Windows Media Center 2005 Installation Fun...

[Jason Dunn]

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a new laptop, <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/index.php?topic_id=6736">the hp zd7820us</a>. It came with Windows Media Center 2004, which is a <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx">particular flavour of Windows XP</a> with a 10-foot interface slapped on. Now it just so happens that the same week I bought the laptop, MCE 2005 was released. And as an <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3unh9">MVP</a>, I happen to get an MSDN subscription which gives me access to almost every piece of software that Microsoft has released, including MCE 2005.<br /><br />My goal was clear: get the new laptop working with MCE 2005. A bit easier said than done! :roll: <!>My first install was buggered up because the install routine is poorly written and when it was asking for "Windows XP Professional SP2 Disc 1" it really meant the first MCE 2005 disc. My next install went better, until I tried to install the HP Intervideo MPEG2 decoder. This is what HP uses on their machines, so I figured it would be compatible. It's not - at least, not with MCE 2005. When I put in a DVD and tried to watch it via MCE, it would crash the whole interface. Great. :roll: I thought that perhaps when I had installed several other components and drivers I might have caused a conflict, so I wiped out the OS and tried again. This time, I only loaded the OS, the base graphics drivers, and the Intervideo MPEG2 codec. No dice! Same problem as before - complete crash of MCE when playing a DVD.<br /><br />I wiped everything out and tried again - this time, I installed the base OS and left out the MPEG2 decoder. I decided to do some investigating, and I also happened to change my MSN Messenger sign-in name to "Jason Dunn - Fighting with MCE 2005!" or something similar. My fellow MVP, <a href="http://www.modaco.com">Paul from MoDaCo</a>, happened to see my name and offered me some advice. Paul is running MCE 2005 on a Shuttle XPC, and he happened to know quite a bit about MPEG2 decoders. It turns out that I wasn't using the right one, and MCE 2005 makes it very difficult to even discover which encoder the system is using (I have a tip on that later). After switching to the nVidia MPEG2 decoder, my system was working perfectly! I could play DVDs from withing the MCE interface, watch TV, and do everything else. I then proceeded to install a whack of video and audio editing software (Pinnacle Studio 9, Vegas Video 5, etc.)...and then MCE broke again. AUGH! :evil: Exactly the same problem. The good news is that it didn't stay broken for long. How did I fix it? Stay tuned!

[Felix Torres]

Kinda explains why MS doesn't do MCE as a retail, shrink-wrapped product, huh? 8)

Methinks I'll wait til the pitfalls are better documented before trying to rebuild my media server with MCS2005.

Or, as the saying goes: "Better you than me..." :twisted:

[Suhit Gupta]

Hmm, I am surprised that it actually broke during your third try. Do one of those pieces of software overwrite the encoders/decoders? Or perhaps the link between the MCE interface and them?

Suhit

[brianchris]

As I'm expecting to purchase a new desktop this coming summer, and PC Magazine called it the "perfect home PC OS" I was excitied about MCE2005. That was UNTIL I read the PC Magazine article further where it indicated, unlike the previous two MCE versions, 2005 was based on WinXP HOME (instead of Pro) :pukeface:

I absolutely need to remote desktop into my home PC frequently, a feature that is only availible in XP Pro (as well as others). I know Microsoft's goal was to make it cheaper, but that was the wrong place to cut corners IMHO. What does everyone else think?

Also, a more generic MCE question.......how does it function with a satellite reciever and/or cable box? For that matter, how does a non-integrated (stand-alone) Tivo box work with satellite recievers and/or cable boxes? TIA!

[Jason Dunn]

I absolutely need to remote desktop into my home PC frequently, a feature that is only availible in XP Pro (as well as others).

This is 100% false. MCE 2005 has remote desktop built in - I just tested it and it works fine. Never trust the mainstream media, they're clueless. ;-)

Also, a more generic MCE question.......how does it function with a satellite reciever and/or cable box? For that matter, how does a non-integrated (stand-alone) Tivo box work with satellite recievers and/or cable boxes? TIA!

The answer is that it's a kludge. You can use IR blasters to change the channels on the boxes, but it's messy and doesn't always work so well. The truth is that MCE doesn't integrate nicely with digital cable because it can't decode the signals...and the cable companies are happy with that. :-(

[brianchris]

This is 100% false. MCE 2005 has remote desktop built in - I just tested it and it works fine. Never trust the mainstream media, they're clueless. ;-)

Wow....PC Magazine was quite specific. Indeed here's an exact quote from page 30 of the November 16 2004 issue: " [MCE 2005 is lower cost.] That's because MCE 2005 is built atop Windows XP Home (rather than the costlier XP Pro)."

