The Hickensian

14.01.06 Mac Media Centre part two - Software

22 comments
Tagged with: itunes, mac, mediacentre, osx

FrontRow vs Others

So, now that everything is up and working, its time to find a GUI that will wrap it altogether. I could just use the default scripts in Salling Clicker to navigate between iPhoto, iTunes and DVD player using my phone, and this certainly works just fine. Lets face it though, a screen based interface is much nicer, and Frontrow is just the job. There’s the hack to get Frontrow running on macs that it isn’t meant to, and as mentioned above this works really well, but It’s a bit naughty, so lets look at the alternatives:

As mentioned in my sidenotes before, MediaCentral is a freeware FrontRow alternative. Its has a very simple interface – no icons or previews, just text arranged in a very iPod/Frontrow kind of way. This makes it faster to navigate, and works great. It has advantages over FrontRow too, as it also supports WebTV, EyeTV, AVI files and Video_TS folders. There is a Salling Clicker script to control it, but it isn’t as smooth as the FrontRow controller. Instead of just using the up/down/select buttons to navigate what you see on screen, it relays the menus back to the phone display, which I don’t find as easy. Also, there’s no option to view images in iPhoto.

Mediacentral main menu

Mediacentral iTunes menu

Centerstage is another project aimed at this area, and does include the functionality to view images from iPhoto. The initial screen where you choose which media to play looks good, but the interface from then on looks a little busy. Overall, Centerstage feels less like something I would want to use to browse, but its early days yet.

Centerstage main menu

Centerstage music menu

iTheater also looks promising (its open source too), and a public version is due to be released on 31st of this month, although this is a date thats been moving a lot in the past. Judging by the Storyboard PDF you can download from the site, it looks like a winner, but until the public release is out, who knows? One to watch.

Those are the dedicated ‘media centre’ apps, but there are 2 iTunes apps are worth mentioning:

Coverflow is my ideal way of browsing iTunes. I’d love it if this could be integrated into something like MediaCental as another way of browsing (you’d still need to access playlists and such easily, which you can’t do in Coverflow).

Coverflow

Coverbuddy offers a full screen view, but as far as I know, can’t be controlled by Salling Clicker. I also find its performance a bit jerky, even with a plain background. Handy if you have a Sony PSP though, as it can be used as a remote control.

There’s also the recently announced GriffinTuneCenter, but the limitations of iPod HD sizes rule that out for me.

So far, my favourite Frontrow alternative is Mediacentral, but I’m keen to see what iTheater have to offer. None of them quite have the finesse of FrontRow or the features of Windows Media Center, but it feels as if things are just starting to warm up.

Have I missed any? Let me know!

Comments | RSS

No.1

∞ Matthew Pennell said 1518 days ago:

MediaCentral is a dead ringer for the Windows XP Media Center interface – although as that has a nice interface, that’s as much a recommendation an anything else…

No.2

∞ Dave said 1518 days ago:

Wow! Personally I’d go for CoverFlow as it has the best UI

No.3

∞ Stew said 1518 days ago:

I don’t want to start a flame war so I’ll get it out in the open now that I own a Mac Mini and it is my main machine.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way I can offer a decent piece of advice.

If you are wanting to do, as I think you are and that is have a way of viewing all your music, movies, photos etc easily avaliable I really can’t do anything other than recommend a Windows Media Center machine. Genuinely they are the easiest things to setup compared to the sadly woeful showings which are on the Mac. I know I looked for months to try and find something which would do media center work. The other advantage of MCE is that you can install a TV card (very recommended) and you then have your own sky plus box with a lot more features. You can build your own MCE machine rather than pay the excessive price of the ones you find in PC World.

The other option is to get an Xbox (original big black one) and install a modchip (or do it via a software exploit) and install Xbox Media Center on that, works very well and can integrate into your existing network and read files from shares and then stream them.

No.4

∞ Paul D said 1517 days ago:

The MediaCentral website claims you can use another machine, like an iBook, to remotely control the Mac running MediaCentral. Does anyone know how to do this? The website doesn’t seem to have any further details.

No.5

∞ Alexis Gallisa said 1517 days ago:

Send the following HTTP-Request: http://localhost:/?

Parameter List: &&...

