Microsoft Xp Media Center Edition?

[Charles McKinley]

Hi All,

Does anyone here use Media Center Edition of MS XP? I have heard the XP home edition has some quirks all its own. Dell recommends XP Professional (but put Home on all its models.)

Do you use your computer as a DVR? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? Have you burned DVDs from the shows you recorded on the harddrive? Will they play in other DVD players or just the PC?

What size HD? Should I use a seperate HD just for recording?

Can I run my analog cam corder through the TV tuner to put the tape onto the hard drive?

Sorry for the length but this computer will cost about the same as a new PM66! :eek: (software, kid proof warrenty, etc. $22-2500)

Thank you for your help.

[Dan Mages]

Hmmm.... me thinks you are spending too much on a computer! You should do fine with a Dell Dimension 4700 series computer, which starts at $720. You will want to add the following options.

160 gig hard drive option. The videos take up a lot of space!

The 512 meg or memory at minimum. The more the merrier. Video editing can be memory intensive.

Windows XP Pro. It is just a nicer system than the home edition. It is also easier to network with your older computers. $71.

Although it is not totally necessary, you can bump the processor to 3g for only $18 more.

This bring the total to $871. Once you get the computer home, You will want to add the following hardware:

An ATI All-In-Wonder Card. This will act as your TV Viewer and DVR component. It will also come with Pinnacle studio for editing videos. DVD viewing capabilities, and a few other fun features. It does have an adapter that allows you to input video from a camcorder. The amount you spend depends on the system. If you have a free PCI express slot, get the X600 series which will run you $230. If you want to use AGP, then go with the 9600 model for $160.
http://www.atitech.com/products/radeonx600/aiwx600/index.html
http://www.atitech.com/products/radeon9600/aiw9600/index.html

Lite-On DVD R/RW and CD-R/RW drive. This drive will burn it all!! You will be able to burn both CD and DVD ROMS and Rewritables. I picked one up recently and it came with Nero Express for all of your burning needs. This drive can be had for a meare $80. http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/DVDRW_1633S.htm

With this combo, you will spend up to $1300 on the system. I quoted the prices from www.CDW.com. They are a local company that sells computer products. They are a very nice company to deal with. They are constantly on the top of the list of the best companies to work for.

Best of luck.

Dan

[Charles McKinley]

Thank you Dan,

You obviously put some time into the post.

What keeps pushing the price up for me is warrenty and software. I have three small children and the computer is in the room we spend almost all day. I priced out the machine with the 4 year warrenty and online training $300. MS Office Pro $339 and the 17" flat panel $240 ( no room for a CRT)

I have never cracked a case before and am a little hesitant to do it for the first time on a new machine. I have been out of School now for 3 years and am a stay at home dad and want to improve my skills to keep competitive for when I go back to work. Backing down to Office Small Biz only knocks off $130. I use Excell a lot and want to learn Access.

Do you think the extended warrenty is worth it?

I have been watching the Dell site for a while and their promation usually balance out so the price that comes up is within $50-100 of each other.

I had been building on a 8400 based on its bigger HD and memory.

Thank you again

[Dan Mages]

The extended warranty is worth the money. I went through 2 CD rom drives and an LCD display on my laptop while it was under warranty. With little kids, you may want to investigate their accidental damage plans. Installing hardware in a computer may seem intimidating, but it is really just plug and play. It is quite easy now for novices to do the basics. You should also check with friends for software. They may have a copy you can buy for cheap or copy.

Dan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Charles.....I am responding to this on the very Dell computer you are looking at. My wife is an avid photographer/videographer and I had this built for her about 2 years ago. It's a P-4 2.66 Mhz, 200 GB HD, 1 GB Ram, CD, DVD, and the Dell video package/adapter. It allows you to record from anlalog video inputs (VCR or camcorder) or digital video inputs (VCR or camcorder) to hard drive and from there you can burn the video to DVD or CD or take it from HD to an analog video output back to VCR or camcorder. We also bought the Microsoft XP Pro. The video package she used to make a rather long video presentation for her parents 60th wedding anniversary. She scanned in over 1200 pictures and turned them into a video presentation with music and transferred that to VCR tapes as everybody in her family has a vcr. It worked well at the time but we were literally down to the wire and didn't have time to learn the more subtle methods of using it. She uses the photography package weekly if not daily. She's happy with it. And if She's NOT Happy....NOBODY's Happy!....One word of advice.....recently while doing some computing ....a Windows auto update window popped up and I responded yes....it downloaded and installed SP2 for XP. I think the way they increased the security on SP2 was to make it so slow that no hacker would want to use it! I've talked to others who have had similar experiences with SP2. Prior to that, I loved the speed of this computer. I bought the 4 year in home warrantee. I work with and repair computers as part of my daily job. The extended warrantee is still cheap insurance. Good luck with you decision!

[Jim Becker]

If you are going Dell, you can save an additional 2% by entering the Dell site via ebates.com. I do the majority of my shopping online and have saved hundreds of dollars this way through a quarterly rebate check. Do NOT download and install the "Mo Money" system from ebates, however...system hog and spyware possibilities. But otherwise, it's a great system for saving money.

BTW, I'm extremely pleased with the Dell 4700 I'm typing this on. It's been about the best computer I've ever used this side of the T41 ThinkPig I now have for work which is about the best portable I've ever had to use. And the best thing I did when I bought the Dell was to buy the 19" LCD (FP1901) and use the DVI (digital) connection for it. My eyes no longer ache after hours in front of the machine. It was such a profound change in my comfort that I "made" my employer allow me to buy a similar setup for the ThinkPad docking station here in my office.

I'm kinda with Dan on this...thousands for a computer is pushing things a bit unless you are buying a LOT of software. I'm dubious on the extended warranty. I generally don't buy them, especially since components that are going to fail will do so relatively quickly and replacement costs go down every day. But you should do what is most comfortable for you and if the peace of mind that having the extended assistance is important, than it's a good investment.

[Neil Clemmons]

A few thoughts:

There is a very good overview on the Microsoft Media Center at dell home and home office home page if you click on the icon that says "explore the Microsoft Media Center" as well as at www.digitaljoy.com. Like others here, I personally prefer the Dell's over the HP units. There's also a lot of discussions at www.xpmce.com


This latest version of MCE is a LOT better than the earlier version. If this is your only computer and you really start to "push" it with video, recording TV and storing TV/Music/videos, you'll quickly want a large screen TV, larger hard drive, etc. Just think about how you'll really use it. The remotes work very well across the room now, so it's reasonable to use it as a TV tuner / recorder. Not quite up to a Tivo for DVR simplicity, but a definite improvement over the earlier version.

You can find Dell incremental discount coupons by searching for "Dell Coupon Codes" on Google. Many are additive to the other discounts or deals you may have. Just register and set up a "my account" on the Dell site and store the codes there on Dell's site and then you can apply them to the cart for incremental discounts.

You can also get Microsoft Office in the Student Edition for $150 - Just search for it online. I don't think it includes "Access" but it includes the other programs like Office - read about it on Microsoft.com.

Good luck,

Neil