XBMC comparison (1 Viewer)

[gorman]

I looked for this but couldn't find it. It seems to me that XBMC still offers many more options for videoplayback and customizations of different sort. Considering that it is open source and running, theoretically, on a very similar platform (it doesn't even use the GPU), why is this?

I came to MediaPortal expecting pretty much the same features.
And sorry if this is an old question. It is in no way meant as a criticism to the awesome developers.
I'm just curious, that's all.

 

[Callifo]

Pretty much because of the extra things XBMC lacks, require a lot more work to be done. The project doesnt have a huge amount of coders compared to some other projects so there is limited time devoted to things outside of general stability (huge amounts of possible configurations in comparison to the xbox), tv system and existing plugins.

 

[SiLenTYL]

hiya

ive been using xbox media player(thats right not "Center" ) ..since the xbplayer beta5 build hehe...and seen many changes over the years

the main reason behind Mediaportal being made on the Windows XP PC platform is to make use of TV cards for watching/recording/scheduling TV. XBMC doesnt have a great TV setup ...or any last time i checked...so it instantly makes Mediaportal far superior

XBMC *possibly* is superior is other ways, in terms of customisation and variety of video file type playback...however the Xbox lacks the CPU to play high end HD video...such as .TS (720p, 1080i) files and WMVHD .WMV (720p/1080i/1080p) files ....that with a 3.0Ghz cpu on a PC is done with absolute ease

The original reason i bought an xbox was soley for XBMP/XBMC and divx/xvid playback...it does it very well ..but i wanted more...of course its more expencive than an xbox, but its worth it for true high end HD recording and playback

in the end..MP was for me, and im thinking of giving away my xbox

 

[MrMario64]

so tell me,
what kinda video can't we play?
You can set MP to use an external player like Mplayer for instance (the same that xbmc uses).
What kinda tweaking you mean ?
We have skins, we practically use the same skinsetup.

Tell us more in detail what you miss, and it could well be that we can do it, but you just don't know it.

 

[Gamester17]

We have skins, we practically use the same skinsetup

Hate to burst your bubble MrMario64 but while that might have been true a two years ago it is not true today, XBMC development has not stood still during the last couple of years and especially the skinning-engine have evolved, so the XBMC skinning-engine is today much more advanced that MediaPortal's (current) skinning-engine, (XBMC skinning-engine is in fact so flexible that none of the skinners have had time to take full advantage of all its features/functions). Other areas that have evolved greatly in XBMC is the music section/database, the native DVD-player with ISO/IMG parsing (with ISO/IMG playback from RAR and ZIP archives support).

Both MediaPortal and XBMC are great products but they are not the same product anymore, nor can they compete with each other. The Xbox with XBMC is a cheap investment, it's small form-factor is very convenient and offers superb TV playback at a great price/performance ratio, (cheap enough to have more than one!?), however it only offers upscaling/upconverting to HDTV and not playback of native HDTV material. A HTPC with MediaPortal cost a lot more but it also offers a lot more with TV-recording and playback of HDTV video, it can however be harder to use/setup.

...a XBMC 2.0.0 point release will be released soon (we're in a feature-freeze/bug-bash stage now), Team-MediaPortal should check it out when it's out 8)

 

[gorman]

Well, while not as technical as Gamester17, I can say things such as:

- Milkdrop visualizer support out of the box with XBMC with no need to do anything nor download winamp
- Ability to add delay to subtitles and to add "conuter-delay", I don't know how to define it. I mean, .srt can both be late and early.
- Generally speaking, XBMC looks like a far more hassle-free out-of-the-box experience. I installed MP on my desktop PC, with a 4:3 monitor and using a 4:3 skin and... still words don't fit in their allocated spaces... it feels less "complete".

Considering Meedio's demise, I would really love for Team XBMC and Team MediaPortal to join forces and create something for PC with the best of both worlds. Obviously on a PC one has the choice of deeper and deeper customization, that is *good*. On the other hand, I don't see anything wrong in offering what XBMC offers with not a single input from the end user.

I guess there are extremely talented programmers on both teams and... well, in a way I see XBMC development, after 2.0 is released, as pretty much *done*. And I mean it in a good way. Sooooo... maybe one day you will join forces.

