Its good to see that you were able to address these issues to your satisfaction and were able to give some pointers too.
I have experience a similar issue with the compulsory uninstall that you have described between Cyberlink PowerCinema 4 and Catalyst Media Center
That experience was with PowerCinema 3 and the
“Dell Media Experience”
And the reason for that is clear according to this:
After using it a bit, however, it's clear that the Dell Media Experience isn't as clean, finely-tuned, or technically advanced as XP MCE, and it's more similar to the old version of XP MCE than it is to XP MCE 2004 from a performance standpoint. Still, you can't beat the price, which is free. Or, for $30, you can order a Cyberlink remote control and USB-based infra-red (IR) interface, which installs on XP without the need for any drivers (photo). In fact, it was Cyberlink that created the underlying Dell Media Experience software; Dell created the look and feel of the software, or the UI, in-house, George told me. The engine that drives the Dell Media Experience, likewise, is Cyberlink technology, not Windows Media 9 Series.
The
“Dell Media Experience” is essentially a modified version of PowerCinema. In fact, even the install program was virtually identical to that of earlier versions of PowerCinema.
To say that I believe that “Catalyst Media Center” is a modified or enhanced version of Cyberlink PowerCinema 4 would be something of an understatement.