Building a Linux PVR, Part 2: Microsoft's MCE 2004
by Purav Sanghani on September 16, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Linux
Interface
As our screenshots showed in Part I, MythTV had a clean and extremely attractive look to it, which of course could be skinned to make it more customizable for the user. MCE has an equally attractive interface with clean lines, vibrant colors, and large text that will display perfectly on even the lowest end displays.
The MythTV programming guide.
Click to enlarge.
The MCE 2004 programming guide.
Click to enlarge.
As you can see, the basic idea of a programming guide is implemented similarly in both instances. MCE's layout does look a bit cleaner with refined lines, and also, the feature that puts MCE on top in this screen is the live display on the bottom left.
Another MCE programming guide screen.
Click to enlarge.
This next screenshot displays settings for the location in which recorded programs are to be stored. The total allocation as well as quality of recording can be adjusted. The total and unused recording time will be calculated automatically upon the change of settings.
Report of disk space usage in MCE 2004.
Click to enlarge.
Myth has several other advantages here too. Using KnoppMyth, we are actually capable of remote scheduling - i.e. we can set up a scheduling queue from the internet for our machine via a web interface. Myth also allows us to use multiple front ends for the same video source. This is something that we will talk about later, but becomes a very important feature when we start adding multiple tuners later in the analysis.
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KristopherKubicki - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
Id consider it more functional except the feature of on-demand content, which is pretty neat in my opinion.Kristopher
dvinnen - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
MythTV wins because it is free, cheeper to build a machine with, supports more hardware, and almost as functional as the Windows version.mab0270 - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
That's the beauty of MythTV: It's free, so you don't have to "buy it for some future upgrade".I'd have to say Myth works pretty well straight out of the box, providing you know how to follow instructions on how to set it up. As mentioned in the article, KnoppMyth makes it pretty easy to get a functional Myth system in about 20 minutes.
As for wondering whether those future upgrades will happen, it's being actively developed, and its popularity is growing every day. If you want a feaature, and you have any programming experience, you can even look into implementing it yourself!
Questar - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
So MythTV wins due to a potential to get better in the future??Yeah, I always buy products for some future upgrade that may or may not happen, verses how well they work on the day I spend my money.
Price2Rise - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
It would be great to see how a review of MythTV and MediaPortal would look. MediaPortal is open source as well and runs on Windows instead. It is a young project, but it is looking good already -> http://mediaportal.sf.netPrice2Rise - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
mcveigh - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
mce 2005 is cominghttp://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&a...
10/12 acording to that thread.