Some Bad News for MediaPortal (2 Viewers)

[paddy01]

Yes it does.. I used it to receive BBC-HD in the UK which is H.264.

It was possible to get support for H.264 in Vista but through an OEM only expansion called the TV Pack. This was never released to consumers but was widely leaked.

 

[zeebee]

Windows Media Center for Vista or Win7 has a very goog look and feel right from the beginning where MediaPortal needs some configuration. You have nice online TV integration (in Germany ZDF, or Maxdome for movie rentings). With the TV-Pack you can also watch HD (but only for Vista I think).

But just try to use it for DVB-C - not a chance without tools like DVBSbridge / DVBlink and they need some hell of configuration, cost about 30$ and need additional software like DVBViewer (15€). It is not a lot of money, but configuration wise worse than MediaPortal.

 

[Mew]

Hi

I thought I read that the beta version of the Vista Media Center TV Pack had H.264 support but it was removed from the final version used by OEMs. I think Microsoft indicated that it broke something which is why they removed it. I believe I read on a forum that people were trying to use the .dll that enabled H.264 from the beta in the final version but were not sure if it would timebomb out and render their H.264 recordings (in the new Microsoft format) unwatchable. I am not sure what the outcome of this was.

Either way, using an OEM update or a hacked OEM update, I wouldn't call this mainstream support of H.264 by Vista.

Mew

 

[etheesdad]

Seems something useful may come of this post after all....

Anyone in favour of the idea of a comparison chart comparing the features of MP and Windows 7 as an addition to the Wiki?

Might be a useful point of reference....

 

[slypie]

What about the people that bought Vista like me for the MCE to build a MC PC and found it to be crap with no functionality and feel ripped off that Microsoft has in a sense abandoned Vista and all the people who paid good money for it.

 

[zeebee]

Either way, using an OEM update or a hacked OEM update, I wouldn't call this mainstream support of H.264 by Vista.

Mew

True, h264 only works with a beta dll-file you have to swap manually.

Still, Windows Media Center works very well if you are fine with its limitations. And there are quite some of them. So it is no alternative for me and I guess most people in this forum.

 

[JackTramiel]

What about the people that bought Vista like me for the MCE to build a MC PC and found it to be crap with no functionality and feel ripped off that Microsoft has in a sense abandoned Vista and all the people who paid good money for it.

For me Vista MediaCenter does everything well it claims to be able too. If it doesnt offer features you want to have i think you shouldnt blame MS for it. And Vista is not abandoned only because Win 7 is coming.

 

[slypie]

For me Vista MediaCenter does everything well it claims to be able too. If it doesnt offer features you want to have i think you shouldnt blame MS for it. And Vista is not abandoned only because Win 7 is coming.

I would have to disagree with that. Where is the dual card support, DVB-S support, HD playback. There has been little to no improvment to Vista's MediaCenter and the TV pack doesn't count as it's for OEM which is pointless. Whilst the layout and look is spot on the functionality isn't.

Whilst I take some blame for not doing my homework in the first place I was really shocked that at least DVB-S wasn't supported and couldn't believe they left it out in the first place.

 

[Mew]

I would also agree that Vista looks abandoned. I think Microsoft have been clear that they won't release the TV Pack other than by the OEM route which means that certain functionality I would expect by now as standard (such as proper DVB-S support) is missing from official versions of Vista. I don't think there are likely to be any major changes to Vista now that Windows 7 is on the horizon.

Vista with the OEM TV Pack (and I assume Windows 7) is a different proposition as this does support multiple tuners of different types (although there is a limit on numbers depending on the version of Windows) and does include features such as MHEG-5 support. As an out of the box solution I would think this should satisfy far more users than standard Vista Media Center.

Mew

 

[PatM]

Of course there is another big problem with Windows 7 Media Center - people have to buy Windows 7. Vista was a flop for several reasons, the most important for me were

1) Real Money for no real improvement for the user
2) Big Brother additions that turn control of your PC over to the corporations under the umbrella of "anti-piracy" protection.

What did Vista do and what will Windows 7 do that I can't already do under XP? Not a heck of a lot. What can't *I* do under Vista and what won't *I* be able to do under Windows 7 that I CAN do under XP? A heck of a lot.

See, I don't have ANY pirated software or ANY pirated movies (don't listen to music so you can guess how much pirated music I have) but I simply will not stand for the software dictatorships that are coming down the pipe from M$. I figure XP is the last OS I'm ever using from M$ (much of what I do is now under Linux - not because of a love of Linux but rather a growing hatred of all things M$ - and I used to be a big fan!).

So for people like me what Windows 7 can do will not matter since I'm not paying M$ any more money nor even using Windows software unless I simply cannot avoid it.

Too bad MP doesn't have a Linux Port - once I get my hardware working under linux (see New Canuck User under general) I'll probably wipe XP from the HTPC and go with MythTV.