# MCE reality check for TiVo lover



## Jimus (Dec 28, 2005)

I am conducting an experiment with an old PC and have bought a copy of MCE and two BlackGold DVB-T cards to create an MCE PC.

Getting very excited (possibly over-excited!) about the possibilities of an MCE network with extenders blah blah. I would love to have a central server with multiple tuners and distribute media wirelessly around the house via the network. Bit worried about the quality of the EPG / recording data as I have read report that it is dodgy in the UK.

Of course I am hoping it will be brilliant but am conscious that there may be peeps on here who can burst my enthusiasm bubble.

We will never get rid of our TiVo (until it blows up or burns out) but sometimes you have to dip your toe in the water.... 

Anybody else have an MCE PC for an experiment?

Jimus


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## steveroe (Oct 29, 2002)

There are a couple of discussions in the Chit-chat forum:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=214802

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=304008


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## nathan (Feb 18, 2002)

I have a couple of MCE boxes that I now use as my main recording method, with Tivo as a backup in case MCE throws a wobbly. The piccie on my plasma via VGA from the MCE box is much better than from the Tivo, which was one of the main reasons for trying it out. Still a bit of an experiment, I can't rely on MCE as much as I can and do with Tivo.


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## mjk (Mar 13, 2002)

I run MCE on one of the machines in my office (I work from home). Works well, apart from the occsional crash which I think may be due to a USB of Firewire external DVD driver. This machine runs a sky digbox as the video source.

I'm waiting for a new video card for the other server and then I'm going to try out the Windows Vista beta which has the full MCE functionality built in. This one will be running with a DTV card, and if it works well I'll add a second tuner.

Still only use MCE for a backup to my TiVos though!


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## Jimus (Dec 28, 2005)

Thanks for the responses, reading them it looks more promising than I thought it might to be honest.

Look forward to getting home in a week or two and having a tinker.

Cheers

Jimus


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

Jimus said:


> Bit worried about the quality of the EPG / recording data as I have read report that it is dodgy in the UK.


The EPG data for Windows MCE is gererated by Tribune. Were have I heard that company before??


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## smiffy (Mar 6, 2002)

I have a MCE box with a single GTA Black Gold card, an Optical Out sound card, and big hdd.

The machine is very stable. the only time it crashes is when I run a 3rd part app to change the screen res from 800x600 (old TV) to 1280x720 for the Projector. 

The guide data is ok - and its only missed one recording this year, which was because the BBC delayed the start of Dr Who. Not a major problem as I could download a copy the following day and still watch that via the MCE box.

I have a couple of issues:-

When using the DVD I have to change the sound output to SPDIF within the DVD player software. This can be done via the remote, but is not on a MCE style screen.

Also I have a season pass for "What xxxxxx did for us." And even though I seen the series it keeps recording it over and over again.

Big plus points for me is the abilty to play recordings off a NAS drive, DivX recordings, and all my other media (muscs and Photo).

Its sufficiently wife friendly too - not as much as the tivo - as I have it run at two screen resolutions depending on the output device.


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

6022tivo said:


> The EPG data for Windows MCE is gererated by Tribune. Were have I heard that company before??


Are you sure? I can remember the name of the company I was told did the MCE EPG, but it wasn't TMS.


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## mjk (Mar 13, 2002)

According to the About screen in the Settings | TV | Guide screen, listings are provided by Broadcasting Dataservices Ltd.


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## gavinss (Jun 20, 2002)

I have noticed that the MCE data for Big Brother on Channel 4 thinks that the new episodes each night are repeats (I use Freeview, in case it is different for other systems)) , and so will not record them with a "Season Pass" - I have had to tape them manually. The Tivo gets this right - so I doubt if the data is from the same source. Also, for MCE the live eviction has a different name (Big Brother - Live eviction) and so you need a separate Season Pass - that is not needed on the Tivo.

On the guide front, that data is in general pretty good with good descriptions. Where MCE lets you down is the quality of the guide-handling software. Every now and then it disassociates the guide data from some of the channels, which you need to reassociate manually. (This may have happened recently because "Scottish" became "stv".) When trying to solve that, it would not associate Channel 4 with its guide data, even when told to manually. In the end I had to redo the guided set-up from scratch to get it into shape. When doing that (and also when reattaching guide data), it seems to not reassociate the Season Passes properly, so they do not record the programs - I end up having to delete each one and add it in again.

Anyway, I think for a "consumer" product it is very poor having to associate guide data with each channel when first setting it up - that should be done by the software, not you. Tivo manages to do this perfectly. I think the excuse is that the guide title is different the channel title - but how little effort it would take for them to have a centrally located mapping table and download that with the data and do the mapping themselves in the software?

At least the MCE software is a lot more stable after the Roll-up 2 release.

Gavin


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## gavinss (Jun 20, 2002)

With MCE I have just seen the Original Air Dates also wrong for Top of the Pops - given the year 2000! The data seems to be getting worse it that respect - I suppose the saying that you pay peanuts, then you get monkeys may apply!

It is annoying that neither Tivo nor MCE have an option to tell them to not perform the 28-day rule (or MCE equivalent). It would be good to say record everything - do not check dates - for the all-to-frequent case of bad repeat dates in the data. It is better to delete a program you have seen already, than to have it miss programs.

Gavin


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

sanderton said:


> Are you sure? I can remember the name of the company I was told did the MCE EPG, but it wasn't TMS.


I asked who provided the data on this forum a few weeks ago.. The answer was Tribune.. I will dig out the thread and give them a telling off.


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

The MCE data's from BDS

http://blog.itvt.com/my_weblog/2005/10/broadcasting_da.html


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