Friday, July 6, 2007

MediaCentral


I mentioned previously that I have been pretty frustrated with FrontRow.  MediaCentral looks like it will do pretty much everthing that I want, and does things that FrontRow doesn't do.


MediaCentral has some pretty cool features:


  • Presents a catalog and can play IPTV streams

  • Plays TV for DVB-T broadcasts

  • Plays various video formats, both from iTunes and accessible in an mounted file system

  • Plays DVDs and DVD VIDEO_TS files

  • Plays music from CDs or iPods

  • Plays music from iTunes Library or files accessible on mounted file systems

  • Plays internet radio stations

  • Skype integration

  • Plays classic video games

  • Views photos from iPhoto or on a mounted filesystem

  • Plays photostreams from .Mac or flickr.





There are a few things that it doesn't seem to do well:


  • Doesn't play protected purchased videos from iTunes

  • Many of the controls are not accessible with the Apple Remote


I am fine with those limitations, so now I am getting my media organized so it can be accessible from MediaCentral.  Luckily there is a fully functional demo (5 minute run limit) where I can make sure things will work, before paying for it.


There is one request that I will make to the developer is to support arbitrary rss feeds of photos.  If that can't be support, I will see about writing a plugin for Gallery2 to generate a photostream.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Seamless Local Control: Integrating WeatherFlow with Home Assistant Across VLANs

I've been pleased with my Home Assistant setup for some time now. One of my main focuses has been achieving local control. This ensures...