Looking for the best frontend

H

HereticX

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
391
I just setup my htpc (2700+, 1gig ram, PVR500, 9700pro soon to be 6600) and am looking for recommendations for the best frontend. I've messed with MCE2005 a little, and it does some things I don't like. For some reason, it won't play some of my video files (.m2v extension), but if I close MCE and use XP, WMP10 plays the files just fine. Also in My Music, it imports the music by ID3 tag info, but I'd like to import just by folder name. What I'm looking for is an easy to setup/use frontend, dual tuner and HDTV tuner support, able to play any video extension with the proper codecs (.m2v, .ogm, xvid with subtitle files or imbedded subtitles, multi audio stream videos), import music library by folder name not ID3 tag info, and runs on XP. Any help would be great.
 
there have been a lot of front end questions lately, so that is probably why there hasn't been much response. I like meedio personally. Media Portal is a nice free option. GotAllMedia is good too.
 
Try the avsforum's HTPC section for more frontend chat than you can shake a big stick at :) (I like Meedio also FYI.)
 
htpcnews has a definitive frontend list. not much opinion in the actual post, but plenty of responses to it.
 
Between here, AVS, and HTPCNews, I'm surprised any of us actually have time to HAVE htpc's :D (I guess that's why we have to 'tivo' everything?? ;))
 
I am like 14 hours behind on my TV watching. damn projects taking all my time
 
I have this same question posted on avsforum, and have been hearing alot of good things about meedio. I'll give that one a shot. Any other suggestions?
 
This is also on avsforum, but I want to get more help if possible.

I decided to give MCE a little more of a chance, but I'm having problems with DVD playback. I've just switched to an MSI 6600gt from the 9700pro, but have the same hardware from above. I first tried the newest nvidia dvd decoder with ac3filter, but after the fbi warnings on the dvd, MCE would lockup and I couldn't end the program, would have to reboot. So I uninstalled those decoders, and installed windvd 6 and I have the same problem. Thing is, if I play the DVD in windvd itself, it plays just fine. I just have problems playing them in MCE itself, which is defeating the purpose of an all-in-one frontend IMHO. Any assistance on this issue? I may just reinstall for the third time to see if that works, but I'd like to avoid that.

Also, is there a way to register new extensions/codecs with MCE so I can see the files in the video browser? I have some anime movies that are .ogm, and while I have the right codecs, I can't see the files in the browser. WMP10 plays them, but MCE won't. Same goes with SVCD files. WinDVD plays the svcd mpegs just fine, but MCE will only play the audio.
 
I don't like "All-in-one" frontends simple because they spent so much time making sure they can do everything but neglect doing anything well. In that respect I'd say the best frontend IMO would be Meedio since it lets you replace the built in junk with external apps, I perfer to use either Zoomplayer or TheaterTek for DVDs and many would regard them as two of the best DVD players out there for an HTPC.

Also lately I've been hearing of several problems with MCE in regard to DVD playback not working (like you describe) and not being about to record "record once" shows like stuff on HBO which contain certain flags. I guess this is why I use SageTV for my PVR. ;)
 
One thing I noticed about meedio is that at least the default skin didn't compensate for overscan like MCE does. But that could probably be addressed by other skins out there? Can meedio and/or sagetv play any video/audio file given the correct codec?
 
most of the skins leave space around the edges, but it does not have an overscan adjustment like sage.
 
Meedio does overscan settings through the Configuration app, under the General tab, so they are not theme specific. Individual screens can have custom settings different from the default by using the xpad and ypad values in the screen files.

For video files, I have not run into anything other than Quicktime files that won't play in the default player. There's a few workarounds by integrating other apps or plugins.
 
Cax6ton said:
Meedio does overscan settings through the Configuration app, under the General tab, so they are not theme specific. Individual screens can have custom settings different from the default by using the xpad and ypad values in the screen files.

For video files, I have not run into anything other than Quicktime files that won't play in the default player. There's a few workarounds by integrating other apps or plugins.
Click to expand...


Good to hear about both things. I'll look into the overscan adjustment tonight. One of the biggest things is getting the different codecs to work in the default player. If there's a way to do it via plugins or other apps that's fine, as long as I don't have to close the frontend and use WMP or MPC to play the file.
 
No, you shouldn't have to get out of the frontend to do anything with video files. Have a look on the Meedio forums, especially threads dealing with PlayMee and ZoomPlayer or TheaterTek. I'm not certain how it's done, but there are a lot of users there that have done it with a variety of files.
 
Well I tried out meedio and sage last night and here's what I've found

Meedio Pros
-flexibility with decoders
-lots of plugins

Meedio Cons
-no dual tuner support!

Sage Pros
-excellent overscan compensation
-customizable
-dual tuner support
-flexible on decoders
-easily add extensions for the media library to see

Sage Cons
-Loads up directories in one large list*
-Couldn't get videos to play full screen, they just played in the upper right corner

*i.e. I have Movies, Anime, Music Videos, Videos folder, Sage just throws all the folders inside those 3 into one large directory. I have Red VS. Blue sitting next to Sevendust videos. I want to see the seperate main catagories, not every single folder inside them all together

This is just from a brief run through last night. I didn't get the chance to test DVD's, that will come tonight or this weekend. Meedio is out since there is no dual tuner support. I looked all over their site, and the forums just to have it confirmed that the dual tuner support isn't in *yet*. Sage looks promising, if I can get my videos seperated out into categories and get my videos to play full screen when I select Play Video instead of them playing in the top right, I'm all for switching to sage. This weekend will be a big frontend shootout to see if I can get one configured the way I want. If anyone knows how to fix the issues I'm having, let me know.
 
once you play with the config tool for meedio you will see that it is even more customizable than sage. as for dual tuner, I don't like meedio TV anyway, so I use sage for that.

some of your complaints with sage can be fixed with an STV. like the listing of vieo files. some stv's allow you to assign images and you should be able to group. the video in the corner thing ahs to do with what key you are using to selct it. I think enter will take it to ful screen, but a click with the mouse only puts it in preview mode.
 
I don't like the idea of running multiple frontends to take care of the job that one frontend should do. I like both meedio and sage's UI, sage has the dual tuner support working so that's where I'm leaning towards. Running sage just for PVR, and meedio for everything else is kinda defeating the purpose to me. But seeing as how 2 people now have stated they run meedio with sage for pvr, I am curious as to how you have it setup. If I can get my video directories situated with sage then I'd be set. Right now I'm playing with Cayars17 Ultimate STV for sage, didn't see any options in there for seperating out the video directories. If I can get that added, I'd be done looking for a new frontend.
 
Interesting. So that calls up sage to do your tv functions, but within meedio? The main thing I want to stay away from is using multiple programs for everything and having to switch between them. If that plugin lets you run meedio, and call up the sagetv from within it then that's not bad. I'll give it a try.
 
Then I'll be giving that a try tonight. How easy/hard/possible is it to add extensions to meedio?
 
Extensions, modules, plugins, etc are easy to add...the tricky part is figuring out how to configure them, since it isn't always obvious whether what you just added is a module, a new screen, an importer, or whatever. Tracking down the documentation is sometimes easy and sometimes not. Start reading and searching through the Meedio forums, nearly every add-on of every type has an official thread that the author contributes to, and it can save a lot of frustration if you get caught up on the info before you try adding it to your configuration.
 
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