Windows Media Center - Alternative?

[oldskooladdict]

I just got me a usb freeview stick - working quite well, well it was.

Then the bundled software - ArcSoft Total Media 3 gave up on the EPG - really annoying! - and a Google offers no solutions - any ideas?

As an alternative, because I wasn't getting anywhere with the above I thought I'd give WMC a go - I don't like the interface as much as ArcSoft (I got used to it even if it is a bit budget), most irritatingly when using a multi monitor setup one has to press the windows key to switch between monitors! Grr! - I didn't have to do that with ArcSoft!

So... are there any decent alternatives to WMC - must offer an EPG and a recording facility. Preferably free, or v cheap - WMC is free after all (when bundled with Vista like I have it)... or should I just try to stick with WMC?

(Also, if anyone has a fix for the EPG in ArcSoft Total Media it would be much appreciated!)

[Biscuit]

Now i havent tried them so i cant say a lot about them but there is media portal and XBMC
The one i have tried is J River Media Centre. Its is an I-Tunes like media player but it also has a media centre interface similar to the WMC. Its not free but its very good!

[oldskooladdict]

I've actually stuck with WMC since the time of the post, and I'm slowly getting to like it a bit more.

I'll give those suggestions a look, but perhaps I was a bit harsh on it earlier!

[Funkstar]

I like MediaPortal.

It's far from perfect, but is an incredible piece of software and far more feature rich than MCE. It has matured very nicely over the last couple of years I've been using it.

[s_kinton]

Media Portal is excellent from a functionality point of view, far more versatile than WMC will ever be. The only problem with it is the rather dated and clunky menu system when compared to Vista MC.

However, Media Portal 2 is in development and from the preview release is looks to have made a large step towards solving this.

[TheAnimus]

Media Portal just dosen't feel right.

MCE is very extenible via a really nice API (which practices seperation of concerns VERY well) Media Portals API is very reminisant of ideas from the early 90s.

The only thing MCE lacks out of the box, are added by the addin of MyMovies.

[oldskooladdict]

Media portal looks cool - I'm downloading it now.

I'm not impressed by jazzy looking software with fancy graphics and buttons, so hopefully the clunky interface wont bother me much

[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.

[easyrider]

MCE with Media Browser plugin

[sp3n]

MCE with Media Browser plugin

Wow... what version of MCE is that? And where can I get that plugin? :O

[fray_bentos]

that looks very nice, is the information collected automatically and displayed like that or does it have to be tweaked for each film?

[easyrider]

Wow... what version of MCE is that? And where can I get that plugin? :O

MCE Vista

http://www.mediabrowser.tv/viewforum.php?f=10

[easyrider]

that looks very nice, is the information collected automatically and displayed like that or does it have to be tweaked for each film?

Gets the Meta Data automatically if your films are named correctly.

[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.

[Lord Filbuster]

How is media portal these days? Last time i used it it was buggy as hell, it would crash every time it was maximised, and couldn't timeshoft properly. I never did find an alternative to WMC.

[Funkstar]

When did you try it?

MediaPortal v1 is final and 1.0.1 is on it's way fairly soon (only 7 issues in Mantis still to be resolved).

I've used it on and off for a long time now, and yes it was very buggy at times, but now, with a nice skin (StreamedMP is my currect favourite) it is a very slick setup.

One massive benefit over WMC, if you have a house, is it's client/server nature. You can have a large TVServer box tucked away out of site with all your storage and tuners, then small, quiet/silent clients connected to TVs to actualy play back content.

edit as always with these projects, if you have problems, report them. Bugs won't get fixed as if by magic is no-one reports them for the developers. If the devs were having these problems, they would get fixed