Whats wrong with MCE (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter JoJoLex
- Start date
Germany
Thanks a lot, that way I can just install it and switch whenever I feel like it.Ralph said:
jonno280674 said:...So, I decided to try mediaportal to see if you guys had got a better EPG...
The simple answer is no. The MP EPG is even worse than MCE. Its buggy, slow and a PITA to setup. Almost every time I switch back to the EPG its decided to refuse to show BBC1 again, if I try and import the EPG data again it makes the TV go choppy, which isnt great whilst trying to record something!!.
My opinion, for what its worth is that the following areas need to become bulletproof...
1. EPG (Surely somebody can come up with a decent way to do this?)
2. EPG (It really is THAT important!!)
3. SPDIF out for DVD's - People use media centers to watch DVD's tooI know it works but its hardly simple to setup!.
4. Speed - its too choppy when switching between channels.
5. Thumbnails for videos and recorded TV.
6. Why does the screen go blank when I dont press anything for 10 seconds? Unless its in fullscreen TV mode.
7. Better DVD handling - how the hell do you watch a DVD that is already inserted?
I will be going back to MCE for the rest of this year (I will be single if I leave 0.1.3 in the front room). Good luck with V0.2.0, I will be back in February to have another look!
Neil.
Hi Neil, here are some answers to your comments.
try the EPG again, I think in the UK it works better than anywhere else and a lot of work has been done on the import from DVB streams.
A lot of work has also been done on changing channels, but there will always be some delay in DVB channel changing. Latest CVS seem to have more of a delay, so maybe hold off for a little bit
Thumbnails have been added to recorded TV. I don't really see the need for this, but it's there anyway.
The screen goes black after ten seconds if you have the screen saver turned on. ->MP Config/General/ -This is a must for plasma screens combined with forgetful flatmates but otherwise can be turned off.
biggest gripes with MCE
The music organisation sucks in MCE, why aint there a "by folder" option, and for some reason on my setup when browsing movies MCE constantly tries to change resolutions, a real pain.
MP is way better. Got RC2 installed and for the most part does what it says on the box! Tried RC3 but got an installation error which disabled my tuner somehow, thank god for system restore. Hint: never install on a whim!, will be trying a virgin install on a clean XP installation soon.
The music organisation sucks in MCE, why aint there a "by folder" option, and for some reason on my setup when browsing movies MCE constantly tries to change resolutions, a real pain.
MP is way better. Got RC2 installed and for the most part does what it says on the box! Tried RC3 but got an installation error which disabled my tuner somehow, thank god for system restore. Hint: never install on a whim!, will be trying a virgin install on a clean XP installation soon.
MCE isnt really an option for me for the following reasons:
1. No DVB-C support at all.
2. "My Music" doesnt work properly with Ogg Vorbis sound files, which constitute 30% of my music files.
3. EPG *sucks*, if it works its nice, but when there are problems with it, its impossible to fix. The EPG here in Denmark was unsatisfiable, and it was actually my girlfriend who asked me to change back to MP.
4. You have to use reg hacks to use more than 2 tuners.
5. Setup in general is a pain if you need to do something which the so called "wizards" hadnt considered.
1. No DVB-C support at all.
2. "My Music" doesnt work properly with Ogg Vorbis sound files, which constitute 30% of my music files.
3. EPG *sucks*, if it works its nice, but when there are problems with it, its impossible to fix. The EPG here in Denmark was unsatisfiable, and it was actually my girlfriend who asked me to change back to MP.
4. You have to use reg hacks to use more than 2 tuners.
5. Setup in general is a pain if you need to do something which the so called "wizards" hadnt considered.
I am currently using MCE because:
* It is attractive and provides really positive feedback
* Usability is good, though not very good
* Stability is good, though not very good
* I don't have time to tinker at the moment
I intend to use MP because:
* Its open source
* I've helped out on usability ideas, hopefully more to come
* I'm confident it can be a really good system
I am not currently using MP because:
* Reliability - I accept its Beta and if I had the time, I would run it, but at the moment, too busy to play with settings, etc.
* Usability - see above, but I have and intend to continue helping out on this.
* EPG set up - got as far as Channel 4 and gave up. 1-channel TV is no fun!
WHat really peeves me about MCE is:
* The Auto-scheduling. I resolve a ocnflicted recording, it downloads new data and overwrites my decision. JESUS!! How dumb does it have to be???????
* Proprietary format
I await time to play with MP, hopefully with the usability changes i have recommended. Then when Vista comes out, I'll reassess and make a final decision. Rest assured, my current objective is to adopt MP, but it isn't ready for me yet (I'm a real pain with usability and accessibility).
