Comments on: MythTV vs. MCE 2005 : A fight to the death http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/ the living internet Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:37:44 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sacramento Electrician http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1637 Sacramento Electrician Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:05:55 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1637 I think its perfect. But my opinion is still you need to think on your comment. I think its perfect. But my opinion is still you need to think on your comment.

]]> By: Josh Highland’s Blog » Blog Archive » My Media Center Died, Time For A New One http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1580 Josh Highland’s Blog » Blog Archive » My Media Center Died, Time For A New One Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:29:35 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1580 [...] have blogged about it before, I have a HTPC (home theatre pc) running in my living room, hooked to my TV. I started off with [...]

[...] have blogged about it before, I have a HTPC (home theatre pc) running in my living room, hooked to my TV. I started off with [...]

]]> By: Cody http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1499 Cody Tue, 06 May 2008 16:15:26 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1499 I am currently running MythTV on Fedora 8 with a Hauppauge PVR-150. I am running digital cable and even have the IRBlaster working. It rocks. Everything works perfectly and I have not had any problems with it. Channel changing is slightly slow, but this is because MythTV by default starts recording before playback so there is always a 5 to 10 second delay while watching LiveTV. This was slightly annoying at first, but a very minor detail. Myth still changes channels faster than a satellite dish. Granted, the setup is a little more intensive than any windows products, but I like it that way. With Linux, you have to know something to make things work...which gives me a sense of pride once the project is completed. I built this system and it works. As for the wife aspect, my wife uses mythtv and loves it. She can schedule her own shows, view guide, watch videos, delete recordings and pretty much everything else necessary. She finds it very intuitive and doesn't understand why I didn't build the device long ago. I am currently running MythTV on Fedora 8 with a Hauppauge PVR-150. I am running digital cable and even have the IRBlaster working. It rocks. Everything works perfectly and I have not had any problems with it. Channel changing is slightly slow, but this is because MythTV by default starts recording before playback so there is always a 5 to 10 second delay while watching LiveTV. This was slightly annoying at first, but a very minor detail. Myth still changes channels faster than a satellite dish. Granted, the setup is a little more intensive than any windows products, but I like it that way. With Linux, you have to know something to make things work…which gives me a sense of pride once the project is completed. I built this system and it works. As for the wife aspect, my wife uses mythtv and loves it. She can schedule her own shows, view guide, watch videos, delete recordings and pretty much everything else necessary. She finds it very intuitive and doesn’t understand why I didn’t build the device long ago.

]]> By: Virtual Hosting Blog » How to Turn Your Old Computer Into the Ultimate Media Center: 100 Resources and Tools http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1099 Virtual Hosting Blog » How to Turn Your Old Computer Into the Ultimate Media Center: 100 Resources and Tools Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:35:10 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1099 [...] MythTV vs. MCE 2005: A fight to the death: Can’t figure out whether you want to go with MythTV or Windows Media Center? See what Josh has to say. [...]

[...] MythTV vs. MCE 2005: A fight to the death: Can’t figure out whether you want to go with MythTV or Windows Media Center? See what Josh has to say. [...]

]]> By: Scott K http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1098 Scott K Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:06:48 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1098 Just wanted to put a good word in for Knoppmyth (and MythTV). I've run the latest or near the latest versions since 2004. I originally used Gentoo Linux, which I got working just fine but required a lot more technical knowhow. Some package would always seem to not compile correctly whenever I tried to upgrade. I used Gentoo for about a year and then moved to Knoppmyth. It has been great and the only thing that I needed to "fix" was to use apt-get to install libdvdcss2 inn order to get dvds to play. Besides that, everything worked perfectly out of the box, including my 2 hard disk LVM setup. Granted, it may still take a little more work then MCE when you are initially installing it, the actual day to day use is very easy...Everyone that comes over can pick up the remote and just start using it. (Also, I just upgraded to the latest Knoppmyth and am very impressed with the Internal video/dvd player.) Just wanted to put a good word in for Knoppmyth (and MythTV). I’ve run the latest or near the latest versions since 2004. I originally used Gentoo Linux, which I got working just fine but required a lot more technical knowhow. Some package would always seem to not compile correctly whenever I tried to upgrade. I used Gentoo for about a year and then moved to Knoppmyth. It has been great and the only thing that I needed to “fix” was to use apt-get to install libdvdcss2 inn order to get dvds to play. Besides that, everything worked perfectly out of the box, including my 2 hard disk LVM setup. Granted, it may still take a little more work then MCE when you are initially installing it, the actual day to day use is very easy…Everyone that comes over can pick up the remote and just start using it. (Also, I just upgraded to the latest Knoppmyth and am very impressed with the Internal video/dvd player.)

