How long until MediaPortal becomes what XBMC is today?

[Richthofen]

How long until MediaPortal becomes what XBMC is today?

What I mean by this is slick, animated and stable.

Granted, I haven't spent that much time with MediaPortal, yet as it is extremely difficult to configure and doesn't just 'work out of the box'.

In the few hours I've spent playing with MediaPortal, I've noticed.

a) My Pictures slide shows not as smooth as XBMCs.
b) Configuring multiple pvr500s is difficult. I have 3 pvr500s in one box. Only 1 out of 3 tuners seems to get configured properly, the rest of the channels are fuzzy. 3rd card isn't recognized at all.
c) Pausing live tv is not smooth, quick and seemless.
d) Setting up the guide in the US is not simple.

Yes, I realize that MediaPortal grew out of the XBMC project.

XBMC is 3 years old and, MediaPortal is 2 years old,

So I'm wondering how long it will take to get MediaPortal to the point where the features will be frozen, and you can set it up on any machine in 20 minutes or less.

Any guesses? Speculation? Anyone willing to place friendly bets?

BTW thanks to all of those that are developing MediaPortal. I'm more excited about this project than I've been about any other software in years(with the exception of XBMC)

PS When are they going to put up a poll so we can vote PMIII as the default skin =P

[Nightmare77]

you have to remember that xbox lacks the tv function, so technically b, c and d xbox looses out to MP everytime. I'm not claiming MP is perfect but i dont' have any major issues with it at all. I have to say that my slidshows seeem quick but i haven't seen what its like on a xbox, so i can't really comment.

[jawbroken]

Originally Posted by Richthofen

So I'm wondering how long it will take to get MediaPortal to the point where the features will be frozen, and you can set it up on any machine in 20 minutes or less.

Any guesses? Speculation? Anyone willing to place friendly bets?

I can easily set up MediaPortal in 20 minutes. After the first time you install it, subsequent times go much more smoothly. The question itself is an unfair one, I think, considering XBMC only has to target one hardware setup, where MediaPortal needs to work on thousands of configurations. I think you underestimate the advantage that gives to XBMC. And out of all the things you had problems with, only one of the four was something that XBMC could actually do (the Picture slideshow).

Personally I hope that MediaPortal never gets to the point where features are frozen. I hope to see continuous improvement and new features/plugins being developed for a long time yet.

[zag2me]

Media-portal still has a long way to go to match XBMC, but its getting there.

I dont have any problems with the picture slidshow.

[wishywashy]

c) I hit pause, it pauses. I hit pause again, it plays...

d) I can't talk good enough about the USA/Canada EPG plugin. It literally kept me from "just put Media Center back on." My wife is really hard to please, she just wants "it" to work.

[kaisersose]

i have being using xbmc for a few yrs but got a new pc recently and so i thought i'd try out MP again ( i tried it out over a year ago aswell). And i was thinking to myself is this it? Tv card support maybe great but i dont use one so i only use MP for movies etc. I thought it would look so much better, excluding tv card support, it doesnt seem to offer anything more than xbmc. Maybe im expecting too much but hopefully there are plans to give MP a new facelift as theres nothing atm that wants me to start using MP over xbmc and i was hoping that wasnt going to be the case.

[cowpie]

use mediaportal with XBMC! I love that python script. No tv streaming but I really don't care about that since I never watch tv live anymore.

I wasn't impressed with previous releases, but the latest TV Engine 2 release is very nice and stable. Use the Replicant skin if you want something that really looks nice, too!

[kaisersose]

now this looks great

vista mce tv series plugin


http://mobilewares.spaces.live.com/b...8194!183.entry

[crawdaddy]

MediaPortal never was, and I hope will never be for the common noob who's not willing to take on a learning curve. Case in point, MacOS, it's so set up and easy to use, it's literally been neutered in functionality to make it nice and easy to use. Now this may no longer be true with MacOS X and above, but I haven't gotten a chance to play with them. The point is, MP has so much power because it can be customized in literally millions of diffrent ways. With a day or so's worth of work t\weaking settings, finding plugins, getting all the plugins to work together in harmony with 1 skin, it's all worth it to then just be able to sit back and enjoy because the MP setup you made is EXACTLY what you wanted, not what some dev decided it should work and feel like.

[kaisersose]

If you had xbmc with the media center skin and mp with the same skin without any tv section, you wouldnt be able to tell the difference. Everything in MP has the same old media center skin feel. Even the trailers plugin is like looking through folders. So as you said "MP has so much power" , it doesnt seem to be using it anywhere apart from watching live tv. A lot of ppl are happy watching their avi's of prison break etc and arent bothered about live tv. Maybe its a european thing, as a lot of stuff worth watching would have being on in the US 6 months earlier and so I'd have got it then. Im no coder so i dont have any right to complain, just thought mp would have made some changes in the way it looks since the last time I used it.

I know a lot of ppl started using xbmc again after the 360 skin came out and it seemed to give it a new lease of life. A great trailers script then came out over that as it didnt have the old look of looking through folders.

Some screenshot from the vista mce plugin - Big Screen TV Series- linked earlier