Why 'Everything else is just a media center" (1 Viewer)

[cheezey]

In order...

1. The client/server design of TV server, a very simple solution to getting TV into many rooms.
   
2. Core simplicity of MediaPortal and the major plugins. All my clients do TV/Radio, Music, TV Series, Moving Pictures & Online Videos. These can be setup in minutes (although initial DB scans can take a while). The previous post mentioned MP being still in geek territory, I'd challenge that view when concentrating on core funtionality - sure if you want all those cool extra bells & whistles then you need to put the effort in.
   
3. Remote access to media and control of TV Server & clients

 

[edterbak]

For me:
1 - it allows us to watch a movie truely as it is meant to be seen. Done by Dynamic Refreshrate Changer to achief near no judder
2 - Mediaportal Audiorenderer to eliminate the last remaining video judder. although it is WIP, it already functions well.
3 - 1 TV Server and a client for multiple pc's/room's
4 - IPimp / aMPdroid. (should be carried / pushed a bit more by MP devs IMO. Its the future)

 

[porky996t]

Multiple clients for me, and ability to watch HD TV on those clients and do it with a remote control.

Even the GF manages to use it without problems now.

 

[AlexT]

Why is Hiro so happy?!? I just told him that I'm now able to record FOX ATSC reliably...at least, it looks like it. AND, that means...

I had one ATSC station that I normally only got 84 signal strength on, sometimes bit less, etc. That station was FOX. I decided to fiddle with my homemade "as cheap as it gets" HDTV antenna (slight position change; ie, couple of inches moved) and ya Ta! lol I'm now getting 92 (and I had repositioned before but not since Beta). As you know, that's a big difference from 84. And the other local ATSC stations, still at 100%. Still no luv from CBS but they are 30+ miles away and have a gerbil powering their transmit level. I see tonight, though, FOX was steady at 91 or 92...93 for a bit so we'll just say 92 average is expected level now. And I gotta'believe, whether true or not, that the tweak y'all did from Beta to RC (and in Final) on the signal threshold had something to do with it. If nothing else, it allowed me to "watch" FOX ATSC but now, I R..E..C..O..R..D...!

ramble..ramble...oops!

Just had to share my giddiness over finally getting FOX at a high enough level to record without worry. And, my fine Team MediaPortal friends, are responsible for opening up my entertainment world via MP. A friend sent me his Hauppauge 1850 he no longer used, messed with WinTV for a couple of weeks, made my first antenna, discovered MP couple of days later (1.20 Beta), and there you go! It's been an enjoyable stable entertainment relationship ever since. lol

A very sincere THANK YOU to Team MediaPortal.


note: and MP being able to lock onto a signal and strongly hold it (for lack of a better term) is only 1 of the 82,633 things I like about it...give or take.

 

[infinite.loop]

Thanks AlexT!

 

[nepomuk08]

AW: Why 'Everything else is just a media center"

Because mediaportal's community and dev's always find a solution for anyone's problems. best configurable and best looking and best upgradeable home theater program.
Even people not involved with PC's in general do have no problems to understand it's usage. Their reaction: just WOW!
Even my girl is fond of it. I won't miss it.

Everything else is just a media center - sooo true...

Keep up the great work!!!

 

[DerPrinz82]

AW: Why 'Everything else is just a media center"

Why MediaPortal?
There are so many reasons that I can't mention them all.

Until November 2010 i used a WD TV Player for about a year or so, but as new codecs and more HD stuff was coming up, it didn't fulfill my needs anymore.
So I setup a HTPC and tried different software titles like iMedian and WMC of course, but wasn't happy with it. The third option was trying MP. And what can I say? I got stuck there

The first week or so, I was just trying to understand all the options in the configuration. It needs a while until you understand everything but it was worth it.
The more I got involved in the MP software and the more I read about all these tons of plugins, skins and features, the more I got interested in trying them all.
Well, maybe not all, but at least some of them.

It's about one year now and I can't even imagine going back to any other application any more.
The MP Installation became so "big" because of all these databases, fanarts, thumbs, logos and stuff like that.

Why did I get stuck with MP?

Point 1: Flawlessness
As even new users will find out very fast, there are so many nice skins to make the application look great, combined with amazing functionality.
With my favourite one, Streamed MP, you can manually choose your splashscreen, for example. You can also creat one yourself and put it in place.
If you then use the same file as windows background and also as windows startscreen, you can reach an almost flawless look on your HTPC.

Point 2: Custom Look
You can say what you want. You will not find any other media application FOR FREE which you can customize like MP. With all these fanarts, backdrops, banners and logos, you can create your own environment inside the app corresponding to your own likings. There are no borders for your creativity.

