Did Media Center Flop In 2005?

re: Did Media Center Flop In 2005?

Cory — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 17:20:19 GMT

Hey MattP, you mean there will be another NEW product to buy (Vista), not that MCE will be "corrected" to support HD. This new product will have stricter DRM which won't make it any easier to use, and in fact will probably break a lot of tools people currently use.

re: Did Media Center Flop In 2005?

MattP — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:47:44 GMT

Luckily, even in 2005 the HD viewer market is relatively small. Add to that a recent study that shows the majority of HDTV owners believe that simply having an HD Television means anything they watch is automatically an HD source. Furthermore, MS must not be the only company that fears the reaction of the Various content players, as no other Company producing /selling an MCE'like product has anything that could be considered mainstream support for HD.

Did MCE's HD support flop? Yes, I think pretty much everyone will agree with that. But the product as a whole made fantastic inroads in the last year, as Chris pointed out. Vista WILL bring CableCard with WILL correct the HD support deficiency in MCE.

re: Did Media Center Flop In 2005?

Remmy — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:43:18 GMT

it all depends on what you call a flop. I've been running MCE for a year with very good results, however this past weekend i purchased my first HD big screen. After futtzing around with a dvico HD tunner and hours of playing with assorted UHF antennas i finally gave in and order a dvr from the cable company (RCN) While i have very low expecatations for the DVR it's the only way i can get my Sox and Pats in HD. So to answer your question-- yes MCE flopped for me. I gave it my best shot, spent a bunch of money and it didn't deliver for me.
Yes cable card (might) be coming, but MS had thier oppurtunity in implementing QAM or Firewire but choose not to follow that path for fear of their partner's reactions.
MCE could have been a huge hit, instead they are being left as road kill unless they change their ways very soon.