Parameter-Value Pair: =

Display Content
Commands Parameters Description
Screenshot width (int), height (int)Returns the current content of the display as a jpg image
Menu Navigation
Commands Parameters Description
CurrentModule? – Returns the identifer of the current running module (see
ModuleSpecifics)
CurrentMenuItems?- Returns a list of the current menu items displayed
SelectItemAtIndex? index (int) Selects the menu items at index HitItemAtIndex? index (int) Selects the item at index and performs a Return, returns the output of the CurrentMenuPath? command
CurrentMenuPath? – Return the path of the currently displayed menu
PowerOff? – Quits the application
Left – Equivalent to the left arrow key
Right – Equivalent to the right arrow key
Down – Equivalent to the down arrow key
Up – Equivalent to the up arrow keySend the following HTTP-Request:
http://localhost:/?
Parameter List:
&&...
Parameter-Value Pair:
=
Display Content
Commands Parameters Description
Screenshot width (int), height (int)Returns the current content of the display as a jpg image
Menu Navigation
Commands Parameters Description
CurrentModule? – Returns the identifer of the current running module (see
ModuleSpecifics)
CurrentMenuItems?- Returns a list of the current menu items displayed
SelectItemAtIndex? index (int) Selects the menu items at index
HitItemAtIndex? index (int) Selects the item at index and performs a Return, returns the output
of the CurrentMenuPath? command
CurrentMenuPath? – Return the path of the currently displayed menu
PowerOff? – Quits the application
Left – Equivalent to the left arrow key
Right – Equivalent to the right arrow key
Down – Equivalent to the down arrow key
Up – Equivalent to the up arrow key
Return – Equivalent to the return key
Exit – Equivalent to the escape key
Volume Level Control
CommandsParameters Description
Mute – Toggles the mute state of the audio playback
IncVolume? – Increases the volume level of the audio playback
DecVolume?- Decreases the volume level of the audio playback
Playback
Commands Parameters Description
TogglePlay? – Toggles the play state
ToggleOSD? – Toggles the display state of the onscreen display
CycleAudio? – Cycles the current audio stream
CycleSubpicture?- Cycles the curren subpicture stream
ReturnToMenu? – Returns to the main DVD menu
GotoLastMenu? – Returns to the current DVD title menu
Left – Equivalent to the left arrow key
Right – Equivalent to the right arrow key

No.6

∞ Alexis Gallisa said 1517 days ago:

MediaCentral is equipped with an HTTP-Server. This HTTP server normally runs on port 42000. MC advertises this service via Bonjour with the following values:
Type: _mcrcp._tcp. Name: MediaCentral on

No.7

∞ Paul D said 1517 days ago:

â€MC advertises this service via Bonjour â€¦”

Should it show up in Safari’s Bonjour list while running? I checked and didn’t see it.

No.8

∞ Jon Hicks said 1517 days ago:

You can control mediacentral via VNC as well as of course.

No.9

∞ Faruk Ates said 1516 days ago:

Jon, I missed from your conclusion whether you’re going to just stick to Frontrow for the time being or not. :)

No.10

∞ Jon Hicks said 1516 days ago:

Thats because there isn’t really a conclusion yet! I guess Frontrow for the time being though…

No.11

∞ Jon Hicks said 1516 days ago:

@ Matthew – I think Mediacentral looks more like a cut-down Frontrow than WMC.

@ Stew – As I stated in the post, WMC is more feature-filled than these offerings, and certainly its a cheaper package when you consider the tivo functionality as well. I did consider using WMC, but something inside me wanted a Mac solution. For instance, I love the way that Mini shares its iPhoto albums, so that I interact with it on my powerbook if I wanted. Obviously, there is a windows version of iTunes, so that have the same sharing functionality.

I guess this is one of those head vs heart decisions. WMC makes sense in every way – economically and functionality, but I guess I’m too much of a MacHead to go down that path.

No.12

∞ Faruk Ates said 1516 days ago:

Okay, so we can expect a part 3 in some future when the others have gained some potential? :-)

No.13

∞ Martyn Ford said 1516 days ago:

Has anyone built a working Media Center? We have and our customers love it. Wait to see what we are working on next, next release is not far away.

