Metcarob's Windows MCE vs Linux MCE Comparison
I have both a Windows XP Media centre PC and a LinuxMCE PC set up in my living room attached to my TV. I am hoping to replace the windows Media centre PC but before I do this I need to ensure that LinuxMCE is up to the job of replacing it. I am hoping the LinuxMCE community will be able to assist me with advice on how to get LinuxMCE performing the way I want it. For this reason I have created this page comparing the two highlighting areas where the LinuxMCE set up is not currently living up to my requirements.
Contents
Base Systems
| Windows Media Centre | LinuxMCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Eversham - EBox (Eversham have gone bust now) | Built myself |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition Vesion 2002 Service Pack 3 |
LinuxMCE DVD Install |
| Motherboard | Abit AA8-Duramax http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AA8-DuraMAX&fMTYPE=LGA775 06/12/2004-i925X-W83627-6A79FA19C-12 |
|
| Processor | Intel(R) Pentuim(R) 4 CPU 3.00Ghz | Intel(R) Pentuim(R) 4 CPU 3.60GHz |
| RAM | 1Gb | 1Gb (2x512Mb Sims www.crucial.com) |
| Graphics Card | PCI Express Card GeCube RADEON X550 256mb http://www.gecube.com/products-detail.php?prod_cat_pid=&prod_cat_id=23&prod_id=61534 |
AGPx8 NVidia Geforce 6600GT http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_6600.html |
| External Network Card | On Motherboard | On Motherboard (1 x RJ-45 GbE LAN Connector) |
| Internal Network Card | None | PCI Card EtherFast Lan Adapter SP2500RS 10/100Mbps Auto-Negotiation http://www.micronet.info/model_detail.aspx?series_no=5&sno=211 |
| TV Capture Card 1 | PCI Card | PCI Card Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T500 Dual Digital Tuner http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-NOVA-T-500 Not the diversity model |
| TV Capture Card 2 | PCI Card Exactly the same as TV Capture Card 1 |
None |
| Hard Disk | Seegate Barracuda 7200.8 500Gb http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=46cc99f4fa74c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-US&reqPage=Model&modelReqTab=TechSpecs |
TV Output, resoultion, etc.
My TV is an old Sony TV. The only output device connected to the computers is the TV (Both Audio and TV outs are connected via a scart lead.) Both systems connect to the same TV via Scart and for the comparision I am using a switch box which switches from one to the other.
| Windows Media Centre | LinuxMCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Video Connector used | Video connector | S-Video connector |
| Video Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 |
| Color | High (32-bit) | |
| Refresh | 60 Hz | 60 |
| Audio Connector used | Motherboard Stero out going to a splitter going to Scart lead adapter | Motherboard Stero out going to a splitter going to Scart lead adapter |
Input
| Windows Media Centre | LinuxMCE | |
|---|---|---|
| IR Reciever | Reciever built into the case. I believe it's one that came with the windows MCE controler | USBUIRT http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Usbuirt |
| IR Remote | Windows Media Centre Remote | USBUIRT http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Usbuirt |
| IR Keyboard | Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition - Keyboard - wireless - infrared - integrated mouse, integrated remote control | None (PS2 keyboard used for testing) |
Other Input Methods tried for LinuxMCE Machine
Web Orbitor run from my laptop
Windows Mobile Orbitor installed on my XDA Orbit 2 Mobile phone
Windows Mobile Orbitor installed on my XDA IIi (my old mobile)
Wii Mote - I gave up on this quite quickly
Comparison
Picture Quality
DVD Playback
Windows Madia Centre
The DVD drive on the eBox is tempromental and works intermitently. When it does work and play back the DVD the playback and picture quality is fine with no juttering and bright colours.
LinuxMCE
I have managed to play back DVD's both direct from disc and after being ripped. I was impressed that ripped DVD's retain the full DVD structure including menus etc. Playback is fine with no juttering. Unfortunatly the picture quality it not that good. The resolution is fine but the colours are all washed out and not bright at all.
- You are using S-Video for output. I would suggest moving to DVI or HDMI you will see a massive improvement.
Recorded TV Playback
Windows Madia Centre
Most of the time the playback is fine. However sometimes the playback is jerky and completly unwatchable. I think this is when the program was recorded when both tuners were in use. The colour is normal.
LinuxMCE
Again the colour is very washed out. I have not come across any other problems with playback.
Live TV
Windows Madia Centre
Watching Live TV has always been fine, except sometimes when both tuners are in use. When this happens playback is jerky.
LinuxMCE
Watching Live TV works fine.
UI
General Control
Windows Madia Centre
General control is via the windows media centre remote.
LinuxMCE
The main method of control is via the media centre remote. I have also got an orbiter working on my laptop. I am having problems getting my XDAIIi and Orbit 2 working via bluetooth.
Listening to Music
Windows Madia Centre
Music can be listed by Album, Artist, Playlist, Songs, Genres and Search. You browse albums by flicking through the album covers and it is all pretty easy. You can select a album and play it all of select an individual song on the album. The default option for selecting a song is to simply play it but personally I would have had 'add to queue' as the defauly option as I keep losing my playlist I built up by accidently selecting a song to play rather than add to queue. Playlist management is not so good. You can't add a song to an already saved playlist easily. I would have designed it so thatyou can open a playlist, make edits and have them saved automatically. Once you have music playing you get a now playing box in the bottom left corner which you can select, alter the playlist, move between songs and save the playlist.
