jmke

With Windows Media Center Edition, a mainstream operating system finally makes the home theater PC (HTPC) for the masses a reality. In the past, there have been attempts at hacking together an HTPC-type device, with smaller companies offering solutions, but without widespread support and marketing, these efforts never successfully penetrated the mainstream. The first version of Windows Media Center Edition was available only with the purchase of a prebuilt HTPC system from an OEM. With the release of Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005, enthusiasts can now put together their own dream HTPC. Update Rollup 2 for Windows MCE improves high-definition support for MCE, significantly expanding the versatility of HTPC setups into the future.

Windows (MCE) 2005 offers an attractive, easy-to-use interface combined with hardware support that makes it easier to build an HTPC that is a true media box: TV recording with time shifting and channel guide, streaming audio, DVD-recording and DVD-playback, radio, web browsing, along with all the functions of a standard PC. Truly functional channel guides and intelligent recording are things that TiVo and ReplayTV users are long familiar with. Today's cheap hard drive space mean many hours of video can be recorded, which makes the replacement of the VCR both practical and extremely attractive.
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/...ide-200512.ars

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