Why I think I'm switching back to Media Center (5 Viewers)

[infinite.loop]

My main example is how MP deals with Videos that made my MP experience frustrating so far...

the "problem" you encountered is simply that you got used to the way Meedio handled Media Content.
which means how it used the DB for that, and you expected that MP will do it the same way, which it does not.

The db-driven, Media handling capabilities in MP1 are quite limited, and
MP 1 (0.2.3.0) was never designed to work like Meedio, nor any other application.
this is why Meedio users were that frustrated after it was sold. -> no alternative for their needs

the codebase/architecture of MP 1 could never handle what you would like to have.
and this is (as Paranoid Delusion allready said) one of the reasons why we started with MediaPortal 2.

i can not guarantee that it will become "the holy grale" for all you Meedio-users (maybe MeediOS will), but it will definitly be much more powerful and flexible then MP1 is.

 

[damaster]

Well, I really like MediaPortal 1 + TV Engine 3 so far, and I'm coming from XBMC. I was there during the XBMP days and all through it's evolution into XBMC. I dealt with all the bugs and bug fixes but loved it nonetheless. That's my experience so far with MediaPortal 1. And now, since everything is open-source, I can fix bugs and add features that fit my needs. I doubt I could do that with any other media center application.

I really look forward to MP2. I'm curious to see how well the open-source WPF skinning engine will perform. One of the issues of MP1 is the performance of skins: some skins react faster than others, and some components of certain skins take a while to load.

Thanks to all the coders, and I hope to contribute to MP1/2 in the near future once I can free up some time.

 

[infinite.loop]

I really look forward to MP2. I'm curious to see how well the open-source WPF skinning engine will perform. One of the issues of MP1 is the performance of skins: some skins react faster than others, and some components of certain skins take a while to load.

in nearly all cases this is caused by gfx of the skin which have a "quite big resolution/filesize".
i.e. harley improoved the load/response speed of his last skin by optimizing the gfx files.

in MP2 with the openWPF-Engine we can now use vector-images which scale without quality loss and are very "small" in filesize tems.

 

[damaster]

I really look forward to MP2. I'm curious to see how well the open-source WPF skinning engine will perform. One of the issues of MP1 is the performance of skins: some skins react faster than others, and some components of certain skins take a while to load.

in nearly all cases this is caused by gfx of the skin which have a "quite big resolution/filesize".
i.e. harley improoved the load/response speed of his last skin by optimizing the gfx files.

in MP2 with the openWPF-Engine we can now use vector-images which scale without quality loss and are very "small" in filesize tems.

Yup, vector graphics are great, and contributed greatly to the early success of Flash as the universal and ubiquitous tool for web animations, etc. I look forward to MP2 more and more

 

[RogueLegend]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

I've been using Media Portal since 0.2.2. I started out in the early days just settling with bundled ATi software that came with my TV card- that worked well for a while except for the frequent bits of glitchyness. The interface could have been designed better, but the biggest headache was always the EPG software that never got updated. It's integration between programs was very disconnected and made little to no sense.

I then moved to Snapstream. BeyondTV (I went through several revisions of version 4) but found that while it was well designed, the TV functionality had no good integration with Video/DVD/Music applications- Beyond Media was treated more like a thirdparty addon than a true integrated portion of the program. On top of that, it would frequently playback and record video only with no sound, and sound would not be restored until I restarted the system although I could get sound out of other TV apps. I could never get any kind of real support- besides preformatted emails, and the emails from people suggesting the same set of solutions from the preformatted email. It was the most frustrating $70 I ever spent (although I did get a free firefly remote out of the deal).

It wasn't until I gave up completely with BeyondTV that I found MP. Had I found MP first, Snapstream would have never gotten my money. I was impressed by the fit of MP, and the very fact that it does try to be all things to all people was one of the things that drew me to it. Though I didn't get the same kind of file format/conversion control settings I got with BeyondTV, I was more than willing to trade diskspace for the fact that it did not spontaneously drop audio from TV playback and recordings. I became less focused on tuning the system to provide maximum TV playback performance with maximum diskspace and instead found myself customizing the software to do what I needed. And although there are a few bugs with various features, the integration between the various parts is well done, and it doesn't feel like I'm exiting one program to get to another.

