When I first built my HTPC, I started with Media Portal. It was a bit laggy back then but did an OK job. Then I wanted to access the media files in the bedroom so I got a media extender. But with the lack of MP support for the extender, I switched over to MCE. WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE!
MCE has been nothing but trouble from day one. For its stupid requirement for an external MPEG2 decoder to really crappy third party extensions, one of which messed up MCE itself and caused it to completly break on me, it was a disaster.
The media extender allowed me to stream live TV from the HTPC but it failed in many other areas, like playing ripped DVDS, Xvid and Divx files, which required the 360 transcoder. Even then it didn't work right all the time.
I replaced the Media Extender with a Mediagate Mg-350HD instead, a great little box BTW. The only downside is the lack of streaming TV. But since it plays every other video format that the Media Extender didn't, including HD recordings (The infamous Serenity HD-DVD rip in full 1080i), I can live without the streaming TV in the bedroom. I'll simply switch TV inputs to the cable which is already wired in the bedroom anyway.
Now that the lag issues in MP is pretty much solved, its even better than the MCE. MCE's complete lack of a torrent extension is a pain in the... Thank god for the MP torrent plug-in (uTorrent and RSS reader).
Sure MP has a few issues, but it's not as bad as MCE. MCE is fine if you leave it as-is. If you start adding extensions, and the extensions start messing up, there's little you can do except re-install the OS.
The only good thing about MCE is the remote, IR receiver and the wonderful Microsoft MCE keyboard (except the mouse pointer thingy). Other than the hardware support there's no reason to use MCE on a daily bassis. You're better off with Media Portal.
Sure it's harder to set-up than MCE but that's actually one of its benefits. MCE's lack of adminstrator control also makes it vulnerable to badly written extensions. If one happens to mess up the registry, you're screwed and the only solution is a complete OS re-install. With MP you can usually fix the thing pretty easily if it breaks with the configuration tool. And if it really goes bad? Just wiped it out and re-install the software from scratch. It's much easier to re-install a spftware package than an OS.
So after nearly a year of using MP and MCE (6 months each approx.), MCE was easier to setup and get running than MP, but MP was better to use on a daily bassis and has more useful features for advanced users; MCE is dumbed down for the less tech savvy people.
VIVA MEDIA PORTAL
MCE has been nothing but trouble from day one. For its stupid requirement for an external MPEG2 decoder to really crappy third party extensions, one of which messed up MCE itself and caused it to completly break on me, it was a disaster.
The media extender allowed me to stream live TV from the HTPC but it failed in many other areas, like playing ripped DVDS, Xvid and Divx files, which required the 360 transcoder. Even then it didn't work right all the time.
I replaced the Media Extender with a Mediagate Mg-350HD instead, a great little box BTW. The only downside is the lack of streaming TV. But since it plays every other video format that the Media Extender didn't, including HD recordings (The infamous Serenity HD-DVD rip in full 1080i), I can live without the streaming TV in the bedroom. I'll simply switch TV inputs to the cable which is already wired in the bedroom anyway.
Now that the lag issues in MP is pretty much solved, its even better than the MCE. MCE's complete lack of a torrent extension is a pain in the... Thank god for the MP torrent plug-in (uTorrent and RSS reader).
Sure MP has a few issues, but it's not as bad as MCE. MCE is fine if you leave it as-is. If you start adding extensions, and the extensions start messing up, there's little you can do except re-install the OS.
The only good thing about MCE is the remote, IR receiver and the wonderful Microsoft MCE keyboard (except the mouse pointer thingy). Other than the hardware support there's no reason to use MCE on a daily bassis. You're better off with Media Portal.
Sure it's harder to set-up than MCE but that's actually one of its benefits. MCE's lack of adminstrator control also makes it vulnerable to badly written extensions. If one happens to mess up the registry, you're screwed and the only solution is a complete OS re-install. With MP you can usually fix the thing pretty easily if it breaks with the configuration tool. And if it really goes bad? Just wiped it out and re-install the software from scratch. It's much easier to re-install a spftware package than an OS.
So after nearly a year of using MP and MCE (6 months each approx.), MCE was easier to setup and get running than MP, but MP was better to use on a daily bassis and has more useful features for advanced users; MCE is dumbed down for the less tech savvy people.
VIVA MEDIA PORTAL
Austria
