Mediabrowser Sucks

XvMMvX

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
1,668
I am about to then end of my rope with this piece of shit. This has nothing to do with playback of files (incase you remeber my other thread). With the help of this forum I have tweaked it for perfect playback on everything.

This mediabrowser add on for WMC completly sucks. When I switch my TV over to my media center it takes for every to "wake up" (not to mention that I have turnoff any and all sleep settings). I have to completely back out of mediabrowers (and sometimes exit WMC) in order to get anything but a black screen with the mouse cursor.

When it does work it is hit or miss as too if it will pull my information for my content correctly. I will fiddle with the updater and get it all set perfectly, then the next time i use it half of my movies and tv shows aren't showing any information. Pain in my ass.

I come to you to ask, what are my alternatives? Is XMBC any better, I have messed with it some and it seems easy enough to use?

Thanks for the help!
 
I am about to then end of my rope with this piece of shit. This has nothing to do with playback of files (incase you remeber my other thread). With the help of this forum I have tweaked it for perfect playback on everything.

This mediabrowser add on for WMC completly sucks. When I switch my TV over to my media center it takes for every to "wake up" (not to mention that I have turnoff any and all sleep settings). I have to completely back out of mediabrowers (and sometimes exit WMC) in order to get anything but a black screen with the mouse cursor.

When it does work it is hit or miss as too if it will pull my information for my content correctly. I will fiddle with the updater and get it all set perfectly, then the next time i use it half of my movies and tv shows aren't showing any information. Pain in my ass.

I come to you to ask, what are my alternatives? Is XMBC any better, I have messed with it some and it seems easy enough to use?

Thanks for the help!

If you can give us some more details of your setup (Specs, software config, fixes already tired), or a link to your original post, we can probably get Media Browser working properly. Your issues sound like they are rooted deeper than just Media Browser, so switching might not resolve your problem after all...
 
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1570913

Here is the link to my original thread, but that was concerning stutter during playback of 720 and 1080p movies. That issue has been resolved, once I hit play in media browers the videos are now playing flawlessly.

I have a:

Core i3 Clarkdale
2GB Ram
500GB HD (No content on the local drive, everything is housed on harddrives that are in the upstairs desktop...which is my gaming PC)
Hardwired 10/100/1000 LAN Connection

I have the harddrive upstairs and the media center set to no sleep at all. When I switch my TV to the HDMI input that the PC is on I just get a black screen with a mouse cursor. I have to crtl-alt-dlt my may back to windows and re-enter WMC/mediabrowers. I have had it to were it was pulling all of my content perfectly, but it will all of the sudden decide that it doesn't recognize half of it.

Maybe I have something setup wrong on how the media is shared? Maybe it is losing connection with the media so it thinks it is new.

I have no idea why it hangs up when trying to switch over though.
 
Theres definitely something bigger going on there.. I don't have any of the issues you've described. My only real issue with MB is that it often takes a long time to open up from the WMC main menu, at times WMC will alert me to say its no longer responding. Not sure why that is.. I have only a modest library and the OS is on an SSD.

I hate to say it, but while reformatting is often a last resort for everyday rigs, On a dedicated HTPC I say its almost never worth fiddling like crazy, you might spend days and still not get it to work right.. just blow the install away and start from scratch.. it works 99% of the time.
 
Sounds like a video card/driver issue. Does this only happen when mediabrowser is open? Or does it happen regardless of where you are in WMC?

If it happens anywhere in WMC, it's likely video card related. The EDID handshake between the TV/receiver and PC is lost after some time and it causes WMC to display a black screen. Updating/rolling back drivers can fix it or using a custom monitor driver can fix it as well.
 
Yeah, it looks like you have 2 seperate issues here.

1 - Black screen with only a mouse cursor when you switch to the HTPC.

My gut reaction is an HDMI handshake issue and the first thing I would try is updating the HDMI drivers. If that doesn't work, or if you already have the newest drivers, do some internet searching to see if there are any known issues and alternate drivers to use. I know when it comes to ATI video cards, the ATI HDMI driver has several known issues and it is recomended to use the Realtek driver (The actual manufacturer of the HDMI chip).

Are you using a receiver by any chance? Sometimes they have an "Active Standby" feature that matains the video signals comming in, so the HDMI handshake doesn't get lost. The terminology will vary by manufacturer, but I think you have gotten the point already that these goofy power saving features are your enemy here. ;)

If it's not HDMI drivers/handshake issue, I'm betting on a refresh rate or overscan issue. Question, does the mouse pointer look bigger than normal when it's stuck on the black screen? Almost as if the resolution is much lower than it should be? It's not uncommon to end up with different resolutions/refresh rates fighting each other if you have installed/uninstalled a bunch of different codecs or drivers. Below is a link to a thread that explains how to force the correct settings using the registry. Since it's a thread it's not organized, so you may have to read through it a couple times.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...a/thread/91970341-a2e1-4bb1-8e16-2f86942014fe

That thread also talks about overscan issues as well. I'm not sure how to set that on your onboard graphics, but the basic point remains the same. Every TV has overscan, it's needed for live TV and is pretty much what differentiates a TV from a monitor, but not every TV allows you to turn it off. If your HTPC is also applying overscan, which is very often the default, your are overscanning twice. This usually causes a black border around MCE, but I wouldn't rule it out. Turn overscan off on your TV. Sometimes a specific input has it off by default, other times it's a menu option. Terminology varys by manufacturer (My Samsung calls it "Just Scan"), so you will have to search for how to do it based on your TV model. I thought I saw a guide somewhere on how to turn it off in MCE, but I can't find it. It's easy enough though I think. Basically, if you set your display type in MCE as a TV, overscan is automatically applied. If you set is as monitor (Even though you are using a TV, remember we turned overscan off), overscan is turned off. The thread I linked earlier also explains how to do it using the registry as well (Might be a good idea to use it to double check).

EDIT: Just to clarify, you want overscan turned off on everything, you don't need it with a HTPC. TV, MCE and video card settings (If applicable). If you can't turn it off on your TV, your computer will need to be set to underscan (Usually done with your video card settings), which will compensate for the overscan applied by the TV. I hope this makes sense...


2 - Media Browser losing it's info.

This can easily be caused by incorrect file and folder structures, have you taken a look at the Media Browser wiki yet?

File and folder structure:
http://community.mediabrowser.tv/pe...mended-folder-structure-for-media-collections

Quickstart guide:
http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/1303/media-browser-quickstart-guide

Media Browser, as well as the majority of collection management software, is not very forgiving I've noticed. I've seen minor misconfigs end up causing big problems, especially if you have a large collection or rare titles.

If your confident that you have the basic setup correct, I have a few more suggestions to try. Need to get going though, so I'll explain those later.
 
When it does work it is hit or miss as too if it will pull my information for my content correctly. I will fiddle with the updater and get it all set perfectly, then the next time i use it half of my movies and tv shows aren't showing any information. Pain in my ass.


Thanks for the help!

I have this problem all the time. My media is stored on my server and if I reboot the media center and the shared drive doesn't connect but I go into media browser all the album art/data is lost. If I reconnect the drive and go back into MB all the art/info is still gone.

The solution is to either delete the cache or hit the record button on the remote when a folder is selected in MB and it will refresh the folder. The first option required MB to re-download all the data (and themovieDB seems like it is never up as it takes a week to get all my movie info). I think the second option just rechecks the cache folder and doesn't download the data again. Either way this bug sucks and has been there since the beginning.

Sounds like you may have the same problem.
 
I have this problem all the time. My media is stored on my server and if I reboot the media center and the shared drive doesn't connect but I go into media browser all the album art/data is lost. If I reconnect the drive and go back into MB all the art/info is still gone.

The solution is to either delete the cache or hit the record button on the remote when a folder is selected in MB and it will refresh the folder. The first option required MB to re-download all the data (and themovieDB seems like it is never up as it takes a week to get all my movie info). I think the second option just rechecks the cache folder and doesn't download the data again. Either way this bug sucks and has been there since the beginning.

Sounds like you may have the same problem.


Are you using a mapped drive by any chance? A mapped network drive is a no-no for Media Browser, as you need to use the UNC path (Ex. \\Computer Name\Movies)


http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/1372/how-to-add-a-media-collection


Sorry that I'm refering to the wiki again, but I can't stress enough how unforgiving these kind of things are, mostly due to all the automatic processes needed to make them work. If you have ever done any sort of programming, it's like that. 0% room for error, one missing semicolon and the whole thing comes to a crashing halt.;)
 
hmm, yes I am. Thanks for the link, never knew that is the way to go.
 
I come to you to ask, what are my alternatives? Is XMBC any better, I have messed with it some and it seems easy enough to use?

Everyone else seems to have the advice on fixing MC covered, so I'll tackle this question.

XBMC is very easy to use. Better is subjective, but in my opinion it is. The skins for it are gorgeous, and it has some functionality that MC doesn't. Such as selecting the audio track or subtitle language for a MKV. However it is lacking in the TV tuning department. There is some work happening on that, but if that's a requirement, 7MC is probably a better choice.

FWIW, I used to run 7MC + Mediabrowser and had some freezing and stuttering issues. It got so annoying that I decided to switch to XBMC Live. That is a minimal linux based version of XBMC that can be ran from a CD, USB drive, or installed to a hard drive. It turns the HTPC into more of an appliance, without the overhead or issues of running Windows. It boots insanely fast, and directly into XBMC. Everything you need to configure and run XBMC is available through it's menus, including installing addons. However if you want to do any advanced tweaking or funny business, you can also switch to a console locally or remotely through SSH and have command line access.

There are some cons to XBMC Live. If you typically run other applications on Windows, obvious those won't work here. If you have a ATI video card, you may have some issues getting video to display properly without tweaking.

You can download the bootable CD and give it a try to see if it meets your needs before installing to a drive, too.
 
Thanks for all the replies thus far.

I have this problem all the time. My media is stored on my server and if I reboot the media center and the shared drive doesn't connect but I go into media browser all the album art/data is lost. If I reconnect the drive and go back into MB all the art/info is still gone.

The solution is to either delete the cache or hit the record button on the remote when a folder is selected in MB and it will refresh the folder. The first option required MB to re-download all the data (and themovieDB seems like it is never up as it takes a week to get all my movie info). I think the second option just rechecks the cache folder and doesn't download the data again. Either way this bug sucks and has been there since the beginning.

Sounds like you may have the same problem.

You and I have the exact problem, and I am using the UNC path not a mapped drive.

As far as my black screen probem, it has to be a HDMI handshake issue. The reason I am leaning to what FROST described is that is makes the "jingle" that happens when you connect an external device.

I will try to work with the drivers and do some googling and see if i can find a solution.

Still need a solution on my information disappearing.
 
hmm, yes I am. Thanks for the link, never knew that is the way to go.

Sweet for you, thats an easy fix. If you looked through the link I posted there, it explains why this trips up the automatic fetchers. Like I mentioned earlier, automatic processes are the core of HTPC's in general, so any sort of "minor" mis-config can easily blow up in your face. I didn't view the the thread title as "Media Browser Sucks Balls", I viewed the thread title as "Media Browser isn't working correctly, and google searching for QUIT FUCKING LOOSING MY MEDIA INFO YOU PIECE OF SHIT PROGRAM didn't return any results". :D I guess what I'm saying here is that this isn't just a MCE and Media Browser issue, this is a RTFM issue, which unfortunatly doesn't go away by switching frontends.:p It's all good though, that's why we have forums like this, to help each other out when guy code kicks in and we just wing it.


Anyway, back to you and the OP's issue. Once you are confident you have the basic config corrected, time to take the next step, which is to turn OFF the automatic media fetcher. It's fine for starting off and small media collections, but it still has the same basic problem that most automatic processes have - they are automatic. Taking some control of your metadata will definitely reduce your fustration levels. I suggest downloading and using Media Center Master:

http://www.mediacentermaster.com/

MCM, as well as the other metadata fetchers, still have all the same automatic processes that Media Browser has built in (Which is why getting the basic config correct is so important, it's actually pretty universal), but it also gives you a GUI to make managing it all MUCH easier. Since 99% of the time the automatic fetchers work just fine, using something like MCM doesn't add any additional work for you to manage your collection. When you do get a screw up though, which for me was the occasional folder cover in a forign language, MCM makes it quick and easy to switch the incorrect cover for the one you prefer. To top it off, it also gives you the ability to do things like lock the metadata for select titles. When/if you spend the time to perfect your metadata, leaving the automatic fetcher on is just silly because it's going to overwrite all your hard work. In addition, you will also speed up MB to some extent since it won't be looking for updates for every title in your collection over and over again. Basically, MCM is the best of both worlds. You keep all the nice automatic features, while also gaining a GUI and more control.

On my setup, I have "Allow Internet Providers" turned OFF and ONLY "Show Fan Art on Views" w/rotate selected in Media Browser's config. The Internet Providers part is the automatic fetcher. "Show Fan Art" is the option for the downloaded backgrounds. "Initial Folder Background" and "Theme Backgrounds" are usually used for themes (Duh). You can run MCM in the background, or what I do is just fire it up when I add anything to my collection. Then maybe once every month or two, I jump in MCM and do a little cleanup with my recently added titles. Once I get them cleaned up, I lock the title and forget about it. It all sounds much more complicated than it really is. The hardest part is correcting any config issues you may have from the initial setup.
 
+1 for MCM. I always used it over any of the other built-in metadata fetchers and never had a problem
 
Thanks for all the replies thus far.



You and I have the exact problem, and I am using the UNC path not a mapped drive.

As far as my black screen probem, it has to be a HDMI handshake issue. The reason I am leaning to what FROST described is that is makes the "jingle" that happens when you connect an external device.

I will try to work with the drivers and do some googling and see if i can find a solution.

Still need a solution on my information disappearing.


There you go, looks like you are are the right path now with the HDMI issues, you shouldn't be hearing the disconnect/reconnect jingle with your HDMI connection.

As for Media Browser, skip to the part in my earlier post about turning off the internet providers. Also, can you take a look at the drives where you store your media and see if there is metadata there? Media Browser downloads the metadata and stores it in the source folder for the title. When Media Browser is opened in WMC, Media Browser updates it's image cache folder (Which is located on the OS drive of the playback machine), with the metadate is sees in the title folders. This process is getting interrupted somewhere along the line, which is why I still kinda feel that there is an underlying config issue at work here. Regardless, turning off internet providers allows us to do further testing. This should force Media Browser to rely on it's own image cache or go to the title's source folder. You can go ahead and download MCM if you would like, but we don't need it just yet for testing. You should already have metadata stored in the title's source folder from MB's automatic fetcher. We need to focus on figuring out why MB is having trouble seeing this. It sounds almost as if it's not giving itself enough time to check the title's source folder before it determines that there is nothing there and wants to go to the internet.

Also, just to clarify - Deleting and refreshing the OS image cache forces MB to refresh the cache from either the title's source folder, or the internet. When in MB, if you hit the "Record" button on your remote for a title or folder, it refreshes the image(s) and metadata with the what it has stored in the image cache located on the OS drive. Stick with using the record button for refreshing as much as possible. Going nuclear on it and deleting/refreshing the OS cache is more of a last ditch senario.
 
Frost,

Thanks for your input, I updated the intel graphics driver via windows update and this has seemed to fix the HDMI problem. Still too early to tell if for sure, but it has been behaving much nicer.

Still working on the data for my media.

Thanks!
 
Frost,

Thanks for your input, I updated the intel graphics driver via windows update and this has seemed to fix the HDMI problem. Still too early to tell if for sure, but it has been behaving much nicer.

Still working on the data for my media.

Thanks!


What are the results of the suggestions I gave for Media Browser?
 
I have tried everything in media browser. I guess the next step is to possible use MCM.

You did mention that media browser should be saving the meta data in the folder of each movie/TV show. It is not doing that, It seems to be picking up my tv shows and cartoons better that my movies (currently I can't get it to retrive any of my movie info).

Is there a setting I need to make sure I check in order for it to save the meta data in the source folders?

Thanks!
 
Is there a setting I need to make sure I check in order for it to save the meta data in the source folders?

Thanks!

No, there is no setting. When you let MB handle the metadata, everything is stored in the cache. There is no way to transfer metadata from the cache to the local source folders.

If you want to store the metadata locally, you must use a third party app. Media Center Master is not the only option available. You can also try Metabrowser, MediaScout, MyMovies, or YAMMM. To be honest though, none of them are perfect. The best metadata manger for you will depend on what you have in your media collection and how you chose to set it up.

I have tried to use MCM on my collection 3 or 4 times with no luck. It just does not like the way I have my TV Series organized. It's also a bit too automated for me and seems to be optimized for heavy BT users who grab a ton of files and throw them all into one huge download folder. MetaBrowser is ok, but the transition from a free to paid app wasn't handled very well and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Some people still swear by it. I personally still use the original MediaScout 0.9a beta. I just like the way it processes TV Series and I haven't found anything I like better. The original dev stopped working on it after the 0.9a release, but someone else picked it up released a 3.0 version. I tried 3.0 for a while, but it was buggy. They were supposed to release a 4.0 version, but I haven't checked on it lately. MyMovies has been around forever, but used to ignore TV Series, so I never really looked at it. They always promised to add TV support, but I don't know if they ever got around to it. YAMM was supposed to be a barebones, no frills metadata manger, but I never really took the time to look at that very closely either.

In the end, you are going to have to decide for yourself how you want to handle your metadata. Every single option has its' own pros and cons. You just have to jump in and try a bunch of them and see which one works best for your particular situation.
 
I have tried everything in media browser. I guess the next step is to possible use MCM.

You did mention that media browser should be saving the meta data in the folder of each movie/TV show. It is not doing that, It seems to be picking up my tv shows and cartoons better that my movies (currently I can't get it to retrive any of my movie info).

Is there a setting I need to make sure I check in order for it to save the meta data in the source folders?

Thanks!

There shouldn't be a setting for saving metadata, but I have been using MCM for quite a while now, so I apoligize if I gave you incorrect info there. The built in fetcher in Media Browser may only store the metadata in the image cache on the OS drive and I just forgot this. Download and fire up MCM. Add a few titles so it pulls metadata for them so we can use them for testing. MCM should download a "mymovies" xlm file (Which contains the description and text based info), a folder.jpg as well as a number of background.jpg images, which all should be saved to the title's source folder (Wherever it is located). When in Media Browser, you will probably need to use the "Record" button to refresh the title in MB, which should cause MB to pull the metadata from the title's source folder. I just want to emphasize that we only need to try a few titles, specifically for some quick testing. I have a sneaking suspicion that the issue might be with read/write permissions, but I think you already mentioned you checked this...


If you think it would help you out, I can grab some screenshots of my setup for you.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that the issue might be with read/write permissions, but I think you already mentioned you checked this...

Since he is getting metadata for his TV and Cartoons but not Movies, it seems more likely that the recent TMDB outage is to blame. The first option for troubleshooting this problem should be to clear the cache and start over from scratch.

The easiest way to clear the cache is to find the MediaBrowser service icon in the systray. Right click it and choose Show Interface. In the bottom box of the interface, check the Clear Items, Clear Images and Primary Images(Posters, Backdrops, Banners) boxes. Then click the Refresh Now button. It should take about 10-15 minutes to rebuild the cache. When it's finished, open MediaBrowser and check the results.
 
Try HDMIyo. Description here

His original link is broken at TGB.

OMG THANK YOU!

I've had this issue and couldn't figure out a way to iron out the problem. I installed this and it instantly solved my issue. BTW I have a samsung and switching from just scan to 16:9 didn't help.

[H] kicksass again!
 
Everyone else seems to have the advice on fixing MC covered, so I'll tackle this question.

XBMC is very easy to use. Better is subjective, but in my opinion it is. The skins for it are gorgeous, and it has some functionality that MC doesn't. Such as selecting the audio track or subtitle language for a MKV. However it is lacking in the TV tuning department. There is some work happening on that, but if that's a requirement, 7MC is probably a better choice.

FWIW, I used to run 7MC + Mediabrowser and had some freezing and stuttering issues. It got so annoying that I decided to switch to XBMC Live. That is a minimal linux based version of XBMC that can be ran from a CD, USB drive, or installed to a hard drive. It turns the HTPC into more of an appliance, without the overhead or issues of running Windows. It boots insanely fast, and directly into XBMC. Everything you need to configure and run XBMC is available through it's menus, including installing addons. However if you want to do any advanced tweaking or funny business, you can also switch to a console locally or remotely through SSH and have command line access.

There are some cons to XBMC Live. If you typically run other applications on Windows, obvious those won't work here. If you have a ATI video card, you may have some issues getting video to display properly without tweaking.

You can download the bootable CD and give it a try to see if it meets your needs before installing to a drive, too.

There's a plug-in for MC/Mediabrowser called Media Control - works with ffdshow, and allows audio and subtitle streams selection.
 
There's a plug-in for MC/Mediabrowser called Media Control - works with ffdshow, and allows audio and subtitle streams selection.
Works perfectly for me.

I ran into the black screen issue with MC7 and MB but after installing the last couple of AMD Catalyst driver revisions, I have not run into the issue.
 
Necroing this thread since I can't seem to find a working link to Hdmiyo. Anyone have one? I've been having the black screen with cursor issue since I set this HTPC up.
 
I've been having the black screen issue as well, usually if I leave MB open overnight and come back the next day. Haven't tried it elsewhere in WMC, so I'm not certain if it's specifically MB or not. I guess I'll try a driver update, haven't done it since I built my HTPC.

