Filed under: Audio, Video, Windows, Open Source
Media Portal II: Open source Windows Media Center replacement take 2
by Brad Linder Dec 18th 2007 at 11:00AM
But if that's not a good enough reason for you to "upgrade" to Windows Vista, there are plenty of other applications out there that let you turn your PC into a media center, including commercial applications like BeyondTV and SageTV and free software like GB-PVR and Media Portal.
Media Portal isn't just free, it's open source. But it hasn't always been the easiest application to install and configure. So the developers behind Media Portal have released the first preview of Media Portal II. Right now Media Portal II actually has fewer features than its predecessor. For example, while you can enjoy music, movies, and pictures, there's no way to watch or record live TV using Media Portal II.
But the program uses a new framework that will make it much easier for developers to issue updates. Members of the Media Portal community should also have an easier time writing plugins and skins for the application, so we're hoping to see big things from Media Portal over the next few months.
[via floppyhead]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brent said 12:00PM on 12-18-2007
Just to clarify, while the applications: MediaPortal and GBPVR are both free, you do need to pay a period fee for the tvguide data now. In comparison SageTV, BeyondTV and MediaCenter all have a fee for the software, but free tvguide data.
MediaPortal's push for a new UI will pay off for them. I think it's a good move that will make the app an excellent HTPC front-end.
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jason said 4:36PM on 12-18-2007
no "media center" software or PVR software has any value until it transparently and by default supports closed captions - and there is not a single one out there that does. Very disappointing.
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Mark said 4:38PM on 12-18-2007
Windows Media Center supports closed captioning... :S.
It's actually very good closed captioning too, as the black around the text is translucent so you can still see what is behind the text.
Jyn said 4:42PM on 12-18-2007
As many people have not the slightest interest in closed captioning, I think that possibly you're speaking without authority for quite a lot of people there.
westudi said 4:44PM on 12-18-2007
I've tried Media Portal which I liked in many ways, but a few things about it irked me. I will have to give Media Portal 2 a try at some point. It's always good to have choices.
As for close captioning, I partially agree. I don't actually integrate my TV viewing with my media center PC, but I do long for an easy subtitle option for watching DVDs. As far as I'm aware, Microsoft's Media Center has a keyboard shortcut, but I want to be able to use the remote to simply turn subtitles on or off. Is that too much to ask?
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michael said 4:44PM on 12-18-2007
Nice try, but still can't doesn't beat WMC by a mile.
I don't get why these people are trying to copy such a great piece of software, instead of getting the real thing.
Cheap knock-off versions of WMC won't win anyone.
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hazard said 7:32AM on 12-20-2007
Well for one thing Media Portal is open source so anyone can contribute which is done for fun and interest - something you might not appreciate if you are not a developer. This allows people to develop features "they" want and provides a great learning experience.
Also programs like Media Portal (whether they are open source or not) foster a strong community support where users can provide direct feedback to developers and so participate directly in improving existing and developing new features.
Patrick said 7:12PM on 12-18-2007
The MCE that came with Windows is great if all you ever do is play normal AVI, WMV files and DVDs.
Welcome to the internet where stuff comes in all kinds of compression like DivX, XviD, MOV, MKV and audio formats like AAC.
MCE can't play any of that content without some codec hacking, way beyond reach of an average user.
Portals like MCE offer native support of these formats, so while it is like reinventing the wheel, it solves a very real problem. Which is what the majority of good software is about.
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