Windows XP Media Center Edition "Symphony" Beta Begins Soon

Windows XP Media Center Edition "Symphony" Beta Begins Soon

Tom Warren on 12 April 2004 - 20:17 · 46 comments & 1128 views

Advertisement (Why?)

Microsoft has alerted beta testers of The Windows XP Media Center Edition Beta that the "Symphony" beta is due to begin shortly.

The email confirms that new testers will recieve a new PC and current testers will receive some kind of kit update - "Testers with a Microsoft Beta PC You will soon receive a beta hardware accessory kit to update your beta PC hardware."

The beta kit includes the following:

·Beta PC
·Keyboard, mouse, and speakers
·Hardware accessories (see the packing list with PC)

We'll keep you updated on the dates of the beta release and on the development of Symphony. Look for some exciting stuff with MCE 2005 though.

News source: In-House

P.s. Downtime was apparently due to a network issue at our Hosts; appologies :)

About the Author

Full name: Tom Warren
User name: creamhackered
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: View All
More: View Bio New!

Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 46 additional comments

(2 replies) #1 supernova_00 on 12 Apr 2004 - 20:47

damn a new PC...wish I could of signed up for this beta!

#1.1 neufuse on 12 Apr 2004 - 20:55

you do not get to keep it, or have the chance to buy it... pretty much you just barrow it while the beta goes on then send it back..

#1.2 Arkos Reed on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:08

had mine since last may, so it's pretty much a long term lol

(2 replies) #2 Arkos Reed on 12 Apr 2004 - 20:48

I confirm the mail has been sent

#2.1 lwebster_2000 on 12 Apr 2004 - 20:54

somebody wants attention....

#2.2 heffe2001 on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:36

I can also confirm that...

(3 replies) #3 wa22guy on 12 Apr 2004 - 20:55

How DO you get signed up for this? I have heard nothing about it and I'm beta testing about 7 different things for MS right now.

#3.1 Arkos Reed on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:09

in my case I didn't have to ask
while I was on the Win2000 SP4 beta they asked me if I would be interested

#3.2 IanD on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:47

same here

#3.3 ThunderRiver on 13 Apr 2004 - 03:01

2000 SP4? LOL I was in JDP for SP4, and they didn't ask me that

#4 Candyman123 on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:08

/Me Checks inbox.

Nothing yet.

(3 replies) #5 defcon7 on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:13

I got in, but since i live in Quebec, I gotta test in French. Talk about a zero-sum gain

Ah well, at least I get to play with a new PC for a while.

#5.1 Arkos Reed on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:15

pas de chance

lol

#5.2 defcon7 on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:30

heh, well, I stopped using PCs last year and moved to laptops so this'll be nice to have for the summer. Perhaps they'll decide to leave the PC here.... *fingers crossed* If not, I'll manage somehow

#5.3 BGuillaume on 12 Apr 2004 - 23:45

They send it to me over here , in France, I'm French

#6 amnesia_kei on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:50

alright well I signed up for beta testing and actually buy ALOT of MS stuff.

MS hasn't even mailed me ONCE with a beta... *feels left out*

#7 Lock on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:52

will pass on this one,

(2 replies) #8 amnesia_kei on 12 Apr 2004 - 21:53

ooh can I get a few pics of the pc?
and a few screenshots guys?

#8.1 Arkos Reed on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:05

bah, nothing special with the machine, it's just a Dell Dimension 8250 (P4 3.06GHz with 512MB RDRam, 120Gb HDD, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, SB Audigy 2)

#8.2 Steffan on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:59

that's almost better then my computer at home, except for the 512mb of memory.

(4 replies) #9 Michael Lerner on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:20

I hope I get into this beta test.

#9.1 cal2002 on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:32

You would already know.

#9.2 Candyman123 on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:36

QUOTE

You would already know.

Not Necessarily.

I've been accepted 3 days after all the other emails where sent before.
And I submitted it at the same time.

#9.3 cal2002 on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:44

You should of signed a hardware agreement almost a month ago. If you got into the beta you would know. This e-mail would be telling you to watch for the PC to come, not that MS will be picking people for the beta.

#9.4 defcon7 on 12 Apr 2004 - 22:47

Yup, very true. Not only did you have to sign it in triplicate but you also had to mail them a sample of DNA for identity verification...

Next time, I hope they let us sign the NDA using an online form, like they do when you sign up for MSN. It'd be much easier.

