Hi Folks;

Just a quick question...I'm building a MC 2005 system and my computer supports 5.1 surround (or whatever it's called).

If I add 5.1 speakers would MC 2005 make use of them?

Thanks!

Yes, it will use 5.1 surround assuming 1) your content supports it (DVD's, HDTV, etc...) and 2) your DVD/MPEG2 decoder supports it. 

If you're hooking up 5.1 speakers directly to the PC via analog connections (pink, green, and blue mini jacks) then your DVD Decoder will need to support 5.1 decoding tasks.  If your speakers will be hooked up via SPDIF through a Dolby Digital receiver, then your DVD Decoder need only operate in PASSTHROUGH mode.

Hi Dan;

Thank you for the reply! The computer actually has 6 channel audio capability and I would be hooking it up to the mulit-colored jacks (not SPDIF).

Question: What is the DVD/MPEG2 decoder? Doesn't that come with Media Center? I'm using a TV Wonder Elite (550 Theatre chip) if it makes any difference.

The MPEG2 decoder is not included by Microsoft with XP MCE 2005.  You have to provide it yourself.  It is the same software required to play back DVD's (which are all encoded in MPEG2.)  The most popular decoder for MCE 2005 was always nvidia's PureVideo DVD Decoder software.  It is available in three versions, with the lowest version unable to perform the audio task you desire.  The middle version can do Dolby 5.1 and the high end version can do DTS.

Other possibilities are PowerDVD and WinDVD.  Just be warned that not all versions of these packages are compatible with Media Center and they also sell various flavors of their software with different audio capabilities.

Windows Vista (Home Premium and Ultimate) have everything you need built into the operating system.  MCE 2005 just requires a little more work, but is still a very nice platform, especially if you're running it on older hardware.  Vista really needs a Core 2 Duo CPU with at least 2GB of ram and a PCIExpress video card.

That's great news!

When you mentioned WinDVD it reminded me of something. I checked my mainboard box, and sure enough, it came with the full version of the WinDVD Suite including the platinum (woohoo!) version of WinDVD.

According to the blurb WinDVD 5 has an ISO compliant MPEG decoder and a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround audio that will create a theatre-like aura in my home. I can feel it already!

Thanks for helping me with this Dan - much appreciated!

Thanks Dan :-)

Can I ask a couple more questions?

My Media Center O/S finally arrived so I installed it. It went well, just one install and everything seems to be working :-)

Questions;

The focus always seems to shift back & forth between when I'm working on the PC and Media Center. Is this normal? Am I not able to use both at the same time?

Do I have to have the Media Center portion of the O/S running in order for it to record programs?

Is there any way to turn off the Media Center part with the Microsoft remote? IE: If I wanted to use my computer instead.

Thanks Dan - sorry to bug ya!

marvin-miller:

Questions;

1-The focus always seems to shift back & forth between when I'm working on the PC and Media Center. Is this normal? Am I not able to use both at the same time?

2-Do I have to have the Media Center portion of the O/S running in order for it to record programs?

3-Is there any way to turn off the Media Center part with the Microsoft remote? IE: If I wanted to use my computer instead.

1-This is not normal from my experience.  Are you using two monitors, or just one?  I can run MC in windowed mode, let it display tv in a window, and still run other programs at the same time without losing focus.  Make sure you don't have the "Always Keep Media Center Window on Top" set to true inside the MC settings.

2-No.  Windows Media Center uses a couple of Windows Services to perform EPG downloads and recordings.  The system will even usually wake itself up from SLEEP mode to record a show.

3-Yes, just navigate to the Tasks item in the menu and select CLOSE.  This will simply close the MC UI.  Pressing the Green Button will re-open it via the remote.

Hi Dan;

I am using two monitors - one is my computer and one is the TV. I think it's more/less normal under those circumstances but being able to turn off Media Center with the remote and knowing that it's still going to record makes it MUCH easier to live with :-)

I'm having a blast with it - I've got zero errors in the event viewer and it's fast and solid. I just installed the DVRMS Toolkit and I've got it stripping commercials now. I also increased the buffer to 1.5 hours :-)

As I use it more & more I find it's hard to believe I lived so long without it. Now work can take the foreground and I can come back to TV when I have time. No more missed shows or series - thanks again!