Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) is a version of the

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

which was the first version of Windows to include

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and U ...

, designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2, was released on October 14, 2005. After that, Windows Media Center was included in certain editions of later Windows versions. It was an optional, paid addition to

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

and then discontinued in

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

. Windows XP Media Center Edition reached end of support on April 8, 2014, along with most other Windows XP editions.

Versions

Windows XP Media Center Edition has had the following releases, all based on Windows XP Professional with all features enabled except domain-joining ability disabled in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Terminal Services in the original release. *A preview version of Windows XP Media Center Edition from Microsoft's eHome division, was shown at CES 2002, with the final version released later that year. *Windows XP Media Center Edition (codenamed "Freestyle") was the original version of Windows XP Media Center, which was built from the Windows XP Service Pack 1 codebase. It was first announced on July 16, 2002, released to manufacturing on September 3, 2002, and was first generally available on October 29, 2002, in North America. *Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 (codenamed "Harmony"), which was launched on September 30, 2003, and was made available as an upgrade to the owners of the original editions' licenses, was built from the Windows XP Service Pack 1 codebase, after the original Windows XP Media Center Edition. *Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (codenamed "Symphony"), which was launched on October 12, 2004, was built from the Windows XP Service Pack 2 codebase. It is the first edition of MCE available to non-Tier 1 system builders. Among other things, it includes support for Media Center Extenders, and CD/DVD-Video burning support. *Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 (codenamed "Emerald", October 14, 2005) is a major update to MCE 2005 (Symphony) and was a recommended download. It adds support for the

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as a media center extender,

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broadcasts, and support for two

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cards. It is the second version of Windows XP Media Center based on Windows XP Service Pack 2, after Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. To determine the underlying edition of Windows XP on which a particular revision of MCE is based, the System Properties Control Panel applet can be used. To determine the revision of MCE that is being used, select the About Media Center option from the General -> Settings area inside MCE.

Exclusive features

Windows XP Media Center Edition is distinguished with its exclusive component, Media Center, a media player that supports watching and recording TV programs, as well as playing

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2024, it competes with the high-definition Blu-ray Disc, while both rece ...

, photo slideshows, and music. Media Center sports a user interface that is optimized for use from a distance with large fonts and icons. Unlike competing commercial DVR products, Microsoft did not charge a monthly subscription fee for its Media Center TV guide service. Due to its strict hardware requirements, Microsoft opted not to supply Media Center as an independent retail version. Microsoft only distributed it to

MSDN Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) was the division of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers, such as hardware developers interested in the operating system (OS), and software developers developing ...

subscribers and original equipment manufacturers in certain countries. Consumers purchase Media Center preinstalled on a new computer, set-top box or embedded device.

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

New features

* Away Mode in Update Rollup 2 allows the machine to appear off while it performs background tasks. *

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, contains new effects and transitions and support for DVD burning based on

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's AuthorScript technology. *

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP, officially referred to as Windows Media Player Legacy to retronym, distinguish it from Windows Media Player (2022), the new Windows Media Player introduced with Windows 11) is the first media player (application soft ...

, upgraded to version 10, along with Windows Media Format Runtime 9.5. * Royale theme: not included in other editions of Windows XP except Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, it is included and enabled by default. * Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition components: a number of applications not included in previous versions of MCE are now included such as Audio Converter, CD Label Maker, Dancer and Party Mode. *SoundSpectrum's G-Force: a special edition is included as one of the music visualizations for Windows Media Player. *Screensavers and themes from ''Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP'' are included (Aquarium, Da Vinci, Nature, Space and My Pictures Premium). * Media Center Extender Support, dedicated hardware devices that allow users to view the same content that is available on the MCE computer over wired or wireless Ethernet, are introduced in this version for the first time. Linksys and other companies currently sell Media Center Extenders, and Microsoft sells an add-on kit for the

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game console that allows it to function as an extender. The

also has Media Center Extender functionality out of the box, including HDTV support (which is notably absent from current extenders). Media Center 2005 currently can support up to 5 Media Center Extenders per household. *First party hardware: Microsoft has released its own first party remote, receiver and

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blaster with MCE 2005. A new specially designed wireless

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for MCE 2005 was released September 2005.

Removed features

*Joining a Windows Server domain: The ability to join an

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. Windows Server operating systems include it as a set of processes and services. Originally, only centralized domain management used Active Direct ...

domain is disabled by default. Computers that upgrade to Windows Media Center from a version of Windows that had joined the domain before upgrade will remain joined to the domain. However, if they leave the domain, they may never re-join. The option to join a domain during installation of this version of Windows is still available. Microsoft says that the reason for this discontinuation of feature is to support Media Center Extenders which required Fast User Switching. It is possible to re-enable joining a domain in the recovery console by changing the value of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\BANANA\WPA\MedCtrUpg\IsLegacyMCE Registry entry to 1. *

6.4, which was hidden in most Windows XP editions and came shipped with

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and can be installed on

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, Windows NT 4.0 and

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, was removed. The MCI version of Media Player, Media Player 5.1, also hidden in Windows XP, remains.

Hardware requirements

Media Center has higher hardware requirements than other editions of Windows XP. MCE 2005 requires at least a 1.6 GHz processor,

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

9.0 hardware-accelerated GPU (ATI Radeon 9 series or nVidia GeForce FX Series or higher), and 256 MB of System RAM. Some functionality, such as Media Center Extender support, use of multiple tuners, or

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

playback/recording carries higher system requirements. Media Center is much more restricted in the range of hardware that it supports than most other software DVR solutions. Media Center tuners must have a standardized driver interface, and they must have hardware

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods ...

encoders (this was changed as companies such as ATI wrote drivers to support MCE 2005 with their All-In-Wonder cards and HDTV Wonder cards), closed caption support, and a number of other features. Media Center remote controls are standardized in terms of button labels and functionality, and, to a degree, general layout.

Upgradeability

Windows XP Media Center Edition could be directly upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium or

Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista—a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system—was available in six different product editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. On September 5, 2006, Microsoft announced the USD ...

Post-release support

Support for Windows XP Media Center Edition under Microsoft's consumer product lifecycle policy was planned to end on April 13, 2010, however, in July 2009, Microsoft extended the support window to July 12, 2011. This date would be then extended again on December 31, 2010 to a final end of support date of April 8, 2014, citing support volumes in emerging markets as the reason for the extension. Windows XP Media Center Edition retail availability ended as planned on April 14, 2009.

References

External links

Windows XP Media Center Edition Website

Listing of Logo'd Hardware Partners for MCE 2005
- {{DEFAULTSORT:Windows Xp Media Center Edition Video recording software Windows XP 2004 software Microsoft Windows de:Windows XP Media Center he:Windows Media Center pt:Windows XP Media Center sv:Windows Media Center Edition