About a month ago , as part of my quest to find an choice to Apple ’s Front Row for managing multimedia system , I took a look at MediaCentral . The then - free software fromEquinuxboasted some likely advantage over Front Row , most notably that it could black market on both PowerPC- and Intel - base Macs .
Regrettably , the first version of the programme was riddled with inconsistencies—“a genus Beta in everything but name , ” I wrote at the time . Specifically , the programme miscarry to play some iTunes playlists , was ineffective to work with a supposedly compatible Elgato EyeTV 200 PVR , and came with controls that worked in self-contradictory way .
Equinux go back to drawing plug-in , develop the improve $ 30 MediaCentral 2 . This update represents a more attractive version that now requires a 1GHz PowerPC or Intel Mac , offer scads more features , clean up some of the initial offerings ’ bug , but includes a few lapses and inconsistency of its own .
More in store
Launch MediaCentral 2 , and your Mac ’s screen is finally filled with bold heading that read : IP TV , TV , Movies , DVD , Games , Music , Radio , and Pictures . Most of these entries are linked to either rain cats and dogs Web content or media file cabinet stored in your Mac ’s media libraries — the iTunes and iPhoto libraries , for good example — or single file that you ’ve aim in the appropriate pamphlet within the My MediaCentral Folder stored at the root level of your exploiter folder . Those appropriate pamphlet admit My DVDs , My Games , My IP telly , My Movies , My Music , My Pictures , and My tuner .
Here ’s what you see after you launch MediaCentral 2 .
IP goggle box provides links to video fromGoogle Video , YouTube , and a variety of outfits that stream video over the web including the BBC and theAmericaFree . TVarchives . These flow are offer up in RealPlayer , Windows Media , or QuickTime formats . If you do n’t have the appropriate musician or hoopla - in you’re able to download RealPlayer and the Flip4Mac QuickTime components ( necessary for Windows Media playback ) from within the MediaCentral system preference . Regrettably , Flip4Mac is not compatible with Intel - free-base Macs so you ca n’t play Windows Media data file with MediaCentral on any of Apple ’s latest Macs .
Choose TV , and you could watch tv through compatible DVB - T devices ( devices such as Twinham ’s DTV Alpha or Terratec ’s Cinergy T2 that you do n’t likely own since the criterion isnot in use in the United States — Elgato’spopular EyeTV PVRs are n’t supported ) .
Within Movies , you may choose picture show lay in in MediaCentral ’s My Movies folder ( these can be the original file or alias to other movies stored on a local or networked bulk ) , film within your iTunes library , or movie house trailer hosted by Equinux .
The videodisc entry lease you play a videodisc pic or a videodisk rip as a Video_TS brochure stack away in the My DVDs pamphlet . While MediaCentral supports a greater variety of DVD and picture show feature of speech — angles , subtitle , and audio channel — these can be controlled only from the Mac ’s keyboard , not by Apple ’s Remote Control . Perhaps the program ’s tough failing , MediaCentral does n’t support surround - strait sound recording . A DVD that plays beautiful surround - sound via Apple ’s DVD Player software pull off only stereo playback through MediaCentral .
Alien Invaders — like to the early ’ 80s arcade pet Space Invaders — is one of the Flash games you ’ll find in MediaCentral 2 .
Games offers a few Flash arcade favorites admit Alien Invaders ( Space Invaders ) , Astroblast ( Asteroids ) , and Ping ( Pong ) . The games are fundamental at best , but an interesting diversion if you long for simpler time . computer programmer who infer the workings of Flash secret plan can create MediaCentral - compatible games by replacing mouse interactions with key stroke dictation and placing the lead .swf files in their My Games pamphlet .
The Music entrance spot to music file stored in the My Music folder , your iTunes library , wax volumes that contain music files , and a few medicine - video streaming service .
Radio includes listings of a quality few streaming music services in a multifariousness of genres including Alternate , Ambient , Classical , and rock . you could summate other streams by aim .pls and .m2u file cabinet in the My Radio folder .
MediaCentral ’s Music entry allows you to get at your iTunes library .
last , Pictures offers slideshows of images stored in MediaCentral ’s My Pictures folder , image in your iPhoto library , and some Web - based photo - streams .
In most cases you may produce hierarchal file structures within these menus by nesting folders inside the My MediaCentral folders .
Improvements
In addition to impart streaming medium capabilities to the latest version of MediaCentral , Equinox has bring in some welcome interface and control condition feature film . This version of MediaCentral can be establish as well as controlled with Apple ’s Remote Control ( though it ’s a poor secret plan restrainer as the game oppose too slowly ) . you could also resize the MediaCentral window to Small , Medium , Large , or Full Screen . This is helpful not only because you’re able to do other thing with your Mac while medium is playing , but also because much of the streaming video you view looks blocky at full screen solvent . In this representative , a lowly screen is the better elbow room to view television .
MediaCentral 2.0 still lacks Front Row ’s power to stream media through OS X ’s Bonjour zero - configuration networking . To perform this kind of stunt you necessitate to climb a internet intensity and copy an false name of its spiritualist to the appropriate My MediaCentral folders . However , Front Row does n’t do a beneficial job stream farsighted video via its communion part , and I ’ve found that using a networking dodging like to what MediaCentral demands is the best class with Front Row as well .
Rough Edges
In add-on to the deficiency of keep for surround - speech sound audio , a few glitch remain . For object lesson , when I launched MediaCentral , inserted a DVD , and asked the program to play it , a black projection screen resulted . It turn out that Apple ’s DVD Player launched mechanically in the background , took the job of play the DVD as its own , and left MediaCentral , quite literally , in the darkness . you could work around this topic by select Ignore from the When You enclose a Video videodisk drink down - up bill of fare in the CDs & DVDs system preference to keep DVD Player from interfering .
As mentioned earlier , Flip4Macisn’t compatible with Intel Macs so those service that pullulate Windows Media files—Viralx.com , for example — are useless on Apple ’s previous hardware ( admit the Mac mini Core Duo that dish up as the hub of my multimedia setup ) . And playback stammer in some situations . For deterrent example , a movie stored in my iTunes library that played absolutely well at full screen in iTunes hiccup when I attempted to play it with MediaCentral . When playing back iPhoto slideshows with medicine , the euphony would occasionally pause as one swoop displace to another .
And while I respect Equinux ’s rightfulness to make a living , I find its one - copy - per - one - computer protective covering scheme — where the political platform is tied to a specific computing machine and ca n’t be installed to another without deauthorizing the first — a little tight - fisted . Yes , you may purchase a sum of three permit for an additional $ 10 , but most practical app allow two installs — one to a desktop Mac and another to a laptop , for example — before putting up a fuss .
Centrally located
Despite its flaws , MediaCentral 2.0 is a large improvement over its earlier iteration — a program worth every penny you did n’t pay for it . Sure , your Mac can do all the use declare oneself by MediaCentral with a collecting of applications and vane sites , but have it all in a single , attractive packet is a literal convenience . I ’m sorry that MediaCentral does n’t support Bonjour file sharing , but I ’m just as sorry that Front Row does n’t perform that sharing more effectively . I ’m sorry still that Equinux could n’t make its program play environment - sound audio .
If your Mac does n’t patronize Front Row , or you have an Intel - based Mac but are thwart by Front Row ’s limitation , MediaCentral 2.0 is worth a look . unluckily , Equinux does n’t give you much of a look , permit the demo to run for for a measly five second before it quit . Running the demonstration a few meter should secernate you all you call for to do it .
[ When not tending to the Mac 911 oriPod Blogs , Christopher Breen continues to look for ways to turn his Intel - base Mac mini into a multimedia center . ]
