The Software

The software you choose to run on your HTPC is the most important, as it is what will allow you to take advantage of all it has to offer and even enhance your overall experience.  In fact, you'll be quite surprised with what is out there and what you can do with a Media Center PC.  That's what I'll be focusing on in this section.

Operating System

  Should you run MCE 2005 or a brand spanking new version of Vista that includes a slightly updated version of the Media Center application?  That's actually a very good question, and you'll want to do some research before spending your money and jumping into a decision you may end up regretting later on.  Vista will be a nightmare for many HTPC Enthusiasts.  The OS is loaded with DRM issues that will, in short, provide reduced functionality and a rather unpleasant experience.  You'll also run into a number of issues with protected content, including both music and movies.  Also, unless you run HDCP compliant hardware, you'll run into many issues when attempting to copy protected content or performing many of the tasks you would normally want to take advantage of.

If you decided to be the guinea pig and jump straight into Vista, make sure you are aware of the limitations and how it will practically cripple most of your hardware.  Windows XP MCE Edition is actually an excellent choice and works quite well.  In fact, I find that the MCE application in Vista is not that much better in terms of features and functionality.  You're seriously better off sticking with MCE 2005 over Vista.  Not only will you not have have to deal with all the DRM issues, but you won't have to worry about the demanding hardware requirements that are needed to run Vista smoothly.  Save yourself the headache and the money and stick with MCE 2005, at least for the time being.

**Update May 2008**  It has been some time and now that Vista has been out for a while, there's reason to consider it for an HTPC build. 

  Microsoft has officially released SP1 for Vista and while it still doesn't fix many highly annoying issues, it does have a few performance enhancements, particularly in the area of file transfers.  This is important because you'll be doing plenty of that on your HTPC and is just one of many reasons I did not recommend Vista when I initially posted this article.  In addition, you have a much more appealing and robust MCE application that with some tweaking, works extremely well.  However, note that jumping to Vista still doesn't give you Blu-ray/HD playback out of the box.  For that, you'll need to read the added section in this guide focusing solely on this type of functionality.  Also, note that you'll have to really play with Vista in order to properly and securely share your files over a network.

MediaPortal

What if you're not happy with what Microsoft MCE has to offer or don't have the money to spend on a new operating system?  Are there any other alternatives out there?  Sure there is!  In fact, the best alternative out there is actually free!

MediaPortal is an open source software that offers not only the same functionality as MCE, but plenty of additional features as well.  They have a huge community that highly supports the product and being open source, it is constantly being updated with a wide range of plug-ins, skins and other features. This software, briefly covered in other articles here, is quite impressive and many HTPC users on a budget will find it a very good alternative to MCE.  Let's have a detailed look at this excellent MCE alternative...

Upon installation, you have full control on how it will run and function.  You have a number of options, including loading it in full screen mode at startup and disabling WinXP balloon tips, which can be extremely annoying in an HTPC setup.  Running the configuration will also allow you to browse your computer for music and movie files, all of which will be picked up and loaded in the interface for playback. 

MediaPortal also has high support for a number of MCE compatible remote controls.  In addition to the original remote from Microsoft, you can also configure it to use third-party remotes from respected companies like X-10 and Hauppauge.  The software also has a convenient weather feature with support for the latest weather information through your HTPC's internet connection.  Heck you can even view satellite, wind, temperature and humidity images on demand right on your TV. 

The really nice thing about mostly all open source software is the high feature support.  One of these features is its skin support.  Get sick of the default skin?  Simply download a number of skins designed for both 4:3 and 16:9 displays, some of which actually look quite nice and deviate from the XP look and feel.

If you're really looking for the absolute best MCE alternative, this is certainly it and the software is highly recommended.  In fact, I'm personally still tossed between both and having a hard time deciding on which to use.  However, I personally still run MCE because of the way I have set both its functionality and choice of software.

**Update May 2008**  For those of you who still don't like the look and improvements to Vista MCE, MediaPortal has certainly come a long way and while still a major work in progress, they have finally gone "1.0" and this free open source option is becoming more and more enticing by the day.  Heck, being open source, that means you can not only load a number of plug-ins to enhance functionality, but also download a number of impressive skins to enhance its appearance.  There are plenty of 16:9 skins available and even a newly released 1080p skin that is exceptionally designed and will certainly impress...

Take a look at the skin above.  While there are a few things I personally do not like and would like changed, this particular skin is highly impressive.  Browsing movies and music via this skin will impress anyone and a purely a pleasure.  If the shots above don't impress you, I don't know what will.

Unfortunately, MediaPortal requires plenty of tweaking to get it working the way you want it.  You'll definitely end up playing with its configuration panel for quite some time before you get it running to your specific needs.  This may involve some custom scripts or plug-ins.  In addition, when activating a number of recent themes, you may also need to modify the software in many areas to support both features and presentation.

