Please can you help me with an XP/Creative conflict?
February 14, 2006 7:26 AM Subscribe
What's so special about XP Media Centre and why won't Creative help me with my Zen Vision problem?
I have an XP Media Centre edition laptop and have just bought a Zen Vision (after some excellent advice from MeFites to a previous question -- thanks!). The device appears to work perfectly and the software installation went without any hitches, but my laptop won't recognise when the device is connected, so for all intents and purposes it is useless. So I dropped a quick email to Creative support. But, instead of any deep and probing questions, or complicated tecnical instructions, they quoted the product requirements at me and told me they don't support Media Centre "OS".
The requirements says simply "Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or higher)". My laptop IS running Windows XP service pack 1 or higher -- it's an XP computer, Media Centre "edition". But when I query the distinction with Creative, they simply repeat the requirements and ignore my question -- which is what's the difference?
Trying to get Creative to answer my questions is difficult. They seem to have a script which they refuse to budge from. So any advice you have on how to interact with them would be greatly appreicated. But it would also help me to understand what I'm dealing with. Do you know what, apart from a couple of applications, is different about the Media Centre edition? Why on earth wouldn't Creative support it (assuming what they actually mean is they only support the Home edition)? And can you think of any possible ways to get my computer to talk to my Zen Vision if Creative refuse or are unable to help?
Sorry for such a long and rambing question and thanks for your help and advice.
I have an XP Media Centre edition laptop and have just bought a Zen Vision (after some excellent advice from MeFites to a previous question -- thanks!). The device appears to work perfectly and the software installation went without any hitches, but my laptop won't recognise when the device is connected, so for all intents and purposes it is useless. So I dropped a quick email to Creative support. But, instead of any deep and probing questions, or complicated tecnical instructions, they quoted the product requirements at me and told me they don't support Media Centre "OS".
The requirements says simply "Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or higher)". My laptop IS running Windows XP service pack 1 or higher -- it's an XP computer, Media Centre "edition". But when I query the distinction with Creative, they simply repeat the requirements and ignore my question -- which is what's the difference?
Trying to get Creative to answer my questions is difficult. They seem to have a script which they refuse to budge from. So any advice you have on how to interact with them would be greatly appreicated. But it would also help me to understand what I'm dealing with. Do you know what, apart from a couple of applications, is different about the Media Centre edition? Why on earth wouldn't Creative support it (assuming what they actually mean is they only support the Home edition)? And can you think of any possible ways to get my computer to talk to my Zen Vision if Creative refuse or are unable to help?
Sorry for such a long and rambing question and thanks for your help and advice.
According to MS, Zen Vision is explicitly supported in MCE 2005. What version do you have? Apparently anything called a "Portable Media Center" is supposed to sync with MCE 2005 automatically.
There appears to be different models: Zen Vision, Zen Vision PMC, Zen Vision:M, Zen Vision HDD. WHat version do you have? Maybe only the "PMC" edition is rigged to sync with MS's Media Player.
You could try a different media manager. JR Media Center supports Zen through the MS "WMDM" driver.
Personally, if I was going for some kind of rich media portable device, I'd get something a bit more agnostic about DRM such as an Archos or iRiver that just syncs over USB as an external hard drive. Simple and effective and not subject to the whims of proprietary interfaces or DRM-encumbered drivers.
posted by meehawl at 8:08 AM on February 14, 2006
There appears to be different models: Zen Vision, Zen Vision PMC, Zen Vision:M, Zen Vision HDD. WHat version do you have? Maybe only the "PMC" edition is rigged to sync with MS's Media Player.
You could try a different media manager. JR Media Center supports Zen through the MS "WMDM" driver.
Personally, if I was going for some kind of rich media portable device, I'd get something a bit more agnostic about DRM such as an Archos or iRiver that just syncs over USB as an external hard drive. Simple and effective and not subject to the whims of proprietary interfaces or DRM-encumbered drivers.
posted by meehawl at 8:08 AM on February 14, 2006
It's incredibly stupid, but XP Media Center is deliberately crippled in a number of ways. They added media features, but then pulled a lot of other features *out*. For instance, it will _not_ remember network credentials, so you can't map a network drive and have it remember the username and password to re-map the drive the next time. I'm serious.
Microsoft truly blows chunks; to maintain 'market differentiation', they'll **** you over. Media Center Edition may be locked down in such a way that you can't use your Creative player.
Assuming that you got an OEM edition, I'd first try searching Microsoft's online support system, and then calling your OEM if you don't find anything.
You always have the option of returning the player, and buying one from a company that's interested in supporting its customers. iPods are expensive, but Apple will fall over backwards to help you get it working.
posted by Malor at 8:11 AM on February 14, 2006
Microsoft truly blows chunks; to maintain 'market differentiation', they'll **** you over. Media Center Edition may be locked down in such a way that you can't use your Creative player.
Assuming that you got an OEM edition, I'd first try searching Microsoft's online support system, and then calling your OEM if you don't find anything.
