Don’t Forget…
Your Hardware is only as good as your software.
| What I want | WMC | MythTV | SageTV | BeyondTV |
| Live TV | Best | Better | Better | Better |
| Menu Style | Best | Bad | Bad | Bad |
| Tuner support | Best | Better | Best | Good |
| Online Media integration | Good | Good | Good | None |
| Any Codec | No | Yes | System | System |
| Super stability | With minimal plugins | If you hardware is supported | Yes | N/A |
| Place shifting | Not yet | Flash via Web | Software | Web interface |
| Netflix | Yes | No | No | No |
| Hulu | Plugin | Plugin | No | No |
| YouTube | Plugin? | Plugin | Yes | No |
| Other Web Service | Plugin | Plugin | Yes (hack?) | No |
| Cost | OS | Free (+$20/yr for schedule info) | $100 + addons | $100 |
| Plugins | Sorta | Yes | Yes | No |
| Master/Slave | Hardware Extenders only | Hardware or Software | Hardware or Software | Software (BeyondTV Link) |
| What I want | XBMC | Boxee | Media Portal | Got All Media |
| Live TV | HDHR | Bad (MLB live games) | Good | Good |
| Menu Style | Best | Good | Good | Bad |
| Tuner support | No | No | Good | No |
| Online Media integration | Good | Best | Bad | None |
| Any Codec | Yes | Yes | System | Yes |
| Super stability | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Place shifting | None | None | None | None |
| Netflix | No | Platform specific | No | No |
| Hulu | Plugin | Yes (If it isn’t blocked) | No | No |
| YouTube | Plugin | Yes | No | No |
| Other Web Service | Plugin | Yes | No | No |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Plugins | Yes (Python) | Yes (App Box) | Yes | Limited |
| Master/Slave | No | No | Software only | No |
