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Author Topic: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W  (Read 4212 times)

jmone

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MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« on: December 29, 2006, 08:06:25 pm »

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. ;D

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
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JimH

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2006, 11:59:58 pm »

Thank you and thank you also for the details.
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modelmaker

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2006, 12:23:13 am »

I couldn't have said it better myself!   ;) ;D  Happy Holidays!
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Jay.

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cncb

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2006, 02:18:42 pm »

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!

Maybe we have different definitions of customization but I think this is where MC fails such that I can't use it as my main HTPC front-end.  Other than moving things around a little bit you can't do any customization at all in TheaterView.  For example, if I want an integrated weather module in TheaterView I would have to hack together some kind of web page to accomplish this.  Most other apps have a clear advantage here by allowing customized (programmed) add-ins.

The other thing that just doesn't compare in my opinion is TV support.  Until it has an integrated guide and recording there is just no comparison.
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jmone

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2006, 02:55:10 pm »

Maybe we have different definitions of customization but I think this is where MC fails such that I can't use it as my main HTPC front-end.  Other than moving things around a little bit you can't do any customization at all in TheaterView.  For example, if I want an integrated weather module in TheaterView I would have to hack together some kind of web page to accomplish this.  Most other apps have a clear advantage here by allowing customized (programmed) add-ins.

The other thing that just doesn't compare in my opinion is TV support.  Until it has an integrated guide and recording there is just no comparison.

I understand your point (and I'm sure it is shared by many) on the lack of customisation within the TheaterView skins themselves but it is not a big focus for me as I'm personally happy with a simple TheaterView IF (I did play with plug ins over at Media Portal and while fun I never really used say "Weather" a second time). 

I agree with you on the TV/PVR Support - for me without DVB-T MC is currently more of a Media Player than a full HTPC (hence my comments in the original post).  Until there is DVB-T tuner support I can not even comment at the features / usability / quality etc.  However, what gives me faith has been the interest and code changes already shown from JR to add DVB-T (particularly yaobing) – so much so I’ve now configured my PC to use MC as the main HTPC S’W (minus TV), but only time (hopefully short) will tell if that faith is misplaced or not. 
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lOth

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2006, 06:47:35 pm »

or... you could use MC together with Meedio. There's  a plug-in out there to do just this. You'd get close to 100% for each one of your categories.
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rjm

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2006, 07:23:05 pm »

Meedio products are no longer available for purchase. They sold their technology to Yahoo.
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Media Freak

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2007, 03:11:48 pm »

Before I go on with the topic, I must admit that I love MC and have been using it for quite a few years now.
Though, I'll second cncb on his reply, MC is a bit limited in Theater View customisation.
Theater View wise MediaPortal is giving MC a run when it comes to extend the program features.
I wish I was a coder or knew how to develop these stuff. I've notice a lot of coders here too in the MC community (all of them get my respect for their time and effort) who strive on bringing functionality to MC. However, it seems that software like Meedio and MediaPortal are either more advanced or easier with their plugin structure for the Theater view.
Take in point, MediaPortal being able to display full Weather info from Weather.com (not the webpage) but in the theather view; able to play, create and save video playlists from Launch.com without going to the site...the list of the videos appears straight from the Theater view with search capabilities.
Their album views for music interface grab and display artists info with just a few clicks.
Skype, Movie Trailers with info, and the list goes on.

I know a lot of people gonna try to say it isn't so but if you are using both programs: MC and MediaPortal side by side, you'll see how slim MC is compare to them in features for Theater View.

I guess I'll have to start figuring out how to start some of these plugins for MC. :-)

Now lOth mentioned that MC can run Meedio... where can these plugins be found? Does that mean MC can read Meedio's plugins, or both programs have to be running together?
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maxxsid

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2007, 05:05:44 pm »

Sorry for jumping in..
Meedio _had_ a plugin to run MC for audio. Not the other way around..

Gee... MC is such a great product for managing, tagging of audio.. But I have to say - Theater View is far from perfect. The more I use it the more I hate it. Unfortunately, MC is almost useless as an HTPC front-end. When I sit at my desk before my tiny monitor with my keyboard and mouse listening to MP3, then MC is the best. A completely different story happens when I am sitting on my sofa watching big screen TV fed from MC - it's just so hard to control without getting of the sofa and going out Theater View and clicking around
This is my opinion, of course.

Like others said here - look at Media Portal, Meedio (RIP) - they are close to perfect when it comes to HTPC.
I would switch to Media Portal any day if I didn't invest so much money and effort into MC-NetRemote-Girder combination.

Let's see where it all goes.. Media Portal is at 0.2 version. MC is 12.0

Now lOth mentioned that MC can run Meedio... where can these plugins be found? Does that mean MC can read Meedio's plugins, or both programs have to be running together?
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lOth

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2007, 05:36:31 pm »

that's right, it's more like Meedio controlling MC than the other way around. Meedio can then operate as a front-end to MC and use MC's far greater database, playlists, smartlists and search ability.

What you need is Meedio 1.41 (free version just before Yahoo! took over : ftp://meedio-dl:guest@www.meedio-france.com/demos/meedio.1.41.setup.exe ) and the two MC plug-ins (player and library).

The result is pretty good:



You can use some of MC's features right from Meedio, for instance here, MC's equalizer:



Viz plug-ins work as well, some of them matching popular Meedio themes very nicely:



To be honest, I don't think that HTPC functionality has ever really been a priority in MC's development. I'm sort of amused to read my whining about this more than 3 years ago when 'Theater View' was called 'Hairstyle' and Meedio was still myHTPC 2...:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=9671.0

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maxxsid

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2007, 06:05:01 pm »

Hey lOth,
Those plugins used to be shareware - are they free now, do you know?
Thanks for the links! I didn't know meedio site was still accessible..

that's right, it's more like Meedio controlling MC than the other way around. Meedio can then operate as a front-end to MC and use MC's far greater database, playlists, smartlists and search ability.

What you need is Meedio 1.41 (free version just before Yahoo! took over : ftp://meedio-dl:guest@www.meedio-france.com/demos/meedio.1.41.setup.exe ) and the two MC plug-ins (player and library).

The result is pretty good:
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lOth

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2007, 07:08:15 pm »

looks like they're still shareware with a 15 day trial. I'm actually surprised they've not become free. Maybe they work with the Yahoo! version and that's why they're still shareware? No idea...
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modelmaker

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2007, 09:14:55 pm »

I haven't heard much lately about Cinemar's MediaLobby http://www.cinemaronline.com/ lately, I guess it's actually more of a controller for devices.
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Jay.

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JimH

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Re: MC V12 - Overall Impressions & Comparison with other HTPC S'W
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2007, 05:55:44 pm »

I've just split the discussion of what Theater View should be to this thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=39371.0

Locking this one now.
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