Are you looking for a program that allows you to turn your computer into a multimedia center on a fast, simple, and especially freeway? MediaPortal is undoubtedly one of the best alternatives you can find today. We are talking about an open-source platform allowing you to access many functions comprehensively without opening several programs simultaneously.

As we were saying, the main reason for the development of MediaPortal has to do with transforming our PC into a real multimedia system, to the point that its creators looked at the deficiencies of the Xbox console environment of Windows to generate a reliable and completely free alternative that solves its problems.

In other words, this application is nothing more than an option for those users who have not felt comfortable with Windows Media Center. If you look carefully, you will see that there are even some elements in common between both interfaces. That makes learning to use MediaPortal easy, so also novice users will feel comfortable moving between its different menus according to the function they are looking for.

And what kind of actions can I perform thanks to MediaPortal? Many really attractive ones, such as capturing TV programs to watch them on your computer, thus replacing other programs that only perform that function. The keynote you will see from this tool is, being able to carry out all kinds of tasks for which, otherwise, we would need many different programs running simultaneously.

Let's suppose, for example, that you don't want to watch TV, but you do want to listen to the radio while you work on your computer. In that case, you should know that MediaPortal will allow you to connect to the stations you want, whenever you want. But you can also watch your favorite DVDs on your computer. You can even download information about these contents from sites like IMDB, a real reference. As you can see, there are countless tasks we can perform with this application.

Many of us also have audio files floating around on our hard disks. We can create a playlist that considers only the most important or our favorites, thanks to MediaPortal. Using this platform, you can open any content stored on your computer because it is also compatible with your videos or photos.

Do you want to follow all the news about politics, the economy, or sports at an international level? MediaPortal offers you to subscribe to different newsletters that will allow you to keep up to date with everything happening worldwide. When we say that an application is intended to become a multimedia center, we are referring to one with the versatility of MediaPortal. Are you going to leave home and would like to know if there is a chance of rain in the afternoon or evening? MediaPortal will show you all the updated weather data so you know if you should go out with a coat or be protected from the rain. As you can see, this is an assistant that will allow you, from a single service, to access many extremely different tools and make the most of them.

Suppose we stop at the interface of MediaPortal. In that case, we must say that it has conquered us from the first moment since it is not only striking and easy to understand thanks to its huge icons that announce each of the functions, but it does not hold anything back in terms of design and content, which occupy much of the screen. The aesthetics of this application is what one imagines when one thinks of a multimedia center.

The high points of this application are many, and we can summarize them in that it allows us to carry out functions that ten other programs could not offer. In any case, we particularly liked its beautiful interface, and we also didn't want to lose sight of how easy it is to use for novices. This is a great choice if you've never worked with a media center.

And what can we point out as a negative aspect of MediaPortal? There is nothing too important to point out in this section, except that you may notice that on some older computers, the resource consumption of the application is somewhat high and ends up hurting the computer's overall performance. Still, it is logical considering the huge amount of tools it integrates and the needs of some specific functions.

In summary, we can conclude that MediaPortal is one of the best multimedia center applications available to install on computers with the Windows operating system, with the enormous advantage of being open source. Whether you want to watch TV, listen to the radio, play your music playlists, follow the news or even view your latest vacation photos, this tool will accomplish all those tasks simultaneously!