I am considering a MacMini Dual Core with MediaPortal but, at the moment, MP doesn't look like can offer all that XBMC can (and I'm not interested in PVR, as I do that through Sky+, albeit not as my choice but because Sky doesn't allow any other way).

I finish off by stating that I thank enormously both teams for all the hard work they put into their creations. I'm unfortunately not a coder, otherwise I would *love* to contribute. And I would definitely pay good money for a "Marriage XBMC-MP".

Cheers!

 

[Gamester17]

On behalf of all HTPC newbies I just like to add that the one thing that I miss most in MediaPortal is 'built-in' codecs (decoders/encoders); it would be very nice if the MediaPortal team would consider including ffdshow with MediaPortal installation/setup program (as an option during installation), ...or even better their own derivative version of ffdshow that is customized for MediaPortal (with all standard settings easily accessible from within MediaPortal's GUI), and that those codecs where auto-updated regularly when newer versions of ffdshow/codecs comes out. That way your average user don't have to bother with codecs, post-processing filters, subtitle-filters and such, it would make the whole MediaPortal experience more user-friendly, especially the first impression which is very important when trying to attract new users.

Another suggestion would be for the MediaPortal team to join the openusability.org project, which could help humanizing MediaPortal's interface, making it more intuitive and user-friendly .

Fool-proofing MediaPortal, aim for a user-interface for dummies, not for the computer nerds that many of us are (including myself), ...maybe the result will be something in the middle :wink:

 

[gorman]

On behalf of all HTPC newbies I just like to add that the one thing that I miss most in MediaPortal is 'built-in' codecs (decoders/encoders); it would be very nice if the MediaPortal team would consider including ffdshow with MediaPortal installation/setup program (as an option during installation), ...or even better their own derivative version of ffdshow that is customized for MediaPortal (with all standard settings easily accessible from within MediaPortal's GUI), and that those codecs where auto-updated regularly when newer versions of ffdshow/codecs comes out. That way your average user don't have to bother with codecs, post-processing filters, subtitle-filters and such, it would make the whole MediaPortal experience more user-friendly, especially the first impression which is very important when trying to attract new users.

I hate when people reply with just a quote but, really, what you just said summarizes perfectly my feelings. You just ought to work together guys!

Fool-proofing MediaPortal, aim for a user-interface for dummies, not for the computer nerds that many of us are (including myself), ...maybe the result will be something in the middle :wink:

The key, here, is what I usually call layered options. Several layers of accessible options, from the most basic ones to the most complicated and geeky. That way you have the best of both worlds.

 

[Slack]

On behalf of all HTPC newbies I just like to add that the one thing that I miss most in MediaPortal is 'built-in' codecs (decoders/encoders); it would be very nice if the MediaPortal team would consider including ffdshow with MediaPortal installation/setup program (as an option during installation), ...or even better their own derivative version of ffdshow that is customized for MediaPortal (with all standard settings easily accessible from within MediaPortal's GUI), and that those codecs where auto-updated regularly when newer versions of ffdshow/codecs comes out. That way your average user don't have to bother with codecs, post-processing filters, subtitle-filters and such, it would make the whole MediaPortal experience more user-friendly, especially the first impression which is very important when trying to attract new users.

Well said. I knew I was in for more 'tweaking' than I was used to compared to XBMC. And that is why my HTPC is really a side project while the family continues to use XBMC and ReplayTVs on a daily basis. I was drawn to media portal on the strength of XBMC.

The first task I set for my self was to verify that media portal could play all the stuff on my NAS in the same fashion that xbmc does. And well, I'm still trying to suss that out. And in the process have learned more about filters, graphedit, directshow, and such than I ever thought I would need to. Granted, those aren't really media portal's issues. But MP's internal player using WMP (as I understand it) kinda necessitated my investigating external players to play ripped VOBs with stream switching on the fly.

I still hold XBMC as the epitomy of what a media center can be. I just wish it could do HD. Still, I've no doubt that MP will be the front end to my HTPC, whenever I get it working to my satisfaction.

 

[gorman]

And in the process have learned more about filters, graphedit, directshow, and such than I ever thought I would need to. Granted, those aren't really media portal's issues. But MP's internal player using WMP (as I understand it) kinda necessitated my investigating external players to play ripped VOBs with stream switching on the fly.

Aaaah... that's one major "against" factor, IMHO. That's why, probably, Milkdrop support is not included... MP and XBMC are not using the same "core" applications...