Windows Media Centre, a good idea, but …

We borrowed a house for our summer holiday.  The owner loves his gadgets (more than me?) and has two TV’s one in the bedroom and one in the Lounge.  His system comprises:

• Two PC’s running Widows Media Centre Edition.
• Two flat screen monitors.
• Four 500Gb network drives (that’s 2Tb!).
• Some fancy amplifiers.

I love the idea, great plan, have all your media networked, watchable from your main media viewing areas and downloadable to any Pc on your network.  A system that can pause live tv, record multiple channels and can be accessed and used by different rooms without any hassle.

I love the interface of Windows MCE.  It is easy to use, very intuitive, and you can run it from the remote easily.  However, it has some problems:

• The main PC reboots its self without notice during viewing.
• If it reboots while you are watching something on the other PC, you have to restart that one too.
• I think there are some configuration issues.  The tuner in one doesn’t work well, you can’t watch anything but recorded TV or BBC news in the living room.  There is only one tuner in the PC upstairs so you can’t record one channel and watch the other.

Based on my experience here, I have come to some conclusions:

• Windows is unstable, I wouldn’t go back.
• I wouldn’t risk my TV viewing on two PC’s with no alternative traditional system.
• I have a TV/Video combi in our bedroom.  It’s old, small and not very technologically advanced.  It makes a very loud noise when you rewind a tape.  You can only record four hours of TV in a shot, but you can record one channel and watch another.

I have found this LinuxMCE, this video suggests it will do everything well and it’s built on my favourite operating system!  I might have a play, but you’ll never get me to install a Windows option!

One Response to “Windows Media Centre, a good idea, but …”

1. Matt Fletcher Says:
   August 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am

   As you know, I’m never one to shy away from linux, but that said, I’ve always found that it’s worth assessing each new technologies on its merits, with its underlying operating system being only one consideration.

   I run a Windows MCE box at home. It’s got a feeble 80gig hard drive, and 512mb of RAM, with two freeview tuner cards installed, but it’s hooked up to 37″ LCD TV and a cheap but powerful set of creative surround sound speakers and runs a treat.

   The problems you describe are not ones familiar to me. Okay, I’d be lying if I said it nevers crashes (maybe once in a month perhaps), but I have never seen mine “just reboot”. That sounds to me like overheating. Is it a freeview card that the machines have? Because the TV stream is already digital, the PC has to do far far less work than when it digitises analogue TV.

   In fairness I have maintained a roughly 6 monthly re-install schedule on my box - but for me that is as normal as with any other windows box. Which reminds me, it’s due another install, and its probably time I looked at a few upgrades.

   I’ve seen the LinuxMCE video though, and it does look impressive. Perhaps a little too impressive though. At the core of linux philosophy is that a tool should do one thing and do it well. Whether I need to be able to control my garage door using my toilet seat is debatable, but interesting to see that it is possible (at least it is as long as I use the same brand of loo roll as the creators of LMCE).

   At its core LinuxMCE is a layer over the top of MythTV. Now I have tried Mythbuntu (the ubuntu-rolled-in version of MythTV) on my media center, and found it to be an utter swine to get to work. The config was a nightmare, and the picture was choppy on the odd occasion that I had sacrificed the goat, shaved my hair, and sat in an ice bath in the right order and thus actually got a picture.

   If LinuxMCE really does work - with a 14 day guide, with my remote, with my WMCE infrared keyboard, and with twin freeview receivers, without requiring a degree in astrophysics to get the bleeding options right each time it is rebooted and forgets all its settings, then I’ll switch in a flash.

   But past experiences tell me it won’t be such an easy ride. If I find a spare hard drive, I think I will give LMCE a go and report back. But I suspect I’m gonna be off to Ebuyer soon for a copy of Vista Home Premium with the latest Windows Media Center kit built in.

   PS: You’re not gonna be recording a different channel to the one you’re watching after the digital switchover next October/November

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