You always have the option of returning the player, and buying one from a company that's interested in supporting its customers. iPods are expensive, but Apple will fall over backwards to help you get it working.
posted by Malor at 8:11 AM on February 14, 2006
Apple will fall over backwards to help you get it working
With the basic factory firmware, the ipod doesn't like to play many video formats except the two "blessed" by Apple. It is a bit of a chore to convert MCE videos (DVR-MS) to ipod format, and you lose resolution and sometimes audio sync. But it can be done. Videora will do it, or Nero.
On the whole though, if you've gone the MCE route then it's best when *transparently* coupled to a recognised device. Imagine trying to get itunes to play nicely with a Zen and you have some idea of what it's like getting MCE to play with the ipod.
posted by meehawl at 9:08 AM on February 14, 2006
With the basic factory firmware, the ipod doesn't like to play many video formats except the two "blessed" by Apple. It is a bit of a chore to convert MCE videos (DVR-MS) to ipod format, and you lose resolution and sometimes audio sync. But it can be done. Videora will do it, or Nero.
On the whole though, if you've gone the MCE route then it's best when *transparently* coupled to a recognised device. Imagine trying to get itunes to play nicely with a Zen and you have some idea of what it's like getting MCE to play with the ipod.
posted by meehawl at 9:08 AM on February 14, 2006
Sounds like my Creative Experience. My MP3 player became a paperweight with SP2.
posted by JamesMessick at 9:50 AM on February 14, 2006
posted by JamesMessick at 9:50 AM on February 14, 2006
londonmark, please email me (in profile), and I can help you out from the Media Center side of things to hopefully get this working for you.
posted by Diddly at 10:36 AM on February 14, 2006
posted by Diddly at 10:36 AM on February 14, 2006
Had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago (Media Centre, Zen Microphoto). I had purchased a brand new Zen. I couldn't even get it to charge via the USB port, let alone get Media Centre to recognise it. Because of the power issue, I assumed it to be a faulty cable or port on the player. Didn't care and returned it.
Media Centre is crippled severely from a networking standpoint (even beyond the lack of domain support, which there is a hack for), but you'd think this wouldn't automatically affect peripherals, unless it involves support for those useless "extensions" you're supposed to buy to complete the experience, which would make sense.
Anyway, I exchanged it for an iPod (which I swore I would never buy - just because of the absurd pricing) and it works fine. Non-tech solution? Yeah, but much easier. Especially if Creative won't help you out.
posted by converge at 11:52 AM on February 14, 2006
Media Centre is crippled severely from a networking standpoint (even beyond the lack of domain support, which there is a hack for), but you'd think this wouldn't automatically affect peripherals, unless it involves support for those useless "extensions" you're supposed to buy to complete the experience, which would make sense.
Anyway, I exchanged it for an iPod (which I swore I would never buy - just because of the absurd pricing) and it works fine. Non-tech solution? Yeah, but much easier. Especially if Creative won't help you out.
posted by converge at 11:52 AM on February 14, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. I understand why some people are so quick to suggest iPod, but the fact is I already own a Zen Vision and would like to fix that if possible. Plus, without derailing my own question, my experience with a previous iPod was far from the ildyl that iPod-ophites would like to paint and I prefer to steer clear from now on.
I'm going to pursue Creative and will report back here if I get any fixes. In the meantime, thanks especially to Diddly for his offline assistance.
posted by londonmark at 1:50 PM on February 15, 2006
I'm going to pursue Creative and will report back here if I get any fixes. In the meantime, thanks especially to Diddly for his offline assistance.
posted by londonmark at 1:50 PM on February 15, 2006
Response by poster: With the expert and patient help of Diddly, I eventually managed to beat Creative into accepting that my operating system was valid, but it was a struggle. This link to an FAQ helped speed the process up (search for SID10059).
They eventually came back with this solution (if the link doesn't work, go to ie.europe.creative.com > support > knowledge base and search for SID10053) -- basically amending permissions in the USB key of the registry so that everyone has read access. Does that make sense? I'm completely clueless, but I did follow the instructions parrot-like and my Zen Vision now works like a charm!
posted by londonmark at 3:53 PM on February 22, 2006
They eventually came back with this solution (if the link doesn't work, go to ie.europe.creative.com > support > knowledge base and search for SID10053) -- basically amending permissions in the USB key of the registry so that everyone has read access. Does that make sense? I'm completely clueless, but I did follow the instructions parrot-like and my Zen Vision now works like a charm!
posted by londonmark at 3:53 PM on February 22, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
One way to deal with it is to call them back up and lie. Tell them you're running XP Home SP 2 (or whatever), and see if they can help you then. The differences might not be enough to matter.
Have you tried it on an XP Home/Pro machine? If it works there, then it could well be that Media Edition just flat out doesn't work with it (in which case lying to Creative might not work out so well).
There's all sorts of nasty DRM on Media Edition. It's possible that they're locking you out. If that's the case, I don't know what to tell you.
Call your computer support folks and see if they're interested in helping you.
posted by Netzapper at 7:53 AM on February 14, 2006