What is the difference between the native guide integrated into VMC and the add-on Webguide 4?

Aren't these two products created by the same person?  I understand that the developer went to work for MS.  Are both products still being updated?

Besides TV streaming (does this actually work), what does Webguide 4 offer that the built-in guide lacks?

Is one better than the other? 

Opinions greatly appreciated.

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PM me with your ASUS Striker Extreme Horror Story..

web guide is used as an extender. It is not meant to replace the guide on the host machine. It's purpose is to allow remote control of the guide on the PC with the tv-tuners either from your home network or outside your house from any PC with internet access (with webguide installed on the peripheral machines).

anyone please feel free to add or correct me please.

Hope this helps

cheers

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x2 3600
2 gig kingston value
M2A-VM
Sapphire HD3450 512mb ddr2
Vista Home Premium 64 Bit
2 x Hauppauge mce 150
500 GB Seagate

That's the gist of it.

Webguide doesn't replace the Guide, nor any other component of Media Center.  Rather, Webguide augments your Media Center with the ability to access the Guide, schedule/manage recordings, and stream or download your media (everything - photos, music, videos, and recorded TV, as well as stream live TV) to another PC, either on your LAN, or on the internet.
Webguide runs as a lightwieght webserver on the host Media Center.
One correction to what smellyfeet said:  Webguide does not need to be installed on the remote machine.  You connect to the Webguide with any web browser (internet explorer, firefox, or whatever - your choice.)

I absolutely love it - it's probably the single best add-on to a Media Center.
You should really give the Webguide site a thorough read, so that you might better understand just what it does, and how it does it.

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~Chris
'nearly every day of my life is some kind of computer hell'

Desktop: Shuttle SN41 (AthlonXP 2700+), AIW, T550, PVR-USB2, HDHR; server: Intel E6400 on I965P mobo, 2GB RAM, 2x 500GB WD, PVR500, NV DualTV, Saber2020, 2xHDHR; Xbox MCX, Xbox360

I have been wondering: Does Web Guide have much of a performance impact on the host machine? I have a pretty decent VMC box so this probably isn't an issue.

I used webguide for a while and saw no impact on a C2D

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My VMC setup:
(2) Xbox360s
System 1 -
Dell XPS410 (2.6Ghz C2D, 2GB Ram,Nvidia 8600GT, Blu-ray internal, HD-DVD external (X360 drive), (2) Vboxx DTA150s (OTA HD), 1 HVR-1150 (OTA HD) and Dish Network

Likewise.  Webguide is running on my MCE2k5 server (specs are in sig), and I haven't seen any performance issues from it.
For craps & grins, I just checked the task manager on it; idle, Webguide is using 0 CPU time, and 23000K memory.  Small footprint.

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~Chris
'nearly every day of my life is some kind of computer hell'

Desktop: Shuttle SN41 (AthlonXP 2700+), AIW, T550, PVR-USB2, HDHR; server: Intel E6400 on I965P mobo, 2GB RAM, 2x 500GB WD, PVR500, NV DualTV, Saber2020, 2xHDHR; Xbox MCX, Xbox360

pity MS bought it out and killed off any chance of future development

would love to be able to stream live tv to the iphone in h264 but thats not going to happen :( (not interested in using orb as that doesnt let you stream live tv directly from vista media center, just its own tv tuner app)

kaisersose11:

pity MS bought it out and killed off any chance of future development

Who says they've killed it?  If you read the forums over there Doug says he's not stopping development, it's just slown down due all the work he has going on at MS.

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My Media Center Blog

it's dead, if they had any interest in the program there would have being updates. It reportedly doesnt work with the new tv pack, and I wouldnt be suprised if its the same story in a years time.

kaisersose11:

it's dead, if they had any interest in the program there would have being updates.

That's not true.  While we have not announced any specific plans, rest assured that we see the value in WebGuide.  Otherwise we would not have acquired it.  I believe Doug has already mentioned the reasons for slowed development on his blog.

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Jeff Tucker
Microsoft | eHome
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

kaisersose11:

it's dead, if they had any interest in the program there would have being updates. It reportedly doesnt work with the new tv pack, and I wouldnt be suprised if its the same story in a years time.

I agree. They've "acquired" other 3rd party programs and then completely abandoned them before.

And being rude about it will definitely get an answer....

JeffTucker – MSFT:

kaisersose11:

it's dead, if they had any interest in the program there would have being updates.

That's not true.  While we have not announced any specific plans, rest assured that we see the value in WebGuide.  Otherwise we would not have acquired it.  I believe Doug has already mentioned the reasons for slowed development on his blog.

Sorry Jeff, this is not meaning to be directly towards you.

Before Microsoft had Webguide/Doug, we'd see updates every 3-6 months, and as paying people we were very happy. Also new features, etc. After Microsoft took over webguide, Nothing, no updates, no support, maybe 2 posts on his site for the last year from him. As most smaller comanies do, they let their users know what is going on. Not any more.

Now being a Microsoft product, it worries me. Why ?

1. Microsoft never tells you what they are working on, so no one will know.

2. Microsoft takes a long time to release something. This is one of the best programs for Media Center ever and it's needed now, not 3 years or windows 7(like I feel is going to happen).

3. Microsoft has a way of buying companies and never releasing a program.

4. Microsoft will cover it with DRM protection causing tons of issues with content, so somethings we could do before, we will not be able to do with a "Microsoft'd" version.

I'm glad to see that Doug got a good job with you guys, it's great to see someone get ahead in life and he's a great resource on the ehome team. I am just dispointed to see this stop working and no other resource for the same type of program.

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-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

I, too, wish there was support.  I have seen this error posted at asciiexpress, but there have been no responses to it.  I installed TV Pack, but decided I couldn't live without webguide, and with commercials, so I uninstalled it only to find that I can't get webguide working now.

Exception Type: System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException Exception Message: Error initializing the Role Provider. Please check (or delete) the 'roles.xml' and 'users.xml' files and rerun the configuration utility. (C:\Program Files\WebGuide\WebGuide4\web.config line 58) Exception Source: System.Web Exception Target Site: Initialize

---- Stack Trace ----
System.Web.Security.Roles.Initialize() (unknown file): N 01799 System.Web.Security.RoleManagerModule.OnEnter(source As Object, eventArgs As EventArgs) (unknown file): N 00216 System.Web.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() (unknown file): N 00138 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(step As IExecutionStep, completedSynchronously As Boolean&) (unknown file): N 00065