Melbourne Australia, Dec. 1, 2005—www.Geniecommands.com, Delivering a complete Programmable Media
Center Solution. Software company Geniecommands today introduced
an exciting new Macintosh software program designed to give consumers
more control and fun over their digital entertainment experiences in
their lounge room.

GenieCommands is a unique programmable software application
that allows you to control all your applications and media via simple
menus, in a theatre or lounge room environment. The Media Center
is a computer like the Mac Mini combined with the Geniecommands software that
provides an all-in-one entertainment system for your entire family.

While attached to your television screen it allows you to enjoy your
favorite entertainment such as; watch DVDs, record TV or pause TV,
listen to music, share your digital photos, access the internet and more

We have provided a complete set of demo menus to get you started,
with links on where to download additional software. These menus
can then be edited to suit your lifestyle or create a new one.

GenieCommands provides a kiosk push button environment
where users can get easier access to the best of what the industry has
to offer in software. This is achieved through simple user defined
graphic menus, to access all the scripts and to control almost any
application.

No.14

∞ Andrew Escobar said 1516 days ago:

Front Row Enabler is “a bit naughty?”

On second thought, I like your choice of words. Thanks for the mention.

No.15

∞ Jon Hicks said 1516 days ago:

Yeah, I didn’t want to use words like ‘illegal’ or ‘wrong’ as thats too harsh!

No.16

∞ Paul D said 1516 days ago:

“WMC makes sense in every way â€“ economically and functionalityâ€¦”

I wouldn’t say every way. There’s risk of worms and viruses, as well as the component compatibility risks of build-it-yourself PCs. Plus the moral issues of funding a company that (for example) sues schools for using secondhand software.

No.17

∞ Alun Rowe said 1516 days ago:

â€œWMC makes sense in every way â€“ economically and functionalityâ€¦â€

Except that John HAS mac hardware at his disposal, likes Mac hardware etc

WMC is okay but PC’s are tedious bug ridden things. I work with them everyday, fixing them for customers. I LKIE my mac Mini, I like my Sony Vaio but when it comes to built pc’s they look and feel rubbish I certainly wouldn’t want one in the living room! The Mac Mini is so quiet you’d think it was turned off except for the simple white led on the front.

No.18

∞ Scott McMillin said 1515 days ago:

Jon, what process will you use for loading photos into iPhoto on the Mini?

No.19

∞ Jon Hicks said 1515 days ago:

Good question Scott. Usually I have the USB cable for the camera left in the back in the mini, then I plug the camera in, and import the photos using VNC to control iPhoto. Its the kind of thing that I’m sure could be scripted, so that plugging the camera in was all that was needed to initiate the whole process. I’ll let you know how it goes.

No.20

∞ Pablo said 1511 days ago:

I know this may not seem like the easiest option, and I haven’t actually looked into the iTunes/iPhoto integration, but MythTV looks like a very promising media center application. There is an OS X Port which is not 100% yet but it is getting there. The bonus for this is that you could add a USB tb tuner to your Mini and use the PVR functionality as well.

It does offer music/photo libraries, but I don’t think it interfaces with iTunes/iPhoto … however I know it can use a networked drive for music/video so sharing your iTunes library would not be a problem. In addition with apple’s new iPhoto ‘photocasting’ i doubt it would be hard to setup MythTV to read that photocast and display your photo’s. Perhaps not production level just yet, but definitely something to keep an eye on for the future.

No.21

∞ Thomas Bonk said 1510 days ago:

Hello,

I’m the author of the Salling Clicker script for MediaCentral. My intention for the current script logic was it to use MediaCentral headless, i.e. without a monitor/LCD-/TFT-/Whatever-Flatscreen/television. I will add the mentioned functions in a future release of my script.

Thomas

No.22

∞ Mike Stenhouse said 1505 days ago:

I’ve got a nice black “Shuttle PC” :http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/AMD_Shuttle.html with Windows Media Center and it works like a charm. TV card set up with no trouble, the Shuttle is dead quiet and the whole shebang was relatively cheap.

There are also a few other nice added extras… I’m using Adobe Album/Elements Organiser to tag and keep track of my photos and it came with an extra add-on for WMC so I can browse them from my sofa.

I’m very surprised that Apple haven’t released something similar to WMC though. The Mini is ideally suited to a living room, being so small and cute, and bringing all these applications shouldn’t be that hard…