Best HTPC software for Win XP Pro?

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jonjon0nline

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Dec 7, 2005
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I'm just wondering if there are any good offerings for XP Pro that is equal or better capability-wise as Vista MCE.

A buddy wants me to build him an HTPC for as little $$$ as possible and he only has XP Pro to work with. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Look into dl'ing one of the Linux based media OS's or programs and dual-boot.
 
i saw a while back a program called turn your xp pro into media center but i cant remember where i saw it at
 
I've played with MediaPortal a little bit, and it certainly seems quite capable. You might also look into GB-PVR.
 
Mohonri said:
I've played with MediaPortal a little bit, and it certainly seems quite capable. You might also look into GB-PVR.
Click to expand...

Media Portal, GBPVR and SageTV are my suggestions; GBPVR is cool but I didn't really much like it. If you're looking for a complete package I'd suggest Media Portal and SageTV (for PVR work).
 
Question-

Can any of these play VIDEO_TS folders like MCE can after the registry hack? Will any of them play ISO?

Linux based would work if it is able to play VIDEO_TS or ISO.
 
MediaPortal will play iso's--you have to install Daemon Tools and tweak a setting in MP's configuration, but it's no big deal. From then on, it plays the iso just as it would any other file. I'm sure it will also play VIDEO_TS folders as well.
 
SageTV plays video_ts folders natively. And I think I remember a a free addon listed on the Sage forums that add's ISO support.
 
jonjon0nline said:
Question-

Can any of these play VIDEO_TS folders like MCE can after the registry hack? Will any of them play ISO?

Linux based would work if it is able to play VIDEO_TS or ISO.
Click to expand...

MCE is pretty much the only app that has to have a hack to enable a pretty standard feature. In other words, MCE is pretty much the only app that has such a feature disabled/not supported.
 
Another very happy Sage TV user here, I came over from Beyond TV and MCE 05.....
 
info can be found with a few good google searches. Its warez so its off limits here (and please do not pm me about it either)

I will caution you however that if you are not using a retail or oem copy of XP its a guaranteed way to bomb your installation. I would go with mediaportal or linux first.
 
Well, the choices seem to have come down to SagTV or MediaPortal. MP being free, we're going to check that out first. Although for the price of SageTV, a copy of VistaHP isn't too far off...
 
jonjon0nline said:
Well, the choices seem to have come down to SagTV or MediaPortal. MP being free, we're going to check that out first. Although for the price of SageTV, a copy of VistaHP isn't too far off...
Click to expand...

Sage TV is well worth the money:) No HTPC software is perfect for everyone, so try before you buy!!
 
gjvrieze said:
Sage TV is well worth the money:) No HTPC software is perfect for everyone, so try before you buy!!
Click to expand...

I would suggest getting SageTV and then if you feel like it's lacking as a frontend app (don't judge based on the default STV/skin! There are many more third party STVs/skins that more then make up for the default's short comings) then go with Media Portal for your frontend and just use SageTV for it's PVR (which is well worth the asking price IMO, it's PVR features are second to none).
 
Media Portal will play VIDEO_TS files, I rip all my DVDs into a folder structure and MP will play them back fine.
 
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