As I’ve posted earlier, I’ve been running Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005 (MCE 2005) for quite awhile and, for the most part it’s great – however I found a utility on the Green Button forums this morning which I wish I’d discovered a loooong time ago.

The problem I’ve had over the last few months is, that intermittently, I’ll get a ‘Video Decoder Error’ and need to restart the MCE box to resolve it. It points to an issue with video drivers, but – from what I’ve read on the forums over at The Green Button, it’s more likely to be related to ones choice of DVD decoder software.

This is by no means an uncommon issue so it was with some surprise that I learned that, this time last year, Microsoft released a utility to check your DVD decoder software. What it does is explained on the Microsoft site, so follow this link and see if it might be the utility that you too have been looking for.

I�ve been playing Battlefield games since Battlefield 1942 was released and the game play has always been great, the in-game physics are better than I�ve previously experienced in other FPS and (back when I had disposable income and could afford a decent graphics card) the graphics are almost too compelling (in that you stand and look and the nice texturing on generated surfaces in appreciation, until someone comes along and shoots you for staying stationary for too long) and the range of vehicles and player classes just spoils you for anything else.

Anyway, I�ve recently upgraded my DSL plan (to one where the data cap wasn�t such an onerous monster that I�ve felt comfortable dipping my toe in the water of online play) and, in conjunction with my (also) recent Battlefield 2 addiction,
I�ve also come to the realisation that online gaming is far more compelling than AI or even local network play, but to be truly effective in the online space you need to be able to fly.

Because everyone wants to be a flyboy, and because helicopters are not that easy to fly (or at least, not that easy to fly well) there are continually people stood like dumb arses next to a spawned chopper, waiting for someone to dare to take the pilots seat, then the race for the gunner position begins.

I�ve been part of the great herd waiting for a pilot but I�m getting a bit sick of the behaviour of players at helicopter spawn points and have been team killed too many times for the gunners seat (the penalty for team killing is miniscule when compared to the points one can generate as a gunner for a good pilot) I figured it would be a good idea to learn to fly.

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