Can Vista MCE satisfy the wife?

underclocker

underclocker

underclocker

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Hi
Having resisted the move to Vista on my main rig I’m now thinking that I might need to get the 64 bit home premium version as the wife hates the look of XP MCE and its bugs and is threatening to chuck out my HTPC.:(

Is there a marked improvement in the look and performance of media center in vista?

Thanks
 
word of warning..

mkv files and 64bit media centre are not 100% compatible..

for this reason, i've reverted to 32bit media centre.


vista MCE is great though, my gf loves it
 
Tell her to get back in the kitchen and leave your gadgets alone! :eek:

But yeah, VMC is excellent. I tried media portal but found it crashed a lot, even during set up, but others rate it highly.
 
bledd. said:
word of warning..

mkv files and 64bit media centre are not 100% compatible..
Click to expand...

I swear I must have asked you this before...but what DOESN'T work for you when using MKVs in 64bit VMC?

...and when you say you use 32bit media center, I assume you mean the whole OS is 32bit?
 
you have mate

in some setups, mkv's stutter or use really high cpu usage in x64, because there's currently no x64 haali splitter. you can use ffdshow x64 or gabest x64, but it's nowhere near as fully compatible

-some users have no problem at all

look through here http://www.msfn.org/board/mkv-audio-video-sync-issues-on-Vista-x6-t122142.html

and the other posts regarding x64 mkv in that subforum.

couldn't get it working 100% on my opteron 175 setup -not from a lack of trying/searching, i could get it working 'better' with tweaking, but MPC would still play them far far better



and by 32bit mce, i do mean reverting to Vista 32bit, yes (unfortunatly!)
 
Well I’ll see if she is tempted by helmutcheese :eek:, failing that I’m still unsure.

That’s a shame Blend I’ve got a couple of Tb of mkv files so I need to be sure that they are compatible. Thanks for the link I will have a read.


I think I will take a look at XMBC as I’ve got MP on trial on my pc and I’m not loving it, although the ‘wide blue’ (think that’s what its called) skin looks like MCE the others are not that good.
 
hmm, I don't think you need go to drastic action like reverting to Vista32.

MCE is an extension of WMP (you will find this is WMP is broken).

By default Vista64 opens the WMP 32bit and MCE 32bit Players just as it uses IE 32bit.

You need to change REG settings to get the 64bit players to run as default.
 
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helmutcheese said:
hmm, I don't think you need go to drastic action like reverting to Vista32.

MCE is an extension of WMP (you will find this is WMP is broken).
Click to expand...

WMP32bit works fine with them, 64bit does not

helmutcheese said:
You need to change REG settings to get the 64bit players to run as default.
Click to expand...

wish it was that simple, there is no 32bit media centre in vista 64 :(
 
bledd. said:
WMP32bit works fine with them, 64bit does not



wish it was that simple, there is no 32bit media centre in vista 64 :(
Click to expand...

I only messed with changing WMP, I do not use or like MCE much.

I did get a K-Lite 1st release 64bit basic Codec pack that can work along side the 32bit version without conflicts and lets me play my .AVI's in WMP64.

VLC F.T.W (I know its not a Entertainment Centre though). :)

And BTW incase you misread it, I have gave a method of getting it to work going by other peeps input in post #12
 
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helmutcheese said:
QUOTED :


" mkv splitter and vista x64 media center - AVS ForumYou should now be able to play MKV files in Vista 64 media center and only have .... This is awesome information, I recently did a dual boot XP MCE32/Vista ... "



http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=980298



Does that help ?, I do not really use WMP or MCE, I'm more a VLC guy. ;)
Click to expand...


already tried all that mate

still plays flawlessly in MPC and 'less than perfect' in media centre x64.

as Shark says on msnf, there's no 'one fix' yet, just have to wait for haali to release x64 bit splitter
 
bledd. said:
wish it was that simple, there is no 32bit media centre in vista 64 :(
Click to expand...
I'm with bledd on this. The codecs aren't mature enough to be completely stable in x64. I have two pcs that are more or less used solely for media center duties. They've only got 2Gb RAM, x64 isn't really needed. It's just far less of a headache and far more reliable to use Vista x86 for this purpose.

For any other use of Vista, I'd say if you can run x64 then you should. Just not in HTPC cases!
 
helmut, thanks for looking though

it's just my media centre pc, no biggie that it runs on 32bit instead now, pretty much stuck with Media Centre, the gf knows how to use it, and I can't be bothered to setup anything else

besides that niggle, it works fine



edit.
i did a lot of fiddling, poking around, searching and trying multiple reg fixes, codecs, codec packs (restoring a clean image before trying each one, before anyone bites my head off for that :p ) before reaching my conclusion..
 
Vista Media Centre user here, 32bit version of Vista Premium since my TV card didn't have drivers for the 64bit OS when I built it.

No complaints from me or my girlfriend, we've been using it for ~2 years and honestly couldn't see myself going back to just a TV.

Love the interface and I love the ease of use, the guide, having my whole audio collection at my finger tips etc...

It's a much better experience visually over XP's attempt. I honestly can't say I've ever experienced any bugs in it either to be honest.
 
they've got an awesome base, i wish they'd just update it (or that they'd released Media Cetnre as a standalone product -which would be worthwhile to update then)

needs..
'series' options
movie type tagging (ie, horror, comedy etc)
video 'bookmark'

just to name a few
 
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