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manhattanmania

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 9, 2007
285
101
I'm thinking about installing Vista for various reasons and want to use the OEM of Home Premium. From some research online it seems pretty iffy whether or not Windows Media Center is included with the OEM version of Home Premium. From what I get on newegg.com media center isn't on the OEM, but on other sites it is...

I'd just like some clarification as to if media center is on the home premium oem or a site that you guys have bought from that you know media center is def on the oem home premium

Thanks
 

ReanimationLP

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2005
2,782
33
On the moon.
Yes it is.

The only difference between the retail and OEM editions is that you dont get telephone support from Microsoft using OEM, they tell you to call your computer builder.
 

manhattanmania

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 9, 2007
285
101
well i dont think thats really true as ive seen on various sites and forums people complaining that their oem home premium did not include media center. i've also seen mentions of home premium "lite" and home premium "heavy" so i think there are more differences to oem than phone support, being tied to one computer, etc etc

any others w/ clarification/sites where media center is def included on the oem?
 

ReanimationLP

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2005
2,782
33
On the moon.
Did I mention burning TV shows to DVD is now included out of the box, too? As far as I'm concerned, Media Center is the killer app for Vista. And at $120 for the OEM Home Premium edition, it's a flat-out bargain for a better-than-Tivo experience-- without all those onerous monthly fees.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000784.html

I have installed the OEM version of Home Premium on my best friends computer that she bought to upgrade from XP, and yes, it does have Media Center.

There is no two versions that I've seen. Though I've seen a lot of illegal versions coming with stuff removed or added.

EDIT - I do see what your talking about in the newegg reviews.

Thats frickin' weird. I did do her machine back in June or so, maybe they changed it since then. I'll look into it a bit more for ya and see if I can pull a straight answer.

EDIT 2 - When in doubt though, just grab Ultimate edition for the extra 50-60. You get all of the features then.
 

manhattanmania

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 9, 2007
285
101
Did I mention burning TV shows to DVD is now included out of the box, too? As far as I'm concerned, Media Center is the killer app for Vista. And at $120 for the OEM Home Premium edition, it's a flat-out bargain for a better-than-Tivo experience-- without all those onerous monthly fees.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000784.html

I have installed the OEM version of Home Premium on my best friends computer that she bought to upgrade from XP, and yes, it does have Media Center.

There is no two versions that I've seen. Though I've seen a lot of illegal versions coming with stuff removed or added.

EDIT - I do see what your talking about in the newegg reviews.

Thats frickin' weird. I did do her machine back in June or so, maybe they changed it since then. I'll look into it a bit more for ya and see if I can pull a straight answer.

a simple google of the issue will show you i'm not pulling this out of thin air, there is plenty on the web on it, including complaints about oem from newegg.com (which is reputable to my knowledge) not having media center included. but glad to hear the version you installed had it.
 

The Flashing Fi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2007
763
0
Yes, it is included.

These "Heavy" and "Lite" packages are probably illegal versions. I know there is an illegal version of Ultimate with stuff trimmed out.

Anyway, for whatever reason, Media Center may not have gotten installed by default. You can install or uninstall certain apps and features from Vista by going to Control Panel> Programs and Features and on the left hand side, there is a link that says "Turn Windows Features On or Off." It may be in there. I'm running Business, so it doesn't come with Media Center. However, the games aren't installed by default (solitaire, chess, hearts, ect), but they can be installed through what I just said.;)

I also don't consider Newegg reputable. Some of the people are simply dumb, but it can be a good way to gauge if a product has many issues.

I think I found the thread you were looking at that brought up the concern. The guy didn't use media center and suddenly wanted to use it. Over the course of having Vista installed, he probably disabled Media Center and can't figure out how to enable it again. There are some services related to Media Center that you can turn off, which he may have done.
 
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