In my quest for turning my house into a media home, I have tried many frontend software which I will give my own brief (and of course biased) reviews on:

 

Xlobby - I use this program now almost exclusively.  I tried it years ago, couldn't make head-n-tails of it, and out of frustration, went on to try others, mainly Meedio (at the time).  I came back to xlobby as I got even more frustrated at the other software, and actually found xlobby to be easier to configure.  To date, all media machines are using Xlobby for display and control...being the music server, HTPC and MediaPVR.  I also contribute regularly on the website, and have a dedicated site of useful info that has helped me out in the past.

 

Don't get me wrong, though, I use Xlobby so much, but   it still comes with its own pitfalls.  Mainly I'm using the last free version which its last update was Feb./07.  So there is no longer any support other than the public forum on this version.  For a new user, it can be difficult to setup outside of some of the simple skins as well.  Once it is working, to this day, nothing can touch it.

I am now trying out V3 of Xlobby.  A new learning curve, to which I'm hoping to flourish on.

 

Got All Media - tried this on my MediaPVR since it seemed to work on older equipment with very little overhead.  PVR duties are top notch, but due to crashing issues, issues with simple skinning, and lack of support on the forums, I decided to drop the main features of this program in place for Xlobby, Zoom Player for video watching and only use GAM for PVR.  Other than that, I will never use this program again. Last version tried 7.0.0.4.

 

GBPVR - I like this program, though it was always out of reach when it came to equipment requirements, until now.  I'm did try using this in place of GAM on the updated MediaPVR.  It basically does all TV control, leaving Xlobby to do the movie/music/picture control.  Last version tried 1.3.11.  Unfortunately due to EPG issues with different versions, and LiveTV/recorded TV freezing problems, I had to drop using GBPVR.  My rating of it also has dropped due to these issues.  I'm not saying that the program is crap...it isn't in the least as many users have used it successfully.  For me, it just didn't work out.

 

Meedio(s) - I tried this frontend when it was Meedio, after I got frustrated with Xlobby for the first time.  I also really liked the HDeeTV skin that was offered.  I grew increasingly frustrated at how difficult it was to configure though, and it seemed to use alot more resources than Xlobby.  I ended up dropping this and went back to Xlobby.  I recently tried the Ulitmate version that installs everything under the sun (still under the Meedio distribute), and was quite impressed...but not enough to tear me away from Xlobby.  I haven't tried it recently, but heard that the new Meedios is really good, and from what I have seen, it looks like it is becoming a solid performer.

 

MediaPortal - tried this program out many times as individuals kept on saying that this version was more reliable then the last etc.  I never have been able to get this beast to work.  Not only did it not work, but it took a hell of resources.  Hardware requirements ended up getting too high to run on my test gear, in combination of realiblity issues...I couldn't stand using it.  I did kinda get it working once on a computer at work, but beyond basic functionality, I think it crashed, so I uninstalled it and have never looked again at it.

 

SageTV - tried it out, but since I didn't have a tuner card at the time, I couldn't take full advantage of it.  Couldn't skin it, offered nothing more than Xlobby...had to pay for it...just decided it wasn't for me.

Recently, I have tried this program out again.  I will inform more after more trials to see if this PVR software fits my needs, and runs reliably enough.  It's ranking has risen due to recent success in using the software.

Moovida - this is a new frontend which grew from Elisa...which is now defunct.  It's not too bad.  Still relatively early in its development, but still has the same issues/lacks the same features that plagued its predecessor.  Could be one worth watching in the future.

 

Elisa - a newer frontend program that's offered across all the major platforms.  I do like the interface.  Black with very simple icon images to select the different functions.  Moves pretty quick and all.  I just can't seem to get video to playback.  It reports a codec error, yet I don't know what codecs are missing.  The more recent version (just tried 5.15) allows for downloading of codecs though which is a plus and coming along, but once it goes to a website for the codecs, it doesn't indicate as to which codec out of the 3 pages listed that it needs.