* It is attractive and provides really positive feedback
* Usability is good, though not very good
* Stability is good, though not very good
* I don't have time to tinker at the moment
I intend to use MP because:
* Its open source
* I've helped out on usability ideas, hopefully more to come
* I'm confident it can be a really good system
I am not currently using MP because:
* Reliability - I accept its Beta and if I had the time, I would run it, but at the moment, too busy to play with settings, etc.
* Usability - see above, but I have and intend to continue helping out on this.
* EPG set up - got as far as Channel 4 and gave up. 1-channel TV is no fun!
WHat really peeves me about MCE is:
* The Auto-scheduling. I resolve a ocnflicted recording, it downloads new data and overwrites my decision. JESUS!! How dumb does it have to be???????
* Proprietary format
I await time to play with MP, hopefully with the usability changes i have recommended. Then when Vista comes out, I'll reassess and make a final decision. Rest assured, my current objective is to adopt MP, but it isn't ready for me yet (I'm a real pain with usability and accessibility).
Im one of those who payed out good cash for MCE.
Allthough is looked nice, i could get nothing to work! played with it for 1 week when i decided to put my HTPC on hold...
I was crushed in my believes caused by MCE being sooo Incompatible with 3rd party plugins and codecs.. Nothing and i mean Nothing worked.
-.--.--.--.--.--.-
Then i accidently fell upon a site reviewing 20 different Media Center Software.. Mac and PC... i glensed through them fast, and i didnt look like there was anything that would suit my needs, until i clicked the link to Media Portal...
Serious people.. What is this? well for me it's a gift send from heaven. I now got everything i wanted my HTPC to do... And IT works
I praise that this is one of the projects which never dies, cause i can see the work put into it. And i really apreciate it..
I Love MP and i would never use anything else.
Thanx Again.
Tina.
Allthough is looked nice, i could get nothing to work! played with it for 1 week when i decided to put my HTPC on hold...
I was crushed in my believes caused by MCE being sooo Incompatible with 3rd party plugins and codecs.. Nothing and i mean Nothing worked.
-.--.--.--.--.--.-
Then i accidently fell upon a site reviewing 20 different Media Center Software.. Mac and PC... i glensed through them fast, and i didnt look like there was anything that would suit my needs, until i clicked the link to Media Portal...
Serious people.. What is this? well for me it's a gift send from heaven. I now got everything i wanted my HTPC to do... And IT works
I praise that this is one of the projects which never dies, cause i can see the work put into it. And i really apreciate it..
I Love MP and i would never use anything else.
Thanx Again.
Tina.
Well, MyTV is what I use it for. Primarily as a PVR and playback machine.
I tried MCE, was extremely uncomfortable that every aspect of it seemed designed to screw money out of the consumer.
I also tried most of the other commercial tv programs around, Showshifter, Beyond, Snap, Christv, Meedio, SageTV etc and none came anywhere near as close to MCE or MP in usability, features, professionalism or function. Many were incredibly confusing to setup or use, all had problems detecting or using my hardware. (Hauppuage and Avermedia, hardly rare)
I think the current state of this extremely new area is led by MCE and MP, one is very expensive, one is free. MCE I had problems with setting up. MP I was impressed with from the start and have continued to be day by day. YES, I have some stability issues, occasional crashes - but I've used a lot of open source software over the years and without doubt MP is one of the best led, most smoothly organised and actively developed tools around. The enthusiasm for this software displayed by the mediaportal team is catching!
Please keep up the good work. It's great already, 1.0 will be awesome.
I tried MCE, was extremely uncomfortable that every aspect of it seemed designed to screw money out of the consumer.
I also tried most of the other commercial tv programs around, Showshifter, Beyond, Snap, Christv, Meedio, SageTV etc and none came anywhere near as close to MCE or MP in usability, features, professionalism or function. Many were incredibly confusing to setup or use, all had problems detecting or using my hardware. (Hauppuage and Avermedia, hardly rare)
I think the current state of this extremely new area is led by MCE and MP, one is very expensive, one is free. MCE I had problems with setting up. MP I was impressed with from the start and have continued to be day by day. YES, I have some stability issues, occasional crashes - but I've used a lot of open source software over the years and without doubt MP is one of the best led, most smoothly organised and actively developed tools around. The enthusiasm for this software displayed by the mediaportal team is catching!
Please keep up the good work. It's great already, 1.0 will be awesome.
I know a lot of people have been giving MP a hard time over stability, but I think the RC4 is pretty awesome. I agree there are still some issues, but I've been using it solid for around a week now and had no major crashes (loosing a recording etc).
If people want a media center, without tv, why not get a second hand modded xbox and use the xbox media center? (I believe frodo wrote a great deal of that too!) The whole POINT of MP is the TV Module.
rusten said:
If people want a media center, without tv, why not get a second hand modded xbox and use the xbox media center? (I believe frodo wrote a great deal of that too!) The whole POINT of MP is the TV Module.