Now that the launch of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (what a long name!) has passed, I’m no longer under a “cone of silence” and can talk a little bit about it.
I’ve built my system in an Antec Overture (piano black) desktop chassis (which is just the right size and color to be a nice looking “consumer electronics” style device).
The guts include an Intel D845PEBT2 motherboard, 512MB DDR 400 Mushkin Enhanced memory, a P4 3.06 with Hyperthreading cooled by a Zalman copper-alu flower-style HSF, an Asus GeForce 4 TI-4800 with 128MB RAM onboard, a Western Digital 80GB hard drive (for the OS and programs) and a 250GB (for music, videos, and recorded TV (both with 8MB cache), a Hauppague 325 tuner card, IEEE 1394 card, Zoom modem (for on-screen caller ID), a Pioneer 108 16x dual-layer DVD burner, 7-in-1 card reader, floppy drive (for nostalgia), optical surround sound and 10/100 NIC onboard, Microsoft MCE USB remote control (with a big Green Button), topped of with an OEM copy of MCE2005.
Unfortunately it’s still at the shop while I put the finishing touches on it and wait for R&D and the corporate brass to oogle over it. Though my wife is itching to get it home so we can “TiVo” all her favorite programs and can watch them whenever she wants! (I love having a technologically advanced wife!)
