I've worked with serveral versions of Vista, on sevral types of hardware,
mostly successfuly (at least with the 32bits versions).

Based on that positive experience, I’ve grown (too) brave and decided to
re-install the familly entertainement center from MCE 2005 to Home Premium
RTM.

The hardware is nothing spectacular, a nForce3 based Asus mobo, Athlon 64
2800+, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro, a large chunk of ram and hdd.The so called PC is
connected to a 42’’ HD flat screen using VGA (1280*768*32).

Installation went smoothly, with all my hardware recognized (kudos MS here),
and i was an happy man until I tried a very advanced functionality : playing
a DVD. No no, not the downloaded from the internet type , the genuine stuff
bought with hard earned cash.

From the MCE interface, you get a fast disapearing error message (too fast
for me to read) and a black screen, and you end up with essentially a locked
PC. You can CTRL+ALT+DEL, but it’s damm slow and killing the MCE task nearly
impossible.
A quick push on the hardware reset button, and here I go, trying to read a
DVD with the media player this time.WMP insults me by saying in essence that
there is a digital copy protection issue between the DVD, the decoder and the
video card (I spare you the exact error message as it is in french).



I have tried out of the DVD RTM drivers, Windows update ones, and the
manufacturers ones to always end up in the same situation.

I then installed the last PowerDVD, which worked flawlessly (and does
produce a very nice picture on top of it), but that did not cure either WMP
or MCE interface.

Any clues ?

Jean-Christophe

A complement and a dirty patch :

- the exact same hardware configuration worked this very morning with the
same DVDs

- installing AnyDVD fixed the issue (why is it that the legit users are the
ones getting the issues ???)

Jean-Christophe

Just in case you're not aware, there is no Home Premium RTM version that you
can legally install on your families MCE computer. The TechNet and MSDN
versions are licensed for the named subscriber only and not for any other
users. Also, neither version is licensed for production (including at home)
use.

Dale

"Jean-Christophe" <Jean-Christophe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:2ADFE4F4-6FE1-4B38-A4BD-030D1B955050@microsoft.com...
> I've worked with serveral versions of Vista, on sevral types of hardware,
> mostly successfuly (at least with the 32bits versions).
>
> Based on that positive experience, I’ve grown (too) brave and decided to
> re-install the familly entertainement center from MCE 2005 to Home Premium
> RTM.
>
> The hardware is nothing spectacular, a nForce3 based Asus mobo, Athlon 64
> 2800+, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro, a large chunk of ram and hdd.The so called PC
> is
> connected to a 42’’ HD flat screen using VGA (1280*768*32).
>
> Installation went smoothly, with all my hardware recognized (kudos MS
> here),
> and i was an happy man until I tried a very advanced functionality :
> playing
> a DVD. No no, not the downloaded from the internet type , the genuine
> stuff
> bought with hard earned cash.
>
> From the MCE interface, you get a fast disapearing error message (too fast
> for me to read) and a black screen, and you end up with essentially a
> locked
> PC. You can CTRL+ALT+DEL, but it’s damm slow and killing the MCE task
> nearly
> impossible.
> A quick push on the hardware reset button, and here I go, trying to read a
> DVD with the media player this time.WMP insults me by saying in essence
> that
> there is a digital copy protection issue between the DVD, the decoder and
> the
> video card (I spare you the exact error message as it is in french).
>
> I have tried out of the DVD RTM drivers, Windows update ones, and the
> manufacturers ones to always end up in the same situation.
>
> I then installed the last PowerDVD, which worked flawlessly (and does
> produce a very nice picture on top of it), but that did not cure either
> WMP
> or MCE interface.
>
> Any clues ?
>
> Jean-Christophe
>

You're not a legit user.

Dale

"Jean-Christophe" <JeanChristophe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:0BBFE73E-30C2-468E-978E-969C5125520B@microsoft.com...
>
> A complement and a dirty patch :
>
> - the exact same hardware configuration worked this very morning with the
> same DVDs
>
> - installing AnyDVD fixed the issue (why is it that the legit users are
> the
> ones getting the issues ???)
>
> Jean-Christophe

And this has nothing to do with the fact that Vista as media center seems to
be doomed. More and more people are trying theese functions out, legit or
not. More and more are running into problems. So far it has been blamed on
drivers and lack of compatible software. This should slow down early adoption
for Vista. And if the suspicions that it's not the drivers/software that
create the problems, but the built in content protection can be confirmed, as
suggested in http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...vista_cost.txt, then
Vista is definitely what you DON'T want as an OS if you use your PC as a
media center.

