one line quiz: What software are you using for your HTPC, and do you do freeview HD?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › one line quiz: What software are you using for your HTPC, and do you do freeview HD?

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352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#133523 27-May-2008 11:19

MediaPortal + TV Server for DVB-S and DVB-T
Win TV for sky (analogue - MP doesnt support the software encoding for analogue on my HVR4000)

Mutly

250 posts

Master Geek

#133595 27-May-2008 15:58

Mediaportal/TV Server with Freeview HD DVB -T, and DVBViewer on another couple of systems with my USB DVB-T stick.

I can't brain today. I have the dumb.

BarneyC

62 posts

Master Geek

#133607 27-May-2008 17:04

late to the party but the signature lifts my skirt and bares all...

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#133658 27-May-2008 20:51

VistaHP, Mediaportal/Tv-server RC1, for Freeview DVB-T and DVB-S(for 8-day EPG) - HD on plasma and networked to two other household computers.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

AceVPD

137 posts

Master Geek

#134259 29-May-2008 20:45

Vista Media center + DVBViewer for DVB-T (not wife friendly yet)

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#138055 14-Jun-2008 21:42

And the winner is: Mediaportal/TV Server

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

BarneyC

62 posts

Master Geek

#138107 15-Jun-2008 09:41

MP probably wins as it gives the best all round service of the PVR's. I suspect Vista Media Center would fair better with h.264 support though.

For me MP was a bit of a no-brainer as it's heritage is in Xbox Media Center which I've been running for about 4.5 years now.

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argo

87 posts

Master Geek

#138115 15-Jun-2008 10:06

Gotta ask - does MP support a HD Extender (eg: Popcornhour) at all?

If not, for me this would give GBPVR the winning advantage (I'm aiming for a Server/multi-Client household). Well that and Sub's superhuman support!!!

GBPVR's stability is not to be ignored as well!

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#138131 15-Jun-2008 10:42

argo:

1) -Gotta ask - does MP support a HD Extender (eg: Popcornhour) at all?

2) -If not, for me this would give GBPVR the winning advantage (I'm aiming for a Server/multi-Client household). Well that and Sub's superhuman support!!!

GBPVR's stability is not to be ignored as well!

Not sure about 1), but I agree with 2). I was using GB-PVR some time back but had real issues with no audio to one of my 150 MCE cards. It was specific to my hardware config for some reason, but at the time I kept trying to get it sorted due to Sub's top support efforts.

BarneyC

62 posts

Master Geek

#138162 15-Jun-2008 13:39

@argo et al

MediaPortal RC1 is actually a two parter; MediaPortal iteself is a client front-end for TVServer (the backend), i.e. this is a client-server architecture.

What is uber-cool about MP is that on installation it will ask you how you want things to be configured and get it setup right from scratch. The default is for everything to be installed on a single machine, however MP happily supports multiple TVServers and multiple MediaPortal's on a single network. This way you can have a number of TVServers recording different channels ALL controlled by a master (great for load balancing and if we actually had enough channels worth recording).

At home here I have a single TVServer installation, which also runs MediaPortal as the frontend. I also have a second MediaPortal install on my desktop machine in the office which pulls live/recorded TV from the TVServer. And to really spice it up I also have (although I poked it last week) a plugin in MediaPortal which allows for remote control and streaming to my Nokia Internet Tablet whilst knocking around the house as well.

Having used both IMHO MP is a superior offering to GB-PVR and if you are looking for a client-server multi-seat type setup the only sensible way to go.

AND yes HD does stream just don't be expecting full HD over wi-fi to run that smoothly - it's fine over ethernet or down sampled (as I do) though.

argo

87 posts

Master Geek

#138264 15-Jun-2008 22:52

Cheers for that BarneyC.
As you say very cool. MP is certainly not short of features and everytime I look at it the install gets easier and easier.

But to go back to '1)', would I still need a PC under my TV?

