I spent a few minutes this morning checking out the latest releases of MeediOS and MediaPortal - two HTPC frontends.  I actually used MediaPortal for a short period of time 6 months ago or more and really enjoyed it.  However, it had a few quirks that I just couldn’t live with and had to go to Vista Media Center, which is what I use now.  I like it, but I’d really like to move on to something else that has more options and a more active community (more plugins, functionality, less cost, etc.).

MediaPortal has a new v2 preview available, but I did not try that.  It looks absolutely awesome though and it my be what I eventually move to.  MeediOS looked pretty good too, but I’m very unfamiliar with it.  I couldn’t find a way to do a MyMovies database import either.  That is a big catch for me as there is no way I’m reinventing a movie database.  I’m sure there has to be a way to do it, but I didn’t spend a very long time searching.  Maybe later if I decide to take a closer look.

I’m just starting to see the real limitations of VMC and starting to get really disappointed with the lack of options.  There are many people out there attempting to come up with plugins, but they either do not apply to me, or the support is so thin that I can’t implement them.  Sometimes I really wish I knew how to code.

I may actually give MeediOS a real run on my son’s system since it doesn’t make use of MyMovies and only needs the built-in video browser.  It’s on MCE2K5 and has been having some real stability issues as of late and I’d like to try that before removing my secondary encoder from service to make him a new VMC system.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 am and is filed under HTPC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.