Point 3: Database Integration and Media Sorting
If you are a litte bit like myself, you might want to sort all of your media in databases. MPs great Plugins like TVSeries, MyFilms/Moving pictures, MyMusic and MVCentral for music videos (still developing) gives you the chance to do exactly that. You will get every episode of your favourite TV show sorted and named the right way and sorted in the right order, you will get posters and descriptions for your movies on hard disk or DVD, album covers for your music collection and even a database for music videos with information about the artists. You can also watch streamed videos on the internet with the OnlineVideos plugin and even combine this feature with your movie database to get the correct trailers for your movies. Name only one other MediaApp that can do all these things...for free!

Point 4: Centralized TV Server
The TV functionality integration was one of the last features I added to my HTPC... Mostly because of a lot of argueing with my gf. You know how this goes if you have only one satellite connection and only one receiver: "NO! You can't watch football right now, my TV Show starts every second!"
Well, this situation will not appear anymore. Today I got a unicable LNB installed on the roof and 4 tuners in my HTPC. The TV Service integrated in MP makes it possible for us to watch 4 different channels at the same time (only if capable hardware exists, of course). My gf can now watch her shows and I will not miss my favourite live sports events. Sometimes I even end up watching football on the LCD TV in the living room while having an hockey game showing on my notebook at the same time. Oh and of yourse recording a nice movie on a third channel, at the same time. No problem to schedule recordings with all the possibilites to get apporpriate EPG data.

Point 5: Technical complexity and a community to rely on
To integrate so many features and possibility into one main application is a very complex technical issue. To get all these things done properly (again: for free!) you need a working community. Just make your way through this forum und will soon find out: you can't even count the persons that have spent their time and technical knowledge to make this all happen. Regardless to what kind of problem I was dealing with, until today, there was NO issue that couldn't be solved with the help of the community members.
This is the final one of my 5 Points why I chose MediaMortal, but for sure one of the most important!
So "THANK YOU" ... to all the people involved in creating this UNIQUE MediaCenter Software, or ... maybe even more than that?

Greetings!

 

[guytpetj]

Why 'Everything else is just a media center"
Simply because MediaPortal is the best. To me MP has been a stable platform for many years.

Achieving a higl level of stability is not only related to having a stable MediaPortl core, but also what other software and hardware you run.

I'm running a server, which as a full MP install , and several clients. In addition I have a development machine, this is my sandbox for playing with new MediaPortal Releases and plugins, this is what keeps trouble away from my main systems. My main systems are the HTPC's for daily use and the 24\7 server,
currently I'm running a dedicated server and 4 client HTPC's

My golden rules are:

• My HTPC's are not a playing ground or a place for experimentation.
• Only install MP versions and plugins that were tested on my dev. pc
• Make scheduled back-up of the important MP databases using a custom made archive utility.
• Only install plugins that are realy needed, keep the plugin clutter out of the system.
• Only buy hardware (TV tuners,Graphics Cards) that are supported or many people are using.
• Avoid antivirus software from the likes of Norton, McAfee et.
• Only install additional software that is realy needed, avoid installing all these try-ware programs that leave all sorts of trails behind and mess-up the registry.
• no automatic windows or drivers updates, I do a controlled update once a week, so I know what is changing.
• Use a UPS with the most important HTPC's and server, to avoid problems caused by dirty shutdown in case of power failures.
• Do a complete re-install, starting with formatting the HDD every 18 months, this is also the time to upgrade to a new windows version if needed.
• Make a monthly image of the root HDD to recover from HDD crashes (happened twice).
• Have all my media on hardware RAID 5 arrays with hot spare (already saved me once from loosing 4.5TB of data, as you may notice on the picture one of the arrays is awaiting a new hot spare HDD which hopefully arrives soon).

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As result, my HTPC's are running with a near perfect efficiency, the very few times I have a glitch are most of the time caused by Windows, not by MP.
All of this results in a high WAF and KAF (kids acceptance factor), which translates in me being happy.

 

[Grampz]

Hello....

First time here! I have been messing with NextPVR for a few months and have pulled many hairs out of my balding head. My latest issue has been setting up an MCE remote with a USB IR dongle. I downloaded IRSS and have it set up well for my htpc, but there are always more issues in npvr to deal with. Following some links I came across this package...

I am going to try MediaPortal, and see how this goes. I like the wiki documentation, forum structure, and program setup much better than npvr's...

Assume I need to reply to a post before I can start a new thread..

Greg

 

[porky996t]

Hi Greg,

Welcome!

MP is a very comprehensive media solution and does have a steep learning curve as there is so much that can be done. It certainly isn't plug & play, however, the level of support I have received from this forum when getting used to MP was huge.

Good luck and feel free to join in - also remember that the forum 'search' tool is very useful.