Windows Media Center - Alternative?

[Funkstar]

Something that I remember about MediaPortal that not many others have is full Sky/Freesat EPG grabbing, including series link information

It's not integrated with the main trunk yet, but the author is maintaining a patch that will hopefully get included at some point.

[easyrider]

Originally Posted by aceuk

I vote for XBMC with the brand new Aeon skin. Looks fantastic once you've added the 1080p backdrops. There's a trailer on YouTube if you want to see it in action. It's really cool.

Shouldn't you have the relevant backdrop for the movie?

[directhex]

Originally Posted by Funkstar

Something that I remember about MediaPortal that not many others have is full Sky/Freesat EPG grabbing, including series link information

It's not integrated with the main trunk yet, but the author is maintaining a patch that will hopefully get included at some point.

Really? Sky and Freesat use rather different methods for EPG updating - Freesat basically uses the same mechanism as Freeview, an EIT data stream. Sky uses their own non-standard bollocks

[Funkstar]

Originally Posted by directhex

Really? Sky and Freesat use rather different methods for EPG updating - Freesat basically uses the same mechanism as Freeview, an EIT data stream. Sky uses their own non-standard bollocks

Well, however it is done, all the data for Sky UK and Sky Italy is now pulled from the satelite feeds directly. This will include Sky's Free-sat as well.

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/de...sat-epg-43261/ for more details.

[aceuk]

Originally Posted by easyrider

Shouldn't you have the relevant backdrop for the movie?

Not necessarily. In the case of the screenshot above Quantum of Solace is just the backdrop used when you initially view your movie library.

[TheAnimus]

better to have the full backdrop for each movie don't you think?

http://video.google.co.uk/videosearc...tv&hl=en&emb=0

That is media browser in the grid mode (the only suiteable mode for quickly navigating, enless you've got a major subfolder set up!). The gnarly thing is, it pulls in those nice 1080p covers for you.

[Funkstar]

Moving Pictures for MediaPortal does the same thing

[TheAnimus]

but you can't have the flip view mode!

(can't find a vid of that)

[Funkstar]

Would that be like coverflow on iTunes? If so, it's no great loss.

[TheAnimus]

Kinda, works really smoothly for say navigating south park episodes. Most importantly its easy to use because you can really see what is what either side of the active selection (assuming your on a large HD screen).

[Drobbins]

What is the best platform for running xbmc. Windows or Linux?

[Drobbins]

I have installed XMBC on my computer at home now for testing and it is amazing. So sleek and smooth.

[dangel]

I setup the mediabrowser plugin for VMC last night - it's amazingly good Can't recommend it enough!

[djsmallz]

hey buddy
i seen your setup and i was wondering if you'd let me know what you've used for your lighting please?

[Salazaar]

Originally Posted by fray_bentos

Try GB-PVR - I've used it for a few years and it really is good.

Couple of the very nice features are: the ability to record multiple programs on DVB-T using a single tuner (this only works if they are on the same multiplex). Setup a client/server setup where recorded & live TV are transfered to the client over a network, great if you want to have an identical interface on multiple computers/TVs.

Very good and definitely worth checking out.

I've got to give a big +1 for GB-PVR, I've just started using it because it seems to be one of the few pieces of software that can handle the crappy signal quality coming from my aerial (see my other thread WinTV Nova TD-500 and MCE) and it seems to be a very capable media centre. I just need to have a play around with it, work out how it works and figure out how to get it to play BDs and I'll be set.