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MediaCentral HTPC frontend for the Mac

The most recent iMac comes with a nice simple home theater PC front-end called FrontRow, and acts as a nice gateway to your music, movies, and photos using the provided remote. I have one of the new iMacs and I enjoy it, though I must admit I rarely use FrontRow, since I prefer to just stream movies and photos to my TV in the other room (through a xbox running xbmc). Aside from the usability of trying to watch a movie on your mac while it sits on a desk, the major downside is the lack of flexibility in the number of formats FrontRow supports.

This is where MediaCentral comes in. It's a very FrontRow-like app but supports many additional video formats (like xvid, divx, DVD folders on the hard drive) using and plays music from any directory on your hard drive. It integrates online TV streams, online movie trailers, and even EyeTV if you have that running on the same Mac. While it supports a few remote control devices, it unfortunately doesn't support the new iMac remote control.

Overall, I must say I like MediaCentral and if you've got a small apartment or dorm and use your mac for your primary entertainment, MediaCentral is an easy to use front-end that builds on the capabilities of FrontRow.

by Matt Haughey February 2, 2006 in News

Comments

There is always this option: The Blueado Mini m5e (http://www.blueado.com/shop/product/~category_id=BES-M/~product_id=m5e) a bit bigger then the Mac Mini but at least it has a TV turner and Digital Audio in and out. The mini mac does not have either of those.

Posted by: Blueado at Feb 3, 2006 8:44:40 AM

Ahh, Comment spam from the Blueado idiot. Spamming on an article about a free application that runs on a box 1/3 the price of their box.

Idiot spammers aside, I tried Media Central last night. It did give you an easier way to acess movies and DVDs you'd archived on your hard drive. Issues I had with is included not being able to play Audible books that were in my iTunes playlists, it looks like they must go to the files themselves rather than use iTunes to sort out the DRM stuff. No album art for tunes is also a bit stark for my taste. Keys that ffwd/rwnd in one medium are skip fwd/skip back on another. Lastly, it seems to be a pure keyboard interface and won't work with a mouse. My keyboard is wired, mouse is wireless. I'd have to get a wireless keyboard or IR remote that emulates keystrokes to use it from a distance.

Posted by: Mike at Feb 3, 2006 12:11:10 PM

It's not as fancy as what CenterStage will be but it is free and functional!

Posted by: Greg Smith at Feb 4, 2006 1:16:29 PM

I would like to follow and add the opinion of my preceding endorser, become ever less that free programs harm, sense of the InterNet freely entrances also for people with small wallet.

kind regards from Austria Manuel

Posted by: Manuel-Hundehalter at Feb 5, 2006 2:40:46 PM

I agree that some bugs need to be worked out, but the interface is nice and clean and it gives yoou an easy to access lots of media without having to dig around for the various players/apps. A good start.

Posted by: whiteshaft at Feb 15, 2006 11:07:22 PM

Have you guys checked out the new MediaCentral? It has lots of fun new features. Still doesn't support all the devices I'd like but definitely a step in the right direction.

Posted by: nuttybrunette at Aug 5, 2006 5:35:49 AM

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