Now that you’ve gotten all the hardware components for your new DVR/Media center installed and configured, you will need to get some software. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, please check it out here. For starters, you will need an operating system. For most of you, you will be using a variation of Windows, probably either XP or Vista. If you have to buy a copy of an operating system, this will add an extra cost to your over all total, unless of course, you use Linux. For any of these operating systems, there are quite a few decent DVR software and/or media center software packages…even Linux. In this guide, I will only be looking at Windows solutions.
SOLUTION 1: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: Media Center
To begin, i’d like to take a look at what in my opinion is one of the better solutions if you’re using the new Windows Vista Ultimate Edition; Vista Media Center. For any of you that have used Windows XP Media Center Edition in the past, you will probably be pretty familiar with the new and improved version of it on Vista. One of the greatest parts about this software package is that it is integrated right into your copy of Vista Ultimate, so there is no need to take the time to install any additional software, you just click the desktop icon and off you go. Upon entering Vista Media Center, you will be prompted to setup a few simple settings. Assuming that you’re using a supported TV Tuner card, which most of the ones that I went over in the previous post are supported, you will be able to configure your TV settings. This will include settings for the TV Guide as well as recording settings. You will also want to configure Media Center to recognize the folder where you will want to store recordings. This is where you will find one down side to Media Center, it records in a proprietary Microsoft format known as .DVR-MS. Files in this format seem to be protected with DRM because if I recall, I was not able to copy them to other people. Also while going through folder configuration, you will want to configure the folders for pictures and other video. This is where Media Center will look when displaying these items in its interface (which by the way, is very fast and user friendly). Speaking of interface, you will want to be sure to check out the included ten foot interface, supplied by 10 Foot World, Inc. This interface gives you some cool extra features, such as drink (10 foot bar) and meal recipes. Vista Media Center also includes provisions to allow the user to add and access additional applications from within Media Center itself. This is nice if you will be using your new system for more than just a media center. Basically, if you’re looking for a very effective, aesthetically pleasing media center application, you may want to look into Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, both of which come pre-packaged with Vista Media Center. This is especially nice for those of you who don’t want to worry about installing extra software, Media Center comes pre-installed, you just customize a few settings and you’re off and running.
To summarize:
PRO’s:
- Easy to setup and use, no need for additional software installation…except maybe some extra codecs, if you want them
- Includes all the necessary “media center” applications: TV, Music, Video, Weather, etc
- Very fast, organized interface
- Has remote control support basically right out of the box.
CON’s:
- Records video in .DVR-MS format
- Not as configurable as some other media center packages
- If you don’t already have Vista Ultimate or Home Premium and have to buy it, this is an expensive solution.
SOLUTION 2: MediaPortal
If you’re looking to build your new DVR/Media Center PC as cheap as possible than this would be one possible solution for you. MediaPortal, is a very versatile, open source media center solution designed to work with a wide variety of hardware. Let me make it clear right away, MediaPortal is not an operating system and is not built into any operating system as the Vista Media Center is that was discussed above! MediaPortal is, however, very similar to Vista Media Center in fact it even looks like it depending on what theme you choose to use. I guess that is the first talking point. MediaPortal unlike Vista Media Center is completely skinnable, and i’ll be the first to admit that there are some pretty cool skins. I would suggest checking out the “SpinSafe Revolve” skin. Aside from that, MediaPortal includes all of the important features such as TV, Video, Music, Pictures, Weather and then some extras, all of which can be configured very easily through the MediaPortal Setup program that is included in the free download. The configuration interface is not as easy to operate as in Vista Media Center, however as long as you’re willing to experiment you should be able to get everything up and running without too much trouble. The TV guide feature is also a little more complicated to setup (you have to use XMLTV) but luckily the MediaPortal website includes plenty of documentation for how to set this up successfully. MediaPortal is also setup to easily allow the user to customize what audio and video codecs are used for each individual file-type that is read by the program. This is especially useful if you encode video or audio in a few different formats that are not immediately recognized by MediaPortal. If you are a more experienced computer user looking to setup a DVR/Media Center PC, than I would suggest that you seriously think about trying out MediaPortal, however if you’re more “faint of heart” when it comes to dealing with computers, you may want to look elsewhere.
One other feature to make note of is MediaPortal’s new TV server application. This will basically allow you to transmit your TV signal via your home network to any other PC connected to the network. This can be very useful if you only have a single cable or antenna line running to a single PC in your house. You can use TV server to share this signal with other PC’s, in effect creating TV’s elsewhere in your home or office.
PRO’s:
- FREE! FREE! FREE!
- Very configurable (more so than Vista Media Center)
- Completely Skinnable
- Records in formats other than .DVR-MS
- Very expandable
- TV Server!
CON’s:
- Not as user friendly as other software packages
- Interface can be somewhat disorganized
- TV guide can be a pain to get working
A COUPLE MORE SOLUTIONS (I have not personally tested these):
- SnapStream Media’s “Beyond TV” software
- SageTV
- GBPVR - Works just as well as Media Portal, and it’s free!
All of these are great software packages for building your own personal DVR/Media Center PC. The first two that I looked at in depth are my recommendations, simply because they are more of an all inclusive media pc package. Beyond TV is very good at what it does (DVR functions) however it doesn’t really include too many provisions for other media such as photos and music. SnapStream does sell another package called Beyond Media which handles other types of media, however you’ll pay more for it and get about the same feature set as you would with Vista Media Center or MediaPortal. SageTV also works very well and does include the option to view other media besides just TV, however it is also a commercial program. In my experience the SageTV interface is also not as nice as MediaPortal or Vista Media Center. I hope that you’ve found this guide to be informative and feel free to play around with these software packages and leave comments as to what you prefer.
Technorati Tags: build dvr, build a dvr, build your own dvr, tivo pc, media center pc, media center, build your own tivo, build tivo, dvr hardware
Share This
[...] Check out part two here! [...]