What HTPC software are you using

[notposting]

Use 7MC. Using My Movies now to rip DVD collection to WHS. Ripping in folder format, this also allows MM to transcode for the Linksys MCX. Recorded TV gets dumped to the WHS eventually. Used to use Lifextender on VMC, have been trying DVRMSTB and SA but think I am going to come up with something different. HDHomerun for TV thru Comcast.

Really cool thing was the whole HDHR/WHS benefit to things when the HTPC needed repairs while we had company over for a weekend. Swapped in the laptop and it was like nothing had changed.

 

[QueBert]

I am using XMBC alongside ember media management.Ember is still deep in the beta stages with V1.0 due out in a few days time ,but i have been really impressed with its development.I did try WinMC but was plagued by crashes and forced restarts.I wouldn't say that XMBC is the most user friendly setup but once it is configured correctly it runs well with a good choice of skins and viewing effects

XBMC seems to be a pain at first, but it's worth playing with until you figure it out. Anyone who uses something else for their HTPC hasn't used XBMC, there's nothing that comes even close to touching it. WMC sucks, and everything else is 3rd rate compared to XBMC.

 

[Rio Rebel]

XBMC seems to be a pain at first, but it's worth playing with until you figure it out. Anyone who uses something else for their HTPC hasn't used XBMC, there's nothing that comes even close to touching it. WMC sucks, and everything else is 3rd rate compared to XBMC.

There is some truth to this, but it's very myopic. Unless you know what someone has and what they're trying to do, you can't make a statement like this.

I like XBMC. I don't like Windows. When I tried both XBMC and WMC, it was with a strong bias towards XBMC. But not everyone has the same setup. I have a tv tuner card, so there's strike one on XBMC (for ME) right there. I also have a remote that integrates very well with WMC. I can't perform the same functions as well in XBMC, like the one button start and fast forwarding/chapter skip. I know there is software out there that would let me remap remote keys, but with WMC I didn't have to go that route.

 

[velillen]

I wouldnt call my pc a real HTPC since its no hooked up to a big tv or anything (just a 22" 1080p lcd monitor) but ive been using GBPVR for years. Not the fancyest out there but simple and does the job. used to use it for recording shows and it worked great. I have it just hsow everything in list format so no need for covers or anything.

 

[bobdole369]

TiVOHD and TVersity for teh movies. Tversity runs on a netburst era xeon 2.4ghz with 1.5GB RAM and a 7600GT (AGP) BR rips (8gb or so) take roughly 6 hours to transfer, but DVD rips are real-time and true-rips.

 

[Modelworks]

XBMC seems to be a pain at first, but it's worth playing with until you figure it out. Anyone who uses something else for their HTPC hasn't used XBMC, there's nothing that comes even close to touching it. WMC sucks, and everything else is 3rd rate compared to XBMC.

What does xbmc do that the others don't or can't ? With MCE I can record and watch live tv , use netflix easily. Those are two things that XBMC cannot do.

 

[Fox5]

What does xbmc do that the others don't or can't ? With MCE I can record and watch live tv , use netflix easily. Those are two things that XBMC cannot do.

XBMC is much better for locally stored (particularly downloaded or ripped) media. It has a powerful plugin system too. It's worth at least a try.

It's my current front end, I have media center set to record shows in the background, and then mcebuddy converts them to mpeg4 and dumps them in folders for xbmc to read. XBMC just works smoother for me, more like a purpose built device and less like a PC.

It really needs to get tv recording capabilities, or go the boxee route and start integrating with more online video sites.

Right now no one program does what I want, so I got a good wireless mouse/remote hybrid and just use several. I even fire up the hulu app from time to time. (xbmc has a program launcher that can launch things directly from it, though you can do the same from media center I believe)

 

[QueBert]

What does xbmc do that the others don't or can't ? With MCE I can record and watch live tv , use netflix easily. Those are two things that XBMC cannot do.

you can launch external programs so you can do anything directly in XBMC, it will require a bit of modding but you can make XBMC do whatever you wish with 3rd party plugins or the external program launcher. I have tried every media program out there, and XBMC has the best interface, is the fastest when you're dealing with terabytes of data and is just plain better. Plus it has by far the largest community of modders & skinners. It might not support something like lets say Hulu by default, but you can add it without much trouble. Getting a MCE remote to work fully with it will take some tweaking. But the end result is worth it.

If you use MCE there's a lot you can't do, as it doesn't have any type of support for launching external programs. I set XBMC to use PowerDVD to open Blu-Ray, and it works seamlessly. I never feel like I'm using 2 programs. XBMC also has the best skinning, install it and toss on Alaska or Aeon and you'll have the slickest looking media center around. XBMC with a slick skin on a huge TV is a thing of beauty. WMC's ugly as sin. IMHO Plex on the Mac (based off XBMC source) is hands down the best.

XBMC isn't just install and BOOM instant media center, in that aspect VMC is much better. Spending a few days with XBMC and a day with Eventghost (if you have a remote) and you have the best of the best media center out there. I don't have a need to record live TV, but I did order a TV tuner today and when it comes will have my XBMC able to work as a DVR in a day or 2 tops.

