anyone have any feedback on the various midia box software around?

i hear alot about mythtv and bgpvr etc but i dont know which is best etc

thinking about having a server upstairs running to a solid state tv box downstairs via wireless and dont really want linux on all my machines

i have seen win versions of myth but only 1 dev so not sure if its any good

anyone got anything like this up and running with advise?

I use to use XP MCE have done away with it since the Xbox360 got it's firmware update to do divx/xvid.

Vista MCE was too sluggish on the PC I was using for a MediaPC.

Hardware wise, i use to use a HP/Compaq D530 SFF pc. It is small and quiet and you can pick them up pretty cheap from ebay.

For my file server I use to use a Linux box running Samba, but have moved to Windows Home Server since I heard about it and got on the beta trial.

WHS is tops, it has the following cool features.
- shares media via the windows mediaplayer type sharing for xbox360.
- has a software RAID1 function configurable for individual shares.
- supports incrimental backups of PCs and laptops on your LAN.
- supports a restore cd option to rebuild your pc/laptop from scratch if the hdd craps out.
- has a dyndns type function.
- has a remote access function via ssl to access your files and machines remotely.
- Is built on W2K3 SBS so you can install any other server shiz on it you want.

Only downside is it currently doesn't support backing up 64bit Vista or Windows XP but this is getting fixed up Q1/Q2 this year.



last edited by ara at 00:50:18 29/Jan/08

last edited by ara at 10:19:26 29/Jan/08

the link ara dodgey'd: Windows Home Server

media portal ftw!

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

WHS looks pretty cool. I used it in the Beta, and I thought that it had some promising features as ara said.

I dunno bout these media box things. You can use an ordinary computer to do the same job. Anything that happens on my computer I can make happen on the TV (extended desktop) instead. Why wouldn't you just do that? You don't have to use the stupid cumbersome remote control thing. And anyone who has a clue points their work area at their TV anyway.

Who can honestly say that using the menu on that media software is easier than just double clicking the file you want in the folder you want...

last edited by Idol at 11:22:08 29/Jan/08

I dunno bout these media box things. You can use an ordinary computer to do the same job. Anything that happens on my computer I can make happen on the TV (extended desktop) instead. Why wouldn't you just do that? You don't have to use the stupid cumbersome remote control thing. And anyone who has a clue points their work area at their TV anyway.

Who can honestly say that using the menu on that media software is easier than just double clicking the file you want in the folder you want...

I don't know about you, but when I had an old CRT TV, I couldn't actually read any of the s*** on my computer plugged in, and having an extra monitor next to the tv is freaking useless.
Also I don't want to have to get up every time I want to que something up. Or press pause etc.
Even with my new LCD 1980 x 1080 res is f***ing unreadable from the couch.
Plus not everyone is as clued as us, My roommates have trouble searching through the stuff I have to find stuff they wanna watch.

i use this... and good ISO program :)

http://mvixusa.com/product.php?product=mx760&gad=CJvv4KEDEgjhXmuroFuJQxjlhsb9AyDrgrgm

TiT, have they fixed playback with them yet? a mate gave his away and went back to his 360 because of the s***ty interface and problems like movies not resuming, no way to fastforward through .TS streamed files and other problems, the most frustrating being that 1080i movies would regularly just stop around the 10GB mark (and with no way to fast forward...)

he said they were releasing firmware updates but he wasn't prepared to wait.

yeh they fixed it... yeh i wasnt happy with that either...

Prolly worth checking out LinuxMCE (Linux Media Centre Edition) as well.

media portal ftw!

+1 It is much easier to navigate using media pc software. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse (not remote) so I can do the whole double clicking thing, but this software is awesome for tv show/movie collections. It sorts them for you by tv show and provides awesome thumbnails, provides plot descriptions of episodes and does streaming from all over the house pretty well.

Who can honestly say that using the menu on that media software is easier than just double clicking the file you want in the folder you want...

spoken like someone who has never used MCE.

+1 media portal

lightweight and very customizable.