Need free media center style software

M

Menelmarar

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 15, 2001
Messages
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Got a PC with XP Pro on it, would rather not buy a new OS license.

It seems like I recall there is some free media center style software out there, but google isn't quickly turning up any solutions that look good. Maybe you guy shave some recommendations?

Looking for something that would be touch friendly kind of like 7's, and really needs to interface media storage over a network. Able to play media and play lists shared by Win7's WMP sharing and other DNLA servers.

Streaming from Pandora or even Hulu/Youtube would be huge plus.
 
Menelmarar said:
Yup... 7 different examples there on that page for Windows based ones. I've dug through feature sets some, but short of spending hours trying out each individually, was hoping for some H user opinions...
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*prick alert* So what you are saying is your time is more valuable than ours?
 
hmmm days, possibly longer, going through the various software listed vs a [H] user's 30 second review based off personal experience with it, potentially guiding someone to the correct decision.

doesnt equate.

after all, this is a discussion forum.
 
jadams said:
hmmm days, possibly longer, going through the various software listed vs a [H] user's 30 second review based off personal experience with it, potentially guiding someone to the correct decision.

doesnt equate.

after all, this is a discussion forum.
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Days? Wow... didn't know it was that hard to research.
You know.... people do know how to use google. But did you ever think that they make posts for peoples experienced peoples opinions on things? LMGTFY is not the answer to everything.
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That link provides people who have experience with the software and list its features, just got to read the thread.
 
Alright guys, back off. If you don't want to assist people, you're in the wrong forum.
 
Quit trying to make the guy feel like shit for no reason. There are quite a few free pieces of software for this, and yes, google-ing it will give you a nice list of that. But that isn't why people come to [H]. They come here for the people who have tried most of them to give their opinions. What works best in certain situations, what will work for their specific situation, or at least where to start. /rant

I personally like XBMC for all of my stuff. It is extremely customizable and is (in my mind at least) very easy to set up. It is continually being updated and upgraded with features and add ons that expand its functionality.

I've also used MediaPortal and it is very similar to XBMC but offers a few different features (none that I needed) and setup is also very easy.

Those would be my two recommended starting points. Try them out and see what you like. If you have a lot of media spread out across multiple drives/locations then I would recommend XBMC because it will list everything together if you want it to, if you want the easiest to set up I'd say MediaPortal.
 
there are tutorials on youtube for XBMC, as bencorn said very easy to customize and looks awesome!
 
munkle said:
Days? Wow... didn't know it was that hard to research.
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To download, install, uninstall and test 7 various pieces of software. Yes indeed.

munkle said:
That link provides people who have experience with the software and list its features, just got to read the thread.
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Guess we dont have to tell you that we dont belong to THAT forum. We belong to THIS forum. I'll trust peoples judgement from THIS forum before that of a random one.

Jesus Christ, discussion would come to a stand still if everyone just googled.
 
It's been a while since I used it, but Media Portal was a very nice piece of software. Around the time Vista came out I switched over to Media Center because I wanted to use an extender. It was the best free software that I found back then, and definitely worth the time it takes to install to see if it's worth using.
 
jadams said:
To download, install, uninstall and test 7 various pieces of software. Yes indeed.



Guess we dont have to tell you that we dont belong to THAT forum. We belong to THIS forum. I'll trust peoples judgement from THIS forum before that of a random one.

Jesus Christ, discussion would come to a stand still if everyone just googled.
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You have contributed zero to this thread except complaining about my contribution? Maybe you should try contributing something first instead of complaining about the information others offer up, I at least offered a place where he can read others experiences with different software, all you offer is that what I offered "sucks".
 
I'd go with MythTV personally. Free is always nice :) You can install it yourself, or download a distro with it pre-installed like MythBuntu or MythDora.
 
Thanks guys =)
MediaPortal or XMBC it will be.

MythTV looks nice, but doesn't look Windows friendly. I'd not like to spend any more time than necessary on configuration, and reloading an OS and dealing with who knows what drivers falls in that category.
 
I'd go with XBMC also.

If this is a dedicated media center PC, there is complete Ubuntu linux build w/ XBMC on it available. Also, one issue with XBMC on WinXP is its abaility to play h.264 videos (due to WinXP). There is a forked build which fixes this.
 
I have spent months testing software before and I am more than happy to share my experiences. Others shared their experiences with me to help me on that road. Doesnt make anyones time more valuable than others.

I have used mediaportal and it was pretty good. For free, it was really good. Its about the only free one I would recommend.
 
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