Microsoft Plus for Windows XP Digital Media Edition: Review
Ok, First off I would like to say that I am not a fan of Microsoft Products. I do use some Micosoft products like and OS and other small things but I try to keep ol' Bill Gates out of my life. Many people know I did buy a Dell Axim, my first Pocket PC. I do love this device even though it could be made better but for a 300Mhz processor in your hand is pretty cool.

I got Plus Media Edition from Fry's for $9.99. 50% off of the retail price, so it appeared to be a bargin. The first thing that disappointed me was the Microsoft Activation. I encode video a lot in my Home Office and I didn't want to install this on my Avid machine but I wanted to see how it would impact my operating system before I made a mistake with this software. The activation will only let you put the software on one machine I believe. I bit the bullet and installed it on one of my main systems. The reason I was attracted to this software was a claim made that you can sync the video of the moning news on to your Pocket PC, via Sync n' Go. I wanted that option. I have put video on my Pocket PC before, after all I do encode tons of video. The way Microsoft does it is a little different. First thing that I didn't like was that it would only work with wmv and wma formats. It makes you choose the files that you want to sync and the interface is quite limited. Your wmv or wma files you want to sync must be in your Windows Media Player playlists. This design is horrible. The other way you can choose content is the pre-picked. It's not totally bad content, it's just limited. It's kinda like Avantgo on Special-K. It can use some help. It provides an interface for the Pocket PC as well too. The iterface makes the video choppy but has nice preset buttons to navigate. The video doesn't buffer much and the sound it clear but it reduces the frames per second.

The other stuff that comes with XP Plus are a waste of time. The activation should go out the window because if you are looking for the Sync the news and weather from the net to you pocket pc, shouldn't this only be paid for once for your pocket pc? The other stuff is less useful than the Windows XP power toys that are aparrently free on Microsoft's site, Microsoft needs to open up the interfave and let people create channels of video to be posted,. They should also redo the Pocket PC interface, Don't buy this product unless you get for $10 or lower,

I like my TiVo but this is cool too!
I haven't bought my copy yet and I hope to before the week is out but you should also check out Snapstream PVR software. It is very impressive on TV but so was Visual Communicator and that sucks. Snapstream is just software, you get the TV Tuner Card, and you supply a PC Remote. Thats it. You can then record mpeg-2 video with HTTP scheduling and no service contracts or bill. Check out the video at http://www.cnet.com/video/download/snapstream/.