Windows Media Center 2005 - My HTPC

Advantages: User Friendly, Easy to Use, Value for Money, Comprehensive Operating System.
Disadvantages: Poor Documentation, Titanic Struggle Installing Operating System

...I have a DVD player, CD Player, A/V Amplifier sitting in my front room all linked to my LCD TV and Sky Digi Box. They all work fine but it does take up quite a bit of room and I'd realistically like an HTPC set up to bring my multimedia module into one unit! Enter Windows Media Center 2005! My setup consists of a Silverstone LC16M Case which houses an Asus A8N-SLi Motherboard, Hauppage PVR 250, Maxtor Diamond Max 250GB Hard Drive, 1GB Crucial Dual Channel DDR Memory to name just the main core of my system. Contents of Windows Media Center 2005 Pack. You will be supplied with two CD's, a Setup Guide and a Product Key to be placed on your system. To make full use of Media Center it is recommended that you also purchase a Media Center Remote Control & Extender. Installation of Media Center 2005. Installation of most...

thehitman 01.01.1970 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Complete package

Media Center without an XBOX

Advantages: The media center interface, decent codec support, HD movies stream really well.
Disadvantages: The DVD player is terrible.

...Okay, the big pull of this DVD player is the built in Media Center Extender software, which once set up runs really well. You need to have vista installed on a PC (which needs to be on for it to work) and you also need a good network connection between the two. I have tried both a 200mbps powerline ethernet network and a wireless N network and for me the wireless network performed better for HD movies, but this will differ for most people so just make sure you arn't relying on a bog standard 54mbps wifi connection. The built in DVD play is poor to say the least, it doesn't scale DVD's out to widescreen it simply takes the DVD's basic resolution and outputs it to the middle of the screen. I tried watching an old cracker and had to stop as it was displayed as a 640x480 picture in the middle of my 720p HDTV, believe me this looks...

coops1979 01.01.1970 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Linksys Media Center Extender DMA2200

HP Pavilion Media Center dv9341eu

Advantages: High Specs, Low Price, Great Graphics, Dual Core CPU, Two 120gb Hard Drives
Disadvantages: None i Can think of

....56 kg (7.8 lbs) Power: 90 W AC Power Adapter, 8-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) What's In The Box: HP Pavilion Media Center dv9341eu (of course) HP Mobile Remote Control Power/Charger Cable Manual Graphics Card specs: Pipeline: 8 pixel-pipelines and 5 vertex-pipelines Clock: chip: 450 MHz, memory: 500 MHz Memory: GDDR3, GDDR2, GDDR1, maximal upgrade: 256 MB, bus: 128/64 bit, partially TurboCache DirectX: 9c, Shader Model 3.0 Features: PureVideo Application area: notebooks with medium weight and size Other info: 90nm, 177 millions of transistors, PCI-E, 8 raster operation units (ROP), 8 texture mapping units (TMU) The 17? screen is crystal clear and of superb quality for all you movies, games and other activities. The screen is also High Definition which adds to the overall quality of this already great laptop...

pfishers 01.01.1970 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of HP Pavilion Media Center Dv9341eu