Next Vista Media Center leaked -- no DirecTV HD till 2010?

Engadget HD has gotten the latest on the highly anticipated update for Vista Media Center and it doesn't look good. The first release candidate made it into testers hands recently and they weren't happy to see that the most anticipated features -- support for a DirecTV HD tuner and native H.264 support -- got pushed to Windows 7. So head over to Engadget HD for more details (screen shots included).

[ScottKin Posted Aug 20th 2008 7:55AM]

@loosely_coupled

125 million of those iTunes "users" are just QuickTime users that were nearly hog-tied to download iTunes when all they wanted to do was to get their QuickTime updates via that lame-assed Apple/QuickTime updater. They don't really use iTunes, so go turn off your Mac so the "Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field Device" in your Mac won't be interefering with your brainwaves.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 3:49AM]

Yeah, over 93% of the world uses Windows.

You and the other 6 Mac users on the other hand are the ones supporting the platform of such nominal significance, that hackers don't even deem it worthy enough to exploit (but when they do, it's exploited faster and reveals more vulnerabilities than Windows)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 3:53AM]

Nerdtalker,

Actually that figure is higher than 80%.

Windows OS's as a whole constitute ~ 93% of the market.

Mac OS's = < 7%

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 4:40AM]

mce could be a real two fingers up to apple for making thigs slick and looking nice, but instead it just sits there dormant.

[paulA Posted Jul 6th 2008 7:59AM]

I use Media center and love it but it doesn't work the way i want it and was hoping that the update would fix it. What's the point of media center if it doesn't include H264 + Blueray support? I've spent about a week trying to get mp4 to work. All this stuff should just work!

If this is true well done Microsoft you just sold a PS3 + Sky HD to me because media center is useless to me.

[lettcco Posted Jul 6th 2008 9:09AM]

I just wish they would bring back something that was in XP MCE: recognizing media on burnt disc (my dvd9 with 8gb .mkv won't play on vista MCE but will play on XP MCE)

[Quikboy Posted Jul 6th 2008 10:37AM]

@loosely_coupled: Even if my desktop is POS, the point is, is that iTunes still loads up slower for me. I don't think I'm the only one in saying that. I know a few other iPod owners that feel iTunes runs like crap, and IS crap.

Yeah, the PlayForSure stores on WMP 11 don't have as much of a catalog as the iTunes Store, or even the Zune Marketplace. That's where I use the Zune software and buy some DRM-free MP3's there when I feel like it. I could play it in WMP 11 much more better.

And since practically every other download store, except iTunes offers a music rental/subscription plan, previewing is something those users don't have to think about. You can play practically every song.

"Well, I guess me and the other ~150 million that use it every day must be crazy then..."

Not crazy. But I think many of those 150 million users hate iTunes, dislike iTunes, only deal with it once in a while and not "every day" like you claim for everyone, or just don't know any alternative music managing software. Because they're really stuck with iTunes. That's why I stopped getting iPods.

I've also looked at forums and all Q&A's to see what users think, and there's tons of users reporting iTunes problems and don't know what to do. So much for simple software.

[neeko18 Posted Jul 6th 2008 10:49AM]

Do a little research people. MKV files do actually play on MCE. Iv been playing them for weeks now. Just gotta add the codec lines to the registry of Vista.

SAve this as a .reg file....

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mkv]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Content Type"="video/mkv"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.mkv]
"Runtime"=dword:00000007
"Permissions"=dword:0000000f
"UserApprovedOwning"="yes"


DONE HAPPY.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 11:41AM]

Copyright 1985-2006?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 5:09PM]

Oh lovely. Make us buy the next installment, wait self destructing, copy of windows. Maybe Windows 7 will be nice, but maybe not, all I know is, making marketing ploys like this is not good, especially since MS is on thin ice from Vista still.

[Arthrog Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:54AM]

Here is a good one!
1. Mac just doesnt like to be an HTPC
2. Get rid of media center
3. Download MediaPortal, this app is far superior then mediacenter!
It's free and supported by open source.
I havnt used VMC since finding MP!

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:16PM]

Let's see.. People hack into Windows, right?
So now they can hack into your coffee machine, your car and your TV... What's next?