LinuxMCE
For the most part I didn't apreciate how good the Windows Media Centre 'My Music' UI was untill I started to try and use the LinuxMCE one. Album art only seems to have appeared for one or two my albums. Unlike MCE where you scroll through the album covers you scroll through a list of music on the right. The album covers appear but in an unused area of the screen. The UI is not nearly as pretty. There is also no 'Add to Queue option' Once you select one song and start playing it you are able to select aonther song and play that. That has the effect of adding it to the playlist but it will then stop playing it and start playing what you have selected. I havn't been able to find a way around that. When you select a play list that you have saved it opens it up and starts playing it. You can select more tracks to play (again this untrupts playback) and then you are able to save the playlist. Unfortunatly just like with Windows Media Centre it dosn't remember the playlist name and you have to re-enter it. I don't understand why they can't give you save and save as options.
My Prefrence
Neither UI is exactly what I want but I prefer the Windows way of doing things over LinuxMCE because:
- It looks much better
- You scroll through actual album covers not the songs
- There is an add to queue option (Althogh this should be the default behaviour)
Watching Recorded TV
Windows Madia Centre
When you press the recorded TV button you see a list of recorded programs. This list can be viewed:
- Grouped and sorted by Title -> When you go into an item you see all the recorded shows then into the item
- Sorted by Date recorded -> Selecting takes you direct to an item
Once an item is selected you can see information about it including play and delete options. At any time during the program you can press the i (more) button on the MCE remote. This brings up a mini menu which includes Restart and Delete This makes finding and selecting a program to watch very quick and easy and once you have finished watching it deleteing it is very easy.
Seeking
The Skip forward button skips forward about a 30secs at a time which is perfect. The skip back button skips back about 10secs (or something like that) This makes back tracking easy, you skip forward until you are past what you want to see then you skip back. You usally only have to end up watching 5 or so secs before you are back in the program.
LinuxMCE
LinuxMCE is quite diffrent. Pressing the recorded TV button brings up a list of all the TV and films in the system. Unfortunatly the Films are listed here. (It would be nice to have them on a sepreate menu.) You have more options for filtering content. LinuxMCE does not group the items by title. So I have set The Simpsons for seris record and I have pages on the list where every single item just says 'The Simpsons'. This makes getting to the content far more difficult. I thought I could lessen the pain of this by sorting by date recorded. Unfrotunatly LinuxMCE only has options to sort by:
- Recently Used
- File Name
- Title
- Preformer
- Genere
- Director
This makes finding the show I want to watch time consuming. When you select an item you see a menu with:
- Play
- Close
- Delete
- Move
options. You then select Play and the show will play. Unfortunatly while you are watching the show there is no way to get directly back to this menu. I like to watch a show then delete it afterwards. To do this I need to go back to the recorded TV guide and navigate through the menu, refind the show and select delete. This is a pain and it is easy to accidently select the wrong show. This is a pain espically when you have a lot of shows that just appear on the list with the title "The Simpsons" and you need to work out which you watched and want to delete. LinuxMCE has a 'unviewed only' option which does help but sometimes I want to keep something I have viewed.
Seeking
Skip forward and back use the same interval. I hadn't realised how useful the Windows Media Centre way of doig it was until I tried to use LinuxMCE. Skiping back the same amount means that you generally have to put up with 20/30 secs. I havn't got the advert skipping feature working. The playback bar dosn't look very good either. It's a bit to complicated.
My Prefrence
Grouping recorded shows by title makes finding the program easy. Not having this in LinuxMCE is a pain. I am excited about the advert skipping but on the whole the Windows way is far far beter than what I have got LinuxMCE doing. It's just such a pain to select a program. It also dosn't look nearly as good, the screen is cluttered.
Watching Live TV
Windows Madia Centre
I usally select a channel from the guide. This is quite easy, you just press the guide button, use the up and down arrows to select what you want to watch and press ok. The guide takes up the whole screen and whenever you go into it is starts you off at what's on now.
LinuxMCE
The guide button dosn't do anything until you first press the live tv button. Once you are in live TV the guide button works. I reset the guide to display 10 chennels which made it far easier to use. For some reason the guide lets you scroll into the past. I don't see why this is useful in fact it's sometimes confusing. I also can't seem to select a channel direct from the Guide. I have to remember the number then type it in. I can't understand why.
My Prefrence
Again I prefer window to LinuxMCE it's not easy and the UI is annyoing almost all the time. It's hard to get it to do what you want.
Scheduling Recordings
Windows Madia Centre
This is best done from the guide. You can press the record button the controller once when the program is selected to record that showing. If you press again you record the whole series and if you press once more it cancels the record. You can also search for the show and record that way. Although I never use this feature.
LinuxMCE
I have selected my recordings form the guide. I am impressed by the range of options but I am still confused as to which series record option I should use.
My Prefrence
I like the range of functions availible in LinuxMCE but I wish the default ones would just be the ones that I want.
Stability
Windows Madia Centre
I have been running this machine for a number of years. In order for windows media centre to recieve the guide listenings automatic updates must be turned on. The computer remains on standby for most of the time. Every now and again the automatic update or antivirus require a reboot. There have been a number of occasions where the update has effected the system problems with playback started after an update.
LinuxMCE
I have only had this system up and running for a couple of weeks but there have been no stability issues so far.
What my mate said
I had a friend come over who was very intrested with what I was doing with my LinuxMCE computer. I gave him a side by side demo of LinuxMCE and Windows Media Centre. To say LinuxMCE didn't impress would be an understatement. Due to the issues listed above he thinks I'm wasting my time with LinuxMCE.
