That's not true. We're targetting any display where you need a simple interface and good visibility. (car, theater, etc.)
I honestly didn't mean to "put down" MC in any way -- I love the program. It's just that as someone who has been using Theater View on a TV monitor for a few years now, I find that MC does not seem to take into account many of the specific aspects of using the display on a TV monitor (other than the size and simplicity of the display, which are of course the "main" concern.)
If the interface was specifically designed for a TV, it would not push so close to the edges since unlike computer displays, TV signals are designed with some degree of overscan involved (and this includes both NTSC and ATSC signals.) Also, MC is missing a "4x3/16x9" selection, which is something that has been considered necessary on DVD players since the very first generation several years ago. You can't really blame the graphics card manufactures for this limitation since traditionally, this setting has been made available in software, not hardware. Just look at software DVD players, which also typically offer this setting.
To pin those limitations on Media Center isn't fair, since they're somewhat specific to using a old-style composite video cable.
But until VERY recently, composite video connections have by far been the standard connection for TV signals. In fact, even though DVI/HDMI is certainly getting a lot more popular and is the "new" standard for TVs being manufactured, the VAST majority of TVs in this country continue to utilize composite video connections. To say that these features are not included because DVI/HDMI makes them unecessary doesn't seem fair to me since a TINY percentage of TVs in this country are actually using DVI/HDMI (or even component) at this point.
Keep in mind also that if the computer is in a different room, DVI, HDMI, VGA, or component cables are not very good options since these connections have much more stringent length restrictions compared to standard, composite video cable. I use both component and HDMI cables for HDTV viewing, but for MC I continue to use composite because I have an 80 foot cable run, and composite cable (which is already run) provides a very sufficient quality for this purpose (i.e. utilizing the MC Theater View menu on the TV in order to listen to music, etc.)
You'll get better quality, eliminate overscan, and have true 16x9 resolutions with DVI, HDMI, VGA, or even component connections. (assuming your display supports it)
Better quality yes, but using DVI/HDMI does not mean that overscan is eliminated, and component, which is an analogue signal, has the same overscan issues that composite does. I have an CRT projection HDTV, and overscan is still very much a concern on this set EVEN when using a DVI connection. The only time overscan might not matter is when using a DVI/HDMI connection on a fixed pixel display. These are of course the only TVs being sold now, but once again, the number of these sets in actual use today comprise only a tiny percentage of the total.
We could add support for non-square pixels, although it hasn't been requested much, and is probably just as well handled by the video card.
But graphics cards traditionally do not have adjustments for this -- it's the software that typically takes care of this (i.e. software DVD players, Non-Linear video editors, etc.)
Thanks for the feedback on this,
Larry