I have mentioned previously how I used to use MCE 2005 for my office TV at home but since going all in with SKY TV and losing my office to my newest family addition, I haven’t really tinkered much with Media Center.
Well until now that is, I have decided to take a look at what the Windows 7 version has to offer specifically with the 2010 World Cup looming on the horizon and
the potential arguments every night when I try and hog the living room TV trying to justify the importance of Timbuktu v Papua New Guinea.
First impressions are that it looks fantastic, fresh vibrant and above all fast and slick, no delays entering and leaving menus, much better file support, I can even play MKV’s in 1080P without a problem after installing the Shark Codec pack so far so great.
My next mission is to connect this to a Freeview signal, I have an ADS Tech Mini Dual TV USB stick that I am planning on connecting to a Freeview portable aerial, not the one in the picture but a much larger one, my house does not even have an external aerial as we have never needed one, if this works and I can get a decent picture on ITV and BBC this should suffice for my World Cup Needs, I am then considering installing a full Freeview external aerial and dumping SKY completely to save some money so this is the first phase of testing the water, I will update the blog soon when I have done more testing, let me know if you have done the same or have any advice on tweaking MCE for better results.
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You should add channel logos:
http://mychannellogos.com/default.aspx