I wonder if the individual entries would be better in the Wiki with this thread as a pointer (links) and discussion area?

PS: Are there plans to address Popcorn Hour as part of this?

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Honestly I have never used Wiki (or at least posted on there).

I was not planning on addressing the PCH in this thread since that is an extender and for this thread I am focusing on the software side (I guess you could argue that some of the add ins for the PCH such as YAMJ are software/media center based). I primarily use the PCH to play my son's movies so I have been content with using the default interface, although I have tinkered around with YAMJ.

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Yes, I was hoping to put a chart or somehow summarize the pros/cons. Unfortunately the PSU on one of my HTPCs that I do a lot of the testing died on me and I am still waiting for a replacement, so my testing on some of the upgraded features/plugins has been pushed back. I am still doing stuff on my desktop pc (x32) but I want to confirm that it works on the x64 platform as well. Newegg just got my RMA'd PSU, so hopefully I will be back in business soon!!!



The only issue I had with VMC is that about 80% of the time when I first started an mkv I would get sound but no picture, or vice versa. I would have to hit the pause button, then play, or just restart entirely and it would work fine (I should mention that I never have this problem in x32, only x64). Also, on x64 at first I got a nasty stutter when watching mkvs/mp4s, so to correct this I had to go into the ffdshow video setting, uncheck yuy2 and select nv12 in the output section. I have no love for codecs, especially on x64

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

MediaPortal

MediaPortal is the latest program that I started testing (the final 1.0 was released in December). It was a little tricky to set up as I decided I wanted to go right for the StreamedMP/Moving Pictures interface as opposed to the stock interface. I was able to follow the instructions posted here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1092168 and ran into very little problems. One thing I really liked is that MediaPortal actually attempts to grab all the coverart/fanart/movie info automatically (as opposed to having to use a 3rd party application or doing web searches). You simply have to go through a screen that shows the file name and the associated movie name that MediaPortal found. You can manually change this if needed. One issue I ran in to was playing back SD DVDs. If I played a movie, when I was done a black screen would remain and I would be forced to close out of MediaPortal. It appears the problem was being caused by the MPV decoder filter that was included with the MediaPortal install. To correct this the following needed to be done:

- Unregister the current Mpeg2DecFilter.ax filter. This can be done from the "Start" - "Run" command, entering in the following: regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\MediaPortal\Mpeg2DecFilter.ax"
- Download new Mpeg2DecFilter (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... _id=264678).
- Paste the file (overwrite) into C:\Program Files\MediaPortal
- Register the new file: regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\MediaPortal\Mpeg2DecFilter.ax"

The development team has also started working on MediaPortal 2 (http://www.team-mediaportal.com/news/gl ... lease.html)

Website: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
Supported O/S: Windows
Cost: Free

All screenshots are off the new StreamedMP/Moving Pictures interface, not the default interface:

Main Menu


Music Interface


Pictures Interface:


Movies Interface


Movies Interface (Alt View)


Movie Playback

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

OK, so I made it through all my posts Looking back at everything I wish I could have provided more information on the PVR capabilities. I am giving serious considerations to trying this out, whether through the tv tuner card I have in my desktop pc (I have a cable connection there, the company that ran the wiring though forgot to connect it to anything ) or I am also looking at the hdhomerun (http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun).

One of the biggest challenges with all these programs is keeping up with updates, new plugins, etc... Unless some of the sites I follow (such as geektonic) post articles, it is very hard to keep track of, and just too cumbersome to track every forum (plus, until baseball season starts up my time tinkering around on the pc gets heavily scrutinized by the wife!!!). I will do my best to post about any updates or neat features I come across, and hopefully other members will participate as well.

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Uh oh...I found one more MCS that I didn't include

http://www.meedios.com/

Of course I have to tinker around with that, will post my results and then I hope to do a quick summary edit to my first post... Time to send the wife and kid to the in laws!!!

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

I stumbled on this Lifehacker article. It's a similar quick round-up of 6 DVR applications: http://lifehacker.com/5128408/

_________________
Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

Thanks Richard, I think I had come across that the other day. To me I don't like the fact that they include Tivo. If so you might as well include every DVR cable box out there, I don't think (someone correct me if I am wrong) you can install the Tivo software, it is integrated with the dvr box.

