These are just my observations but I thought I would pen a few of these down as I am very impressed with the product, the JR support and the community environment.
1. MC Vs Other HTPC Software: I have been looking for an all-round HTPC software suite and in my travels have tried, Nero Home, MS Media Centre, VLC, SESAM, Media Portal, SageTV but all significant issues for what I need:
a) Media Support - MC 100%: I have found two file types that many suites have had difficulty playing. The first is MPG files with DTS Audio Tracks which I found will not play in any prog using the MS splitter as there is no pin out for DTS Audio (eg rules out MSMC & Media Portal). Anamorphic DV-Type 1 AVI files (from my Camcorder) suffers from both break-up / tearing / stutter and aspect ratio issues in many progs. As MC is the only one that lets you select / mix & match your filters I've now been able to get a great combination of splitters / filters that lets me play all my collection.
b) TV I'Face & Remote Control - MC 80% : I don't think any are yet "perfect" but MC is as good as any. I was initially worried that there was not explicit support for the MS IR Keyboard / Remote control but it seems to work perfectly out of the box without adding any drivers or 3rd party progs. A couple of points would help, one being the consistence of the “back” button which does not always work (eg it does nothing when playing a video, yet the “OK” button takes you back). The second would be the ability for one of the RC buttons to launch the Theatre Skin from inside the MC to save you getting the keyboard out.
c) TV/PVR Support - MC 30% : About half the HTPC progs have now got DVB-T TV support working pretty well but many still have both quality and feature issues. The best here for quality and features are the dedicated software from the DVB-T card suppliers but these are not “integratable” into the HTPC suites. The next best options so far is MSMC / Media Portal. While MC does not yet support DVB-T I am confident that it will soon!
d) Customisation - MC 90% : The only other HTPC prog that gets close is Media Portal but MC is really the king. This is where the approach of having a full on Media Player with a Theatre Skin means you can have both a rich PC style IF when you need it and a HTPC IF for everyday use AND I’ve not even yet scratched the power and flexibility of the database Library!
e) Features - MC 90% : Wow - Features like the in-built and simple sync / transcode support for iPod / PSP / MP3 etc, streaming media (radio etc), web media (youtube), etc is fantastic as sets it apart from other purely HTPC software.
f) Pricing - MC 90% : This is a tough market with open source freeware like Media Portal, and the fact that many will have packages like Nero that have it for free but for me it is great value for money given the points above.
g) WAF - MC 50% : OK – this is a biggie, the Wife (or Spouse or Kid) Acceptance Factor – can the rest of the family use a computer as if it was a CE Device or just us geeks hanging out here. The HTPC SW needs to be bullet proof, complete and simple to use. The downside to MC over other dedicated HTPC progs out there is you can unexpectedly drop out of the Theatre Skin sometimes and the pending DVB-T support.
2. MC Support Vs Other HTPC Vendors – 90% Terrific Work in an area that is as important as the feature set if the product is going to survive & grow. MC is easily the best of the commercial vendors with an active Forum Community that includes users, and JR staff with feedback from this forum seems to be integrated into new and frequent releases. The open source guys (esp Media Portal) are very good with active communities and even more frequent releases. The other commercial vendors are just terrible & I can not say enough bad things about Nero’s support…..
Apologies for the ramble but I though you might like to know that in the world of HTPC software that I’ve explored so far this is a good place!
Regards
Nathan
Author
Topic: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W (Read 4565 times)