XP Media center errors

I am getting frustrated with M$ and may get a Mac or switch to Linux
I just installed Win XP Media center 2005 complete with the updates ( Well I was forced to activate in order to get the ruttin updates since the update CD would not work since I needed the .dot net runtimes )
My sytems specs are

Asus a8nsli deluxe with after market north bridge cooler
Athlon 64 3200+ / Zalman cooler
1 gig Micron ram
Asus /nvidia 8600gt with 256 megs or ram
Using onboard sound for now ( Nvidia )
Hauppauge Win TV pvr 150 tuner card
Seagate 'cuda 320 meg drive
two panasoice DVR drives

When I go to watch TV or play a DVD or even during the setup of media center I get a " Decoder error, The video decoder has either malfunctioned or is not install, Please restart Media Center and/or the computer
During the set up it was the audio portion of the setup, since when do you need to decode video to get audio G F
Wait a minute I paid for this thing and expect it to have a decoder included, That is why it is media center . Kind of like when I buy a car I get the engine
Or do I have to replace the tuner card with a special media center tuner card, possibly made by M$
I may wipe the drive and drop Linux in, this may be the last M$ POS software I buy , I know if I wipe the drive and reinstall I will be a crook since I will be denied activation and have to phone and type in a 42 digit number , This has happened to me a few times when reinstalling XP on the same hardware
Right now a Mac book is looking really good, I set one up and was playing DVDs out of the box
If M$ wants to copy innovation they should copy that example
End Rant :flames:

ummm rant away ... but have you considered the TV card might be faulty?

Have you installed the decoder updates?

Why are you assuming it's media centers fault when it could easily be misconfigured or faulty hardware?

Sounds to me like you blaming the wrong people for your dilema.
As NooNoo said it sounds more like the card is at fault and not MS.
Anytime you wipe an xp/media centre drive and reinstall you need to re-activate. Not a big deal takes about 4 minutes over the net unless you have re- activated many times recently and then it takes some time over the phone. Still not that big a deal for re activateing so much.
I have used media centre type software in xp and vista to watch and record tv on my system without issue. It actually works very well. Mind you i use a ATI Theatre Pro 550.
Good luck with the linux and media centre thing.

Hi Noo
That is the driver I installed and this is a fresh installation of media center that I bought at my local computer shop , That is why I am ranting
If cars were built like this we would never get to our destinations
The TV card works under the Win TV application and so it cannot be faulty , Unless M$ demands a proprietary card
So that means I do have a video decoder installed
When I got media center it had 3 cds, One was an update cd and required the dot net runtimes which I thought was stupid ( Another car without the engine )
So I was forced to activate before I could verify that the install was good
I figured media center would have the video decoder built in but I guess M$ wants more money , I also thought Media center would pick up on the decoder from Hauppauge but no joy
Any ideas and thanks for responding, I am just a bit frustrated

Just to clarify here
Did you purchase a Media Centre PC?
Or did you just purchase the media centre operating system cd's and put those on your computer

I purchased the media center cds

Info: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...oundsound.mspx


http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...center-pc4.htm

Yes you did mention it was happening in the sound section and CCT's top link goes into how to configure the audio decoders.

I find it strange to get a video decoder error when going into the audio set up when you first start up MCE
I wonder if MCE does not play nice with the onboard sound , but why a video decoder error when entering the audio set up
I am only running a two speaker system on the PC nothing fancy
Looks like I am off to get a sound card

Well did you check that the onboard sound is mce2005 compatible?

Same with the video decoder . Check if it is compatible with media centre

Is there a webpage where I can check if the onboard sound is compatible with MCE , I am not sure which sound chipset that Asus used on the A8N SLI deluxe
The Video decoder should be compatible since it is provided by Hauppauge
I may pull my XFI from my main system, fire it into the MCE system and give it a try , Or my Audugy card from the other system
Good thing I have several computers, thanks folks for the responses and I apologize for the earlier rant , I was frustrated with things
Now I see why Noo has that signature :thumbs:

general info, faqs etc

rollup 2 (service pack)

As for a definitive list, I can't find one as such this is an initial list but does not appear to have been expanded

Thanks Noo and all who responded
Looks like my tuner card will join the heap of parts in my room, from what I can glean from that list, My pvr150 is not compatible with MCE , Well according to what the Hauppauge site says I can run it but in limp mode
I even tossed in my XFI sound card and still get the decoder error, So the tuner card is going to be replaced
I want a seamless operation of this system, Nice the watch TV while you work with the other PC
So I am off to the computer shop .....again

You want the PVR150MCE - a specific version for MCE2005 - but better get the 250..

Well the problem is solved and this thread can be closed, Thanks goes out to all who responded
The problem turned out to be my need for DVD playback software,So I installed Power DVD fired up the system, ran setup and presto I have TV and it works great, The credit goes to the sales guy at Memory Express, he told me he had the same problem, I still replaced the card with the 150 MCE since the threaded cable connector on my old card was loose
I fixed this potential problem on the new card by placing a coaxial cable nut on each side of the bracket
Again thanks to Noo Noo,Ferrit and CCT for responding to my rant :thumbs:

Keep that one in mind, as error messages go, that one was a bit ambiguous considering how many codecs/decoders are needed nowadays.

Always a pleasure to see an issue resolved and a happy customer as it were.