Indeed, the below comments are copied and pasted from Microsoft's own MCE 2005 FAQ website:
"Q. Can I access Media Center via a Remote Desktop Connection using the Remote Desktop Protocol?
A. No. Media Center does not currently support operation over a Remote Desktop Connection. It must be run locally on the Media Center PC."

Jason, did you preform a standard or clean upgrade to MCE 2005? If a standard upgrade, than the FAQ from the same site may explain things:
"Q. What about consumers upgrading from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004? Will they lose these features?
A. No. Consumers who are eligible for an upgrade to Media Center Edition 2005 will keep these features as they were a part of their originally purchased product."

What do you think? For those interested, here's the URL to the MCE 2005 FAQ's: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/faq.mspx

[Jason Dunn]

Wow....PC Magazine was quite specific. Indeed here's an exact quote from page 30 of the November 16 2004 issue: " [MCE 2005 is lower cost.] That's because MCE 2005 is built atop Windows XP Home (rather than the costlier XP Pro)."

They're wrong. :-)

Indeed, the is copied and pasted from MIcrosoft's MCE 2005 FAQ website: "Q. Can I access Media Center via a Remote Desktop Connection using the Remote Desktop Protocol?
A. No. Media Center does not currently support operation over a Remote Desktop Connection. It must be run locally on the Media Center PC."

I know it's badly worded, but what that FAQ is saying is that you can't remote desktop into an MCE computer and run the MCE interface. You can do everything else, but you can't run the MCE interface. It has something to do with video drivers and DirectX - I can't run Snapsteam Beyond TV3 over remote desktop either. Bottom line is that this has no impact on running remote desktop to do other things.

Jason, did you preform a standard or clean upgrade to MCE 2005?

Clean upgrade. Trust me on this: it has remote desktop. 8)

The root of the confusion might be that MCE 2005 doesn't allow you to join a domain UNLESS you do it during the install...and if you do, you can't use the media extender devices. That may be why some people think that MCE 2005 is based on XP Home, because that's one of the defining characteristics of XP Pro: being able to join a domain.

[brianchris]

Trust me on this: it has remote desktop. 8)

I stand convinced. Thanks for your speedy and expert replies.....becuase of them, I can consider MCE 2005 as a potential OS (instead of XP Pro).

Now, I am a digital satellite customer (AND HDTV freak), which means other problems, but since I don't need to join a domain, and MCE 2005 is a superset of XP Pro (as you convinced me so), then why not?....even if I never use the DVR functionality, I can use other features such as extenders, etc.

THANKS AGAIN!!

[fslongo]

Just thought I would share my experience with loading a clean install of MCE 2005.

First off, I can see why Microsoft doesn't want to sell this as a consumer product. I consider myself pretty techincally proficient, at least my wife thinks so :wink:, and this install threw me a couple of curveballs.

My goal was to have the OS installed on my Dell 8300, which has a P4 3GHZ processor, 2GB RAM, a newly installed ATI 9600XT with 256MB, 370GB of disk space thanks to a newly installed 250GB drive and two newly installed Hauppage WinTV-PVR-250MCE cards.

The first of six installs, yes six, went pretty well with one hiccup, it kept failing to join my domain during the install. No problem, I would tackle this once I am up and running. Install completed, updated all the drivers for the ATI 9600XT card, WinTV cards, Sound and downloaded WINDVD 6. Started the MCE UI and everything worked. Life was woderful. Now it was time to join my domain except it was greyed out. No matter what I tried it would not let me join.

It turns out this was done on purpose. Microsoft will only allow you to join a domain, with XP MCE 2005, in two ways. One, during the initial install and two, if upgrading from a MCE 2004 install that is already on a domain. Well I decided to try the install again and find out why I couldn't join the first time during the install.

Without going through all the trials and tribulation of trying to join the domain, which took another 5 installs, it required that I purchase a separate NIC, switch that NIC with an older one in another machine I had, and finally I was able to join the domain on install. The problem came down to having a built in NIC, which MCE 2005 didn't recognize upon intall, a firewire card that it did recognze and tried to use to join the domain, which wasn't going to happen, and installing a recognized PCI NIC so I could finally join the domain. My first step after the install was to load the drivers for the built in NIC and take out the PCI NIC.

Now that it is up and running, it's play time :D.

Many thanks to the resources found at web sites like this one and www.thegreenbutton.com for having the answers. BTW, anyone want a slightly used PCI NIC?