Is there great advantage to XP MCE over Win2K

[bienduga]

I read some threads on this board, and saw some things indicating the cable box IR control stuff worked better with XP MCE. I was going to use a PVR-150 and Win2k. Is this a mistake for IR control issues? Should I spend the cash for XP MCE?

Tom.

[zehd]

For the record, the question should be whether you use 2000 or XP. XP MCE is the same as XP Home but with extra software to have a Media center.

Although many vendors will tell you that certain Hauppauge PVR150 have MCE drivers only, that's not true. The disks that come with them work fine on XP Home or Pro, (haven't tried on 2000)

Some of the things you may have read are relating to MCE remotes and their blasters. These are just hardware and will work just fine in XP Pro and Home (haven't tried it on 2000)

The answer to your original question is all relative. I know people that are still using 98 because they think it's great. Others use 2000 because it works great.

IMHO, I would not bother with 2000. There were bugs with XP when it first came out, But it's excellent now, and if your system can't run XP with the latest patches, there's something wrong with your system.

XP MCE has it's own sofware to use as a media center. If you will never be interested in using Microsoft's media interface, than stay with XP home or Pro and use GB-PVR as your media centre. (or the other windows media interfaces like Beyond, ChrisTV etc, discussed elsewhere on the net)

Hope this helps

[bungle]

An MVP is cheaper than an MCE license if you don't have one, and there are no remote issues to deal with. Plus you can use your computer for other stuff.

I've never used my 150's remote on my computer (because of the MVP), nor have I hooked it up to the TV. However, I can say that W2k + PVR-150 + GB-PVR works. Note, however, that you will have to install Windows Media Player 9.

Unfortunately, I have seen some tuner cards that only support XP/MCE, such as the PCIe card from Powercolor. I suspect that will become more commonplace, so you may want to take upgrading into account. If you already have 2k, why not try it out? If you're picking one to buy, MCE is probably better. Also consider an MVP, unless you have lots of AVIs or want HD.