Vista anyone???

[Gregg Lengling]

Installed home premium, So far so good. 6300 Core2Duo/2gigs DDR2/X800GTO2
I like it, IMO it runs faster then My previous XP MCE install.

Just remember new installs always run faster...wait a while as the registry changes and mangled and then things will slow back down.  If you don't know how to work in the Registry and are afraid of the Registry you shouldn't be using Microsoft Operating Systems.:rofl:

[gb4fan92]

One thing that I could suggest that seemed to work for me was the Logitech Wireless Music System
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2653,CONTENTID=10855.  

Not nearly as nice as streaming over the network to another computer, but works for playing playlists.

I used to use the Dlink Media Lounge often, but as my music collection grew, it became more and more difficult to use, thus resulting in building an MCE box to stream media.

The Logitech does look very easy to work with. But I also want to stream video and pictures to my TV as well. Are you sugguesting I use both the logitech and a MCE box? I am assuming you are talking about a media extender? Could you go into more detail for me please?  I had been looking at the Media Lounge 520 which   is coming out soon. http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=438 What are the alternatives?

[murdoc]

The Logitech does look very easy to work with. But I also want to stream video and pictures to my TV as well. Are you sugguesting I use both the logitech and a MCE box? I am assuming you are talking about a media extender? Could you go into more detail for me please?  I had been looking at the Media Lounge 520 which   is coming out soon. http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=438 What are the alternatives?

If you want to stream audio and video check out Apple TV.  http://www.apple.com/appletv/

[kevbeck122]

There's always the XBOX 360.. which can be used as an HD extender.  The only problem is that it can only do mpeg/wmv files for video.  There are methods of doing Divx also.. but not natively (unless they've updated it recently).

Apple TV doesn't really impress me... but that's just me.. and I'm against putting iTunes on a PC .

[techguy1975]

Well, only about a week out of the gate and Vista already has a security hole

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6320865.stm

[HDefinicktion]

Appletv has some interesting feature, and many of them are very similar to the dlink box that you speak of, without iTunes syncing. I have a similar dlink box, DSM-320, that does not play back HD content.  I have had it for some time now, and it was a solution to distribute audio in the house from my PC.  After it was installed and I was able to access my music, videos, and pictures, however the interface with the remote made everything very cumbersome.  In order to open a folder of music you would first have to find it alphabetically, and with a very large collection of music, it was very difficult.  Needless to say, it is rotting in my cabinet waiting to be put on Craigslist...

I turned to a MCE box with the Microsoft IR wireless keyboard.  It gave me a mouse option within the relatively easy interface of Windows.  Many will tell you that the mouse on the keyboard is difficult to use.  I agree, there was a little learning curve with it, but with time, it worked out well.  What once took a few minutes to find music, now was much faster.  You can playback HD content through certain video cards that have component output, or through the DVI connector.  

Overall, the 250 that you would spend on the dlink could be better put to use by getting your hands on a PC that could run MCE, and getting a IR keyboard, and installing a AGP/PCI-E video card able to display HD content.  I have not done any research on MCE extenders, but I would assume that they are the windows version of appletv.  Correct me if I am wrong.

[Bebop]

The Apple TV can only play limited formats.

I think the Slingcatch might be more useful, if you don't buy stuff from iTune store.

http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/17844/SlingCatcher---Sling-Media-Brings-Place-Shifting-and-More-to-TVs/

[gb4fan92]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've been busy at work and home with not much time for anything. Finally got the new computer pretty well setup. (Don't get me started on my Outlook transfer :mad: ) Tomorrow it will get networked with the old computer. Never realized how much junk I kept on the old computer until I bought this one. The specs
HP Pavilion Media Center TV M7750
400gb hard drive
2 gig ram
AMD 5000+ dual processor
DVD burner
TV tuner
ya da ya da ya da.

The slingbox extender looks interesting. I probably won't be ready for an extender for a while yet. Haven't even hook up the cable to the computer yet. But for now its basically done. Still trying to get used to Vista. Some things don't work the same way as XP.

[AndrewP]

Started at work the same PC, $845 at Amazon.com.
Vista... They just moved butons and menus and commands from one place to another, so it looks different.
PC is good for the money. Yeah, and our programs work just fine in VistaGlug2

[StarvingForHDTV]

I just bought a notebook with Vista installed.  This thing is super slow.  You must need high end stats to make it go quick.  I erased Vista and installed XP Pro, and the notebook is much faster.

Vista is a resource hog.  Not to mention that much of my software and hardware is not compatible with it.  I don't recommend it for users on a budget.

[Gregg Lengling]

I recommend that anyone considering Vista first go to Microsoft.com and download and run "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor", it will tell you if you can run Vista and also what devices and software won't work or need driver upgrades.

[klwillis45]

I recommend that anyone considering Vista first go to Microsoft.com and download and run "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor", it will tell you if you can run Vista and also what devices and software won't work or need driver upgrades.

That's good advice and here's some more. Your best bet for almost any MS product (especially OS's) is to resist temptation until SP1 gets released. Unless your one of "those types", wait for MS to iron out some of the kinks and let other users deal with the intial headaches.

[LowSignal]

I just bought a notebook with Vista installed.  This thing is super slow.  You must need high end stats to make it go quick.  I erased Vista and installed XP Pro, and the notebook is much faster.

Vista is a resource hog.  Not to mention that much of my software and hardware is not compatible with it.  I don't recommend it for users on a budget.

Just for the heck of it I Bought a cheap-o Acer laptop from BB for $600. Gig of ram and a Duo Core t2060 processor. Starts up fast and runs everything peachy once I got the Acer BS software uninstalled. Installed WOW to see how it would run with the integrated graphics and surprisingly it was playable. I bought 2 1gig sticks from BB the next day to see if it would make it run even faster but It didn't(WoW did but thats it). Computer shows it's using 546-580mb of the ram when surfing and listening to music. My year old HP printer and my TomTom had no problems with vista.

[kevbeck122]

I went ahead and got Home Premium.  It's using about 1GB+ of memory after opening media center, listening to music, surfing, etc. and this is even after the programs have been closed.  NVIDIA drivers are still beta.. the fan on my 7600GT runs full speed constantly.. it's annoying.  I haven't tried any games, but I'd assume they won't run as well as they should.  My RAID controller doesn't have a driver either.. but I don't use RAID yet.  I miss the RDP server.. but I didn't want to pay for Ultimate to get it.  I'll be happy when there's a released NVIDIA driver that has fan control.

[StarvingForHDTV]

That's good advice and here's some more. Your best bet for almost any MS product (especially OS's) is to resist temptation until SP1 gets released. Unless your one of "those types", wait for MS to iron out some of the kinks and let other users deal with the intial headaches.

Unfortunately it is real tough to buy a new machine without Vista pre-installed right now.

Update on mine.  Toshiba doesn't give out XP drivers for my notebook and the ones from the manufacturer's websites don't work.  So this thing is going back to Circuit City. toilet_claw

Now the search begins again!  I need 2 notebooks that can run XP or have XP installed. :Smash: