I’ve been running on MCE 2005 for quite a few years now, and the systems have been rock solid, easy to use for the family, and in general have been a pleasure
I have 2 dedicated HTPC (each with their own capture cards, 2x pvr150s) as well as a big dedicated file server (2.5 TB of storage)
I’ve now mostly made the jump to HD tv, and finding MCE to be really inadequate on the TV side.
I’ve also started to collect 720p versions of the tv shows I care about (current systems play them np) but the issue is that MCE doesn’t have any way to flag which shows are watched, or unwatched
so in my next solution I would love to have the 3 items covered:
HD TV capture.
I will really be looking at picking up 3x hauppauge HD-PVRs, and keeping 1 PVR150
Ideally at the fileserver, and shared everyone on the network (HTPC as well as various laptops, etc). if I can’t do it all at the fileserver, I need to be able to do a tuner broker style of recording. all captures need to be viewable from all client/frontend boxes
Media Catalogue.
I want to be able to match up my media files with online media info. I know media portal does this, unsure about sage/myth. like, i’d love to be able to sort all my movies by watched/unwatched, ratings, actor, director, etc etc
Stability
My MCE boxes have been very reliable, and I am not really too eager to compromise on this solution
Extenders are a neat option, but are no where near a priority.
In my brain it comes down to Myth, MediaPortal or SageTV
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