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[blaroche]

I was wondering if anyone has tried running MC11 and MCE 2005 on the same box. Basically, I want the MC11 for the audio streaming to always run in the background and then use Microsoft Media Center for TV at the same time. Anyone try that? Not a good idea?

This might be too complicated for the customer and I may end up using Homelogic's system for house control and MP3 tie-in to the Russound system...

I might buy a M-Audio Delta 66 card for MC11 and possibly use a different card for MCE 2005.   I am integrating MC11 with a Russound CAV6.6 system with Uno S2 keypads and using a plugin written by Hyslopc over at avsforum to allow MC11 control from the keypads.

One other note, I thought about using external USB cards instead of the nice Delta.  But the usb cards require much more cpu and ram it seems.  Even the delta 44 card has higher system req than the delta 66.   Anyway, my real question is about the MCE compatibility.   

[Matt]

MC should run with any version of Windows from Win98SE and on, including MCE 2005.

Thanks.

[Alex B]

What is MCE 2005 good for? In my opinion it is just a unified and simplified GUI for various standard PC functions. MC11 can do most of those things on a regular XP OS (and many other things that MCE 2005 can't).

Personally I hate all limited HW devices and remote control systems. I accept nothing less than a full-blown MC11 user interface. I have currently a networked MC11 PC in three different rooms.

My HTPC is connected to a 5.1 channel audio system & big TV display. I have a smaller standard LCD monitor and cordless keyboard & mouse on a coffee table besides the sofa. Another PC in another room is connected to my analog 2-channel hi-fi. I use these two systems usually separately, but I have connected them with audio cables for simultaneous playback. The third system is a laptop, which is often connected to a small bedroom stereo & TV system. All PCs can access the same media files and MC database.

[blaroche]

I agree that MC11 should be able to do the functions that MCE2005 will do.  But do you use the audio from the other rooms at the same time as watching TV?  That is what I am trying to accomplish.  I suppose I could get a separate PC and run a copy of MC11 on each (1 for audio, 1 for TV).  That is more complicated than I want for this customer and will cost about the same as a rack-mount MP3 server.  So I am trying to figure out if it all can be done on one machine without major hassles. 

Thanks!

[Alex B]

I agree that MC11 should be able to do the functions that MCE2005 will do.  But do you use the audio from the other rooms at the same time as watching TV?  That is what I am trying to accomplish.  I suppose I could get a separate PC and run a copy of MC11 on each (1 for audio, 1 for TV).  That is more complicated than I want for this customer and will cost about the same as a rack-mount MP3 server.  So I am trying to figure out if it all can be done on one machine without major hassles.

Thanks!

It is quite possible to watch TV or video on Zone 1 and play audio on Zone 2 if the PC has two sound cards.

However, whenever Zone 2 is activated (e.g. for changing the playlist) the MC display will show the Zone 2 content instead (cover art etc). Better would be to use another application for uninterrupted video display on Zone 1. That application can be MCE 2005 if preferred.

My point with having a separate full MC11 user interface in each Zone is just that I don't know any better tool for accessing and maintaining a large media file library. I feel seriously hampered when I have to use something inferior to MC11.

Also, I actually like to have a PC in each room. They can be used independently for all usual things besides playing media files. The separate PCs can be used for file backups too.