"Dale" wrote:

> Just in case you're not aware, there is no Home Premium RTM version that you
> can legally install on your families MCE computer. The TechNet and MSDN
> versions are licensed for the named subscriber only and not for any other
> users. Also, neither version is licensed for production (including at home)
> use.
>
> Dale
>
> "Jean-Christophe" <Jean-Christophe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:2ADFE4F4-6FE1-4B38-A4BD-030D1B955050@microsoft.com...
> > I've worked with serveral versions of Vista, on sevral types of hardware,
> > mostly successfuly (at least with the 32bits versions).
> >
> > Based on that positive experience, I’ve grown (too) brave and decided to
> > re-install the familly entertainement center from MCE 2005 to Home Premium
> > RTM.
> >
> > The hardware is nothing spectacular, a nForce3 based Asus mobo, Athlon 64
> > 2800+, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro, a large chunk of ram and hdd.The so called PC
> > is
> > connected to a 42’’ HD flat screen using VGA (1280*768*32).
> >
> > Installation went smoothly, with all my hardware recognized (kudos MS
> > here),
> > and i was an happy man until I tried a very advanced functionality :
> > playing
> > a DVD. No no, not the downloaded from the internet type , the genuine
> > stuff
> > bought with hard earned cash.
> >
> > From the MCE interface, you get a fast disapearing error message (too fast
> > for me to read) and a black screen, and you end up with essentially a
> > locked
> > PC. You can CTRL+ALT+DEL, but it’s damm slow and killing the MCE task
> > nearly
> > impossible.
> > A quick push on the hardware reset button, and here I go, trying to read a
> > DVD with the media player this time.WMP insults me by saying in essence
> > that
> > there is a digital copy protection issue between the DVD, the decoder and
> > the
> > video card (I spare you the exact error message as it is in french).
> >
> > I have tried out of the DVD RTM drivers, Windows update ones, and the
> > manufacturers ones to always end up in the same situation.
> >
> > I then installed the last PowerDVD, which worked flawlessly (and does
> > produce a very nice picture on top of it), but that did not cure either
> > WMP
> > or MCE interface.
> >
> > Any clues ?
> >
> > Jean-Christophe
> >
>
>

I agree with you but there's one problem. Hardware manufacturers are
already building Vista compatible hardware. Soon, you won't be able to play
high definition audio or video on alternative OS's because the hardware
won't permit it. It sucks.

At least for now, I am going to look for alternative OS's in the form of
Linux or MacOS for media. Which really sucks because I have put years into
developing my own wrapper around Windows Media Player to make it work how I
want it to work instead of how the Windows Media Player product team thinks
it should work.

Dale

"cyanna" <cyanna@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:34BB38A3-8C69-4858-B962-E5C386DCF140@microsoft.com...
> And this has nothing to do with the fact that Vista as media center seems
> to
> be doomed. More and more people are trying theese functions out, legit or
> not. More and more are running into problems. So far it has been blamed on
> drivers and lack of compatible software. This should slow down early
> adoption
> for Vista. And if the suspicions that it's not the drivers/software that
> create the problems, but the built in content protection can be confirmed,
> as
> suggested in http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...vista_cost.txt,
> then
> Vista is definitely what you DON'T want as an OS if you use your PC as a
> media center.
>
> "Dale" wrote:
>
>> Just in case you're not aware, there is no Home Premium RTM version that
>> you
>> can legally install on your families MCE computer. The TechNet and MSDN
>> versions are licensed for the named subscriber only and not for any
>> other
>> users. Also, neither version is licensed for production (including at
>> home)
>> use.
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> "Jean-Christophe" <Jean-Christophe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:2ADFE4F4-6FE1-4B38-A4BD-030D1B955050@microsoft.com...
>> > I've worked with serveral versions of Vista, on sevral types of
>> > hardware,
>> > mostly successfuly (at least with the 32bits versions).
>> >
>> > Based on that positive experience, I’ve grown (too) brave and decided
>> > to
>> > re-install the familly entertainement center from MCE 2005 to Home
>> > Premium
>> > RTM.
>> >
>> > The hardware is nothing spectacular, a nForce3 based Asus mobo, Athlon
>> > 64
>> > 2800+, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro, a large chunk of ram and hdd.The so called
>> > PC
>> > is
>> > connected to a 42’’ HD flat screen using VGA (1280*768*32).
>> >
>> > Installation went smoothly, with all my hardware recognized (kudos MS
>> > here),
>> > and i was an happy man until I tried a very advanced functionality :
>> > playing
>> > a DVD. No no, not the downloaded from the internet type , the genuine
>> > stuff
>> > bought with hard earned cash.
>> >
>> > From the MCE interface, you get a fast disapearing error message (too
>> > fast
>> > for me to read) and a black screen, and you end up with essentially a
>> > locked
>> > PC. You can CTRL+ALT+DEL, but it’s damm slow and killing the MCE task
>> > nearly
>> > impossible.
>> > A quick push on the hardware reset button, and here I go, trying to
>> > read a
>> > DVD with the media player this time.WMP insults me by saying in essence
>> > that
>> > there is a digital copy protection issue between the DVD, the decoder
>> > and
>> > the
>> > video card (I spare you the exact error message as it is in french).
>> >
>> > I have tried out of the DVD RTM drivers, Windows update ones, and the
>> > manufacturers ones to always end up in the same situation.
>> >
>> > I then installed the last PowerDVD, which worked flawlessly (and does
>> > produce a very nice picture on top of it), but that did not cure either
>> > WMP
>> > or MCE interface.
>> >
>> > Any clues ?
>> >
>> > Jean-Christophe
>> >
>>
>>