Replacing Windows Mediacenter?

Post by **Bwired** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:47 am

DJ, tell me something about the popcorn mediaplayer.
I have been thinking about replacing my ACER 511 Windows mediacenter (with Viesta) for the TVIX http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/
or Popcorn. Sick and tired about that thing!

PS: i will split this topic then

Post by **Edwin2008** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:00 am

also take a look at the Conceptronic CFULLHDMA http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/lis ... 1292479/13 en http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/lis ... 1311590/14

Post by **Bwired** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:04 am

checking now thanks

Post by **drmacchi** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:11 am

ZyXEL DMA-1100P HomePlug AV Digital Media Adapter

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- Kompatibel mit HomePlug AV
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- Abspielen von MP3 sowie Ihrer digitalen Musiksammlung ber Ihre Stereoanlage
- Stbern Sie durch digitale Bilder, erstellen Sie eine Diashow auf Ihrem Fernseher und fgen Sie Hintergrundmusik hinzu
- Graphisches On-Screen-Men, Infrarotfernbedienung
- USB 2.0 fr die Kommunikation von tragbaren Speichermedien

Post by **Rene** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:31 am

These devices are no real replacements for a media center. They only support streaming, no live tv with timeshift, no recording. Alternative media cneters are:
- mythtv on linux, optionally with an xbmc frontend running on linux, osx or windows
- mediaportal, which can also be separated in a front and backend.

Rene.

Post by **Edwin2008** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:34 am

That's right but TS was looking at popcorn wich is also no media center

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:36 am

too bad xmbc does not have a tv part in it.. besides that, xbmc is the nicest one..

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **Rene** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:46 am

When you combine an xbmc frontend with a mythtv backend you will have a tv option. Support for mythtv in xbmc (natively) is a new development in xbmc.

Rene.

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:56 am

new development..

i know xbmc itself is pretty good, but new development first needs to "find its way" but i will take a look at some point..

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **Rene** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 11:17 am

See http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Xb ... TV_Support

I used XBMC for a long time on the XBOX together with MythTV as backend using the xbmcmythtv Python integration scripts. Now I use a Mac Mini as frontend running Mediaportal on Windows. However, no integration with MythTV anymore. On my to do list is to replace Mediaportal with XBMC and have MythTV integrated again. MythTV is the best backend mediacenter I have seen sofar, and I have seen a couple;-)

Rene.

Post by **Bwired** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:01 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rklootwijk
 These devices are no real replacements for a media center. They only support streaming, no live tv with timeshift, no recording. Alternative media cneters are:
- mythtv on linux, optionally with an xbmc frontend running on linux, osx or windows
- mediaportal, which can also be separated in a front and backend.

Rene.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">OK that's true, but I hardly ever record something from television. I just download my stuff and watch.

Post by **Rene** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:32 pm

I rest my case ;-(

Rene.

Post by **MindBender** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 5:32 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rklootwijk
 - mythtv on linux, optionally with an xbmc frontend running on linux, osx or windows
- mediaportal, which can also be separated in a front and backend.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And don't forget BeyondTV. But I have tried them all, but all of them suffer from one or more serious flaw. They all depend on 3rd party (paid) Electronic Program Guide and none of them are capable of dealing with European cable frequency allocation where MHz is used instead of 'channel' numbers.

I know Windows MCE (or Vista's MCE) aren't perfect, and I'd love to see a Linux product instead, all my experiments so far have ended in reinstalling MCE in tears. (And don't get me started on LinuxMCE.)

The only serious flaw in MCE is power management: If you turn it completely off, it will not start itself for a scheduled recording, even though the BIOS does offer this functionality. Instead you have to revert to hibernate, which will lead to system instability over the long term. But even if you use that, it won't turn itself off after any recording, not even scheduled recordings it resumed for.

On a modern mainboard, the stand-by mode 'only' consumes 8 Watt and it offers you instant-on and -off, so that's what I'm using now. Occasionally it gives me a black screen when trying to resume, but that's nothing a good ol' power cycle can't fix.

The lack of official M$ codecs my be considered another disadvantage: You need to install a lot of crap to get your DiVX, XVid in mkv's to work.

On some of its recordings (guided by video text) it applies DRM, a system in which everybody looses. But I don't archive my own recordings: If a movie was worth watching again, I'll just get myself a DVD rip.

Post by **andywee** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:06 pm

MCE dont have EPG problem. I use TVXB software to extract TV guides from any website i set it to.

as for power management. mine does start for scheduled recordings.. google "MST standby". that is the total answer for power management problems.

as for codecs. google "vista codecs" or download from http://shark007.net/

as for DRM it depends. if you have a digital reception, there MIGHT be DRM. but if your inputs are analog and if you use cards like DNTV S3 with component inputs, you can still record HD cableTV without DRM.

Post by **andywee** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:09 pm

my MCE server is actually very power saving. I measured XBOX360 and it consumes 145ws. in both standby and ON. yeah xbox360 is one of those devices that it's better to put behind a x10 switch to really turn it off..
that said, my MCE when on, consumes only 130ws. standby, less than 5ws.

if you have black screen problems, update your video problems. the black screen lies in video drivers.