*UPDATE*

As of the latest version 5.37 I've been able to get video to play.  Though I haven't tried getting a full DVD to play, other video (Youtube and the sort) I have been successful now.  Good sign, as I have nearly written this front-end off for use...now I may just reconsider.  This frontend is now defunct and replaced with Moovida (shown above).

 

Boxee - tried out the Alpha version for Windows finally.  It ran really good, though I have yet to try out different media with it.  So far I'm pretty impressed with it.

 

LinuxMCE - I was really, really looking forward to trying this baby out, after seeing the video on the web.  It looked really promising.  After I got my new hard drive in the HTPC I finally gave this a whirl.  It got to a certain point in the install, and I could get it to go any further...got pretty frustrated with it, and just went back to WinXP and Xlobby on that system.

 

FreeVo - tried this Linux frontend on a PIII550.  I first loaded from a LiveCD and it looked really good.  For simple media playback, it looked very promising.  I couldn't get it to do anything beyond the menu though.  I decided to try and install it so I could boot off the hard drive, then I couldn't figure out how to install it on the hard drive.  Grew tired of this and went back using Win 2K SP4 on that system.  Later when setting up BES, I ran the LiveCD again and figured out network shares, and was able to playback movies and music, but couldn't get coverart (DVD or CD) to show.

 

MythTV - Briefly tried this but like all my other Linux experience...couldn't get it to do anything, so I dropped it.

 

SesamTV - I tried this program out at the same time trying out GAM for the MediaPVR build, but SesamTV didn't offer anything more for PVR duties than what GAM offered.  The forum and development appeared to be dead...much like GAM is now though, at the time I decided to stick with GAM.

 

Showshifter - Ahhh, the frontend that started it all.  Now defunct, but at the time when I first started to realize a computer's potential in the home theater, this was the defacto program to use.  I liked it but wasn't about to shell out the money for it.  Good thing I didn't.

 

XBMC - originally it was for the XBox, but has been ported over to both Windows and Linux.  I tried out the windows version and was pretty impressed with how it all flowed.  I really like it but can't grasp how to have coverart show up for the life of me.  I may end up using something like this in a bedroom system, but does not do enough (from what I can tell) to use this to replace my existing xlobby frontends.  Lacks PVR abilities and music zoning abilities.  I also tried out the LiveCD Linux version on BES, and was again impressed with it, though I couldn't get the video to work properly, and everything came up with a greenish hue.

*UPDATE*

I've played around with this front-end again on a Windoze machine, and tried the Aeon skin.  WOW! Really slick.  I've also finally figured out how to display movie covers.  Not sure If I want to take on the en devour of changing all the file names and locations of my existing movie/music to suit using this program though, and finally pull myself away from using Xlobby...well at least on the machines connected to the TVs.  Also the lack of PVR abilities is a bit of a snag for the MediaPVR system.

J. River Media Center - this program is pretty powerful.  Not as "Polished" as some of the others, skin wise, but they have built a solid core and kept a very basic control, yet very good.  Next to Xlobby, it is very good for multi-zoning audio.  The Home Theater skin is not too bad too.  It is very affordable, and has an excellent forum section.

Chameleon - some open source front end that I don't think is even worked on anymore.  Briefly tried this but didn't go anywhere with it.

OpenHTPC - another open source program that I'm not to sure is worked on anymore.  Again, tried it but can't add any value.

 

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How would I rate them?  If I had to rate them:

1 - Xlobby

2 - XBMC

3 - Meedio

4 - SageTV

5 - JRMC

6- Moovida

7 - Boxee

8 - Elisa

9 - FreeVo

10 - LinuMCE

11 - MythTV

12 - GBPVR

13 - SesamTV

14 - MediaPortal

15 - GAM

16 - Showshifter

17 - OpenHTPC

18 - Chameleon