Media Portal Vs. XBMC (1 Viewer)

[stefancrs]

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.

Moving Pictures: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/moving-pictures-284/moving-pictures-public-beta-0-5-5b-45365/
My TV Series: My TVSeries - MediaPortal Forum

TV Series does definately not work the same in XBMC and MP. And it's not that the "plugin is built in" in XBMC, it's just that XBMC has similar functionaly out of the box. My TV Series, the MediaPortal plugin, does a way better job finding out what episode a file on my share is. It often seems I either have to rename files or directories in XBMC or do a manual search to find the right tvdb/imdb information for files in my shares. But it could very well be because I've set something up the wrong way. It's also hard to know what XBMC is doing when you add shares to the library

They both have their quirks, no doubt about that

 

[revs]

Well hopefully the MP team can take on board all the ideas in this thread and build a truly great MP2!

For me to leave MP I need software that handles TV (all types of cards), or has a TVServer plugin, and also, something that lets me specify my own codecs (i.e. PDVD)

 

[butchjr]

Well, in my eyes the plugin My TV Series looks almost exactly the same in MP and in XBMC. Yesterday i choose "search for new episodes" (or something similar) in XBMC, and it downloaded the right info for all my Tv series, it downloaded fanart and so on. I needed to do zero configuration. When i selected Library mode, it looked as it used to look in MP. But in MP I had to configure a lot before I could begin. As I wrote in my first post in this tread. For me the most important feature is Simplicity. It's more important that i works, than the ability to custimize everything. If I want to customize everything MeediOS is better than MP. MP is in between MeediOS and XBMC.

There is two reasons why I have a HTPC. I used my XBOX for many years, and I loved the simple usage of it. It plays everything, and it never gives me trouble. I built my htpc because the sound quality from the Xbox is not that good. And I am a music-o-holic, and second, I had two HD-tvs, and I wanted to be able to watch HD movies on at least one of them.

So I've got an Xbox with XBMC that outputs my xvid movies in 720p on one TV, and a HTPC with XBMC in Linux that outputs everything in 1366x768 on another TV.

I just wanted to add that I do understand that everyone have different needs. But one thing that is just amazing and I believe everyone should try is the new XBMC Live.

If you sit down on friday night and have planned for a movies night, and you got a virus, or something else broke your htpc. You just put the XBMC Live-cd in you htpc and reboots, select to boot from cd/dvd, and there you go, your night is saved, and so is your relationship. The girlfriend(s) won't hate you for having to repair your precious htpc.

Com.org - Only the best links ... select download and XBMC Live.

You can run it from CD or USB.
You don't have to install anything. It boots under a minute, from CD.

If you have a MCE remote, that works with no configuration. Otherwise you have to go with the keyboard. If you have the USB-edition you are able to install other remotes, as well as other features. But out of the box it plays all movies, and works great (in beta 1).

I am sure that even the biggest fans of MP would have use of it sometime.

 

[panic]

Hi everybody!

Just want to add my 2c:
I am playing with both XBMC and MP for a while now and both have their pros and cons. And every user has to decide which one suits him most. Anyway, I think both projects benefit from each other.

A huge plus of MP in my opinion is the TV and PVR functionality. Features more and more people seem to want to be available in their HTPCs. Which may be one cause Team-XBMC started to work on a mythtv-frontend (and maybe TVServer)... google summer of code project and in early-alpha-alpha.

XBMC on the other hand has a very nice gui experience. I am not talking about the design! Everyone's taste is different. But it's smooth and respondes very well using the remote. We will see what MP2 brings up with its new skin engine...

That's all I wanted to say...

 

[karakas]

If you sit down on friday night and have planned for a movies night, and you got a virus, or something else broke your htpc. You just put the XBMC Live-cd in you htpc and reboots, select to boot from cd/dvd, and there you go, your night is saved, and so is your relationship. The girlfriend(s) won't hate you for having to repair your precious htpc.

Or you can just spend 15 minutes restoring the backup from the day before

 

[sonik]

main difference XBMC vs MP (my two cents)

While XBMC is way msoother and quicker in response and therefore much more userfriendly, it is not supporting:

- iso-play via daemon tools (or at least i didnt figure out how so at least its not userfriendley to achieve that)
- m2ts-file playback which pretty throws out a lot of BD-rips

(i myself don't care for the TV & PVR-fuctionality, but thats also an obvious dfference)

so in the end XBMC seems better coded, while MP has more and better functionality. So for now I stick with MP but am eager tot switch tot XBMC as soon as Iso-play and m2ts-play is possible....

 

[butchjr]

In XBMC you don't have to mount the ISO. You just play the iso as it is. No need for daemon tools.
So all you have to do is play the iso like a normal avi-file. At least that's how I do it.

And you can play m2ts-files with the latest version of XBMC (Babylon) that is going to be released any day now.
And it is possible to do today if you use the beta or rc of xbmc.

 

[sonik]

@ bucthjr
thanks for the reply...I'll bide my time until Babylon is released then, and make the switch

 

[funkstar]

Does XBMC have TV functionality?

What about TVserver/frontend support?

I'm guessing no, so there is a great reason to stick with MP

 

[poppabk]

For me MP, as of version 1.0.0 along with moving pictures and mediastream skin is working and looking great. My HTPC functions mainly as a DVR and its second function is to play back movie and TV series DVD iso's and then it is also used for viewing pictures, getting the news, listening to last.fm etc. I never have a problem with codecs because I am only playing standard content and since 1.0.0 I have had very few crashes, about the same as the DVR I rented from my cable company. Configuration by keyboard works well for me, I can set it up how I like and then it functions for the rest of my family with the more complicated options hidden from view. I looked at XBMC but it lacked TV functionality and it seemed to be less configurable and usable for a HTPC for my uses.