Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005: Feature and Performance Investigation

Final Words

Media Center Edition continues to be the coolest looking highest performance PVR/DVR (with a fast enough system) out there on the market today. The interface continues to be clearly ahead of the competition even with companies like SnapStream closing in on them. The navigation through the beautiful 10' UI is as natural as you can get; the learning curve on the Media Center interface is probably the easiest there has ever been in any Microsoft OS, which is extremely important for success in the consumer space. From a product standpoint, Microsoft has built the foundation for perfection with Media Center Edition, and the 2005 version simply adds a 2nd floor to the building.

The problems with Media Center Edition continue to be the same ones that have plagued it all of its short lived life: 1) cost, and 2) stability.

The cost issue is simple, a PC costs far more than a set top PVR like a Tivo. The only way to justify the cost is to do what most businesses do when they buy something expensive, use it for as many things as possible to get your money's worth. In the case of a Media Center PC, the idea would be to use the Media Center PC not only as your PVR but also as your main computer. There are problems with this arrangement, not only that you need a fairly high performance system but also that you can't have someone watching TV while you're using the computer to do work without the use of a Media Center Extender, which is another expenditure.

The Media Center PC continues to thus be a good proposition for college students or other people living in closed quarters where there isn't enough room for a TV alongside a PC. It will be interesting to see how well Media Center Extenders are priced, as they will finally allow for the MCE PC to break out of the dorm room and into the home.

The stability issue is one that can be controlled to an extent, but is much more difficult to control if the MCE PC is also being used as an everyday work/school/play PC. The best bet is to control the stability as much as possible through the use of MCE certified drivers, MCE certified hardware, and avoiding things like aggressive memory timings and most definitely overclocking. While your system may be perfectly stable in every other application, MCE changes the playing field considerably.

In the end, MCE continues to be a niche product, but if you have the means, then its definitely one worth going for.