Windows Vista RC1 – Review #2, Media Center

Well everyone, I wanted to deploy an x64 Media Center PC. Well, I put a lot of time into it, but I couldn’t pull it off. I had to regress and re-install an x86 build of Vista. I will list all the things that worked that I didn’t think would, and the things that prevented me from being able to have my dream of an x64 MCE PC.

MCE PC Stats;

AMD x64 3.2ghz Proc on Nvidia NForce4 chipset

1G RAM, Dual Channel

128MB Silent Pipe Nvidia GeForce 6600 PCIE

300G 7200 Sata HD

Turtle Beach 7.1 Montego DDL sound card.

HP Litescribe DVD +RW

Thermaltake Media Lab VFD Setup.

Thermaltake Mozart MCE PC Case.

First off, the clean installation after booting from CD took 30 minutes.

    Things that worked;

1. Hauppauge 500 dual tuner tv card drivers found and worked on install. (I was quite happy that vista was able to do this on it’s own.)
2. Smarthome timer application worked. (After installing .Net Framwork 1.1 w/sp1. But still, this really shocked me that it worked at all!)
3. Thermaltake Media Lab VFD looks like it would have worked. (Claimed x64 support, download didn’t work at the time, site is having issues.)

Things that failed;

1. Primary Failure – Turtle Beach Montego DDL lack of driver support – Here is their lame answer. (http://support.turtlebeach.com/site/kb_ftp/588119089.asp) Suffice it to say, they don’t think that x64 OS deployment will be mainstream until the end of 2007, to early 2008 and so they won’t write x64 drivers until then. “The real move to x64 will come around the end of 2007 to early 2008. These are the users who will demand that driver and software compatibility problems be fully worked out, and that the products they use be fully supported in the 64-bit world.” I’ll be honest, I am insanely pissed off at Turtle Beach and their pathetic excuse to cover their laziness. I only purchased their card because I needed DDL support, but after this I will NEVER buy another Turtle Beach card.
   1. So, obviously I wasn’t just going to give up without a fight, seeing as how this was the only issue that prevented me from having an x64 MCE machine. I found drivers out there for another sound card that uses the same chipset that did provide an x64 driver. Unfortunately, the driver was not digitally signed (why it wasn’t when it’s an x64 driver I don’t know) and therefore Vista wouldn’t let me install it. After hours I finally gave up and reverted back to x86.
2. Secondary Failure - MControl software failed due to .msi issues. This is an issue that I believe I could have resolved if I spent enough time on it, but since I had a primary failure it just wasn’t worth investigating at the time.

Other than that, I was so close to an x64 MCE PC that I could almost taste it. In fact, I got my hopes up pretty high when I found the compatible chipset x64 driver. Alas my hopes were dashed and eventually I was forced to regress. That being said, I did get awefully close and I have hope that very soon I can have the x64 MCE PC that I desire.

Now, on to the Windows Vista RC1 Media Center review.

    The first thing that I think we should discuss is the different goals between the MCE 2005 GUI, and the new Vista Diamond interface. This is one of those things where initially you don’t like it, but it really starts to grow on you. The goal in the MCE 2005 GUI was simplicity. It was so clean and simple. All you would do is say “what I want to do is music related,” which would take you to the next menu, which would take you to the next menu, etc. This kept the GUI very clean and simple, but the downside is that the user has to go through multiple menu selections to get to what they want. (Thus many clicks and lots of time.) With the Vista Diamond interface they tried to reduce the number of clicks and menu selections that the user needs to make, thus reducing the amount of time the user wastes to get what they want. The downside is that it’s not as clean or simple as the MCE 2005 interface. This turns off a lot of users initially, and even turned me off at first, until I started using it. Now that I’ve spent a little bit of time in Vista’s new Diamond interface for MC, I love it. It even seems to be prettier than the original MCE GUI, which I didn’t think I would ever say before. So, all I can say is, wait on your decision of whether or not you like the new interface until you’ve spent some time in it.

    Setting up Media Center in Vista is about the same as it was in XP. There really aren’t any new surprises or changes here. It’s still a long and drawn out process, unless you do the express version. The express setup basically makes assumptions and guesses and lets you get right to the interface. This is especially handy if this is just your laptop computer and you want to use MCE for watching a DVD. I’ve posted lots of screenshots of the setup process below.

    Next you’ll start getting around inside media center. Like I said before, I found the new interface more intuitive than I initially expected. I was able to find options available to me much more quickly and easily than before, where I had to really drill down for them. The translucency of the menu controls has a fantastic look on a 14’ screen (my home theatre uses a 14’ screen with a Panasonic projector working at 1280x720 (720p) resolution.) It’s much less intrusive to other viewers when I have to go in and do something.

    Over-all I haven’t tested out media center in Vista as much as I would like to, but it’s hard to be allowed to spend this much time in front of computers on memorial day weekend. So, if I find enough to justify it in the future with more regular use I will post an additional article on this subject. In summary I would simply state that while media center is quite different in Vista than in previous XP renditions, it is a fantastic upgrade and well worth the half hour it takes to learn the new interface. Microsoft’s Diamond team, I was skeptical but you’ve pulled off a fantastic product! Thank you for having the courage to risk changing an interface that we all loved so much to give us something better. I guess that’s what Vista is all about, and I look forward to what else might be in store in the future.

Thanks Microsoft, keep up the good work!