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trooper19231
03-17-2005, 11:46 AM
Just bought and installed Windows Media Center 2005 on my home-built PC, and I'm not sure how to configure it for TV and DVD playback. It comes up with an error when I try to access it, and a DVD inserted in the drive is not played. TV is All-in-Wonder Radeon 7500 and DVD drive is present. Do I need to install 3rd party software, or does Microsoft include (or require) certain software for Media Center?

Thanks in advance.
pam123
03-17-2005, 12:54 PM
The problem :

ALL-IN-WONDER™ Series are not currently supported under Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Certified/compatible RADEON™ PC Graphic Cards or Integrated Graphics Products are optimized for Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 when coupled with a supported TV or DTV Tuner product, such as the ATI E-HOME WONDER™ or TV WONDER™ ELITE

When you get your new cards there will be quite alot of software to install and configure with it before it will work.
Hi Ho
03-17-2005, 02:06 PM
No version of Windows (or any OS I belive) comes with a DVD decoder installed. There is now a free one available. The first as far as I know. It is DScaler 5 (http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/dscaler5.htm). It is in beta form but it works and it works well. You simply install it and use WMP as the front end. Once you install DScaler WMP should recognize and play DVD's.
trooper19231
03-17-2005, 02:16 PM
Can I get the necessary decoder by installing one of the 3rd party DVD player software's that I have, like WinDVD etc.?

Funny thing about the All-In-Wonder not supported - I was told by my computer store "expert" that it is supported. Like I should have believed him.
pam123
03-17-2005, 02:54 PM
Can I get the necessary decoder by installing one of the 3rd party DVD player software's that I have, like WinDVD etc.?


Power or WIN DVD, version 4 or over, will work.
Hi Ho
03-17-2005, 06:12 PM
Can I get the necessary decoder by installing one of the 3rd party DVD player software's that I have, like WinDVD etc.?
Sure you can. I just assumed you didn't have any 3rd party software. However, the buzz over on the AVS forums is that DScaler gives much better picture quality than PowerDVD or WinDVD. I don't know if that's true though since I don't have either of those.
JTH
03-18-2005, 02:09 PM
What's this Windows Media Centre 2005?
pam123
03-18-2005, 03:56 PM
What's this Windows Media Centre 2005?


Here's what Microsoft has to say about it : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/hardware.mspx

For a little extra info read this also : http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1742236,00.asp