Cool Lookin Media Centre (not Vista)

[ryan93]

Hey
I have Windows Vista installed at the moment, with mediacentre, sitting in the lounge room, although i am having soo many problems with it that i thought about changing to something different. I think the main bit i want is something very visually appealing that will look awsome on a 46" HD Sony Bravia. I love the look of Vista MCE and was wondering if there was anything out that had a similar interface with Vista GAYNESS!!! I don't mind Linux, Windows anything that will work and look really kool. Also it doesnt matter about resources as my HTPC is pretty powerful. Amd X2 4000+ 1gb ram X1250 ATI etc

So yeh any suggestions would be awsome

Thanks

Ryan

[Astrotoy7]

WTF..vista gayness ?? does that mean its good or bad. Vista's interface is pretty slick.

how about changing it to a black skin >>
New Theme for Vista Media Center (Back In Black)


looks great....I use it on all my rigs... hopefully that is GAYNESS enough for ya

anyway, what are your problems.... it might be easier to sort them than start a linux box from scratch -lolz

astro

[dgaust]

Not really. Vista's interface is pretty slick in my opinion. I certainly haven't found anything that looks quite as good.

I hear the linux port of the xbox media centre is going well and that some of the skins look great, so you could always check that out if you feel the need to build linux. There is no live TV at the moment in it though. They are planning on integrating MythTV but I think it is at the beta stage.

You could also check out media portal which is a opensource media centre for windows. I tried it a while ago, and wasn't a huge fan but it may have improved.

In my opinion, if you like Vista MCE you might be better off trying to fix your issues.

[Kiyosaki]

My thoughts would be to list all of your issues as mentioned previously then find a fix for them and I am almost 100% sure you'll find a solution with the wealth of knowledge found here. Your faith in VMCE will then restore and you will be a happy VISTA camper. Personally I wouldn't trade VISTA for anything else

[ryan93]

Hey
The thing is Vista Media Centre is a fantastic program the problems i have are the actual vista opperating system running in the background. Som many things just keep on going wrong
eg. last night i turned off the computer this morning i turn it back on and no audio at all, i have to do a complete re-install of the audio drivers.

It is just soo annoying i want something stable sio i don't have to spend half my life fixing the media centre and not actually using it

Ryan

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by ryan93

...It is just soo annoying i want something stable so i don't have to spend half my life fixing the media centre and not actually using it

Ryan

You really need to try understand why your Vista install isnt working. Because if you dont, your experiences with any other system may not be fruitful either.

With your audio, is it a problem when waking from sleep state ?? what audio hardware do you have, what drivers etc !!

Did you ever use media centre 2005 ?? If so, did that have any problems ??

astro

[FrAsErTaG]

Originally Posted by ryan93

Hey
I have Windows Vista installed at the moment, with mediacentre, sitting in the lounge room, although i am having soo many problems with it that i thought about changing to something different. I think the main bit i want is something very visually appealing that will look awsome on a 46" HD Sony Bravia. I love the look of Vista MCE and was wondering if there was anything out that had a similar interface with Vista GAYNESS!!! I don't mind Linux, Windows anything that will work and look really kool. Also it doesnt matter about resources as my HTPC is pretty powerful. Amd X2 4000+ 1gb ram X1250 ATI etc

So yeh any suggestions would be awsome

Thanks

Ryan

IMO you should chuck away that GAYNESS Vista and go down the local swap shop they have these awesome things down there! they are called a VCR! and they can record your shows and play them back on this Removeable Tape oh the Marvel of technology!!!!

On a Serious note, I have tried alot of setups.. I kinda liked myth but waf suffered from my lack of linux knowledge although its what i use everyday on my laptop... Media Portal was good back before I got MCE2005 its probably even better now... MCE 2005 was good once you spent a week *Cough month Cough* getting everything setup right. I have been using Vista since RC1, its been excellent on my hardware being abit older it had the support I guess but its the Best i have found so far and the WAF is best its every been.

So by the sound of it, its not Vista's GAYNESS its a driver/hardware problem you are having. Is your sound Onboard? are you using the latest drivers ?? If you are using the latest try using something earlier as sometimes they Fux0rz things up for some people.

[arkay]

I would have to agree. Vista is nice and stable when you get things right. I still think there will be better, more functional offerings from both XBMC and linux in general but for the time being I'd be looking at fixing your Vista issues. You will have equally as much problems with anything else if not more. You might find Linux more stable as the underlying OS but the work required to get a working build of Myth etc WILL outweight the effort required to get Vista stable.

That being said I believe that Linux offerings are less likely to become unstable after built than a Windows based solution.

Cheers,

Arkay

[eepunk]

Originally Posted by arkay

...

That being said I believe that Linux offerings are less likely to become unstable after built than a Windows based solution.

Cheers,

Arkay

Testify!

E.E.