[BiGBrOwNPimpsta]

I am big fan of media center, once I have my codec pack in it plays pretty much anything. I hate third party media players and have disbanded winamp and everything else years ago. Everything else feels minimalistic and weak interface. Do you find yourself relaxing and using Media Center? A lot of my friends get impressed by it once they come over and see my organized. I don't have a big library, about 20 movies, 2200 songs and TV, but it has a nice smooth flow to it. I don't use it to play music while multitasking. They also got rid of live messenger support in Vista which was due to security.

Unfortuntely no support to hook it up to an HDTV box like the star explorer for Rogers Cable here in Canada.

[mkk]

Yes but only for my TV card. It's fine for that but not really good for videos or music compared to other players. For one thing it's still behaving oddly when switching to or from full screen mode, and the volume control remains based on the main system volume knob. The library setup is messy and the interface feels clunky even with a remote. Minimalistic approaches are ideal as long as they get the job done. If I watched TV more I'd probably use the Hauppauge software instead.

[Mac Daddy]

I have been using it again since the release of WMP11 and of course after installing Vista. It certainly has improved but I still use Jet Audio to play the formats it doesn't.

(Keep in mind I also use a lot of recording software like Wavelab and Soundforge)

[dj_stick]

I chose other as I'm on the dark side, and use Apple's Front Row - pretty handy when hooked up to a 42" PDP, but that's about the only time I use it

[MIG-31]

I voted for Yes... Its one of the things i like about Vista..All pre-installed DVD/Music playback all in one package.

[BiGBrOwNPimpsta]

Originally Posted by dj_stick

I chose other as I'm on the dark side, and use Apple's Front Row - pretty handy when hooked up to a 42" PDP, but that's about the only time I use it

I used front row few times, it launches nice but after its eh. I hate quicktime all together but I do like macs. I only had issues with MCE2005 with the rollup update 2, nothing with vista. Its pretty cool how it can easily search all the movies made by the actors and directors that is on a tv channel, then show you the listing and record it in the future, and the fantasy stats tracking for sports is limited but cool. mkv plays fine with it and I have the MCE microsoft remote. Sit back and relax does it all. People like vlc, but I used it and hated it. Since these codec packs have been around I find wmp11 to be where I play everything, even 10 wasn't able to integrate everything. 12 should be interesting when its finished.

Unfortunately microsoft's push for media center PC's didn't work, I think its because of the availability of on demand and the limitation of having an SD cable connection or ATSC tuner.

[Mousey]

I like it but i don't actually use it, it's good for movies so if i hook my rig up to my TV it works pretty well but other than that i use MediaMonkey for all my music and Media Player for my movies because i'm always multi-tasking

[Judas]

i would love to use windows media center... but frankly it just doesn't cut it.

doesn't support blu-ray or HD-DVD, none of the ATI AIW cards work with it at all... even with my machine setup and hooked up to my hdtv in my living room... it just been completely pointless, cumbersom rather then useful in it's current state.

I'm not a fan of 3rd party tools either, but unfortunately, everything i want plays through windows media player 11/12

[Asmoday]

I use Media Portal on my HTPC...prefer it over VMC..