On the eve of the giant annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft is set to deep-six its short-lived Windows XP Media Center Edition, according to industry reports received by The Register.
Whatever happened to the Windows Media Center?
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Eugenia Loli
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This seams false. MS just released a new version recently. Anyone into HTPC’s would agree it is by far the top product for it out there. Even those who arn’t fans of MS agree it’s very slick product. I don’t think sales have been to bad since good number of OEMs have begun selling them. I think the only thing hurting them is the fact you have to buy the whole box, not just the OS. I think if you could buy just the OS many would snap it up. I know I would. I’ve been expecting MS to wait till there is some competition out there for it and then selling it without computer. But for now it makes sense for them since they can be sure it will run good on the computers since there is control on the hardware (much like apple can do).
If this is true this is a bummer.
Don’t believe this nonsense. I used the prototype last month. It’s shipping.
I have to agree. Everyone who knows anything about The Register knows to avoid using them as a credible source of information.
What Microsoft HAS dropped is the Smart Displays line. The Register probably screwed up again (no suprise) and (how I have no idea) confused that with Media Center.
Check it out:
http://www.mythtv.org
I have been running it since Oct. 2003 with out problems, and my wife loves it 🙂
umm…he first Amendment Mr. Lawyer pertains to the Government. OSNews can edit out your voice all it likes.
Anyone into HTPC’s would agree it is by far the top product for it out there.
Not exactly true… Proprietary technology, and a lack of “sharing” with non-MS products (ie, the rest of your home network) don’t make it the best.
Even those who arn’t fans of MS agree it’s very slick product.
This I will agree with. The concept and polish is there, but with the usual MS bullshit attached as well (ie, “Use it only as WE intend, not as you may want to). Thank the DMCA for a lot of this though.
I’ve been expecting MS to wait till there is some competition out there for it and then selling it without computer
There is some good competition, both on the free front (MythTV, Freevo, etc), and on the pay front (Showhifter, Snapstream, etc), although these require some knowledge from the person installing & setting them up.
MS really only gets the gold here because they have the clout, and the payroll to have these professionally assembled to their standards.
Someone who wanted to pay the licensing and set up similar box’s themselves could make a go of it, but the market’s still too slow to really justify a startup trying this (IMHO).
Hopefully soon someone will begin selling a pre-assembled alternative. Until then, the do-it-yourself PVR is relegated to geeks, and those with a lot of time on their hands.
Although I feel the outcome of a custom built system can be far more versatile, in addition to much cheaper, than the MS box’s, it still takes someone to set it up (think of Mame, ZSNES, and Gens to name a few nice options for such a system! Not to mention your choice of codecs and such).
Smart Displays haven’t been dropped. They’re getting an upgrade.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,39020351,2128349,00.htm
Personally I don’t see the big deal. The market has proven that the whole TV/Web convergence thing isn’t really going to take off – at least in it’s current state. Obviously there is a niche market for anything, but a “dvd player” level of acceptance it is not. Not to mention, who wants one more device in their home controlled by Microsoft? I don’t mean that in a “I just hate Microsoft cause their bigger than (fill in your favorite OS here)” but just in a matter of fact, they aren’t that great of a company. They have plenty to fix in their core products without spreading out to others. The fact that they are simply says to me they have no faith in the future of their core products. I really see this as – we aren’t trying to expand so much as we are trying desperately to replace our core product’s stream of revenue. And so far they have fallen short. Oh well, as they say.. just my $0.02.
well i have media center installed but it doesnt work with my all in wonder 7500 for tv features, and neither does mythtv, i got a crapy video card, but it seems alot of people have, mythtv just needs better ati support as does linux x11 as a whole. media center is realy just a single app for windows that incorpirates many features, i heard longhorn is going to have it in all versions, but im probabley wrong
MS MCE doesn’t have much to do with web at all. Aside from downloading tv schedules. It’s a super glorified VCR, that also handles you music and other things. Where it can be great is if you want a nice clean system where you have saved all your dvds to harddrive and have a nice theatre set up and you just scroll through them and away you go, never mess with the disk again, just like most all of us do with are cd’s.
There really isn’t any MS control here, it’s not like your dvds or music is in their format.
MCE and similar products have grown rabidly where combined with small form factor computer. Stuff them with a bunch of hd’s, good capture card and video card and you have a nice system on your shelf.
That article is a year old. They’ve since decided to give up.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,39020351,39118897,00.htm
How did you get Media Center in the first place? AFter all, Windows Media Center standalone isn’t available retail.
I don’t know how Ahron “aquired” it (arrr P), but it appears to come with a MSDN Pro or higher subscription, according to the label on one of my MSDN disks.
You can buy a kit with the Media Center program and remote control from here:
https://www.interactservices.com/MCEkitfulfillment/PageDirect.asp
According to Neowin (which I trust a whole lot more than the Register after McGee left) this is incorrect: http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=16380&category=main
I figure no new MCE news, is probably due to the fact that it recently recived an update.
Also, what sense does it make to tout a portable MCE with out the non-portable one.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/
click here to see what euginia is hiding :
http://www.osnews.com/moderation.php?news_id=5580
Nobody mentioned this so i thought i would.
I use it and like it.
http://myhtpc.net/