Yes, Dell has been a little remiss in getting information out regarding the Xcelerator, but I can say that they're working on it. And, the user's guide info is actually fairly correct in how the Xcelerator works, albeit it's definitely lacking in specifics.

 

What I've discovered so far is: basically, the Xcelerator is supported in two applications, Roxio Creator 9.1 (the version that ships with the 420) and the MCE plug-in.

 

1. Roxio: if you want to actually see your Xcelerator working, open an MPEG-2 video in Roxio MyDVD (that's the only input file supported). Then click on the video and select "Edit File". In the file editor, select the video and go to File, Output As... Select MPEG-4 as the output file, either the iPod or PSP versions. When you run the render, you'll see that the preview window (which, yes, usually previews the video) turns grey and "Dell Xcelerator" is displayed.

 

If you run the test with the Xcelerator enabled in Device Manager, you'll see that your processor utilization averages about 25% or so (at least, that's what my Q6600 does, across all four cores). If you run the test the it disabled in Device Manager, you'll see your processor sustain up to 100% utilization. In timing the render, I didn't notice a great speed differential, but the CPU utilization savings was significant.

 

2. Media Center: First, go to Online Media, and then Programs. Select Dell Xcelerator for Portable Devices. Configure for your portable device (in my case, a Zen). One of the items is the folder to transcode to. If you have your TV tuner setup, record a TV program (but not on a DRMed channel, such as HBO). Sometime after the program records, you'll notice a transcoded file in the folder defined in the configuration. That file will be synced to your device as long as you have "Recorded TV" selected as a sync option.

 

The only open item left, as far as I can tell, is that the Xcelerator didn't seem to work for me when I was transcoding from MPEG-2 to MPEG-2, which is indicated as a supported output format in the user's guide. Dell's looking into that.

 

And just one other comment: ever hear the saying "It's easier to catch flies with honey"? I don't think there's any value to immediately attacking Dell when you've run into a problem. If you run a search on the forum, you'll see that this issue has already been raised and answered.

That's been my approach. :smileyhappy: Just wait a bit. Although, I think I, too, have a post out there that shows a little frustration, so I'm not really one to talk. What I've discovered here on the Dell forum, however, is that things typically get addressed (more so than with some other vendors I can think of) eventually. Hence, the admonition for some patience...

 

Oh, and you're welcome! Another thing to try first is to run the diagnostic utility mentioned in the user's guide. At first, for some reason, my Xcelerator wasn't working, so I reinstalled the drivers, and then everything was peachy (sans the MPEG-2 to MPEG-2 transcoding issue [although "transcode isn't the right term, but I'm too lazy to remember the right word])...

Thanks for the info and your time!  I`ll give that a try.

P.S. 

The wife says that quote to me all the time! I'll just need to remember to not ask for help right after spending way too many frustrating hours of not finding what I'm looking for.