lifestyle Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 opinions and reviews

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

The initial version of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition released two years back was criticized for its inferior video quality playback. Things did improve quite nicely in the next edition and now, the third version of the Media Center Edition offers remote-controlled convenience and better independence with regards to the PC's digital-media content.

Setting–up is rather simple thanks to the user friendly set-up wizard. It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to get live TV pictures once the PC is powered on. The attractiveness and responsiveness of 05 is also enhanced as compared to the earlier two versions.

The major features of the original Media Center Edition haven’t been tampered with too much. Its core function still remains the same- to provide you with a friendly experience for viewing and recording television and allowing users to access videos, photos etc on your PC. The chief differentiation with this edition is the hardware features.

You get additional support for dual TV tuners that enhance your TV experience. Having two tuners, it is possible to record two programmes simultaneously or even watch one and record the other.

Media Center Extender facilitates accessing of MCE 2005 PC's multimedia files over wired or wireless networks. You can view files on your TV even when you are in a different room. Further, you can connect the device to compatible mobile phones to record something interesting or take photographs. Burning content to CDs and DVDs is also facilitated.

Unfortunately, browsing the web within the Media Center is not possible though Online Spotlight offers restricted access to the net. You can scan the headlines or even view video on MSN TV or try out the movie-downloads. An Internet radio station can be easily located.

An update for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 called Rollup 2, which was released in October, makes it compliant with the Xbox 360 game console. It can also support for 200-disc DVD changers and recognize different languages from around the world.

A thorough review of this upgraded product will tell you that Microsoft makes a conscious effort better the TV playback features. While not wanting to sound too harsh, it has to be said that there is still a lot of scope for improvement.

Dropped frames and artefacts are reduced but not eliminated completely. Watching TV courtesy the Extender isn’t all that pleasant a feature, with the pictures looking rather blurry. Things are better when the LCD is directly connected to the device. Sadly, the shades of artefacts are perceptible even over here. For better clarity, the screen size needs to be reduced.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is a superior version to its two predecessors but there are still a few issues to be sorted out when the men who matter sit across the drawing board and conceptualize ideas for the next edition.