Gordon Laing

I've spent the past fortnight struggling to install Windows XP Media Center 2005 on my own PC. To be fair, Microsoft never said it was going to be easy; indeed Media Center was never intended for end-user installations. As a tricky beast to get going, Microsoft only ever meant for it to be pre-installed by manufacturers on brand new systems.

But when Microsoft's extended licensing for Media Center 2005 allowed system builders to theoretically sell the OEM installation discs to end users, I couldn't resist. It was a red rag to this bull who'd always envied its slick user interface and free two-week electronic programming guide (EPG), but was never prepared to buy a new PC just to have it.

The joy of the challenge aside, are there any compelling reasons to install Media Center on your own PC rather than installing rivals that are designed for end-user installations?

For starters, the value of Media Center's programming guide can't be underestimated. Most packages require a subscription or a complex process to harvest and reformat free scheduling data available on the internet. Others exploit the seven-day EPG delivered by Freeview for terrestrial digital TV broadcasts, but this can be slow to gather.

In contrast, Media Center gives you free access to a two-week EPG that automatically downloads from the internet every day. You just press the Guide button and it's there without delay, configuration or subscription. I'd say it's worth having just for this alone.

Media Center 2005's ability to use twin TV tuners is also useful. I rarely want to record two shows that are on at the same time, but I do like to pad recordings by a few minutes either end. Problems come if you're recording shows on different channels that immediately follow each other. With two tuners, the second show can start recording while the first one's finishing off. Once you've used it, you'll wonder how you ever coped with a single tuner.

It's no secret that I like Media Center, but I'm not prepared to buy a new PC just to have it. I have a perfectly good one it could run on, hence the attraction of attempting a manual installation. But despite the warnings, I had no idea how tricky it would turn out to be.

The initial Media Center installation itself presents no problem at all. The OEM packet consists of two CDs (costing around £70 ex VAT) that include a new version of Windows XP, requiring a fresh installation, so it will wipe your system clean. The version of XP that MCE comes with is essentially XP Professional with a few features disabled.

One contentious issue is its inability to connect to network domains, although this option is presented during initial installation. It's the only chance you'll get to join a domain without reinstalling the OS, but at least it's possible for those installing Media Center on their own machines.

So, apart from a slight panic when you're asked for a non-existent Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD (solved by simply reinserting disc one), the initial leg of getting Media Center to work is essentially no different from a standard XP installation. The hard part is trying to get it to work with your TV tuner, graphics card and DVD software.

Microsoft makes no attempt to hide the fact that Media Center is fussy over what it will work with. After wasting hours, I gave up trying to get existing parts to play ball and just decided to replace them with those absolutely known to work. Sadly, it's not just the hardware which has to be right; you may also need specific Media Center drivers, which aren't always available to end users.

Luckily there are exceptions and I'd advise you go for them. Hauppauge's latest TV tuners seem to work fine in MCE with their supplied drivers, and GDI even offers WHQL-certified Media Center software for its Black Gold tuners on its main website.

You'll need a recent graphics card with the right drivers, but Nvidia's standard XP software should work, and ATI has made its specific Media Center drivers available on its website.

Even with the right graphics and TV tuner you're not in the clear. Media Center records video content in mpeg2, which is used to view DVD movies and live digital TV broadcasts. You'll need DVD decoding software to see these, but not just any version; you should use Nvidia's DVD decoder or Cyberlink's PowerDVD 6.

If you meet all these conditions, Media Center should work without a hitch. Even if you have to buy a new graphics card, TV tuner and DVD software, along with the Media Center discs and Microsoft's remote control (the latter pair available from www.ebuyer.co.uk), you could theoretically upgrade a PC for less than £250. You may even own some of the required parts.

The secret behind installing Media Center is not to try and get around incompatibilities, but just to give it exactly what it wants.

Ultimately Windows XP Media Center Edition is not meant to be installed by end users and I suspect that the discs may never be sold alone as a retail option. But if you know which parts to use and where to get them, it really can be installed on your own PC. It's not for the fainthearted, but now it's running I'd say it was worth the effort.

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