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MediaPortal transforms your PC into a fully featured media center, providing a powerful way to enjoy all your favorite TV shows, movies, photos, and music. This versatile software runs on modest hardware and connects directly to your TV, allowing you to access all your content on a large-screen display.
Tailor your media center to your exact needs. MediaPortal is fully customizable with hundreds of available plugins and skins, enabling you to personalize your experience with a wide range of features. Want to keep an eye on your HTPC, check sports scores, or find movie showtimes? There’s a plugin for that.
Experience a new era of media control with MediaPortal. This intuitive application lets you effortlessly watch, listen to, read, and play all your digital media on your terms, free from cumbersome navigation. Dive into a world of content as you stream or download web TV, Apple Trailers, YouTube videos, and internet radio. Plus, MediaPortal offers the convenience of automatically launching and playing music from any predefined playlist.
You don’t need a new system to get a great Media Center. MediaPortal is designed to work with your existing hardware, allowing you to connect your TV and sound system to your PC and get started quickly. With a quick configuration, you can easily set MediaPortal to display on your TV screen for a seamless experience.
MediaPortal is an advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC:
- Watch, schedule, and record live TV – like a TiVo, but better.
- Play videos, movies, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.
- Listen to music and radio.
- Enjoy pictures, home videos, or create a slideshow.
- Stream media, radio, and TV to any HTPC / PC connected to your network.
- Control your HTPC remotely from the comfort of your couch using a dedicated remote control.
- Access the software from the web or a mobile device.
- Check the weather, news, RSS feeds, and more.
Alternatively, you can set up a separate Home Theatre PC (HTPC) to run MediaPortal and connect it to your existing network. Alternatively, you can configure an advanced network with MediaPortal on a server and as many ‘client’ PCs as you like. Network architecture is fully supported, allowing you to stream radio, music, video, and live or recorded TV throughout your home.
Control full-screen or windowed mode using your mouse, touchscreen, keyboard, or remote — whichever you prefer.
This media center boasts one of the most powerful TV engines and personal video recorders available today. It can do everything a TiVo can, and more – all for free.
You can use unlimited TV cards, including analog cards, with support for many options. A single DVB/ATSC card lets you watch and record multiple channels simultaneously. Cards that support the BDA driver architecture require no configuration.
MediaPortal was designed especially for Microsoft Windows. Thus, the performance and playback quality are unsurpassed. No additional hardware or commercial software is required.
All Features
MediaPortal – Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ Combines live TV, recording, movies, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, music, radio, photos, and home videos in one media center. | ✗ Setting up live TV recording requires compatible TV tuner hardware, and digital cards need BDA driver support for the listed TV-server compatibility. |
| ✓ Supports scheduling and recording live TV, including simultaneous channel watching and recording with compatible digital TV cards. | ✗ The large plugin, skin, networking, and TV configuration options can make setup more involved than a basic media player. |
| ✓ Can stream music, video, radio, and live or recorded TV across a home network to other PCs and supported clients. | ✗ TV recording and time-shifting can require substantial storage space, with the provided requirements recommending 50 GB and noting that recordings can consume up to 8 GB per hour. |
| ✓ Offers extensive customization through hundreds of plugins and skins, plus control using a keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, or remote. | ✗ The software is designed specifically for Windows, with no macOS or Linux support listed in the provided requirements. |
| ✓ Designed to run on modest hardware while supporting dedicated HTPC setups and network-based media-center configurations. | ✗ Some networked features require a separate server/client-style setup, which adds configuration requirements for households wanting to stream media across multiple PCs. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MediaPortal used for?
MediaPortal is a free, open-source media center that turns a Windows PC into a home theater system. It lets you watch and record live TV, play movies and music, view photos, listen to radio, and manage digital media on your TV.
Can MediaPortal record live TV?
Yes. You can schedule and record TV programs and watch live television. Recording requires compatible TV tuner hardware, and digital TV cards need BDA driver support for the listed TV-server compatibility.
Can MediaPortal stream media to other computers?
Yes. It can stream music, videos, radio, and live or recorded TV across a home network to other connected PCs. Multi-computer setups may require a separate server and client configuration.
Can you customize MediaPortal with plugins and skins?
Yes. It supports hundreds of plugins and customizable skins. These can add features, change the interface, and personalize how you browse and control your media.
What is the difference between MediaPortal and Kodi?
MediaPortal is designed specifically for Windows-based home theater PCs and offers integrated TV recording and media management. Kodi supports a wider range of operating systems and devices, and can use MediaPortal as a backend for live TV and recording.
Official Homepage – https://www.team-mediaportal.com
Supported Operating Systems:
- Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) with Service Pack 1 or later.
- Windows 8 32- and 64-bit (as of v1.3.0)
- Windows 8.1 32- and 64-bit (as of v1.5.0)
- Windows 10 32- and 64-bit (as of v1.12.0)
- Windows 11 64-bit
Recommended Minimum Hardware:
- CPU: Intel P4 with 2.0 GHz / AMD XP-2000+ or above
- Memory: 1024 MB
- HDD: 600 MB for MediaPortal
- HDD: 50 GB for TV recordings and time-shifting. Recordings can take as much as 8GB per hour.
- Video card: DirectX 9-compatible video card with at least 128 MB of video memory
- TV card: MediaPortal TV-Server supports all analog TV cards with a hardware MPEG-2 encoder and all digital TV cards that use BDA drivers.
