> Media Center can't count on that to happen all the time.
What I want to know, then, is, -Why should it even *care*??- I mean, at
some point the user bears responsibility for his/her own actions. If the
MCE PC can change the channels when it wants, then great! -- but if it
can't, so what? Let the user deal with that, but at least let them use
the remaining functionality!!!
Look, I agree that in a perfect world, it _is_ a -nicer- thing if MCE
can change the channels for itself, but c'mon: It's not the computer's
responsibility to ensure that I wake up in the morning, or that I eat
3x a day, or go to he bathroom when necessary, so, since it -can't-
even guarantee that the IR tuner actually works properly anyway, the
absence of it shouldn't obviate the rest of the functionality! (I've
been recording my TV shows happily for over a YEAR with the Hauppage
WinTV application under XP, and I never even dug the IR Blaster
hardware out of the box until I tried to setup MCE on Vista tonight! --
-obviously then-, it's functionality is entirely superfluous to my
needs!)
Furthermore, as I alluded to above, even if MCE says it MUST HAVE this
hardware, it -still- can't guarantee that everything's going to work
flawlessly: It has no ability, for example, to determine if the IR LED
is pointed in the correct fashion, or if the cat ate it, or any other
problem that could potentially ocurr. All it can do is send the signal
and -assume- that meant something happened, but since it has no means
to detect the result, it's more or less just hoping that it works.
Here's another one: To do it's job, the MCE computer requires that both
the STB and the computer have power. As such, why isn't MCE operation
prevented unless the owner has an MS-MCE-Approved UPS/Generator
connected to these devices? As rediculous as it sounds, it's -exactly-
as silly as -requiring- the MCE IR hardware! Oh! -- and if the
weather's bad out, it might prevent MCE from being able to record a
program off my satellite TV, maybe -that- should also be a reason for
disabling MCE? (maybe they could write a wizard that checks the weather
channel website each day to see if it's an MS-MCE-Approved-Weather day
and enable/disable the functionality accordingly?)
Look, obviously the decision was made that it was okay for the user to
be responsible for ensuring adequate electricity and a host of other
things that are also necssary for successfully recording a TV program,
so maybe it really -is-, (also) okay if they sometimes have to be
responsible for changing the channel too?
In any event, I am still perplexed as to why, given all of these
things, ALL of MCE's tuner-based functionality is eliminated just
because one "bonus" function doesn't work? Surely if *I* (the customer)
can live with that limitation, that's all that really matters isn't it?
PS: As it turns out, my satellite receiver's remote is -*UHF*- based!
So even if I go out and drop US$35 on the MS-IR thingy (in complete
redundance to the Hauppage one I already have), it doesn't make a damn
bit of difference! (At least, not as far as getting MCE to perform the
job you're telling me that it -must- do.) So, given that condition, why
not at least let me -USE- the thing to the extent of which I actually
-CAN- use it? Essentially I'm saying I only need 70% of MCE's
tuner-based functionality and you're telling me that if I won't use
100%, then I can't have -any-. Which, I have to say, is a -very-
annoying thing to be told... (I say this because I remember feeling
that way about it ... you know, back in Grade 2? When someone else
playing in the sandbox would pack up all their toys and storm off if
they didn't get their own way? -- this feels a lot like that).
--
Bleus
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