(Aussie note: The text might read “Media Center”, but my heart says “Media Centre”.)
Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition (900325) appeared today on Windows Update as an optional update (it won’t install itself using Automatic Updates, you need to go get it).
BUT! There’s already a post-update update that addresses a bunch of problems in Update Rollup 2.
So, first, install Update Rollup 2 from Windows Update, or from the Download Center here (30ish MB).
As soon as the computer restarts after installing Update Rollup 2 (meaning, don’t wait to be disappointed by it, but timing isn’t really a factor), go back to Windows Update and look for another Media Center update (Windows Update detects UR2 and only offers the post-UR2 update if you actually have UR2 installed), or go get 908250 from the Download Centre here (3-ish MB).
Install it, then restart one last time and you’re done. You might need to set some stuff up again (like TV guides), and HD support is now fully workable (at least on my system). Keep in mind that HD is typically about 3-4 times as “fat” as SD in terms of storage (and IO performance requirements, and video card requirements, and so on…)
Cautionary Tales:
I have twin Avermedia A16A Digital TV tuners, which typically work fine, and I’m using the 1.0.2.0 drivers currently available for them.
http://www.avermedia.com/drivers/drivers.asp?OS=Windows+MCE&Product=AVerMedia+A16A+TV+Tuner+Card
Immediately after installing both new updates, the channel scan came up blank. Not a sausage. I went and scoured the Aussie XP Media Centre forums for clues, and it looked like an MCE Configuration Reset was going to be the go.
So I downloaded it, but before running it I decided to re-scan the channels one more time, and that time it found all 29 services. Whoop!
I reinstalled IceTV’s IceGuide (and so did another channel scan) to convince myself that everything would work properly (IceGuide has separate listings for HD channels, bless them), and everything seems – so far – to be working really, really well.
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