Vista Ultimate - Media Center suggestions

First let me say, wonderful product. I plan on purchasing an HP Media Smart
http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/...225-121.html#1 to go with
Vista Ultimate - Media Center when HP ships their new product line. Xbox is
okay (loud, doesn't match the other equipment look and feel), but a TV with
Microsoft Media Center Extender software built in, you gotta just go with it.

Already have a Denon 5805mkII receiver that through ethernet, plays the
music shared from my Vista Ultimate - Media Center.

Had DirecTV HD DVR for many years, replaced that with Dish Network HD DVR,
now I found a purpose for the non-dvr receiver that also came with the Dish
Network service, I hooked it up to Vista Media Center...

Vista Ultimate recognized the hardware in my system (ATI Theatre Pro 650)
without an issue (ATI had updates). Also use the Microsoft Media Center
Remote control/receiver and keyboard, which also installed easily.

Couple of suggestions related to the Dish Network use of Vista Media Center.
1) Dish network does a daily update, in their system you can "disable" the
update, but it does it anyway. The issue is, when it has completed it's
update (default 3:00am) it puts the receiver in stand-by mode.

If Vista Ultimate - Media Center has a scheduled program after the update,
it records the stand-by screen saver coming off the receiver.

====== SUGGEST:
Is there a way to add a remote send of the "Select then Cancel" signal
before Media Center sends the channel change to the receiver?

"Select" is the button on the Dish Network remote control that, if the
receiver is in standby mode, will bring it out of stand-by. I currently set
the Dish Network receiver to update at 12:00 PM when I can be around to
manually remove the receiver from stand-by.

I recommend also sending the "Cancel" signal in case the receiver is not in
stand-by mode, to remove the channel information display which would appear
on-screen by having used the "Select" command.

I talked with Dish Network and they "say" you can disable the update through
system preferences, I tried that and instead had a message on screen, after a
days use, that the receiver wanted updates that were not scheduled. The
dialog message was recorded instead of a tv show recording I had scheduled.

====== SUGGEST:
A single button used from the remote or remote keyboard or mouse that would
place Media Center graphics/video in a neutral mode. Let me explain...
trying to both conserve on power and keep heat down on the Vista Ultimate -
Media Center when it's only being used to record shows and I am not at home.
Think green!

At the moment I go to the Recorded TV, pick any show, play it for a moment
and stop it, then go to View Scheduled listing. This seems to be the fastest
way to stop any video playing either live or recorded. This means my computer
graphics card isn't working hard, isn't getting hot trying to output video
while I'm not there to watch. I also have the system on a 5 minute screen
timed saver...

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"Rich" <Rich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0BD6EF4-A14A-441A-AEFB-042D97584767@microsoft.com...
> First let me say, wonderful product.

If it weren't for that frustrating up/down, left/right scrolling thing to
find what you want and the horizontal scroll to see your albums. I really
liked the MCE 2005 way of doing it. This seems different for the sake of
being different rather than to improve something. The old way wasn't broke.

>I plan on purchasing an HP Media Smart
> http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/...225-121.html#1 to go with
> Vista Ultimate - Media Center when HP ships their new product line. Xbox
> is
> okay (loud, doesn't match the other equipment look and feel), but a TV
> with
> Microsoft Media Center Extender software built in, you gotta just go with
> it.
>
> Already have a Denon 5805mkII receiver that through ethernet, plays the
> music shared from my Vista Ultimate - Media Center.
>
> Had DirecTV HD DVR for many years, replaced that with Dish Network HD DVR,
> now I found a purpose for the non-dvr receiver that also came with the
> Dish
> Network service, I hooked it up to Vista Media Center...
>
> Vista Ultimate recognized the hardware in my system (ATI Theatre Pro 650)
> without an issue (ATI had updates). Also use the Microsoft Media Center
> Remote control/receiver and keyboard, which also installed easily.
>
> Couple of suggestions related to the Dish Network use of Vista Media
> Center.
> 1) Dish network does a daily update, in their system you can "disable" the
> update, but it does it anyway. The issue is, when it has completed it's
> update (default 3:00am) it puts the receiver in stand-by mode.

There was two places I had to set my box to make the updates stop but id did
work - but then you have to wait at the most inconvenient times when dish
network runs out of programming information. You can also change the time.

But don't you just hate this feature? If the box knows where to take you
back to when you push Select, why the #@#? can't it simply go back there
when the update is done? We leave the TV on when we travel for whatever
peace of mind it gives us thinking that it sounds like someone is home.
Except with updates on, the TV goes quiet after one night! Who thought this
one up? I have screamed about this for years to Dish Network.

Actually I find the mouse support fantastic. Media Center supports the wheel
on the mouse to scroll left and right or up and down depending on the list
view. It's making me lazy

"Dale" wrote:

>
> "Rich" <Rich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A0BD6EF4-A14A-441A-AEFB-042D97584767@microsoft.com...
> > First let me say, wonderful product.
>
> If it weren't for that frustrating up/down, left/right scrolling thing to
> find what you want and the horizontal scroll to see your albums. I really
> liked the MCE 2005 way of doing it. This seems different for the sake of
> being different rather than to improve something. The old way wasn't broke.
>
> >I plan on purchasing an HP Media Smart
> > http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/...225-121.html#1 to go with
> > Vista Ultimate - Media Center when HP ships their new product line. Xbox
> > is
> > okay (loud, doesn't match the other equipment look and feel), but a TV
> > with
> > Microsoft Media Center Extender software built in, you gotta just go with
> > it.
> >
> > Already have a Denon 5805mkII receiver that through ethernet, plays the
> > music shared from my Vista Ultimate - Media Center.
> >
> > Had DirecTV HD DVR for many years, replaced that with Dish Network HD DVR,
> > now I found a purpose for the non-dvr receiver that also came with the
> > Dish
> > Network service, I hooked it up to Vista Media Center...
> >
> > Vista Ultimate recognized the hardware in my system (ATI Theatre Pro 650)
> > without an issue (ATI had updates). Also use the Microsoft Media Center
> > Remote control/receiver and keyboard, which also installed easily.
> >
> > Couple of suggestions related to the Dish Network use of Vista Media
> > Center.
> > 1) Dish network does a daily update, in their system you can "disable" the
> > update, but it does it anyway. The issue is, when it has completed it's
> > update (default 3:00am) it puts the receiver in stand-by mode.
>
> There was two places I had to set my box to make the updates stop but id did
> work - but then you have to wait at the most inconvenient times when dish
> network runs out of programming information. You can also change the time.
>
> But don't you just hate this feature? If the box knows where to take you
> back to when you push Select, why the #@#? can't it simply go back there
> when the update is done? We leave the TV on when we travel for whatever
> peace of mind it gives us thinking that it sounds like someone is home.
> Except with updates on, the TV goes quiet after one night! Who thought this
> one up? I have screamed about this for years to Dish Network.
>
>