]]> By: Josh Highland http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1078 Josh Highland Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:45:48 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1078 you bring up some really good points that I didnt really address fully in my blog post. Yes, I had to buy an encoder. It was $20. IT works well, but it adds more money to the price. I havent found a diference between the mce tv playback and myth tv play back. The encoder software will have a lot to do with how it looks, along with the tv output that you are using. ok, so you have a point about the windows security issues also. I run behind a firewall, and keep my machine patched. I still stand by MCE. MythTV was a huge bitch to get working. MCE worked like a charm. I want an applience to record my tv, and thats what MCE is for me. you bring up some really good points that I didnt really address fully in my blog post.

Yes, I had to buy an encoder. It was $20. IT works well, but it adds more money to the price.

I havent found a diference between the mce tv playback and myth tv play back. The encoder software will have a lot to do with how it looks, along with the tv output that you are using.

ok, so you have a point about the windows security issues also. I run behind a firewall, and keep my machine patched.

I still stand by MCE. MythTV was a huge bitch to get working. MCE worked like a charm. I want an applience to record my tv, and thats what MCE is for me.

]]> By: Gert http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1082 Gert Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:54:05 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1082 Hmm, as a Myth user (for several years) and having a bit of MCE experience too I wonder: How did you get recording and playback working with the Hauppage card ? You need a MPEG2 codec which isn't part of the MCE package (nor is it part of the Hauppage package) A friend of mine which is an avid MCE user/installer installs a version of PowerDVD just to get the MPEG2 codecs in place. Without these you can't record and/or view anything with MCE... This adds further costs. Further great disadvantage is the huge amount of CPU power needed to use MCE whereas MythTV happily chugs along on much leaner hardware. The large amount of CPU power needed for MCE is due to that it not simply records in plain MPEG2 but in a vague MCE propriarty format which can only be played by the latest MediaPlayer. Also all the recordings are kind of 'fuzzy' compared to the raw recordings made by MythTV. Furthermore with MCE you can have only two tuners, no satellitecard or HDTVcard support yet. No frontend/backend split etc etc etc. The music player completely chokes on an mp3/wma libraries with more than a thousand files. You need to have antivirus/spyware/firewall software running to keep your system a bit safe. I agree MythTV is not easy to get working but once it does.. The possibilities are endless.. Hmm, as a Myth user (for several years) and having a bit of MCE experience too I wonder:
How did you get recording and playback working with the Hauppage card ? You need a MPEG2 codec which isn’t part of the MCE package (nor is it part of the Hauppage package) A friend of mine which is an avid MCE user/installer installs a version of PowerDVD just to get the MPEG2 codecs in place. Without these you can’t record and/or view anything with MCE… This adds further costs.
Further great disadvantage is the huge amount of CPU power needed to use MCE whereas MythTV happily chugs along on much leaner hardware. The large amount of CPU power needed for MCE is due to that it not simply records in plain MPEG2 but in a vague MCE propriarty format which can only be played by the latest MediaPlayer. Also all the recordings are kind of ‘fuzzy’ compared to the raw recordings made by MythTV.
Furthermore with MCE you can have only two tuners, no satellitecard or HDTVcard support yet. No frontend/backend split etc etc etc. The music player completely chokes on an mp3/wma libraries with more than a thousand files. You need to have antivirus/spyware/firewall software running to keep your system a bit safe.

I agree MythTV is not easy to get working but once it does.. The possibilities are endless..

]]> By: den http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1081 den Sat, 26 Aug 2006 01:00:12 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1081 good article! thnks! good article!
thnks!

]]> By: Lee http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1080 Lee Sat, 01 Jul 2006 18:03:49 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1080 It goes out to the internet and pulls down artwork and a synopsis of the movie. This is an awesome and impressive feature in my opinion. It goes out to the internet and pulls down artwork and a synopsis of the movie. This is an awesome and impressive feature in my opinion.

]]> By: Jan Embers http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/comment-page-1/#comment-1079 Jan Embers Sat, 01 Jul 2006 18:00:24 +0000 http://joshhighland.com/blog/2006/02/25/mythtv-vs-mce-2005-a-fight-to-the-death/#comment-1079 I agree with most of the other comments, but bear in mind that most novice to average users will have trouble configuring anything but the most standard things under linux. I agree with most of the other comments, but bear in mind that most novice to average users will have trouble configuring anything but the most standard things under linux.

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