Why i no longer use MP (1 Viewer)

[infinite.loop]

With the onboard graphics chip, I could not use ffdshow at all - TV crashed after some minutes.

even if it works now, ffdshow should never be used for TV, because of performance and compatibillity issues with some TV-Channels / streams.

This shows that very often it is not MP to blame for crashes.

this indeed is the case.
90+% of all crashes in the past were cause by outdated or bugged drivers, not following the system-requirements (dvb-fix, other MS hotfixes missing i.e.), bugged codecs or windows messed up by codec packs, etc.

a very small amount of crashes is caused by MP code.

the problem is that it always looks like MP is the problem because "it" crashes.
in some cases other applications can work fine because they work "a bit different" (i.e. are not .net framework based) and do not trigger the error in an external application/codec that frequently, if ever.

i know this sounds flimsy, but it is the truth.

 

[Scha]

I do agree that its not MediaPortals fault all the time (I dont know how often, or if ever its really MP's fault). Anyway, when you write software that relies on other software/hardware it is still your job to handle the error of what you rely on as best you can. Even tho its not your fault you should try to, if possible to at least say "Hey, something f***ed up, but it wasn't my fault".

I understand that to write error handling for EVERY hardware and software combination out there would be almost impossible, but you should still try to avoid crashing when other software f***s up where ever possible.

PS. I'm not hating on MP, I love it (and should probably sit down and figure out what is causing my crashes instead of complaining ).

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Scha

Either drivers or codecs, and when i mean drivers that's virtually all of them on your system could give a issue, not just the common complaint of Video\audio drivers.

For codec errors check my signature.

 

[rusten]

I've loaded up MP on three occasions over the past few years, but I always revert to XBMC.

This is *Not* because I don't love MP; in fact, I always come back and check on MP's status, hoping that it's reached a point where I'll have good luck with it.

My issue is *not* that MP cannot be configured by remote or that MP is not as userfriendly/etc. Insead, I'll mention my specific issues:

ISO Handing.
My issue is first and foremost, that XBMC handles .ISO's so elegantly. And with an 800 movie library, it's just so much easier to keep everything stored in single file .ISO's that include full DVD-features, etc. I realize that MP will work with .ISO's, but anyone that's used it is probably familiar with the occasional problems that result in it being the daemon workaround.

Share Aggregation.
Better yet, XBMC has a great feature that allows you to integrate multiple UNC's under one share. So, for example, I can create "Movies" and map that to \\MovieServer\Disk1, \\MovieServer\Disk2, etc. I listed this as a feature request, but it seemd to be shunned. It seems, in my experience, when you talk about XBMC in relation to a feature request, you'll receive a "XBMC is an inferior product" sort of reply, without consideration for those areas that are executed very well.

Remote.
The other problem I've run into with MP, quite often, is that I've not had good luck with remotes. I'm guessing that because the MS MediaCenter remote has become so standard, that may be a standard that works well for MP at this point. However, at my last install, there was no standardized/recommended IR/remote setup for MP and it just so happens the two remotes I tested, were convoluted (I can't remember exactly which issues I had, I just remember staying up until 4am several nights fighting with it ;-).

TV Not as important.
I have no use for television because TVTorrents works slicker than anything imaginable, and it's addictive once you've become accustomed to receiving all of your shows the next day, cleaned up, MPEG4 encoded, and indexed in the system. It just works so nice. This is *not* to downplay those of you who need TV; in fact, I see it as one of the most critical features despite not having a use for it myself. However, with that said, for a straight "media endpoint" I've just found that XBMC works better.

I just want to reiterate one last time: I love MP and I'm looking forward to the day when the above features are considered. However, at this point, after watching for years, it seems like these features may not be as important to the development team / other users, and therefore, I'll probably be running XBMC for quite awhile...

Thanks for taking the time to consider .

 

[Darre]

* I have to agree on the ISO handling, but Ive converted all my ISO's a long time ago because I just wan't to watch the movie, not launch a DVD menu.

* I solved your "Share Aggregation." issue with junctions.
But since I'm using moving pictures, TVseries and jburnettes Mvid plugin now tho, I have no need for the shares view anymore.

* I have never had any remote problems, and I've used 3 different ones..

 

[cubii]

XBMC plugin for mp

hi ,
i also tried xbmc and it has his good things.(especially the online part..)

so the best thing for now is to use both, and that would be even nicer,

if we had an xbmc plugin!!

;-)

 

[Marcusb]

Hi,

I like your post very much. Its always good to think outside the own box. You gave detailed pros and cons. Be sure, that we will try to take care of these issues with MP2. There are much discussions about GUI and usability. We always collect good examples, to get influence on the MP project. Be sure that we will keep an eye on XBMC.

Flip.

I agree. When I saw the thread title, I kind of gave an inside-my-head groan, thinking, here it comes again and cautiously opened the page.

I was actually nicely surprised to find a well written post outlining pros and cons and actually giving helpful criticism.

I've never used XBMC myself, but have heard lots of good things about it. From reading through these posts, it still doesn't sound like it would swing me over though, since my needs are pretty much opposite yours.
I heavilly use TV, don't have any mounted files and have 1Tb dedicated to TV Shows and 1Tb dedicated to movies and so on.

My system (TV Server plus three clients) is very stable and only ever gives issues if I can't resist the urge and do some tinkering. I really need to learn to not touch something that works well.

As for the fully internal configuration option, we did have a very lengthy debate on the forums a while ago about this issue. It seems to very much divide people. I much prefer the way MP is at the moment. most common things are able to be changed in the gui, but more complex settings need the config program but I can see why other people dislike that.

Cheers,
Marcus.

 

[Mats42]

My 2 Cents on why I don't like the separation of app and config.
1. I want a replacement for my set-top box. No set-top box requires a keyboard to update the channel list. (tv-server config app)
2. I want to add a path to be able to watch or listen to a file. It's not reasonable to have to shut down mp, go fetch a keyboard, start a new app (mp config) change the setting, start MP, put the keyboard away again. There might be a better way for this but as far as I know XBMC rocks on this point

This isn't userfriendly and if we want MP to be more than a geeks product it has to be userfriendly.
The test I use to eval diffrent HTPC softwares is to compare them with a ordinary set-top box. There is no reason why it should be harder to configure MP than the set-top box. Installation is another matter but config isn't.