Solution comparable to Windows Media Center

December 22, 2006 2:12 PM

Are there any standalone apps similiar to Windows Media Center for Windows 2000?

I've got my Windows 2000 equipped computer hooked up to my TV and home theater system, and I'd really like to be able to centralize all of my media (music, movies, etc.) the way Windows Media Center seems to do.

Any suggestions?

posted by Scottk to computers & internet (10 comments total)

I should also mention that PVR capabilities are not necessary
posted by Scottk at 2:16 PM on December 22, 2006

this might be a stupid answer but why not upgrade to win XP?
posted by 0217174 at 2:23 PM on December 22, 2006

i figured that is the last resort. i like my win2k. also, i don't have a cd-rom to install XP from. sounds weird, i know.
posted by Scottk at 2:26 PM on December 22, 2006

Quick googling reveals this: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

Dunno anything about it though.
posted by Hackworth at 3:01 PM on December 22, 2006

GB-PVR is primarily a PVR program but does handle music, movies, weather, etc... It also works with many remotes.
posted by djb at 3:11 PM on December 22, 2006

Beyond TV (says they support Windows 2000), MediaPortal (Windows 2000 not explicitly listed in system requirements, Windows XP/MCE is), and SageTV.

I'm partial to Beyond TV, myself, but I prefer Windows Vista's Media Center, so that's what I use.
posted by Merdryn at 4:12 PM on December 22, 2006

Careful with Beyond TV, it has a nasty reputation for burrowing deep into your system and causing problems.
posted by Spike at 5:15 PM on December 22, 2006

Another vote for Beyond TV. I've got that running on an old semperon system in the tv room and it's great. If you get a bundle that comes with the firefly remote you've got your all singing all dancing pvr solution right there (assuming you already have the capture card).
posted by tiamat at 6:59 AM on December 23, 2006

There's also SageTV, which will do media center, PVR, and the newest version also integrates Google Video and other web stuff.
posted by kc0dxh at 9:51 AM on December 23, 2006

I'd second Media Portal.

I recently moved my pvr-ing from a Windows Media Center to a satellite PVR so I could do record non-broadcast HD content, but I still liked Media Center's interface for handling other content (lots of DIVX and MPEG video, etc.) -- just not some of the overhead and DRM stuff.

I gave Media Portal a try, and to my surprise, it dealt with that content better than Media Center did, at least for the way I use it.

Of course, I'm running it on an XP (MCE) box.

Media Portal's requirements state XP service pack 2, but looking through the forum, it looks like the only real issues regarding running it on 2000/2003 are related to recording and timeshifting video (PVR stuff) -- if you don't care about PVR stuff, you might be good to go.

In any event, it's a freeware product, so if you've got a little time to invest in playing with it, it might be worth taking a look at.
posted by nonliteral at 11:21 AM on December 23, 2006