Boxee vs. XBMC vs Win7 MC

[xjboonie]

So having briefly used Beyond TV & Beyond Media before switching to SageTV/SageMC, which I’ve been using for about 4 years.  I’m getting ready to rebuild my HTPC to both upgrade to Win7, add a Ceton tuner card, and SageTV 7.  But I’ve seen the posts about XBMC and Boxee, and wondering why someone would them instead of Win7 MC (which I’m experimenting with on my laptop) or SageTV?

Thanks,
Mike

[mikinho]

If you don’t need LiveTV DVR functionality both XBMC and Boxee (Note: Boxee is a fork of XBMC) can offer more flexibility than SageTV or 7MC.

– Both are free, SageTV is not
– Both are open source and cross platform, neither 7MC or SageTV is

I have Boxee and XBMC running on old Gentoo laptops that I would have otherwise donated since they aren’t powerful enough to run 7MC and I can’t stand using XP anymore.

[xjboonie]

So Boxee and XBMC are not just programs, they are OS’s also?  So I could run one of them on the parts left over from my first HTPC – an AMD Althon mobile 2400+?  Might have to look into it…

[Nmarconi]

xbmc is a program – but it is available built into a linux distro (called xbmc live) and acts very much like a stand alone device (the os is all in the background).  And its free!  A 2400+ will run it fine, especially if you throw in a 9000 series nvidia that can be used for hardware decoding (you will be able to play hd h264 files).

[Naylia]

I did a blog where i got Blu-ray playback working fine on a Athlon Mobile 2400+. You could still use that in a pretty low wattage client computer that runs XP.

[bbig119]

I don’t want to hijack the thread, but I was planning to post a related question. I’m giving my in-laws a receiver and speakers and want to turn an old PC or laptop into a music box.

I’m trying to decide what software/OS to use for this purpose. I expect that it will be used primarily for mp3 and pandora or other streaming services. My father-in-law is computer illiterate, so whatever I go with has to be super easy to use. Originally, I was just going to load up W7 and use media center for playback with the simple interface, but remembered that boxee is free and easy to use.

The PC I want to use is an old HP P4 system with only 512mb or ram, but I’m hoping to find some old PC3200 sitting around to beef that up a bit.

[autoboy]

[quote=”Mikinho”]
If you don’t need LiveTV DVR functionality both XBMC and Boxee (Note: Boxee is a fork of XBMC) can offer more flexibility than SageTV or 7MC.

– Both are free, SageTV is not
– Both are open source and cross platform, neither 7MC or SageTV is

I have Boxee and XBMC running on old Gentoo laptops that I would have otherwise donated since they aren’t powerful enough to run 7MC and I can’t stand using XP anymore.
[/quote]

Just to clarify, SageTV is cross platform.  It will run on Linux, OSX, or Windows.

Boxee and XBMC can also be run on a AppleTV, though the AppleTV will not run HD very well.  Boxee is coming out with a set  top box based on cell phone chipsets.

[mikinho]

I’d highly recommend not going w/ 7MC on a P4.  It won’t be a good experience, even with a little more ram.

I’m not a Boxee fanboy by any means but I’d recommend giving it a shot since the Pandora app works very well and it is easy to use.

[Author]

Posts