Saturday, February 20, 2010

MediaPortal 1.1 Release Candidate Arrives to HTPC World

MediaPortal

MediaPortal, one of the more popular open-source and free HTPC software programs released the 1.1.0 (release candidate) version of MediaPortal 1. 

The beta version of 1.1 was released last August with many updates.  Now that it has been moved out of beta the developers have made some major changes to increase the stability of MediaPortal as well as improvements in compatibility between the TSReader filter and third party video codecs.  In addition they’ve increased the user interface in many areas (most noticeable inside MyTV).

The MediaPortal 1 version will continue to be updated for bug fixes and the like, but this release marks the shift of focus for the developers towards the next-generation, MediaPortal 2 software.

Major changes between 1.1.0 Beta 1 and RC1 are:

  • New official MediaPortal Logo, Icons and DeployTool graphics created by Joost !
  • Added NALU support to TsReader
    Now MediaPortal also supports:
    • Windows 7 DTV DVD codecs
    • divx h.264
    • MPC-HC VideoCodec (h.264) (current version of this codec contains a deadlock bug - MPC.HC Team working on a fix!)
  • Added support for Apple AIFF Musc Format
  • Added support for MIDI (*.mid, *.kar) file format
  • Added VUMeter Support for skins
  • Faster shares browsing
  • Integrated MPTray
  • Better overall usability
  • Integrated CI menu in MyTV
  • Support of ISO/IEC 10646-1(UTF-16) text encoding in DVB
  • Added DVB-S2 modulation and DiseqC support for ProfRed cards
  • Added DiseqC support for TeVii cards
  • Added support for Freesat DVB EPG
  • Added support for Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3)
  • Added support for GenPix DVB-S devices

Head over to the MediaPortal blog for a complete list of changes and the installation/upgrade process