A couple of first looks at Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 might not be get officially official until next week, but both Thomas Hawk and GamePC each have an advance look at it. Right off the bat the biggest difference between MCE 2005 and the versions that came before it is that you can also now buy it as a standalone, user-installable app you install on top of Windows XP if you want to build your own Media Center PC rather than have to buy somebody else's (they even toss in a remote). Besides that, Thomas Hawk doesn't like the lack of support for HDTV cable and satellite broadcasts (though he understands why), but GamePC declares it the "best home theater product on the market by a very large margin", which seems to just teeter on the edge of hyperbole to us. The one thing we want to know: has Microsoft finally added some decent support for widescreen displays?
UPDATE: Both Thomas Hawk and GamePC had the wrong info, it won't be available direct to consumers.
