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View Full Version : Chris Lanier's Take on Vista Media Center


Damion Chaplin
10-19-2006, 12:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2006/10/16/180756.aspx' target='_blank'>http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2006/10/16/180756.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Over the past week I have got a great amount of feedback (more feedback) from my question about switch to Vista Media Center. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has commented. Reactions are all over the board to this question. From people who will switch right out of the gate, to those waiting for the dust to settle, to those who see no point in an upgrade, and those who think it’s time to move on to another product... Right now, I’m sticking with MCE 2005. I’m waiting to see what DIRECTV Support is going to look like. If it’s not above what cable can offer, I will be buying a new PC with Vista and CableCARD. I’m going to wait for that to play out, and by then maybe we can find out more about “Softsled” and DVD Streaming and I will be sold 100% on Vista Media Center again. I’m still locked on Media Center, other packages just can not compete from my point of view until they either support CableCARD or DIRECTV."</i><br /><br />Chris Lanier takes a good long look at the new Media Center functions built into Windows Vista. Bearing in mind that we haven't seen a final product yet, it seems like MS has missed the boat again. It's sure nice to see CableCard support, and that alone just might make me upgrade, but it looks as if they've just hobbled it in other places. I say if you're happy with MCE2005, just keep that machine on that level. Make it your DVR and install Vista to a different machine. It will still be a while until MS orphans MCE2005, so I say this is a perfect example of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Jason Dunn
10-19-2006, 05:33 PM
Man - what a stir this article is causing! Chris really hit the nail on the head though, it's like all of the MCE development time was spent updating for Vista, and not adding new features. I really like MCE 2005 - I use it every single day - but come on, we need some IMPROVEMENTS and NEW FEATURES because the product is still held back in many ways.