Media Experience vs MediaDirect?

Dell sent me a disc labelled "For Reinstalling Dell Media Experience 3.1"

I'm guessing this is different from MediaDirect? So in order to repair my MediaDirect after a reformat, I would still need to download it from Dell's support site?

If they are different things, then what is this Media Experience, and do I need to install it?

Thanks.

 

They are different, yet related. Here is how it works:

MediaDirect is a bootable program that allows you to watch DVDs and do all of that mess without booting into XP.

Dell Media Experience is for XP Home/Pro users. When you press the MD button in XP, it will load DME which basically looks exactly like MediaDirect. When you are in XP, MediaDirect can't run since you've booted into windows, so it loads this program instead. Again, this is only for Home & Pro users. If you have XP Media Center Edition, pressing the MD button while in XP will load the XP MCE interface - which is what you always see on the commericals.

hopefully that clears up the difference. It is basically just a difference in that one runs without XP and one runs with XP.

 

Oh ok, thanks Southern Girl.

I'm about to reformat my e1405 in a bit. Currently, pressing the MD button while windows XP is on, doesn't do anything...nothing opens up. So, would you recommend I install dell media experience after I reformat, or is there a better program? I plan on using iTunes for playing music and I'm thinking of associating the front buttons with iTunes, so, will that mean if I press MD, it would load iTunes after I configure it?

Thanks a lot!

 

Yes, if you have XP Pro or home, you have to install this as well as Dell quickset in order for the button to work in XP.

Unfortunately, there are not very many configurations for MD or Media Experience. Media Experience uses WMP to play music, and Cyberlink PowerDVD to watch DVDs, and the button can't be configured to load anything else - so you are pretty much stuck with it loading that or not working.

 

SG, I have Windows MCE. If I reformat and install XP off the OS CD (which came with it), will that load Cyberlink PowerDVD and MD as part of the OS?

The computer came with the Dell MCE disk and the Dell drivers disk. No Dell apps disk. I'm wondering if the tv tuner and cyberlink will work after a reformat, or do I need to request more disks? Your FAQ sort if implies I need to, but I'm still not sure.

they did send the disks for the Sonic DVD app (plus, not deluxe but I'm thinking plus is the OEM version of deluxe), office, McAffee etc. I tried looking at the cds but everything is labelled with cryptic numbers.

Thanks

 

No, you'll need to request the Cyberlink PowerDVD disc from Dell's tech support, and you'll have to repair MediaDirect. Information on how to repair it is in the guide - you can make your own disc or use the driver's disc.

As for the TV tuner, you'll most likely have to install the driver for it. If you got the tv tuner when you purchased your laptop from dell, then they should have a driver for it located in the video card category.

 

thanks again, SG. As coincidence would have it, the Cyberlink PowerDVD disk arrived this afternoon. I am hoping the tuner driver is on the driver disk. Hard to tell, given how they label the files.

Now that I've got the disks, I'm going to give reformatting a try....here's hoping !!

 

You can also download the files from support.dell.com . If you use the driver's disc, it is best to let it install the software that it needs. It will ask you if you want to install something and just click okay. You can uninstall this at a later point, but it junkware or anything like that.

 

I've been unable to figure out how to get the driver's disk to do the repair. All it seems to install is a list of drivers and apps that you can select one by one to install, but not of the apps seem to have anything to do with the repair. Or, it lets you boot off it to run a bunch of diagnostics. How do I get it to repair the media direct?

As an aside, Dell did finally send me the cyberlink program as well as another drivers disk (one came with the computer). They look the same, but they are actually different--have slightly different drivers on them.

Reformatting was a snap thanks to your guide! Thx loads!!! The only thing that remains is to repair medial direct.

 

^follow the MediaDirect Repair part of her guide, I made my own iso cd or whatever using the program she suggested and it worked like a charm

 

To repair MD, you need to insert the disc and reboot your laptop. Press F12 several times to get to the 1 time boot menu, and select cd/dvd. Select the option to exit out and go to dos. Then type CD/MD2 and hit enter. Then type Repair and hit enter.

That should repair it.

 

worked like a charm--dammn you're good!!