XP or Vista Media Centre

jaffacaique · 18 Apr 2009 at 15:23

Hi, out of the 2 which is more reliable to use on a Media PC? I suspect Vista due to it being newer. Never used either so would appreciate pro's and cons of either.

Glaucus · 18 Apr 2009 at 16:44

vista is about a million miles ahead of xp and windows 7 is about 10miles ahead of vista.

m4cc45 · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:02

If you don't want to spend money you can try Windows 7 Media Centre included in the beta which will last for another couple of months.

Vista is superb as a Media Centre and I'd advise you download Play Ready 1.2 as this adds MPEG 2 decryption without the need for all the other 3rd party addons in Windows 7 it asks to download it when you setup Media Centre.

M.

theheyes · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:12

If the media centre pc meets the minimum requirements then Vista every time.

jellybeard999 · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:14

Vista; strip the rubbish with menu mender (online spotlight, sports etc), remove videos and add media browser.

OVC · 18 Apr 2009 at 20:08

Vista Ultimate... Windows XP was like a love and hate relationship, you liked the look and feel but hated the operationg system itself.

I personall hate Windows XP Pro... The Fisher Price look and feel just killed it dead.

theheyes · 18 Apr 2009 at 20:53

OVC said:
Vista Ultimate... Windows XP was like a love and hate relationship, you liked the look and feel but hated the operationg system itself.

I personall hate Windows XP Pro... The Fisher Price look and feel just killed it dead.

Why Ultimate and not Home Premium?

And you seem to have conflicting statements - you like the "look and feel" of Windows XP but the "Fisher Price look killed it dead" - which is it? Not a massive fan of it myself but the Windows classic theme sorted that out.

Skeeter · 18 Apr 2009 at 21:03

Vista Home Premium + TV Pack + RDC Hack = All you ever need.

Does me fine.

Vertigo · 18 Apr 2009 at 21:58

m4cc45 said:
Vista is superb as a Media Centre and I'd advise you download Play Ready 1.2 as this adds MPEG 2 decryption without the need for all the other 3rd party addons in Windows 7 it asks to download it when you setup Media Centre.

Vista Media Center has had a built-in MPEG2 decoder from the start. :confused:

Bomag · 19 Apr 2009 at 01:04

I have two dedicated HTPC one with XP MCE and the other with XP MCE and Vista. XP MCE wins hands down on reliability on waking/sleeping/recording/watching without having to reboot.

Also the XP MCE interface is much easier to use for all the family. Finding the right program from 30-50 in Recorded TV is much easier (paricularly with the MCE remote or keyboard).

If you love Vista then go for that. However, I have never met anybody in the flesh who prefers Vista MC (they either like XP MCE for simplicity or third party front ends for features)

Katoom · 19 Apr 2009 at 06:57

Bomag said:
I have two dedicated HTPC one with XP MCE and the other with XP MCE and Vista. XP MCE wins hands down on reliability on waking/sleeping/recording/watching without having to reboot.

Also the XP MCE interface is much easier to use for all the family. Finding the right program from 30-50 in Recorded TV is much easier (paricularly with the MCE remote or keyboard).

If you love Vista then go for that. However, I have never met anybody in the flesh who prefers Vista MC (they either like XP MCE for simplicity or third party front ends for features)

I've not used XP MCE, but in what way is it easier to find a recorded program?

csmager · 19 Apr 2009 at 08:56

Bomag said:
However, I have never met anybody in the flesh who prefers Vista MC (they either like XP MCE for simplicity or third party front ends for features)

Other than due to some driver issues back in 2006/early 2007 (which affected Vista as a whole, not just the media center), I've never met anybody who prefers XP. Looking at screenshots of MCE 2005 again, it looks a bit dated.

Bomag · 19 Apr 2009 at 15:53

Katoom said:
I've not used XP MCE, but in what way is it easier to find a recorded program?

Programs are listed vertically - about 8 per page without thumbnails compared to 3 with. Scrolling through is also much faster. If you are using a keyboard then you can text search but we use the remote on both our HTPC - its much quicker to scroll.

To Csmager what you may call dated is what I call easy to use. If I want cutting edge technology and features there are much better programs than vista MC.

csmager · 19 Apr 2009 at 16:13

Bomag said:
Programs are listed vertically - about 8 per page without thumbnails compared to 3 with.

If you change the view in Vista, you can fit 10 per page.

To Csmager what you may call dated is what I call easy to use. If I want cutting edge technology and features there are much better programs than vista MC.

I'd say Vista is just as easy to use, it just looks better. They didn't change a huge amount - and what they did doesn't take much time to get used to.

What I look for is ease of use (which means the UI has to be intuitive and reasonably well thought out), and it has to look fairly decent. I've looked at others, and they don't seem to offer anything better than Microsoft's versions. I used to use XP MCE 2005, and I liked it. I just think Vista MCE (and subsequently Windows 7 MCE) is better.

Katoom · 19 Apr 2009 at 16:29

Bomag said:
Programs are listed vertically - about 8 per page without thumbnails compared to 3 with. Scrolling through is also much faster. If you are using a keyboard then you can text search but we use the remote on both our HTPC - its much quicker to scroll.

I can see 15 thumbnails on my VMC (can see the text of 10) and can use text search on the keyboard and the remote. It also groups the recordings.

timciren · 19 Apr 2009 at 17:40

vista mc doesnt hang for me in the same way xp did when it hit a problem and then needed a reboot, but the sleep function ( or lack of it working ) has meant the htpc stays on 24/7, so vista for me

mrochester · 19 Apr 2009 at 18:09

My problem is the opposite. With XPMCE, the sleep function didn't work, so the media centre had to stay on 24/7. With Vista, it does work, so it switches itself on and off when necessary.

Smurfy · 19 Apr 2009 at 18:21

i always had loads of trouble with XP MCE fotgetting my channels and having to rescan twice a month.

Vertigo · 19 Apr 2009 at 18:33

I've been using Media Center for nearly five years now, firstly XP MCE 2005 and then Vista. Have experimented with 7MC too.

It is a bit of a love/hate thing as they change the interface so radically in some areas with VMC so some who are used to the way XPMCE works will find VMC "worse". I must confess that, whilst some things are better, some are noticably worse.

I've played with 7MC, primarily for the multi-tuner support, and they've changed a lot of stuff in there compared to Vista. The total redesign of the context menu (from the "i" button) is going to annoy a lot of people as simple things like changing the zoom setting are a lot more involved now.

7MC isn't stable or compatible enough to replace VMC for me yet but I'll have another go when the release candidate appears.

Bomag · 19 Apr 2009 at 19:21

Katoom said:
I can see 15 thumbnails on my VMC (can see the text of 10) and can use text search on the keyboard and the remote. It also groups the recordings.

The number shown depends on how you set up the display. If you are using the HTPC with a HDTV at normal viewing distance then you need less information then on a similar resolution monitor. The text on VMC is relatively not as big and the thumbnails take space.

Doing text searches via the remote is perfectly possible in XP MCE and VMC via remote; however, it takes so long compared to scrolling. In terms of FAF XP MCE is much preferred for being usable by all the family age 8-80.

Most problems with all media centre editions about recording and sleeping are down to hardware and drivers. XP MCE was OEM only for a reason. Most of the time I have not had to reboot XP MCE between monthly update maintenance. Vista normally has to be rebooted weekly.