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Mike T. · Guest

I would like to complain for a minute on the apparent design philosophy of
Windows MCE, in case any of the developers would like to improve the user
experience for the next version. My main issue is that MCE seems to be
designed to be used only on dedicated machines only; using a MCE computer for
more than TV watching is not possible in a user-friendly way.

My position is, I would like to add media center functionality to the
traditional PC experience. This entails the following expectations:

1. My PC monitor will always be my primary interface to the computer. I
expect to be able to use it, at any time, to check my email, create a
document, browse the web, etc.

2. Media Center use is peripheral; it should make use of my TV as a
secondary display. For all I care, it can completely take over that display,
as I do not use it otherwise.

3. Concurrency: I expect to be able to operate both displays independently
without one affecting the other.

These are the main concepts that I find most important and yet unfulfilled
with Windows MCE. There are other issues that are frustrating, such as not
being able to Remote Desktop into the machine without completely breaking the
local tv-watching user experience, and not being able to upgrade XP Pro to
MCE, but those can be worked around or regrettably lived with.

Having defined what I need from MCE, let me explain where it falls short.
For some reason unknown to me, the Media Center application requires, or is
only truly happy when it has total control of, keyboard and mouse focus. If
I had to guess I'd say it's a result of the IR receiver's driver design,
which receives remote button presses and passes them along as keystrokes and
such to the currently focused window.

This makes no sense to me. I don't want to control Firefox with my remote.
It should be dedicated to Media Center and pass all button presses to that
app and that app only, 100% of the time. Button presses should be passed to
Media Center even if it isn't currently focused, and it should not steal the
focus away from what I'm doing on my primary display. For instance, if I'm
typing an email and want to change the channel, I should be able to do so by
simply pressing a button on the remote, and not having to resort to such
painful tricks as: focus MCE, change channel, press windows key to steal
focus back, move mouse cursor back to my desktop, refocus email app, wait for
MCE's on-screen display to go away.

I've tried working around the above problem, even to the extent of trying to
send remote button presses to Media Center by using the SendMessage plugin of
Girder, but I have not had any luck getting Media Center to respond when it
is unfocused. If anyone has had success with this, please explain how.

Another problem is that Media Center won't open up on the secondary display
without coercion. I can create a custom shortcut using UltraMon which always
opens MC on the secondary display (my TV), but why should I have to resort to
third-party apps? Can't MCE be dual-display aware? I don't need my desktop
"extended" to the second display. I never want my mouse to go there, nor my
wallpaper, taskbar, icons, nor anything like that. Just display a TV picture
there, fullscreen, with pretty overlays and such. MCE can own that display,
and as far as I'm concerned, no other windows components need know that it
even exists. Well, I guess at some point I may want to use it for games, but
it's not a priority.

As far as concurrency issues go, I understand that the two interfaces will
affect each other performance-wise. Media Center should always get priority
over my CPU cycles, so that I never lose video frames. But from a user-input
perspective, the two should be completely independent. This would be
possible if MC would allow passive control, ie. run as a (high-priority)
background process and accept input when out of focus.

Now I know the common response to my problems typically includes some
suggested use of Media Center Extenders, which to me seems dismissive.
Extenders are expensive and laggy. We shouldn't need to waste money on them
when one PC is sufficiently powerful for simultaneous PC and Media Center use.

I believe Microsoft is positioning Extenders to generate revenue from users
in my position, but that seems to me to be a bad decision. I will never
spend the additional money on one; I can purchase a more user-friendly DVR
application, such as SageTV, for far less. The MCE marketing entity should
know, if it doesn't already, that its customers will be happier and more
likely to purchase additional hardware if they perceive the following
conditions: the item provides valuable features that enhance their user
experience, the cost of the item compares favorably to the benefits it
provides, and that they are not being artificially forced into buying
unnecessary equipment. It seems to me that Media Center Extenders meet these
needs for consumers who live in a home that has multiple MCE destinations,
especially high-definition ones. For users who simply want to add Media
Center functionality to their current PC, Media Center Extenders are not the
answer, and should be completely unnecessary.

