An Open Source, Customizable, Free Alternative to Windows Media Center!

Sunday, December 18, 2011 by DrJBHL | Discussion: Personal Computing

 

If you’ve been looking for a program to replace Windows Media Center which performs all its functions and is highly customizable, you’ve got to take a look at Media Portal.

It has Main areas: My Music, My Videos, My Pictures and my Weather. It’ll play all the file types WMC does, and do it your way via slews of plug-ins. You can create your own playlists and

  • Watch Live TV or schedule and record
  • Play videos, movies and DVDs
  • Browse EPG and upcoming programs
  • Listen to music and radio
  • Stream media, radio, TV to any connected HTPC/PC connected to your network
  • View pictures or create slideshows
  • Browse all your movies
  • Check weather, news, or information on the web and even play games

And, you can make it look the way you want with many different skins to choose from and tutorial videos. There are widescreen and non-wide galleries. You even skin the weather app.

Check out the skins here: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/extensions/widescreen

Anyway, I figured folks here would want to see it:

  

 

 

 

These are all different skins. You really should take a look at their gallery. It’s easy to navigate.

Hey! Have a happy Sunday!

Source:

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/media-portal-open-source-windows-media-center-replacement

First Previous Page 1 of 2 Next Last
amitsaran
Reply #1 Sunday, December 18, 2011 7:38 AM

thank you doc.

really nice application ... the "my weather" thing is indeed quite cool

DrJBHL
Reply #2 Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:03 AM

Glad you like, Amit...  

 

Uvah
Reply #3 Sunday, December 18, 2011 9:04 AM

I'll be checking this one out for sure. Thanx Doc.

DrJBHL
Reply #4 Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:23 AM

Welcome, Uvah.

PoSmedley
Reply #5 Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:30 AM

Nice. I've been messing with a very old laptop, trying to turn it into a media center that I could stream from my desktop PC. KMPlayer is what I was using. It's very nice but doesn't have the ability to customize. I'll be checking this out.

RedneckDude
Reply #6 Sunday, December 18, 2011 3:44 PM

Very interesting.....

Thoumsin
Reply #7 Sunday, December 18, 2011 4:53 PM

PoSmedley
Nice. I've been messing with a very old laptop, trying to turn it into a media center that I could stream from my desktop PC. KMPlayer is what I was using. It's very nice but doesn't have the ability to customize. I'll be checking this out.

Well, "media portal" is a fork of "XBMC" ( http://xbmc.org/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC )...

Media portal can only run on Windows OS with x86 and x86-64 processor...

XBMC can run on the following OS : Linux, BSD, Mac OS X ( Snow Leopard, Leopard, Tiger ), Apple TV OS, Windows, iOS, first-generation Xbox, and MeeGo ( in development )... with the following architecture : ARM, PPC (PowerPC), x86, x86-64, and MIPS architecture ( in development )... "XBMC live" is fun : a boot CD or USB memory stick for have it with you everywhere...

Not sure that "media portal" or "XBMC" will run smoothly on your old laptop... but you have plenty of XBMC fork... by example, OpenELEC ( http://www.openelec.tv/home/menu/what-is-openelec )  is more for light end computer... only a basic OS with the Media center... not other application...

For next year, a other fork is plannet to be released for light end system... it is called "iConsole" ( http://www.iconsole.vg/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/iConsole-MeeGoSF.pdf )...

For the curious, two other XBMC fork :

- Plex : http://www.plexapp.com/

- Boxee : http://www.boxee.tv/ ( click the "make a boxee" )

The only problem with open source is that you have to much choice ( and bad documentation )... but if you seek something very specific, you have more chance to find it that with commercial software... pretty sure that there is somewhere a open source geek who try to find a way for play movies on the tiny LCD screen from his high end washing machine !!! 

Sinperium
Reply #8 Sunday, December 18, 2011 5:14 PM

I love Open Source but the documentation for it is usually horribly incomplete.  Devs make terrible instructors. If you ask a developer if he can recommend a good book his/her answer is usually something like, "Why don't you go back to college, get a degree in writing and then write your own?".

I kept looking at Myth TV (also Open source) myself (TV-DVR)but it's always been more of an art than a science setting it up properly with different hardware and I am no Linux guru.

Interesting suggestions from both of you Doc and Thoumsin.

PoSmedley
Reply #9 Sunday, December 18, 2011 5:57 PM

Thoumsin
Not sure that "media portal" or "XBMC" will run smoothly on your old laptop.

Me either. That's why I originally started with KMPlayer. It's lite and has an interface similar to MediaCenter.

So far it's been a bust. It's a very old laptop. I've tried lubuntu on it and went back to xp but it's just terribly slow. I put eBoost on it and it helps a little. Trying to go through and tweak some stuff to see If I can speed it up. It has a good graphics card and for what I want, which is basically to stream movies off my home network, it would be good. Biggest problem I am having is getting to work with my wireless router.

Uvah
Reply #10 Sunday, December 18, 2011 5:59 PM

Have it installed but setting it up is a pain in the rear. I'm trying for the TV part and so far nothing.

neone6
Reply #11 Sunday, December 18, 2011 6:12 PM

Have it installed but setting it up is a pain in the rear. I'm trying for the TV part and so far nothing.
If no Plug n play then a No Go for me.... Working, painting, skinning + learning to skin Sysmetrix & Xion proper AND be the most wonderful superheroinne-sidekick.... well, you get it

gevansmd
Reply #12 Sunday, December 18, 2011 7:57 PM

I thought this looked like XMBC.  anyone get the weather to work?  I added 3 cities and every one says "invalid license key" when I select it in the app.

Disturbedcomputer
Reply #13 Tuesday, December 20, 2011 3:25 AM

myfist0
Reply #14 Tuesday, December 20, 2011 4:07 AM

Awesome find again Doc. 

RedneckDude
Reply #15 Tuesday, January 3, 2012 12:34 PM

I like the skins, and the software itself is pretty good. I don't like the loss of my cursor, with and without CFX.

starkers
Reply #16 Wednesday, February 22, 2012 1:24 PM

I've had this installed for a few hours now and have managed to set up pretty much everything that's relevant to me.  So far I'm impressed and like the way it handles music, video and photos.  Windows Media Center spat the dummy [pacifier] when I asked it to handle my music collection, which is quite extensice.  Yeah, damned thing froze and wouldn't do a damned thing... had to use Task Manager to exit it and I never went back. 

That was not the case with Media Portal, however.  It mapped my music and video drive without a hiccup and I'm pleased with its handing of everything so far.  I have yet to view TV through it, but I know that it works as the setup went without a hitch, so all should be honky dory there

DrJBHL
Reply #17 Wednesday, February 22, 2012 1:46 PM

Glad you're happy, old friend.

starkers
Reply #18 Wednesday, February 22, 2012 3:07 PM

Yeah, thanks for the tip, Doc, it's a fine piece of software and I appreciate your posting the heads up.

I haven't gotten around to customising it as yet, but I will, not that it's a bad looking app to begin with.

'Ere, and enuff of the "old", OLD matey.  Arrrrrggghhh.

DrJBHL
Reply #19 Wednesday, February 22, 2012 3:11 PM

For some odd reason ("OLD") I feel this twitch developing in my Ps trigger finger....

Rosco_P
Reply #20 Wednesday, February 22, 2012 3:16 PM

Dealbreaker question: Does the music library recognize the 'Album Artist' and 'Track Artist' ID3 tags as being two different things, and which does it organize with?

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