#10 semaja2 on 12 Apr 2004 - 23:00

im a beta and they havnt assinged anything to me

why?

#11 BGuillaume on 12 Apr 2004 - 23:44

Can"t wait to receive my stuff

#12 BGuillaume on 12 Apr 2004 - 23:47

By the way, do you guys have any idea how long will the beta last ? Do you think we'll have the chance to play with those comps thoughout the summer ? or will we have to send them back before....just wondering

#13 Ev1lg0at on 13 Apr 2004 - 00:10

ahhh!! i want one! i ****always***** loved microsoft and never ever never said anything bad about them!

plz plz ?

#14 cesardrgn on 13 Apr 2004 - 00:59

Cool. i want in...

#15 weedy2887 on 13 Apr 2004 - 02:28

how do you get signed up for stuff like this

#16 JnCoKiLLa on 13 Apr 2004 - 02:35

I siogned up for it but I never got a Email...I truely wish i do get one

(1 reply) #17 ThunderRiver on 13 Apr 2004 - 03:03

I signed up, but never got accepted to it. It is by far the only beta that I wasn't selected for. That's fine though, considering I am a movie pirate, and I loath their DRM

#17.1 adboehm on 13 Apr 2004 - 08:28

I'm not going to ask about the definition of a pirate

I hope you're not selling!

#18 Tekmaven on 13 Apr 2004 - 03:09

Doh :-/ another good beta that I'm not in...

#19 Blizzard_X on 13 Apr 2004 - 03:22

I got an invitation mail long ago, went to betaplace to fill out the survey and never heard anything back from them...

(2 replies) #20 PanicButton on 13 Apr 2004 - 04:02

Just got my email today, I'm looking forward to testing out the new toys

#20.1 Harper on 13 Apr 2004 - 06:03

Is Media Center Edition the same as MSN TV? I know, I know.....it's a stupid question.

#20.2 clonk on 13 Apr 2004 - 06:46

no it is not.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediace...ter/default.asp

This will tell you all you need to know.

#21 process_this on 13 Apr 2004 - 07:52

I want in! NOW!!!!

#22 karlneil on 13 Apr 2004 - 08:26

i wonder would they send that pc to estonia

#23 dsteele_7 on 13 Apr 2004 - 17:23

I wish I knew how to go into the system... I'd be happy just to be considered... I love MS prods... but I'm not afraid of calling wats crap, crap...

(1 reply) #24 shimon on 13 Apr 2004 - 18:52

M$ sucks they dont know how to program (not saying that i do) Linux rulz i now had my com on for 24hr w/o it freezing using M$ windows it would be freezing every hr

#24.1 nic on 13 Apr 2004 - 20:13

then you probably have either a hardware driver problem, or a direct hardware problem (like a bad block of memory, or something).

I can leave Windows XP and 2000 up for days (even weeks) without needing a reboot. But I've found that if there are ANY hardware problems what-so-ever, windows doesn't handle them very well. (Usually just random reboots w/o any kind of description of what happened). Thats annoying.

I've found that Linux handles these problems better. But you are less likely to have your hardware supported in linux. I've fought Linux for about 3 months trying to get sound on my board to work, and so far nothing.

#25 Rave on 14 Apr 2004 - 06:44

I got my acceptance email yesterday, saying that I had been chosen. In that email they indicated that the hardware loan agreement would follow soon. I got it 5 minutes later, had to fill out it out and fax it back to Redmond.

I am in Australia. Should be good to test out with MS hardware, I am already running MCE 2004 with my own hardware though...

I do have one question though? Is this beta to test 2005? or to test 2004 edition? I am hoping that it is the 2005 ed...

Last edited by 17454 on 14 Apr 2004 - 06:59

#26 fuzzb on 14 Apr 2004 - 10:11

I also got my acceptance email the other day, they also booked a home appointment for 3 MS reps to come and see me as I am an existing tester.

I am speculating that the hardware update for existing testers is a nVidia GeForce 6800 graphics card, since this supports HDTV/WMV hardware decode using pixel shaders. (nVidia Presentation Slide). This could also include NVDVD 3.0, which seems to integrate into MCE.

Another possible hardware enhancement is the portable MCE players that have started to appear.

All pure speculation of course...

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.

Advertisement (Why?)

Neowin.net

Windows XP Media Center Edition "Symphony" Beta Begins Soon

Share this Article

About the Author

Related news