| SageTV vs MCE2005, part 1 Overview: This is the first round in my three round mini-reviews of SageTV and MCE2005. This first mini-review will compare the hardware required, money spent, and ease of installation or not. Also, i originally did not give MS a look with their Media Center, but once it was available OEM without buying a PC; its features made me want to buy a copy, so i did. Hardware Required: Well, first things first, what does it take to run SageTV or Windows XP MCE 2005? Lets start with good ole SageTV. SageTV is a program that runs on Windows 2000/XP HTPCs. The hardware support for it is decent and much wider than Windows XP MCE 2005. Here's a link to the hardware compatibility page for SageTV Most WinTV tuners will work and avermedia tuners, and a ton other tuners from hauppauge to plextor. USB Tuners are also supported. Also, SageTV does support Multiple Tuners in one PC at the get-go. MCE 2005 only supports 1 HD over-the-air tuner and two analog tv tuners. MCE2005's support is much smaller than SageTVs since MCE is an OS and requires MCE Specific drivers to run. The good thing about the package i purchesed was the TV Tuner was MCE compatible. Both support IR remotes, however MCE requires an MCE-certified remote (see list from above); however my non mce remote i got from NMediaPC.com works perfect, even the TV, RADIO, MOVIE buttons. SageTV is pretty flexible with its compatibility with remotes, if you can use it in Windows, it prob will work for the most part in SageTV. Pricing / Hardware Costs: SageTV v2.2 : $79.95 (hardware bundles are available! price via sagetv store) Windows XP MCE 2005 : $125 (however you usually have to purchase hardware with it, price via http://newegg.com )
However, you also get Windows XP too! The full deal in a way, you get a XP OS and MCE. Installation: SageTV: Installation was easy, I run XP and just clicked on the installer. Followed the prompts. once installation completes, you can have then run SageTV and setup your Tuner. This was pretty easy too, just follow the instructions. However, the EPG part was the trickiest since we have a few cable providers and it didn't list the exact one; problem solved by using closest one and then just manually rename channels that didn't match. SageTV did NOT Support my TV tuners FM Tuner (FM radio). The setup is made to be done via a remote and also works well with a mouse. Windows XP Media Center Ed 2005: If you know how to install an OS, identical to XP except you have two CDs. The 2nd CD basically contains the Media Center part of XP, while the first CD is a basic XP Prof Install CD. If your new to OS installs, still is pretty easy. Just back up your data, reboot with the CD in (or you can prob upgraded, i didn't try that since i prefer the 'clean' install (format harddrive then install os), and follow prompts. Setting up Media Center 2005 is SUPER easy. My remote works perfectly in MCE2005 (even though its made for Powercinema, cool eh?), so i just used that to setup MCE. All the install screens have complementing videos to help you adjust your monitor/tv to get the best picture. The EPG setup was ON THE MONEY with my provider. Also, Media Center 2005 asked me to setup my FM Tuner too! Everything in the setup is made to be done via a remote, very nice. So after round 1, it appears to be a tie, with a bit of an advantage going to SageTV due to its larger compatibility list, however since MCE2005 is a full XP OS; its a pretty good deal too! Part 2 coming soon! (Visual Layout, Usuability, Add-ons/Customizing, PVR Abilities) peace seamonkey420
created: 07/18/05 | 
