[Swallowtail]

It works fine on a CRT - from my hazy memory (I had it component into a Grundig 81cm widescreen CRT TV) the only way you can get Media Center to accept that the CRT is widescreen is by component connection - svideo and composite it will only do 4:3. I never tried d-sub VGA though, that should also give you widescreen options.

Over component you'll need to set Media Center to run at 576i or 576p if your screen can do it (my Grundig would only do i), and it should work fine. Media Center is designed to work with overscanning devices, so the controls are all fine. I had some colour blowout issues (very harsh saturated colours, impossible to correct with adjustments either on the PC or on the TV) with component connections from an nvidia card into the CRT, so it will be interesting to see how you go with yours.

I just set up my PC to autologon and autorun MC, so you never really have to worry about the desktop. If you have to go to the desktop, little things like making your taskbar taller can help in the event of serious overscan. You also soon get to know all the keyboard shortcuts for resizing windows!!