I took the plunge yesterday and put Vista into everyday use.  I was curious to see how MCE was progressing so I pulled the two TV tuners cards from my MCE 2005 machine and placed them into a fresh build of Vista (build 5456).  I can now report that things went very smoothly with the setup.  I had one slight problem with the IR Tranciever feeding the correct “remote codes” for changing the channels on my Dish Network 811 receiver but I was able to overcome that by changing  the “remote address” on the Dish reciever. 

I was surprised to find out that Vista detected my WIN PVR 150 Hauppauge and my ATI HDTV Digital Wonder cards.  Vista even download some compatiable drivers from the internet too.

TIP:  Apparently Vista’s build 5456 TV Tuner installation and detection process currenlty only works with default “remote address” of your Cable/Sat receiver.

I’ve watched several shows under Vista MCE today and I haven’t experienced any problems with the live TV, playback, or recording.

I’m now beginning to do some research on the Microsoft Feed API so that I can download my podcasts feeds to Vista and sync them to my iPod.  Goodbye iTunes hello Media Player 11.