I was playing around with Meedios last night (Meedio Ultimate). Very nice interface, good integration of online content, BUT possibly the worst software I have come across so far for one simple reason, I can't figure out how to get the software to import all my media!!! It appears you need to create a new library, create a new import, create a tag (you have to actually tag how your files are named!!!), etc... From reading the forums it appears other new users have gotten frustrated with this as well. I may tinker around a little bit more, but honestly if something as simple as importing your media library is so involved then it may not be worth spending too much time on. They have some really neat stuff, so hopefully I can get it to work pretty quick

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Damian: Thanks for such a very detailed list of media software. I am a newbie to this type of computing and your summary was very helpful. I was wondering if you could provide, in this thread or maybe start a new one, your insight on what, if any, of these programs that can be run from a MSS. Having to startup a separate PC to run a program that streams the movie from the MSS to my Mediasmart Connect does not have a very high WAF or kid factor.

What I would like to see is a listing or table of what programs can run on the MSS and also interface directly with the various media extenders (i.e. MS Connect, PCH, etc.).

I have been using the PV Connect add-in which is ok but the lack of cover art and some of the other information makes it very bland. Using VMC is better but as I said starting another PC just to watch movies or pictures, or listen to music is too much trouble for most of the family.

Any help you or some of the other experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks…..
Bob

Bob,

Thanks for the feedback. What I should clarify though is that these software platforms are not made to be installed on the MSS. For instance the MS Connect has its own interface, the MSS simply streams the files. To my knowledge you cannot overwrite the MS Connect interface (does this sound correct, I am pretty sure)? These programs are meant to be installed on an HTPC, connected directly to a tv (So for instance the HTPC I built is connected to by TV via HDMI and all the media is streamed to my HTPC from the MSS and played back on my tv). Same goes for the PCH. There are separate add ins you can run setting up on the MSS for the PCH to get slightly better interface (Jukebox type interface with IMDB support, coverart, etc...). Have you tried any of those programs (YAMJ, My Lil Jukebox, myself and another member diehard have been testing out Kroozbox)? This is actually the reason why I went the HTPC route, as I was unhappy with the limitations and UI of many extenders. I know the SageTV Extenders you can tweak around the interface to have it look like the SageTV screenshots I posted. I hope this helps, definitely drop a post if you have any other questions.

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Damian: ok... I understand part of your message but then why does a standalone program like PlayOn that works well with my MSS and MS Connect and uses the HP interface play movies (including Netflix) and other internet videos without a separate computer.

I have not tried any of the other software your mentioned. I will look them up and see what they can do.

BTW, do you keep your HTPC on 24/7 or start it up as needed? The fewer the boxes that need to be turned on the higher the WAF.

Bob

From what I know about PlayON, it is simply a service that turns flash video RSS streams into browsable folders that DLNA extenders can pick up (so I guess you can say that PlayON is really a streaming service). The software I have mentioned in this thread are the opposite, they are meant to play content on local hard drives, online, or being streamed from a central source (i.e. MSS), they are not meant to stream content to other devices (such as how PlayOn does). These programs serve as the main interface used on the computer they are installed on (i.e an HTPC) and are meant to be standalone programs. Let me know if this makes more sense.

I generally keep my HTPCs turned off when not in use. I am starting to use the one in the family room more though, so when not in use I put it to sleep (I can easily turn it back on using the power button on my universal remote). The HTPCs are meant to be very quiet and power efficient.

For the PCH, here is a thread started on this forum (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=916&start=165). Here is a thread summarizing the various jukebox programs for the PCH (http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showt ... p?tid=9862)

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

OK, so first thing in my adventures of testing out all the MCS out there, if you can get Windows/Vista/W7 Media Center to work out of the box and are happy with the stock interface, stick with it. I have spent a lot of time tinkering around with the various programs, and at times has been very frustrating. I am sure when all is said and done, whatever MCS I finally decide to use, the end result I will be pleased with. At this point though I don't know if it is worth all the trouble, but then again, I like to tinker... Once I have spent a little more time on these programs I will update this thread with a comparison summary and also update each individual software description for any further pitfalls or tips that I come across.

My biggest dilemna now is for me there are three possible key features 1) PVR, 2) Online Content and 3) Media Jukebox. Some software meets 1 & 2 but not 3, some meet 2 & 3 but not 1, etc... I have not gotten into the whole PVR thing yet, but if so the recording would take place at my desktop pc, so I could just focus on a PVR software for that PC with Online Content/Media Jukebox being the main focus for the HTPCs. So much to do, so little time...

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

OK, so I was able to get Meedios working and get my movies imported. However, I am not even 100% sure I could even explain what I did and I found the interface to be very clunky and slow (fanart was very slow to load, etc...), so I have decided not to pursue Meedio (I doubt I would be able to get the WAF needed). I may revisit again down the road, but for the time being I will focus on the remaining programs.

I spent most of the weekend playing around with XBMC and am starting to like it more and more

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

How to add Boxee as a program within Vista Media Center

http://www.missingremote.com/index.php? ... Itemid=232

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin