Best Media Centre Software?

[Mikesx13]

I've just moved to Spain and all our media is now played through a laptop.

I haven't previously delved into media centre software and it appears to be a bit of a minefield to say the least!

I ideally want something that I can add all the various 'players' to like iplayer etc. but most don't seem to allow this function....

Is there anything out there that is fairly simple but customizable to a certain extent or is there a way I can create my own?

I've tried Boxee, Moovida, Windows Media Centre and GB-PVR so far, Boxee seemed good but kept crashing every few minutes, the rest aren't customizable enough, any thoughts?

[DLowe]

I'm using windows 7 for my media center, love it ! Does everything I want and there's a ace plugin - "tuner free mce" that plays all the "on demand" shows like BBC iplayer etc that intergrates into it with a nice matching menus etc :)

[Mr G]

XBMC (http://xbmc.org/)

That is all.

edit. Although you can use the iplayer plugin you may struggle to get it to work as it may detect you're connecting from outside of the UK.

[Mikesx13]

No problems with any of the UK players as i'm connecting through a VPN based in the UK, have tried the plugin mentioned for Media Centre and it pretty much doesn't work for me.

If I try streaming live the connection on the VPN is too slow, if I try to watch iplayer channels it says I need to acquire a licence although i've updated the DRM settings via Microsoft and if I try to watch ITV etc. nothing happens :confused:

It's such a friggin nightmare!!

[Mr G]

:confused: Have you installed and tried XBMC? Either the Windows version or burnt the ISO to a cd and booted to the Live version? How fast is the VPN connection?

[Mikesx13]

Downloading now......

[Mr G]

If you don't get on with XBMC then I think you must be after something that simply doesn't exist. :nod:

[Bolf]

I use xbmc on an xbox , a pc and my iPhone it's awesome!

The HD skins and fanart make it a joy to use!!!!

As for itv , does tvcatchup.com not work???

http://www.tvcatchup.com/

[clarity]

I use xbmc on an xbox , a pc and my iPhone it's awesome!

The HD skins and fanart make it a joy to use!!!!

As for itv , does tvcatchup.com not work???

http://www.tvcatchup.com/

I phone hmmmm were can I get that from :D

[Mikesx13]

XBMC is a clear winner :thumbs:

Has everything I want/need, they've just got it so right where everyone else seems to have got it so wrong!

Streaming live BBC channels is much better using their iPlayer plugin but I still have some issues with speed.

I'm using a company called Lamnia VPN who charge about £6/month for the service, if anyone knows of a faster VPN please let me know - i'm willing to spend more to get a really fast service :)

I'm currently getting 1.1 mb/s download, 0.41 upload and a ping of 196ms although this varies wildly and I have seen a ping of around 2500ms :wack: :annoyed:

When I switch the VPN off the connection here is actually quite good - 5.5 mb/s download and a ping of about 65ms :)

[Dave_S]

Boxee is nice but too unstable, if you want Bluray or HDDVD you're stuck with 7MC I'm afraid. It's decent enough but could be better, it's still my media front-end of choice.

Dave

[Mr G]

XBMC is a clear winner :thumbs:

Tis good isn't it. :)

[Mikesx13]

I use xbmc on an xbox , a pc and my iPhone it's awesome!

The HD skins and fanart make it a joy to use!!!!

As for itv , does tvcatchup.com not work???

http://www.tvcatchup.com/

TV catchup no worky 'the administrator has banned your ip address' :(