or record one show while watching another. There is no Picture-in-Picture support in MCE.

What you describe should work, but I'm not 100% familiar with how TV works in Europe, so I can't guarantee it.

I've got a small problem, its tolerable, but if it can be fixed that'd be awesome.

What happens is I'll be running MCE 2k5 watching TV or a DVD, and I'll have to get back to Windows for just a few seconds, so I minimize the MCE application, and when I go back to it, I get a video error and have to restart the MCE application. Is this normal?

I'm running MCE 2k5 with a Sapphire Theater 550Pro, and I use WinDVD 4 as my DVD decoder (WinDVD 6 worked, but it made all my video orange).


Also, does anyone know of a way that I could get a sleep mode for MCE? I fall asleep with the TV running a lot, and there's no use for that and the monitor to be on all night. I've googled for one, and haven't been impressed with the ones I've found...they won't work with the TV, just music or pictures or something like that.

i have preferred the nvidia decoder, i have had much better results. i used to get video errors with the windvd decoder, but not that issue exactly.

WinDVD is a crappy decoder. I had all kinds of problems with I was using it. Use either PowerDVD 6 or nVidia DVD Decoder 1.x.

Planning to buy or build a new Media Center PC. Great threat IllRigger.

Adding a bit more:

Designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Logo Partner List
Published: August 31, 2004 | Updated: July 18, 2005
This is an initial list of compatible products. The list will grow as products get submitted into the logo program.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediace...nerlisting.mspx

Thanks! I took some time to update the guide with that info, and bring the guide up to date with other current info. I'm trying to gather some more info on the current state of Extenders as well, as info will most likely be in demand as XBox 360 rolls out.