MyMovies

  By far, the most useful software application for any HTPC user is MyMovies.  If you haven't heard about it by now, you'll want to pay close attention!  This Media Center plug-in will provide a much higher level of functionality that many will be thoroughly impressed with.  MyMovies is an excellent third-party add-on to MCE that will not only allow full control and management of all your DVD's, HD-DVD's or Blu-Ray discs, but also provide an extra level of functionality that will certainly enhance user experience.  It is a must-have app for any building an HTPC.  I'm quite fond of the software and can't see myself without it.  I'm sure that if you give it a try, you'll be on the same page and appreciate what it has to offer.    The best way to demonstrate how great this piece of software is, other than trying it yourself, is to show you some screenshots of the software in action loaded with about 40% of my movie collection. 

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The application consists of the collection management software and the actual MCE Plug-in.  Starting with the collection management app, I would like to add that it is a substantial improvement over their previous release.  Their new MyMovies 2 sports a much improved GUI that now makes it incredibly easy to add new titles.  It was not as easy in the past. 

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The beauty of MyMovies is that it will use your existing internet connection to connect to a number of sources in order to obtain not only all the relevant movie information, but also the cover art.  If you don't find your title from one source, you can select another until you do.  You can not only connect to the main IMDB database, but also connect to other sources such as Amazon.com, which happens to have one of, if not, the largest movie database on the net.  Chances are, you'll find just about any title you own using the software.

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After it has found the movie you're looking to add, you can click on "Add Online", which will load a window that will prompt you for the location of the movie.  You can then simply browse to the location where you ripped your DVD and map it to the title itself for proper playback.

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Even after it has automatically downloaded all information from the internet, you have the option of further customizing the title, as well as add any missing information.  This includes setting the type of disc (DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray) as well as the genre of choice and movie rating.  One important thing to note about this software is that your entire movie collection is driven by an Access database.  What does this mean?  Well, for those familiar with Access, you can easily run simple queries against the data when needed in order to mass update a number of records. 

**click to enlarge**

Browsing your entire movie collection with MyMovies is fun.  You can browse in list view or by thumbnail images of the cover art as well.  All can be done via your MCE remote with no other hardware required.

You can browse your entire collection via a number of options including title, genre, category, series and even perform a title search if you have a large enough collection.  You have full control of all these options, especially the genres, which you can even assign more than one if you'd like. 

The software even keeps record of all artists and directors and will allow you to browse using either as well.  It is even capable of automatically downloading actor or director pictures and update all titles accordingly.

**click to enlarge**

Drilling down from the main menu will show the larger cover art and detailed description of the movie, rating and much more. 

To add to the overall experience, MyMovies even has full support for trailers.  When browsing movies, you always have the option to view a trailer, whether it is one you have loaded locally or one you obtain from the web.  If it finds a trailer for the movie, it will display one of three quality settings.  Choose one, and it will automatically download and play the trailer right from the MCE interface.  You can even continue browsing through files while viewing the most current trailer you are streaming.

I can't begin to tell you how impressive this piece of software really is.  You'll want to setup an HTPC just to have this kind of functionality!  Best of all, the author offers it completely free of charge.  He continues to support it and has just released the final build of version 2.  He does take donations in order to ensure long term support.  With that said, if you find it as impressive as I have, please consider donating.

**Update May 2008**  If you prefer to stick to Microsoft's MCE application, then there is no better software to pair with it than MyMovies.  Plenty has changed since the initial post of this article and the software just keeps getting better. 

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Starting with their Collection Management app, plenty of improvement has been made and it is now less buggy than it was several months ago.  Additional features were also added to not only simplify the process of adding movies, but to enhance its excellent browsing capabilities.

In addition to supporting more external players such as the latest which support Blu-ray/HD movies, plenty of changes were done to the interface as well.  It will not only download and properly identify HD movies, but movies are labeled as local or external disc movies.

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Quite possibly, the best enhancements to this excellent software is its much improved folder monitoring capabilities.  In the past, I would disable this feature and use the external Collection Management application to manually add titles.  With their latest, this is no longer needed and folder monitoring, when ripping in file format and properly storing them via directories, is extremely precise.  Part of this is due to a newly introduced feature known as "Disc ID's".  Below is some information as to how this new feature works...

Online Disc Ids

One of the unique features of folder monitoring that you will not find in any other product is the ability to uniquely identify VIDEO_TS folder structures even after they have already been backed up to storage.

Default Disc Id’s as the ones contributed to the Collection Management program can only be used to identify original discs before they are backed up to storage, as the id changes in the process. Folder monitoring is able to analyse a VIDEO_TS folder structure, and calculate a unique id number, called “Online Disc Id”, which is based on the actual movie content.

This special disc id remains the same, even after the disc have been backed up to storage, and even remains the same if the backup is a “movie only” backup where extra material, audio tracks, subtitles or similar have been removed. In most situations, it even remains the same if the disc has been further compressed.

When folder monitoring searches the WebService for an “Online Disc Id”, the WebService is able to transfer the “Online Disc Id” to an actual “Disc Id” as the ones contributed to the WebService from the Collection Management program, and by doing that locate the correct title.
 

Once again, this is a must-have app for any who build an HTPC.  Despite all the hard work and plenty of new features, the author still offers it completely free with absolutely no catches.  With that said, if you find this application of high use, I strongly recommend you donate to the author in order to ensure future development and continued support.

Next: Software Continued...