BarneyC

62 posts

Master Geek

#138291 16-Jun-2008 09:06

@argo you're always going to need something under your TV, or at least until they release TV's with uPNP clients built right in.

BUT that something could be a PC, an apple iTV, a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, my Nokia N95-8Gb or something like a popcorn hour device. The list is pretty long.

The important thing is that if it isn't a native running Media Portal client (i.e. a PC of some description) then you will need to install some third party plugins onto the TVServer and have a set top box that supports whatever streaming protocol the plugin puts out.

Personally - given the network and space I would stick a big old TVServer with multiple disks and tuner cards in a cupboard and have either iTV or Shuttle type machines connected by gigabit ethernet.

davidcole

6036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#138303 16-Jun-2008 10:08

So your options for at the "screen" end are:
Any media device that can attach to the network and play files off your server (Popcorn, Xbox etc)
MP Client (a PC with MediaPortal client software on it) - and MP server as your backend
GBPVR Client - with GBPVR backend

or Hauppauge MediaMVP with GBPVR backend - no HD though
or Popcorn hour with GBPVR backend - will play HD video but does have trouble at the moment with NZ DVB-T Freeview|HD sound.

The advantage of the second two is not that they use the gbpvr interface, but can control the tuners on the server and will tell the server to start a recording so the popcorn/mvp can play it.

Of course both the MP client and gbpvr clients can do this, but try building a machine for approx $250 that can do this....

Oh, and what's the ad at the moment....Support NZ made!!!

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argo

87 posts

Master Geek

#138483 16-Jun-2008 18:03

Thanks guys good feature info for the HTPC community.

So for my question, the answer is:

Question (re-phrased): Can MediaPortal provide transparent non-PC extender functionality?
Answer: Maybe.

After a search on the MP site I see there is a plugin called MCETvServerClient (http://www.team-mediaportal.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,35/func,fileinfo/id,508/ )
Looks like this allows XBOX 360's to act as extenders. If I read it correctly it still requires MCE though.
Unfortunatly the 360's make pretty crappy extenders (noise).

For me personally, avoiding a PC Client has distinct advantages:
Cost - Extenders are going to be a lot cheaper than PC-Clients

Power - Efficient Sigma-type chipset Vs. CPU = Less (although we're not exactly talking Tiwai Pt Smelter levels here

)

Noise - PC-Client: Near-silent with effort, Popcornhour: Silent, SageTV HD Media Extender: Silent, XBOX 360: Noisy!

Ease of Client Setup - PC-Client: Its a PC, enough said!
SageTV extender is probably easiest, problem is STV is not NZ-HD ready yet (as far as I can see)
GBPVR/PCH, from what I've read is getting there fast. No PCH NZ-AAC sound yet though.

There is one other solution that comes to mind (to avoid anything under the TV) - A HDMI extender from the Server.
Ie: this - http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/active-hdmi-extender-p-480.html
Not sure about audio though, although SPDIF TOS or Coax is good for quite a length.

Apologies if I've taken this thread off-topic.
Always enjoyable to challenge the "winner status"

(@1gkar : And the winner is: Mediaportal/TV Server )

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#138617 17-Jun-2008 08:29

Slightly off topic, but I am wondering what OS works best with mediaportal
XP SP1 vs XP SP2 vs XP SP3 vs Vista 32 vs Vista 32 SP1 vs Vista 64 vs Vista 64 SP1

I current have mediaportal installed onto Windows 64bit vista ultimate, however I am wondering if this is the best option. I am running a dedicated HTPC that runs mediaportal/tvserver all the time, the only other thing I use on it is iexplore/firefox for checking the email occasionally. I do however want to add an allways running USB webcam with a webserver so I can check my house if my self monitored burglar alarm goes off.

When I use EVR i get horrible screen flicker with the OSD, however VRM9 works perfectly so I don't HAVE to change. Is there any reason that Vista 64 is better for a dedicated HTPC running mediaportal? Should i install XP SP3 instead?

Cheers

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HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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