🚀 go-pugleaf

"Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ey8TH6vOIHA.5524@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl
> Doc wrote:
>> I had a question about my M-Audio Audiophile 2496. It's
>> running under XP Media Center. M-Audio replied that they don't
>> support any of their hardware with this O/S.
>>
>> The card works like a champ as far as I can tell. Their
>> response is "this doesn't mean you won't experience full
>> functionality but we don't support it".
>>
>> ??

>> Do they know whether their card works with this O/S or
>> don't they? Can someone clarify what the rationale
>> behind this is?  Is there something fundamentally
>> different about the way XP MCE is designed that it's
>> wholly unlike other versions of XP and just happens to have the same look 
>> as the other versions?

>> Anyone experience weird problems with XP MCE that other
>> versions don't cause? Everything I've ever run on it
>> runs fine, including older versions of things that
>> aren't certified for it such as Soundforge 5 and
>> Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.

They run fine superficially, and will run fine for some people who are 
lucky.

> Shenan Stanley wrote:

>> Can you download drivers for Windows XP Professional?
>>  Same thing.  Windows XP Media Center is basically
>> Windows XP Professional with the Media Center components
>> and lacking a couple of domain related features...

It's the media center components that are the rub.

>> Hardware manufacturers seem to pick and choose like this
>> to save their support time.

No, they sometimes just have to face up to some of the nastier aspects of 
reality, and Windows MCE is IME such a thing.

> Patrick Keenan wrote:

>> Unfortunately, XP Pro drivers don't seem to solve the
>> problems between  MCE and audio recording gear, unless
>> they're part of a clean XP Pro install. And those components are what
>> cause the problems with recording,
>> [Windows Media Center Components]
>> and that is why virtually no audio interface (as opposed
>> to soundcard) manufacturer supports MCE.

>> The same kinds of problems exist with tablet editions of
>>  Windows XP. I think you'll find that the problems
>> between MCE and audio recording hardware and software are rather more
>> fundamental than this, and that the manufacturers are
>> NOT "picking and choosing" in this case "to save their
>> support time".    Instead, they are trying to save their
>> customers from a bad experience.

Agreed.

>> These manufacturers, like M-Audio, DigiDesign, Presonus,
>> Line 6, Steinberg, produce gear primarily intended for
>> multitrack audio recording and production.

>> They're faced with an OS that has a variety of services
>> that in-house testing and  customer experience has shown to
>> prevent audio recording hardware from functioning properly.

Agreed. MCE was not a bad idea, but the execution is something else.

The problem with MCE is not what in it necessarily does, but what it can do 
under some circumstances.

>> Their gear just does not work reliably under MCE.

Oh, I suspect it can work well, but with MCE it is easy to set the stage for 
disaster.

>> Virtually *none* of the manufacturers of real audio
>> interfaces or audio recording software support MCE.    They can't fix it.

If you understand the potential of MCE, you understand the potential for 
disaster. In MCE it is very easy to set up a timer-driven event that fires 
up the TV capture card in the backghround and writes a monster video file to 
the hard drive.  The TV capture card includes a MPEG encoder that may be 
hardware or may be software. If its software, it can take up most of the 
CPU. If you're capturing a really nice-looking HDTV program you are 
basically writing maybe 5 meg/sec to the hard drive.

What happens if you are trying to record some audio at the same time?

>> If you've just spent hours recording a performance, only
>> to find it ruined and rendered worthless by clicks and
>> pops and dropouts you eventually find were actually
>> introduced by OS services, this is far beyond a matter of saving support 
>> time.

>> It's a matter of ensuring reliable, predictable
>> operation, and that has been demonstrated as being too
>> often unavailable with MCE.

> Interesting and informational response, Patrick.  I
> appreciate it!

IME he's speaking the truth.