I have been busy setting up a Home Theatre where my computer is connected to the TV so that I can watch all my movies, videos, and music on the big screen. This setup is not an overly complicated task in itself but I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect Media Center software to organize my extensive collection of movies, TV shows, and music so that they can be presented in a user friendly and visually pleasing way.
What is Media Center software?
When your computer is hooked up to the TV you can do everything you normally can on a computer. This is great for browsing the internet and other stuff but I really wanted a program that could catalogue all of the media on my computer and display it in a nice interface so I could click and view any movie, TV show, or song. Basically, I was looking for a program like iTunes that could handle music and videos and play almost any time of file format including DVD’s that are ripped directly to my home server in native DVD format.
The contenders
There is a huge selection of Media Center software available that you have to pay for but as usual I decided to do some homework and try to find some free options that did not compromise the quality of the product. My extensive search took me all over the internet and allowed me to try a lot of different Media Center Software.
Here is a list of Media Center software that I have tried:
- XBMC
- Media Portal
- GBPVR
- Zviewer
- SageTV (Free trial)
- MythTV (Free trial)
My winner – XBMC
XBMC (Xbox Media Center) is best known for originally being developed as an add-on for the modded Xbox. However, they have since released versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux and have gathered a strong following of supporters. XBMC meets all of my requirements and allows me to organize and view movies, TV shows and music from a very customizable and elegant interface.
Another major factor in my choice was that XBMC automatically downloads online information from websites like IMDB and theTVDB so that it can display DVD covers, artwork, movie information, and TV show information such as actors, directors, ratings, and short descriptions. All of this additional information really makes XBMC look great and gives it a professional appearance.
Take a look at some screen shots below.
XBMC Home Screen
XBMC Movie Selection Screen
XBMC Movie Information
XBMC TV Show Selection Screen
Additional features in XBMC
- Skins – you can create your own interface design or download skins created by other users to give XBMC a personalized appearance. The consensus within the XBMC community that the clear winner is a skin named AEON. You can find out more information and download the skin from their website.
- Plug-ins – You can download plug-ins created by other users to give XBMC extra functionality. My favourite plugin is the Apple Movie Viewer which imports a list of movie trailers available from Apple’s website and allows you to play them directly from XBMC. Awesome!
Are there any downsides to XBMC?
XBMC does everything I want at the moment but the only thing I would like to explore is the ability to record live TV and turn my computer into a fully functional PVR. The bad news is that XBMC does not support either streaming or recording live TV so I will have to try out a new piece of software to handle this functionality. The Good news is that there are some good free software packages that look like they will be able to the job. The front runner is a program called “Media Portal” that includes PVR capabilities in addition to similar functions found in XBMC.
Media Portal is a project that was started by a member of the XBMC team and builds upon the XBMC code base so you will definitely notice some similar features between XBMC and Media Portal. When I tested Media Portal I found that it was very unstable and crashed A LOT so it turned me off the software and towards XBMC instead. However I definitely intend to give Media Portal a full test once the next version of the software is released in hopes that it will be a much more stable version. (I just love the idea of streaming and recording TV too much to pass on this product)
Not to be forgotten are some very nice commercial alternatives such as SageTV, and MythTV that offer very stable Media Centers with a lot of functionality at fairly reasonable prices.
What about Vista Media Center?
Vista Media Center is included with Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate editions and it is a great option if you have access to it. However, I am leaving this topic for now since I don’t have Vista and have not been able to review this media center. Another thing to note is that the Windows 7 release candidate that is available for free download also has a very nice version of Windows Media Center that has some new and powerful functions. I’m looking forward to testing out this new media center in the future.
Related posts:
[...] Scotty wrote an interesting post today onScottMulligan.ca » XBMC – An open source media centerHere’s a quick excerpt [...]