Anyway, I guess that sums up my dissatisfaction with MCE 2005. For now I
will probably use another DVR app, and hope that Media Center improves or
some user community tools emerge that can deliver the experience I want. I
love the concept of MCE, and it's interface is the nicest looking of all the
apps I've evaluated. Unfortunately it is just too frustrating for me to use
given its current limitations.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to my complaints.

Mike

Bob [MVP] · Guest

Users have been saying the same things since the
first version of Media Center was released.

Microsoft's solution, which addresses all three of
your complaints/suggestions is the Media Center Extender.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/devices/default.mspx

--
-Bob
_______________________________
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Media Center Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/ehome

"Mike T." <Mike T.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:32956427-90D9-4A93-A0E5-C6792F54A78C@microsoft.com...

Mike T. · Guest

Hi Bob,

How do Media Center Extenders address my complaints specifically against
Media Center Extenders? Namely, that they're expensive, incur additional
lag, and unnecessary (had the software been designed to be more flexible).

Unfortunately your response is as predicted in my initial message. I was
hoping the developers would be more open-minded: willing to take what was IMO
thoughtful constructive criticism and feedback, and use it to improve their
product to make it more attractive to consumers.

Media Center Extenders are not the answer to seemingly unnecessarily
crippled software. Can you explain why I should spend $289 to fix the fact
that whenever I minimize my web browser, Media Center thinks that's its cue
to steal my mouse focus? That's just irrational.

If there were an update that addressed some of these concerns, I would
reconsider MCE. Until then I'll stay away.

Mike

"Bob [MVP]" wrote:

Bob [MVP] · Guest

Hi Mike,

You definitely raise some valid points, and I wasn't
trying to defend MCE or Microsoft in my original
reply.

You listed three complaints/concerns about MCE, and
I simply replied with what Microsoft came up with
as a solution.

I don't work for Microsoft. I'm a consumer just like
you. Personally I like the Media Extender concept, but
I think there is a lot of room to improve the current
product. And I agree with you that the price is too
high for what it does. But that's pretty common for
any new technology. As time goes on, hopefully they
will become much better and less expensive.

And BTW, I do know that Microsoft does listen to
customer feedback. In fact, I've seen several
suggestions that were made in this newsgroup
implemented in Media Center.

Thanks for the feedback.

--
-Bob
_______________________________
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Media Center Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/ehome

"Mike T." <MikeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:12769419-2A15-4D55-A534-CC7A22D278A4@microsoft.com...

reesent · Guest

I must second that the issues listed here by Mike T about using the MCE ui
and the hosting PC concurrently must be addressed before MCE will really make
it into the high-end consumer market.

I have been building custom MCE machines for high-net worth individuals for
a year now and now matter how much tweaking and explainng that I do, not a
single one of them utilize the full power of their systems because of these
same complaints.

In my experience the people who want these systems do NOT want to have to
learn how to use them. You try teaching a dis-interested technophile to "hit
the start button to steal the mouse focus from your TV."

The concept of an Extender, IMHO, is as backwards as the idea of having a
seperate box for each cable, dvd, vcr, video game, word processing, etc. I
thought that the one of the promises of the Media Center was to reduce the
madness, not create more bloat of its own.

1. My PC monitor will always be my primary interface to the computer. I
expect to be able to use it, at any time, to check my email, create a
document, browse the web, etc.

2. Media Center use is peripheral; it should make use of my TV as a
secondary display. For all I care, it can completely take over that display,
as I do not use it otherwise.

3. Concurrency: I expect to be able to operate both displays independently
without one affecting the other.

Thank you Mike T.

Dana Cline - MVP · Guest

Have you heard the expression "With rights comes responsibility"? If they
want the benefits of high tech devices, they need to make the investment (at
least a minimal investment) in how to use them. This is true whether we're
talking a car, a PDA, a cell phone, or a Media Center PC.

Much as I like Media Center, I'd be the first to admit it's not "parent
friendly". Maybe in a few more versions it will be. In the meantime, they
need to make the same intellectual investment they'd make if they wanted a
regular PC or (to some extent) even a Mac.

Besides, there's money to be made in training these people...set up a cruise
conference (similar to www.geekcruises.com) and I bet they'd attend in
droves!

Dana Cline - MVP

"reesent" <reesent@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FB3E4A87-FDF5-4732-B3C4-85AB6954DA19@microsoft.com...

Dan · Guest

reesent wrote:

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