Media Portal Vs. XBMC (2 Viewers)

[tourettes]

I had MP 0.2.3.0 running perfectly. ... I installed WinXP SP3 & MP 1.0 RC2. I had problems with a lot of files not playing & subtitles not working

My experience too.
0.2.3 was OK, even though there were a lot of quirks, but it's been downhill since then. Every new release breaks something new.

Ad as there hasnt been any releases after the 0.2.3.0. Many people seem to forgot that all SVN & RC releases are for TESTING only.

 

[graemef]

As for using MP without a keyboard, that has never been possible IMO. Apparently MP just doesn't target dedicated HTPCs.

I certainly wouldn't agree with that, the only time I ever use my wireless keyboard is if I decided to mess with the configuration package or download updates etc at the windows level, otherwise the entire MP frontend is controlled with my Microsoft MCE remote. This is one of the things I love about MP and gives me an incredibly high WAF.

 

[Marcusb]

I don't want to start any wars.

You really need to be a bit more tactful in your posts then. your first post started out like a typical beginning to a flame war.

Also, there is already a very similar thread where the OP listed a very detailed account of what the pros and cons were for each system and where he would like to see improvement.

Think of this as the standard moderator post warning that any flaming or childishness from anyone and the thread will be locked.

Cheers,
Marcus.

 

[zanlation]

Does XBMC do TV?

 

[akiaki]

I myself tried for a couple of days now the xbmc. I really like the gui engine, it's better imho than the one in MP, the graphics are smooth, more fluid..
The library, well, it's better to say that it doesn't work than that it works, very confusing stuff, and never got it to scan all my movies in.
It crashed on me all the time, and every time get up, hook up the keyboard, kill the xbmc process, start over... Not stable for me.
It has seroius issues regarding a/v sync and a lot of people have different a/v problems which is weird if you use only one codec - and they would be better of to go with open codecs..
So just the gui remains, everything else is unstable, but I will be monitoring and trying it because I think it has great future. Maybe MP2 can beat it to it?

 

[SpeedFreak]

Ad as there hasnt been any releases after the 0.2.3.0. Many people seem to forgot that all SVN & RC releases are for TESTING only.

Presumably all are for testing since MP hasn't reached v1 yet...?
Maybe MP just uses different terms than what I'm used to, but in my own work and from experience with other software, "release candidate" means that the software is ready to ship barring unforeseen "stop ship" bugs.

Anyway, despite the constant aggravation of trying to keep MP running smoothly and all the flak I get from the wife since I scrapped our DVD player, I'm grateful for MP and still believe in it. I just think it has been in beta for far too long.

I certainly wouldn't agree with that, the only time I ever use my wireless keyboard is if I decided to mess with the configuration package or download updates etc at the windows level, otherwise the entire MP frontend is controlled with my Microsoft MCE remote. This is one of the things I love about MP and gives me an incredibly high WAF.

Lately MP has been crashing every time Windows is suspended, so at least I need the keyboard and mouse to restart MP
Apart from that, I have in the neighborhood of 700 movies and 2000 albums and I find it completely impossible to navigate those using the remote. MP is just too slow. The performance and usability has improved since I switched skin from Xface to Aeon, but not enough to make the remote usable. IMO the performance and usability should be so good that one completely forgets that MP is even there.

 

[stefancrs]

I came to MP from XBMC, and as much as I love that XBMC really is going for a wider "market" now (been using plex on my macbook) I must say that I've never seen the library work anywhere near as well as "My TV Series" and "Moving Pictures" does in MP.

I guess that what _most_ people would need is a more customized installation process of MP which installs a few nice skins (monochrome, aeon, titanium etc) and the most common plugins, and be able to choose remote and scan for channels etc when installing from scratch.

Also, I really miss being able to get decent video quality in XBMC. Sure, it plays almost everything out of the box, but the image isn't exactly near sharp, even on a 13.3" macbook (and I use 110" in my living room! would be blur hell! )

Apart from that, I have in the neighborhood of 700 movies and 2000 albums and I find it completely impossible to navigate those using the remote. MP is just too slow. The performance and usability has improved since I switched skin from Xface to Aeon, but not enough to make the remote usable. IMO the performance and usability should be so good that one completely forgets that MP is even there.

What remote are you using? I had this problem when using my hauppage IR reciever, recently got an microsoft MCE reciever (still using my logitech remote mind you) and scrolling etc is now REALLY fast.

 

[butchjr]

Well, I still didn't mean to start a war. I just wanted to say why I am tired of MP, and why I switched over to XBMC.

I really agree with the one saying that MP has been in beta for too long. It has.

I played probably two-tre movies last night with XBMC, not a single crash, and no a/v sync problems.

I can only say that the latest beta 1 of XBMC is very stable and highly usable. It even plays DVDs great now.

Another thing about running XBMC in linux is that the quality of the sound from mp3 files is so much higher. I believe that both XP and Vista is trying to tweak the sound to much before it enters the spdif-cable. In linux i don't think that is an issue. The sound from music is superior in linux.

The GUI is faster and smoother in XBMC, and the db funktion is better. You have many options, and the information is more often correct. That is not the case with MP.

I don't know if you can watch TV with XBMC with help from plugins, I myself don't watch TV, I think it makes people dumber

I hope everyone can understand what I am trying to say. English is not (as everyone can see) my native language.

 

[stefancrs]

The GUI is faster and smoother in XBMC, and the db funktion is better. You have many options, and the information is more often correct. That is not the case with MP.

I believe this might be the case when comparing to a "clean" install of MP, but I don't find it being correct when comparing XBMC with Moving Pictures and My TV Series.

I do love some XBMC skins though, and the fact that it's so up and running directly out of the box. Would fairly easily be solved with a different installation process for MP, imho.

 

[butchjr]

I don't know what the plugin "moving pictures" is. But the plugin My Tv-Series is built in to XBMC, it looks exactly the same as in MP anyways. You get info about the series, it downloads fanart, plot and pictures from each episode. With one single click of the remote.

If noone told me different, I would believe they worked exactly the same in MP and XBMC.