When you say losing data......I've got an odd problem and was wondering if it's what you're encountering. I use MCM to fetch meta data and download/store it in the folders. I took some time and got every last movie/tv show properly "meta-data'd" (yeah, it's a word) and renamed appropriately. Now, sometimes I have a problem where I go into MB, and all the cover art will show up. If I exit, and re-enter MB, sometimes there are a few covers missing and they will not load until I exit and come back in. The .jpg's or .png's or whatever are still in the folder and I haven't touched them, they just don't show up in MB.

EDIT: Didn't realize this thread was several months old. Whoops!
 
I've been having the black screen issue as well, usually if I leave MB open overnight and come back the next day. Haven't tried it elsewhere in WMC, so I'm not certain if it's specifically MB or not. I guess I'll try a driver update, haven't done it since I built my HTPC.

It happens to me whether I have MediaBrowser running or not. Black screen, mouse cursor visible only. I've found that if I CTRL-ALT-DEL then ESC out of that menu everything starts working again. But I need to find a fix to prevent it happening in the first place. No one has a link for HDMIyo, eh?

EDIT: Didn't realize this thread was several months old. Whoops!

It's alright, I'm bringing it back.
 
When it happens to me, I can just move the cursor to the upper right where the X button is and close out WMC, then it seems to drop video signal for a second, and comes back on the desktop. It's kind of an odd issue. It's a bit of an annoyance, but I keep my mouse right next to the couch anyway, so...meh!
 
I switched to XBMC recently and haven't looked back. I don't have any TV tuner though...only MKV and MP3 playback. Don't get me wrong, when I was first introduced to HTPC I used 7MC+MB and thought it was awesome. Then XBMC blew me away. A little tricky to config the first time but everything is built in functionality (no more Shark007 crap or MCM running separately).

Just my opinion however!
 
I switched to XBMC recently and haven't looked back. I don't have any TV tuner though...only MKV and MP3 playback. Don't get me wrong, when I was first introduced to HTPC I used 7MC+MB and thought it was awesome. Then XBMC blew me away. A little tricky to config the first time but everything is built in functionality (no more Shark007 crap or MCM running separately).

Just my opinion however!

Pair it up with a MythTV backend and you've got tuner support through the Mythbox plugin. XBMC+Video Add-Ons+Mythbox plugin + Launcher Plugin+ Aeon MQ2 skin is damn sweet. It's like an Xbox made out of pure testosterone.
 
Pair it up with a MythTV backend and you've got tuner support through the Mythbox plugin. XBMC+Video Add-Ons+Mythbox plugin + Launcher Plugin+ Aeon MQ2 skin is damn sweet. It's like an Xbox made out of pure testosterone.

Is bitstreaming HD audio working well with XBMC?
 
get mymovies.

Mymovies is reliable and now supports tv show so it's a no brainer really. I used mb for a longtime but the reliability wasn't there, used to always have no covers showing or movies not showing up straight away after they're added.
 
Weird, I don't have any of the issues you guys seem too have with MB. The only thing I can think of is that I've spend a good deal of time customising it and I don't rely on potemtially stupid scrapers to get my meta data....
 
I've experienced the whole artwork not showing up until manually refreshed very often in MediaBrowser, so I can attest to that one. I use Media Center Master to download all of my artwork/meta data, so the files are sitting there in my media folder, they just randomly don't show up.

MediaBorwser is probably the most simplistic solution to HTPC viewing, in my opinion. XBMC has way more features and whatnot, but it's a lot more difficult to set up properly and is a lot more finicky about its artwork filenames and whatnot.
 
I've experienced the whole artwork not showing up until manually refreshed very often in MediaBrowser, so I can attest to that one. I use Media Center Master to download all of my artwork/meta data, so the files are sitting there in my media folder, they just randomly don't show up.

MediaBorwser is probably the most simplistic solution to HTPC viewing, in my opinion. XBMC has way more features and whatnot, but it's a lot more difficult to set up properly and is a lot more finicky about its artwork filenames and whatnot.


do you have the mediabrowser service running? i have mine setup to overhaul the cache nightly, it runs in the system tray.

that, along with MCM running on my server (WHS) to grab all the art automagically.

Using the codec guide for mediabrowser found here.

And running the paid for Harmony Theme my setup is flawless as far as I'm concerned.
 
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