RE: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - UK Launch

["Mark McCall" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Heh, the list was quiet, no real juicy posts so I decided to liven
things
> up a bit with a little intellectual debate

Good thread, keep it up!

> so Phil is excluded! :P

True :)

> Ah, I use the Slims as a playback device controlled via LAN or of
course I
> have the luxury of being able to use the remote to do it. ;)

Ah, there we go.  I rest my case :)

> even a VFD would be nice! Just put something there so I can see at a
> glance what's going on without having to resort to switching a TV on.

MCE is a different animal though.  It's not for playing MP3s in the Kitchen
or Bedroom.  It's meant to be the focus of entertainment in the living
room.
You sit down to watch it.

> Probably, but with the figures they mention in the article on AH they
are
> aiming this squarely at the mass market, not us geeks that do have a
clue
> what it is all about.

Mass market maybe, but people in that mass market that are "into"
AV and
Tech, even though they may not be the most technically minded.

> X-Box is okay but it is optimised for what it does.

Outputting a TV image ;)   I honestly can't fault the output of the xbox.

> As a DVD playback device I think it's woeful, hard and fiddly to use

I can't remember the last time I used mine to watch a DVD.  Those little
disks are so 90s ;)  Streaming is the future.

> You would have thought, the hype certainly is, whether the product is
or
> not remains to be seen.

Yes, so lets not start calling it "flakey" without any personal
experience
of it ;)

It's not like I don't get enough hassle lready from the MS hater on the
#UKHA IRC channel!

;)

M.