The best part is that I can massage it into working just how I want. Between being able to reprogram remote buttons, to adding plugins, to custom views, it can be prodded to work the way I need it.

I learned that this program has a huge time investment by the people developing it, and given the great job they've done getting it this far, I can spend a little extra time of my own massaging it to work, even if it means a little frustration comes with the setup, my patience has always paid off in the end. It would be nice for the setup to do everything for me like BeyondTV's, but considering I didn't have to pay anything for it, and it seems much more stable, I can deal with the idiosyncrosies like having to set up a TV server and a SQL database (although a TV server doesn't make sense to me for a single seat install, I'm very impressed with MP's performance w/ MySQL) in order to playback TV.

I'm not a big fan of the cost of admission or the limitations when it comes to MCE, along with Microsofts propensity for instability and high resource usage, and every other software has proven to be a bit of a dissapointment whether paid or free. MP is excellent given its nature, and the extensibility via plugins makes this software worth gold in my eyes.

 

[kersonan]

I found Media Portal one night when Windows MCE pushed me too far one quick format to remove the festering sore that is MCE and i've never looked back.

I've been really happy with the original version i downloaded way back then, granted it required a fairly good idea of computer concepts to be able to make it do what i wanted but i saw that as part of the fun.

Yesterday I finally updated to Media Portal RC1 wow what a difference, you guys have done an amazing job with it. I was even actually able to get the NZ EPG to go finally.

I have Windows Vista MCE option availiable to me but to be honest I'd never look at another app since using Media Portal.

The new installer is pretty noob proof really, and I liked the sense of humour it displayed with the "write down the SQL server uname and pass" and the "we told you you'd need it" its the little human touches that i appreciate about it the most.

The only downside I've ever blamed on Mediaportal was the damage to my wallet as my Media Box grew and evolved to take advantage of the features the software offers

 

[torstenk]

I also love MP. Im still at 0.2.3 and it works really nice. I just thinks it slow at listing over network, which i dont understand, because if i list it in Windows it is fast.

Doesnt MP use listing the same way as Windows?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

also love MP. Im still at 0.2.3 and it works really nice. I just thinks it slow at listing over network, which i dont understand, because if i list it in Windows it is fast.

Change the view from shares, this will then pull everything in from the database instead and should be a lot faster.

 

[torstenk]

also love MP. Im still at 0.2.3 and it works really nice. I just thinks it slow at listing over network, which i dont understand, because if i list it in Windows it is fast.

Change the view from shares, this will then pull everything in from the database instead and should be a lot faster.

Im not sure i understand? What should i change? It is not listed as Big icons or something like that. It is listed as "list"

Or is it something else?

 

[clovek1]

my personal opinion to Media Portal is this:

+ for free
+ feature rich:
+ the only DVB Application, where the zoom mode for 4:3 and 16:9 channels works like i want it to work
+ very nice Xface skin (best looking GUI i have seen in any HTPC application so far)
+ can set custom cropping to get best picture quality
+ works with almost any remote without additional plugins
+ DVB S2 support (H.264)
+ 5.1 sound support (dolby digital)
+ CI support
+ hybrid card support (in contrary to MCE)
+ complete media center features with TV & Music albums support
+ good for people who like to reinstall programms, test new features, play with PC and configurations

- extremely complicated to set up for the first time (it got better with RC1 and new installer)
- quite buggy (still usable, but MP Client and PC restarts are needed at least at daily basis)
- some functions are limited (DVB-S2 channel lists have to be created/edited manually to be able to tune them)
- definitely not good for people with little technical background expecting simple installation, quick setup and trouble free usage

I think using MP RC1 is a compromise between stability&simple usability and feture richness.
I tried to switch to other applications, but returned because i missed some features (mostly the remote support, good zoom mode functionality, video/audio albums support) more than stability.
I have learned how to set MP up, therefore its not an extreme issue for me anymore.
I fear for most of the new users the setup will be still quite a BIG problem.