 

[wiretap]

7MC can launch external programs, it has plenty of aftermarket plug-in support with awesome skins that support 3D coverflow and transparency and high resolution metadata art, it works with launching Blu-ray/HDDVD 3rd party programs seamlessly, it supports lauching of hulu and boxee seamlessly, it has cablecard and multi-tuner support, works very fast with my 8TB of movies and TV shows over Gig-E, works with a wide variety of remotes, can automatically transfer recordings with commercials removed to a WHS box, has great extender support, has support for directshow codecs under both x86/x64 and full resolution audio and subtitles and various containers, etc.

Honestly, there isn't much 7MC is lacking that any other media center interface can do better. Places like hack7mc.com have a ton of resources for easy tweaks.

 

[Aikouka]

A little bit of thread necromancy .

I set up a machine with Windows 7 today and tossed in a blu-ray drive. I've been using trial versions of PowerDVD 10 Ultra and TMT3 Premium to see which one I like the best. Both seem to be about equal for the most part, except TMT3 crashed during the credits of Bourne Ultimatum... quite a detractor there.

One thing I'm very picky about... video scaling. I absolutely cannot stand black bars on both sides of my video as I've always used MPC, which I simply set to "touch from the outside" to scale my widescreen videos properly (i.e. not cutting anything off). I searched around the options in WMC and in PowerDVD and TMT3 and I cannot find anything to fix this. I found an aspect ratio section in PDVD, but there's only a default. Am I simply being limited by the trial software or am I stuck with black borders (or in the case of TMT3, blue... yuck)?

 

[tweakboy]

What does HPCP ? I keep hearing it left and right wt ?

 

[Soundmanred]

What does HPCP ? I keep hearing it left and right wt ?

Well, PCP is a drug, so HPCP must mean a drug you use at Home. Other than that, I've never heard of HPCP.

 

[Modelworks]

Honestly, there isn't much 7MC is lacking that any other media center interface can do better. Places like hack7mc.com have a ton of resources for easy tweaks.

This is I think what a lot of people don't understand. They launch WMC look at the interface and think that is all there is to it. I know I did for a long time. I was biased toward XBMC because I had used it since the Xbox version. I used the current version of XBMC last week to see what was new and didn't see anything that would make me want to use it over WMC.

Also for windows 7 XBMC does not have access to the windows 7 native media foundation codecs that replace the directshow codecs that everyone has been using for a decade which created all the mess with codec conflicts. I can play mkv, avi, etc all with just a mkv splitter installed and no other ffdshow, codec packs, etc.
http://www.hack7mc.com/

 

[zylander]

I use PowerDVD 7.1 I think, what ever OEM software came with my Blu-Ray drive, to play Blu-Rays. And I use Media Center with media browser for EVERYTHING else. With sharks codec pack, media center will play everything.

 

[phillyTIM]

So I just put my HTPC online and am really ecstatic about Boxee, which coagulates a great search of shows available on internet websites. Boxee is still in beta and has an annoying bug that prevents it from showing up on my secondary screen, even when specifically selected within Boxee settings. I'm sure they'll get that worked out and it isn't the concern of this particular post.

But I wanted to ask what you guys use for Boxee-like organized/searchable internet content of shows on your HTPC. Is there other software out there similar to Boxee or are Boxee-like features built in to any of the other media center software (XMBC, etc.)???

 

[slag]

XBMC seems to be a pain at first, but it's worth playing with until you figure it out. Anyone who uses something else for their HTPC hasn't used XBMC, there's nothing that comes even close to touching it. WMC sucks, and everything else is 3rd rate compared to XBMC.

Having used both, I'll respectfully disagree. XBMC's interface is horrible, even with different skins. You also cannot pass a tv tuner through it natively like you can with WMC, so really, it doesn't even classify as a htpc since you can't pipe TV through it either by cablecard or by STB. All its good for is music and ripped movies.

 

[Modelworks]

So I just put my HTPC online and am really ecstatic about Boxee, which coagulates a great search of shows available on internet websites. Boxee is still in beta and has an annoying bug that prevents it from showing up on my secondary screen, even when specifically selected within Boxee settings. I'm sure they'll get that worked out and it isn't the concern of this particular post.

But I wanted to ask what you guys use for Boxee-like organized/searchable internet content of shows on your HTPC. Is there other software out there similar to Boxee or are Boxee-like features built in to any of the other media center software (XMBC, etc.)???

Are you using boxee from within media center ? You can add hulu and boxee to WMC and other things as well such as plugins for ABC, CBS, etc at www.hack7mc.com

 

[Modelworks]

It really needs to get tv recording capabilities, or go the boxee route and start integrating with more online video sites.

The thing that has helped and hinders XBMC is its open source nature. Sites with media content are unwilling to provide support for things like XBMC because they can't trust that the content will remain protected. XBMC devlopment is also split between a couple OS platforms and while it is good that it works on many platforms, it also holds it back because the focus is split.