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[greg.smalter]

Here's what I'd like in an ideal world:

The ability to store media in a single place, but play it from everywhere. I should be able to initiate TV recordings (both scheduled and ad-hoc) from any device. I should be able to add media from any device (rip a CD on a laptop and have it push to the server). I shouldn't have to do much configuration on the client devices (setting up libraries, paths, tuners).

I should be able to use a tablet as a remote control. This means doing all browsing (including viewing the EPG, which should also indicate if any recordings are happening) on the tablet but doing all playing on the targeted device. Ideally, telling media to play on the targeted device should be the same as if I were initiating it from the targeted device (rather than playing to it using DLNA, which can limit the formats that work properly).

Current state of MC17 and alternatives:

WMC: Can't record to network drives (game over already). Viewing of shared drives randomly disappears. Doesn't show thumbnails for shared network items.

XBMC: Doesn't even officially support live TV.

MC17 in general: Supports live TV, supports network drives. Supports more external services (Hulu, YouTube, etc.) than alternatives (but not Pandora). Has tablet remote capability from Gizmo and third party, but nothing that works the way I imagine it. Not really wife-friendly. EPG doesn't show as much info as WMC. EPG doesn't even indicate if a show is being recorded. EPG is stale if you put your HTPC in standby and then turn it on later - various other annoying things.

MC17 in library-server mode (one library per household): Can't record from clients at all (undefined behavior). Thumbnails don't show up properly for certain media types (phone video, in particular). Various other weirdness.

MC17 in client mode (N libraries per household): Solves some of the server problems, but then you have to individually configure each client and duplicate library changes, which is a real pain. Fear of libraries stepping on each others' toes.

The thing I'm most excited about in MC18 is the streaming of Live TV. This will enable me to configure the tuners just on my always-on basement server and that's it. Right now I have to configure tuners on every device. I think this is a great step in the right direction for MC. I'm posting these other ideas in hopes that MC moves from where it is, which is the best choice on paper, to something that my wife thoroughly enjoys using.