Who Uses a Windows Media PC for Home Theater

IF you use it, first order of business is to update it to Windows 7 64 bit!!! Vista is slow and clunky.

dnelms said:

IF you use it, first order of business is to update it to Windows 7 64 bit!!! Vista is slow and clunky.

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+1 Windows 7 will definitely prevent a few headaches that Windows Vista has to offer.

Aside from that, it does seem like a pretty solid machine for running either your home theater or media server. I personally have not gotten around to doing it, but have considered setting one up in the near future.

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You do not need to waste money on win7, vista will do what you need it to do without a hitch. The disadvantage of windows ove osx is virus's etc but as long as your downloading legit stuff it's fine!

Gav2k said:

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You do not need to waste money on win7, vista will do what you need it to do without a hitch. The disadvantage of windows ove osx is virus's etc but as long as your downloading legit stuff it's fine!

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I'll disagree in that while he may could "get by" on Vista, Windows 7 makes things so much easier and is many times more stable as an OS. Networking is so much better, overall I just think it would be money well spent if he uses it. Add Plex to it and think he'd be set.

I have Win 7 on a cpl machines and have used Media Center a lot. There was a time where it was my main entertainment interface. Definitely upgrade Windows. The media center experience improved from Vista.

In my opinion for most media center uses you will not notice much of an improvement between the two machines. The one exception is DVD ripping to hard disk. The more powerful box will likely help there.

Since about 2008-2009 i have reduced my usage of media center in favor of OS X running on a mini. I use Plex as the main UI and a EyeTV device for recording. Even that is getting less use as the Apple TV2 has come online. Netflix is just too easy.

When forced to use Windows than Windows 7 all the way, the best windows operating system so far. However I do think that unless you have a big reason for the Switch I would stay with the Mini and be happy with it.

dnelms said:

IF you use it, first order of business is to update it to Windows 7 64 bit!!! Vista is slow and clunky.

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Definately update it to Windows 7. There are some substantial improvements to the WMC application in 7. Also, if you don't have one already you'll want the Microsoft remote control and IR receiver. I think I spent about $25 bucks on mine from PC Alchemy.

Its a good system. I have retired mine for a ATV 2 and a stand alone Bluray player. But, the Windows Media Center is\was a good approach.

I have my Media server running XP! It has iTunes running all the time, to serve all my ripped DVDs and BDs to the Apple TV. I also have Air Video Server running on it, to serve up downloads that are not in mp4.

It's an AMD II X4 840 running at 3.2ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and 2.5 TB of HD space. Works great for my setup.

lazer310 said:

I have my Media server running XP! It has iTunes running all the time, to serve all my ripped DVDs and BDs to the Apple TV. I also have Air Video Server running on it, to serve up downloads that are not in mp4.

It's an AMD II X4 840 running at 3.2ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and 2.5 TB of HD space. Works great for my setup.

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Sure, for a media SERVER thats just fine. As I understood the op's post he was looking to use the system as a media center front end. For that, the upgrades of Windows 7 would be substantial compared to Vista, much less XP.